The Town Crier

Tree Talk

FACE-LIFTING WINTER PRUNING PUTS NEW STRENGTH IN A TREE

Tree care this winter puts accent on two important aspects:
Remodeling and rejuvenation through strength.

Remodeling or face-lifting, says Dr. Philip L. Rusden of the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories, can turn a nondescript tree into one of beauty. It begins with pruning.

First, hazardous limbs hanging over drives, walks, houses and garages are removed. Dead, dying, weakened wood is cut out. Unwanted crossover branches are eliminated.
Undesirably thick crowns are thinned and sometimes lowered.
Superfluous branches and suckers (on such trees as maple, poplar and apple) are taken out.
Symmetry is restored to trees grown out of bounds.

This cleanup is followed by bracing and cabling of weak Y crotches and big limbs that could split under the weight of winter ice and snow or buffeting of violent wind. Such storm-damage prevention can add years to the life of a valued tree.

Feeding of trees is done in areas when the ground is not frozen solid. Many tree owners take advantage of a January thaw to feed their trees.
Even lightning protection cables are installed during the winter.
And in many sections of the country, elms are now being given a dormant spray of DDT. This residual spray will control elm bark beetles, carriers of Dutch Elm Disease, when they appear next spring.

HOW TO DE-ICE A TREE

Ice storms strike silently and suddenly. Within a few hours prized small trees and evergreens can be broken and bent out of shape.

Roy C. Beckwith of the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories says to do this:
Play a stream of water from a garden hose on the ice-coated tree. Tap water, usually warmer than outside air, will melt the ice. Don't pound the trees or shrubs with a stick. This will injure the bark.

Birch, dogwood and other supple trees bent low under weight of ice should be pushed erect as soon as possible and guyed into place.
Otherwise many will grow in their grotesquely bent fashion.