Storm Proofing Trees

Have you looked at your trees lately? Are they ready for the increasing winds that fall can bring? How often do we wait for trees to blow over, split in half and break branches before we do anything about it? We are often reactive when it comes to taking care of our trees rather than proactive by waiting until it is too late anything with our trees. In the end we choose to only remove them, instead of preparing out trees for the elements through pruning them.

You ask “why should we prune trees in our landscape?” Trees in the forest aren’t pruned, but the difference is trees in the forest act as a community and protect each other. Trees in the landscape are often single trees with lots of room to grow and having no competition allows limbs to get big and heavy.

There are a number of warning signs to look for in the trees in your landscape that may indicate bad tree structure and possible safety hazards:

• Large dead limbs
• Weak branch attachments with tight crotches
• Co-dominant leaders with included bark (weak attachments)
• Big, long, heavy limbs that may hold a lot of ice & snow
• Decay (mushrooms & conks are often a sign of decay)
• Cracks
• Heavy lean

Many of these structural problems can be helped through proper pruning practices. Some suggestions to storm proof your tree include:

• Remove large dead limbs
• Remove or reduce branches with bad structure
• Use tree support systems for co-dominant leaders
• Long heavy limbs can be cut back to reduce leverage & weight
• Reduce weight in trees with decay or consider for removal
• Some cracks can be supported with tree support systems or consider removing
• Remove weight from side of tree with heavy lean
• Properly thinned trees will catch less wind & snow

These are just a few things to consider when looking at your trees. Pruning is one way to help storm proof our trees. Remember once the tree is damaged there is often not much we can do as an arborist to fix it. Once a tree is removed it takes many years to replace it. Be proactive. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!