canopy

The winter storms we had in January and February were particularly hard on trees in Virginia this year.  The heavy snow and sustained freezing temperatures was too much for many pine trees and other evergreens.  It’s sad to see the aftermath of trees at the side of the road, with limbless trunks sticking out at odd angles.  VDOT reports that it is still picking up truckloads of downed trees along the roadways.

Like many of the benefits of living in a beautiful state, we might take trees for granted.  It’s easy to drive by the landscape and not pay much attention to them except when they’re bursting out in springtime, or showing off their colors in autumn.

But in addition to adding beauty to the landscape, trees have many environmental benefits.  Their leaves act as air filters to remove dust and other particles in the air we breathe.  They cool our homes in summer, and serve as a windbreak.  Trees not only add to the value of our home, neighborhoods with wooded areas have less crime and higher quality of life than neighborhoods with no trees.

Now that the weather is warming up, it’s a good time to get outside and assess what damage may have occurred to your trees.  Kirsten Conrad, an Agriculture & Natural Resource Agent with Virginia Cooperative Extension offers these suggestions:

–  Broken branches should be pruned away to remove jagged, torn limbs;

– Where branches have broken close to a trunk, remove broken limbs back to the branch collar at the trunk;

– In situations where only the branch ends have broken, limbs can be cut back to a side branch that is no smaller than 1/3 of the diameter of the broken limb. The side branch will become the new leader;

– Bare spots that are opened in the canopy will spur new growth in response to increased light exposure and in some cases, will fill with new growth within a couple of years.

For more information, Virginia Tech offers guides for pruning shrubs and trees can be found here, along with pruning calendars that provide optimal times for pruning specific plants.  Of course if you have limbs that you can’t reach from the ground, prized ornamental trees, or other questions about your trees, please consult an ISA-certified arborist in your area.

Trees are tough and have the ability to recover from storm damage.  Take a look at the ones near you, and maybe even give a tree a hug today.