Trees in winter

[Zak33]

Hello everyone.

I thought it might be a good thing to begin a little tutorial/ helpful advice thread about trees and bushes in winter.

I'll not claim to know it all - but I can help some of you AND other HEXITES will know stuff and join in.

Does everyone have a fair grasp of what occurs to a tree in winter? I'm talking broadleaf trees, but some are evergreen. Not so much about pines and their relatives.

In short, as the cold strikes Europe, the sap that kept the leaves alive is withdrawn from the tree. It doesn't actually get sucked down, but it stops pushing up. The leaves turn beautiful colours, drop off and leave the tree naked. Sme trees hold onto their leaves until a hard wind rips them off (beech) so some trees make quite good hedges in winter as they still have a load of (dead ) leaves blocking the view through it.

The reason this is all important in winter is this - from my heart, with all my experience... it's bloody hard to kill a tree by cutting it back too much in winter. Unless it's actually sick, the tree will, frankly, love you for a good cut back.

There's two main versions of this - pollarding, where you leave the trunk at it's height, but lopp off all the branches... you see that in towns amd parks across the UK... and then there's cutting it down to the base, which is called coppicing.

In spring, when the sun hits, the sap rises, creates fresh growth, and the root ball that WAS supporting the growth of a blummin' great tree hasn't shrunk.. so it pushes a lot of energy up into the new growth.

Why I am telling you this is simple - if you're scrared of your garden.... it it's got out of control... if you have no light in your windows because of the trees...

sort it out between now and end of Feb.

Now there's a few simple tricks to know- you don 't want rain water sitting on a totally flat cut. So cut at angles to let the water wash off. Use a sharp saw, and try hard not to let the last bit tear off, leaving jagged bits, as water and frost gets into it.

And ... prepare for spring growth :-)

[Phage]

Gardening, PCs, Cars - No end to your skills !
Luckily my wife is a bit of a horticulturalist

[Zak33]

PC's.....Rally Cars..... trees....

one tool kit for them all.........

a chainsaw ;-)

[Andeh13]

Great Post!

Speaking of trees, I have a small ish victoria plum but tree, approx 2.5m in height. I stupidity planted it appropriately 2ft from the foundations of my house ( albeit right at the corner of it) and about the 1ft from a tall garden Wall.

Is this something I should be concerned about? Are their roots known to be damaging to a new build foundations?

[Zak33]

Great Post!

Speaking of trees, I have a small ish victoria plum but tree, approx 2.5m in height. I stupidity planted it appropriately 2ft from the foundations of my house ( albeit right at the corner of it) and about the 1ft from a tall garden Wall.

Is this something I should be concerned about? Are their roots known to be damaging to a new build foundations?

they can long term but the biggest issue is that the tree won't like it there.

Here's how to move it. Use a hose.....

Drench the soil on a NON frosty day.. don't dig it out dry!

With very wet soil gently dig... find the root ball, going as wide as you can.. ...you need to get as much root ball out as possible and leave as much mud connected as viable. If you have to cut roots, use secateurs and dont just rip it up.

Then dig a new hole BIGGER than it needs and get it wet too. Then replant, and STAKE IT. Make sure it's supported ALL WINTER LONG< cos it gets windy. It need not look pretty over winter... make a tripod of stakes of strong canes ( I used Hazel rods now.. I have lots but thats me being lucky to own them)

It might start to bud leaves quite soon, in winter so you can watch them, tiny little things. Put it in a SUNNY position and don't expect fruit next year.

Water it when you plant it AND again a few days later. Don't skimp on water.

If you're a gambling man, you could also prune it a week before moving it. Thats a kill or cure job. If it's strong it will fight back with determined vigour and become a warrior. If it's a bit weak... that could kill it.

[Bagnaj97]

but the biggest issue is that the tree won't like it there.

Well it might like it, plums can be fan-trained, but ideally that needs to be done from when the tree's very young and the wall needs to face the right direction.

[Zak33]

i'm thinking about the foundations of a house at the corner. There will be a lot of concrete down then in 2 directions.

The tree will love a FLAT wall, in direct sunshine, I agree. Fan Trained wide and supported is great...warm, protected etc. But that is normally a GARDEN wall or fence.


I guess if the corner of the house is south facing, with both walls getting good sun, then maybe it could be trained both sides.

But 'd still rather not have a tree growing under the corner of a house