Dangers of Not Trimming Your Trees

Winter is full of new tasks to deal with, as well as new dangers. The danger of ice and snow to our ability to stay upright is well documented hence our last blog on snow and ice removal. But what about the risks to your landscaping – and likewise – your landscape’s danger to you?

When it comes to that most majestic of landscape features, the danger to the tree and the tree’s danger to you is the same. Tree trimming is not only a landscaping task but a safety precaution. So how do you keep your trees safe from a Kansas winter and your family safe from trees?

Buckle into the snowmobile as Divine takes it away.

Run Away!

We’re not looking to be alarmist. We’re landscapers, not chicken little, and the sky isn’t falling, but it’s always best to be prepared rather than surprised, and winter can bring a few surprises.

We’re all a little run-down in the winter, and our trees are no exception. Unfortunately, the winter brings challenges that make your trees less likely to survive the season. Luckily, we can help.

Winter Dangers To Trees

Why is winter dangerous to your trees? Think of it this way. You take in and expend a certain amount of calories each day.

For many of us, the former number is significantly larger than the latter, but we digress. Suppose you have the opposite issue, where you are expending more energy than you’re intaking; then you have a problem. And if you can’t do anything to take in more calories, something has to give.

In the winter, we use significant energy to keep our bodies warm. You may notice you have an urge to eat more. Trees also need to spend energy to survive the winter.

And unlike people, they can’t import more food. So that energy needs to be spent wisely.

Winter Tree Dangers to You and Your Home

Winter brings snow and cold. The cold makes matter more brittle, and snow weighs it down. So it’s easy to see how this formula can spell disaster for tree branches.

Insurance companies have more claims in the winter from fallen trees or tree branches that break and fall. They can land on your home, your car, or in the worst-case scenario, a person or pet! But experienced landscapers can spot some of these potential problems before they occur.

Tree Trimming Saves the Day

In case the title didn’t already spoil it for you, the way to protect your trees and the way to protect your home, property, and family from trees is with tree trimming and tree pruning.

Trimming vs Pruning

Tree trimming removes the ends of branches, basically cutting off the extremities as you do with a haircut. On the other hand, tree pruning is the removal of unhealthy parts of the tree, or in the case of winter safety precautions, the removal of the branches that are most likely to get weighed down by ice and snow, break, and crush something below them.

How Trimming Helps

Tree trimming is good for your trees’ health. Because, as discussed, trees have to expend extra energy to keep themselves alive when the temperatures get cold, it helps if they can save some of that energy. One way to do that is by tree trimming.

Trimming allows the energy to focus its life force on the trunk and roots and the healthy branches.

How Pruning Helps

Similarly to trimming, tree pruning removes parts of the tree so that the tree can focus on the essential elements – trunks and roots. Trees will then not waste energy trying to save unhealthy parts that are unlikely to survive.

In addition, pruning has the benefit of protecting the area around the tree. Divine will prune unhealthy branches or likely to break from heavy ice and snow. This will save you the cost of property damage and the pain of a bonk on the head from a cold, wet tree branch!

How Else Do You Keep Trees Healthy In Winter?

Although not the focus of this post, another important element of winter tree care is mulching. Mulch protects the roots from freezing, and you must ensure you still have a healthy layer of mulch around your trees before winter begins.

Divine Tree Care

If you’re an arborist, you won’t need any help with your tree care this winter, but then you probably aren’t reading this blog. Professional help from a landscaper like Divine can be the difference between a safe, healthy winter and a loss of trees or property for the rest of you. So give us a call before the first snow!