How to protect your plants from the winter elements
Living in a colder climate doesn’t mean you have to give up more tender plants. By properly preparing less resistant plants for winter, you will ensure their survival and development!
Below is an excerpt Icy-resistant fruits and nuts By Scott Serrano and Allyson Levy. It has been adapted for utilize on the Internet.
Protect plants against winter factors
Anyone who has been gardening in the northern United States for several years understands that each growing season is different due to the vagaries of weather. While each season has similar characteristics to the previous year, no two years are the same.
Some winter seasons bring massive amounts of snow and extremely frosty weather, while others deliver only a few inches of snow. All the combined elements of snow, wind, temperature, sunlight and fluctuations between winter and spring affect the plants in the garden.
Readers who live in places where winter temperatures don’t drop below -12°C may not have to worry as much about the winter protection measures listed below. A newborn tree or shrub that has only been in the ground for one growing season is susceptible to winter damage.
Protection of various types of plants
Some plants are hardy and adaptable, others are more tender and may need several years of extra protection to survive the winter. The following suggestions are a range of options that can be used for a single tree or multiple plantings that would benefit from additional protection for a year or two before being exposed to the full effects of a northern winter.
Many people may feel that extra winter care for fresh plants is overkill. The degree to which you protect newborn seedlings, which may not be completely resistant, can range from doing nothing to building a miniature short-lived enclosure. We’ve listed some options below in order from simplest to most complicated.
Protective mulching
The simplest way to reduce the negative impact of low winter temperatures on a newborn plant is a stout layer of mulch over the root system. Any mulch of mixed wood chips or shavings will protect the newborn plant’s roots from winter temperatures. This additional mulch can be piled high on the plant’s trunk or branches for protection as an insulating blanket over the root system.
Then in spring, remove excess mulch from direct contact with the trunk and spread it evenly in a skinny layer to cover the roots. Because stout layers of mulch provide cover for miniature rodents, it is crucial to utilize a protective tree collar to prevent the animals from damaging the fresh plant.
Winter sunburn
Woody deciduous plants survive the winter months by entering a period of dormancy – a state in which the plant is alive but not actively growing. This is caused by a combination of the autumn chill and the shortening of the days. At the end of winter, as daytime temperatures begin to heated, deciduous plants can sometimes begin to emerge from their dormant period while the ground is still in the grip of winter, which can cause damage.
Heated daytime temperatures cause frozen sap near the roots of a woody plant to rise up the trunk toward the buds at the ends of the branches. However, since it’s winter, temperatures can still drop below freezing at night.
Juices and sunburn
Sap that has risen up the trunk may suddenly freeze before it can return to the roots. When the temperature rises again, the trapped frozen sap expands, splitting the trunk under pressure. This is called southwest syndrome or sunscald and manifests itself with cracks running down the bark of the plant on the sunniest side, usually facing southwest.
Sunburn most often occurs in newborn trees with long trunks and skinny, malleable bark, planted in bright places, with southern or southwestern exposure. The customary method of dealing with this problem is to paint the trunks of newborn trees with a skinny layer of white paint diluted with water.
Painting tree trunks
The theory is that the newborn plant’s white-painted bark reflects sunlight off the trunk, slowing down the heating of the tree’s sap. Take white water-based house paint and dilute it with water at a ratio of 1 part paint to 4 parts water, then apply several skinny coats of paint from the bottom of the tree trunk to the first main branches.
The primary disadvantage is that the tree’s bark will appear chalky white and less aesthetically pleasing. However, as the plant matures, the paint slowly fades and cracking becomes less regular as the tree’s bark becomes thicker.
Wrapping Plants
An old-fashioned way to protect plants is to wrap them in burlap. This will provide some protection from the frosty, but works best in planting areas with extremely windy conditions where plant branches may be damaged by desiccation (desiccation).
This method of protection can also protect bushes planted close to each other in a hedge. Wrap the burlap tightly around the sides of the hedge, creating a immense layer of protection against weighty snow loads.
Tent
You can build a short-lived tent around a bush or miniature tree to create a mini greenhouse over the winter. A protective tent roof may be a straightforward “tepee” formed from skinny wooden poles or bamboo stakes driven into the ground and tied together at the top. Then wrap the entire structure in a clear plastic sheet.
Remove the covering in early spring before temperatures become too high. Remember that any heated protective space for a plant is also a heated protective space for miniature mice and voles that may gnaw on the lower parts of the plant. If mice and voles are a problem in your area, consider adding a protective vole cover around your plants.
Greenhouse
The greatest form of winter protection for plants growing in frosty northern latitudes is a greenhouse/hoop house. Because the inside of a greenhouse can be 5-17°C warmer than outside temperatures during the day, the greenhouse extends the growing season. In addition to winter protection, the greenhouse protects the plant from wind, snowfall and ice. Although greenhouses are steep to build, they can last for decades and allow for continued food production over an extended growing season.
Commercially manufactured greenhouse kits are available in a wide range of sizes and styles. Because the environment in an unheated greenhouse is warmer than the surrounding landscape, marginal plants (one zone warmer than your region) can often be kept alive and producing fruit. Although there are limits to how much crops can be grown in a greenhouse, fruit trees can survive and bear fruit there with careful pruning and management.