Days are getting shorter and evenings cooler as winter approaches. Sweater weather also means a change in the to-do list around the yard.
Here are a few things to consider when preparing your landscapes and gardens for winter.
Frost
- Protect sensitive plants from cold injury when freezing or frost is predicted. Cover plants with cloth or a similar material at night, leaving the covers open at the bottom so heat from soil can help warm plants.
- When frost or freezing is expected, irrigate dry topsoil at least 3 days before the cold weather to increase the soil's ability to retain...
Winter is an ideal time to prune deciduous fruit and shade trees, since the trees are dormant and you can more easily see the tree canopy. In many cases, pruning can also help prevent or control certain insect and disease problems.
For help with pruning, visit the UC IPM web page called Pruning fruit and shade trees and shrubs.This page provides links to plant-specific pruning information for fruit trees, nut trees, landscape trees, and others. You can also find links to diseases and environmental disorders that commonly affect fruit and shade trees, as well as additional information on the topics of landscape management and videos on...
- Author: Chuck Ingels, UCCE Sacramento
Most people think about pruning fruit trees during the winter since the branch structure is most visible and winter is considered the traditional time to prune deciduous trees. Actually, pruning fruit trees mainly during the growing season is a good practice and with some species such as apricots and cherries, pruning between September and March in northern California could lead to detrimental canker diseases.
Cherries, apricots, and a few related species are particularly susceptible to fungal and bacterial canker diseases, including Eutypa dieback, Botryosphaeria canker, and bacterial canker. Pathogens can be spread by rain or tree wounds – such as pruning wounds – during wet weather; subsequent infections spread...
- Author: Igor Lacan
In the December 2013 issue of the Green Bulletin, we looked at “Pruning and Tree Physiology: The Bad and the Ugly” for pruning and maintaining ornamental trees as well as some pruning pitfalls. However, pruning can also be highly beneficial for many landscape trees. In this article I will review some approaches to pruning which either directly suppress pests or which maintain tree health, and because impaired health predisposes trees to a number of diseases, these pruning measures could thus be considered a part of an integrated pest management program.
Formative pruning: A young tree arriving from the nursery or...
- Author: Igor Lacan
[From Dec 2013 issue of the UC IPM Green Bulletin newsletter]
Pruning in Practice
Pruning is perhaps the most common tree maintenance activity that is undertaken on urban and ornamental trees. This is in sharp contrast with forest trees, which are pruned only in exceptional cases and yet grow and develop their mature form quite well, living considerably longer than urban trees. This tells us that trees do not require pruning in order to survive. Nevertheless, in ornamental landscapes, pruning can be beneficial for maximizing the benefits of trees, and in young trees pruning...
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