Maple Grove City Forester Offers Tips for Fall and Winter Tree Care
Maple Grove City Forester Shane DeGroy offered up some tips for tree care during the fall and winter months.
“Fall is actually a great time to plant trees in Minnesota. Going into dormancy for winter helps with the transplant shock,” he said. “It’s recommended to continue watering trees up until the ground starts to freeze.”
Maple Grove City Forester Shane DeGroy inspects a young tree he planted on the property at the Government Center.
DeGroy recommends using a watering bag, which affixes around the base of the trunk of the tree and slowly releases about 15 gallons of water over six hours.
“That allows the water to infiltrate the soil, and get to the roots of the tree, rather than just run off the surface,” said DeGroy. He recommends removing the bag before the start of winter so that small animals don’t use it for shelter and cause damage to the bag or the tree itself.
DeGroy also does not recommend pruning trees during the winter.
“We’re not going to prune it until the end of winter or the very beginning of spring. This makes sure that things like insects that can carry fungus like oak wilt are inactive, and it has the entire growing season, from early spring until it goes dormant again next winter, to heal up the wound that it will have,” he said.
He recommends protecting young trees with a plastic guard around the trunk, to keep small animals from climbing the tree and damaging it or to prevent damage from power tools. He reminds you to remove them as the tree starts to outgrow the guards so that it doesn’t become too tight, which can also damage the tree.
The city is having a tree sale now through October 1.
“It’s to encourage the planting of more trees, affordably, in Maple Grove, while further diversifying the urban canopy in the city,” said DeGroy.
