What About Frozen Garden Trees?

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

With the onset of spring, some gardeners with great chagrin find frozen fruit trees and shrubs in their gardens. And, of course, each of them wants to save the roots and twigs that have suffered from frost! The good news is that with a competent and timely approach, it is really possible to do this, so it makes sense to give it a try

Why is frost harmful to fruit crops?

The results of successful wintering of fruit crops to a large extent depend on when the frost struck. If the first half of winter turned out to be cold, then, as a rule, there is nothing wrong with that - in the first winter months, fruit trees with shrubs are in hibernation, so low temperatures are not particularly terrible for them. In this case, only noticeably weakened plants fall into the risk zone. But the colds that were established in the second half of winter often pose a serious danger to the vast majority of fruit crops - frosts that broke out after a thaw are especially dangerous.

As for the roots, they suffer from freezing much less often than any other parts of the plants - in order for the root system to begin to freeze, the thermometer must drop to minus fifteen degrees or even lower, up to minus thirty degrees. In addition, for the roots of young trees that were planted in the fall, December or January cold weather with a minimum thickness of snow cover (from one to five centimeters) can pose a certain danger. Also in December, fruit buds and tops of annual shoots that did not have time to properly prepare for winter may freeze. To a large extent, this can be facilitated by such factors as a deficit of autumn irrigation, nitrogen fertilization introduced towards the very end of summer, or too late harvesting. It was noted that those trees that did not receive proper watering during the hot season most often suffer from winter frosts.

How to identify frozen crops?

Damage from low temperatures is usually indicated by the darker color of the frozen shoots. The bark damaged by winter cold gradually begins to die off, and its color becomes bright brown or dark brown. In addition, in this case, the frozen cores of branches and trunks also turn brown.

Also, on the trunks and on large skeletal branches, frost cracks can appear in the form of pronounced longitudinal cracks - such cracks are formed as a result of day and night temperature changes, that is, during the daytime, the heated crust expands, and with the onset of night, when it contracts, the upper layers the barks are torn, which leads to the appearance of frost cracks.

As for the degree of freezing of the branches, it can be determined either by spring or at the very beginning of summer - it is necessary to cut off a three or four-year-old branch from a tree that has fallen under suspicion, which is immediately placed in water and left there for approximately four days. If the branch was taken from a tree not affected by frost, then its cut will be light green, in addition, after a while shoots will grow on it and buds will swell. If the tree still suffered from frost, then the wood on the branch will be brown (pears are generally black in color), and shoots on this branch will not appear even after several days.

How to deal with frost cracks?

It is extremely important to try to clean up all the frost holes before the start of the spring sap flow, after which they must be disinfected with copper sulfate and carefully covered with garden var.

It is quite realistic to protect the trunks with branches from frost cracks with the help of whitewashing - in the fall, it is recommended to whitewash fruit trees with a mixture of lime and mullein or clay. But in the spring, roughly in April, it makes no sense to resort to this method - it simply will not give the desired effect.

How to care for damaged trees?

Towards the end of April or at the very beginning of May, all frozen crops must be pruned. Start this pruning as soon as the damaged areas become clearly visible. The branches should be trimmed very carefully, trying to prevent the formation of too large wounds - such places are very poorly overgrown, and the risk of encountering black crayfish significantly increases in trees. And as soon as the pruning is completed, all the places of the cuts must be treated with garden varnish, and the plants themselves must be watered abundantly with water without containing any mineral fertilizers.

The trunks of trees affected by the cold should be mulched with humus - this approach will contribute not only to the preservation of moisture, but also to a much better reproduction of earthworms. In addition, the soil around the "injured" trees must be loosened and weeded quite often.

If a tree damaged by frost blooms, no more than a quarter of the fruits should be left on it - all other fruits must be removed without regret, otherwise the tree simply will not be able to properly recover.

Also, good organic fertilizers are applied under the crowns of damaged crops, and with the onset of October-November, it is necessary to carry out a full-fledged water-charging irrigation, trying to wet the soil forty centimeters deep. If it was not possible to save the tree or shrub, then it is uprooted, and a new seedling is planted in its place.