Late summer and fall brings stormy weather and high winds for many areas. Ensuring that your trees can withstand the gale and come through unscathed requires little more than a bit of care before the bad weather arrives.
Remove Dead Wood
Dead wood high up in the canopy is more likely to break free and fall during stormy weather. Not only can falling dead wood damage healthy branches on its way down, it can also cause injury to anyone below. Broken branches in high winds also become projectiles, which can damage your roof or other nearby structures. Although heavy tree pruning should occur in late winter, pruning to remove dead wood is a year-round task, especially in areas with late summer storms.
Recognize Problem Branches
Sometimes new growth on a tree doesn't grow in the best manner. If you have branches that are crossing and rubbing together, the chances of one breaking from this stress is great when the wind kicks up. Another issue is new branches that grow at the wrong angle to the trunk. If the branch angle at the trunk is greater than 90 degrees or less than 45 degrees, the chances of it breaking in high winds is greater. Prune these problem branches out before the storms hit.
Guard Against Splitting
Multi-trunk trees have a real danger of splitting in high winds, especially if one trunk has more weighty branches than the other. Trees with a large branch. Larger than most of the other branches, located low in the canopy, are also susceptible to splitting. A tree trimming service can prune the tree to offset some of this weight, thus reducing the chances of splitting. They can also temporarily tie and secure the trunks or branch so that it is less likely to split or break in a storm. In the future, have trees pruned from the time they are young, so they only develop one healthy trunk.
Support New Transplants
The youngest trees in your landscape are the most susceptible to wind damage because they have yet to put down the extensive roots necessary to anchor them in place. Stake young trees before high winds arrive. A single stake, placed a about 18 inches from the trunk, works well. Use a tree tie, attached on the level to just below the canopy, to anchor the tree to the stake. One stake provides plenty of support but still allows the tree to move slightly in the wind which will encourage it to grow in thick anchor roots.
Contact a tree trimming service in your area to begin preparing your trees for storm season.