If you live in the Tampa Bay Area, your winter concerns might usually be limited to whether there will be more than one week where you can’t wear sandals. While freezing temperatures might be rare, even overnight freezes can damage trees and plants. Warner Tree Service recommends you take the following steps to prepare your trees for winter.

Prune Branches

Cold snaps make branches brittle, especially when they are unhealthy or contain dead wood. If the wind kicks up, they’ll be more prone to breaking. While you can remove branches that have already started to break on their own, we recommend you hire a professional to do your pruning. Identifying which branches need to be removed and how to shape a tree so that it holds up in strong winds is a science that takes years of experience to master.

Clear Ground Cover

Even in Florida, squirrels, mice and other rodents will have their food supplies reduced during the winter. To keep them from gnawing at your trees, make the base of your trees less attractive by leaving a gap in your mulch or ground-cover plants. Just a couple of feet of space will force rodents to think twice about whether they want to be in full view of passing predators and lead them to look for safe food sources first.

Apply Fertilizer

Apply fertilizer in late October or November once temperatures have started to drop and tree growth has slowed. It will sink into the ground and provide the trees’ roots with nutrients to get them through the winter. Extra nutrients will also be stored to give your trees a healthy growth spurt when it starts to warm up again.

Watch Out for Salt

This probably won’t be an issue without snow, but be aware that salt can damage evergreens. If you have a path or road you salt to prevent icing, be sure to stay well clear of your trees or install a protective barrier to block salt from hitting them or their main roots.

Keep Your Trees Healthy Year-Round

The main key to making sure your trees make it through any kind of harsh weather is to always keep them healthy. Plant trees that are right for you yard’s soil type and sunlight exposure. Make sure they get enough water, and keep animals and children from picking at their bark or breaking branches. If a tree looks unhealthy, have a professional look at it right away to get it back to full health before bad weather arrives.

Want to make sure your trees are ready for the winter? Contact Warner Tree Service for a free estimate. You can also call us any time you have a question about how to care for your trees.