You may be familiar with the sight: we just got several inches of snow, and now your Arborvitae are dropping, bending, and splaying outward. Maybe your young Birch is leaning so far that the tips of the branches are lying on the ground, under several inches of snow. Do not fret! Your tree can recover, but you need to take action. Put on your puffiest coat, put up your hood, and go shake the snow off your trees. Removing the weight causing your trees to bend early is important. If that snow load is left for days or weeks, the branches can set in that bent formation, and it may not be able to be fixed.
In Spring, if your trees are still dropping or splaying, there are still options to improve their structures. Splaying or leaning Arborvitae branches can be tied together using a product called Arbortie. This is a flat, wide, UV-resistant tie that provides a bit of stretch so your trees can still move in the wind. If some branches are beyond fixing with tie, we will use a combination of pruning branches and tying them together to improve the look of your Arborvitae.
With Birches, it may take more time to correct for splayed trunks. Our arborists may consider installing a dynamic cable to prevent how much the young trunks lean and bend. Dynamic are designed to reduce the movement between trunks (and thus reduce splaying), while still allowing for small movements due to wind. It is important that young trees still experience some wind loading while they grow, because this helps develop strength in their trunks. Dynamic cables have a lifespan of 5-7 years, depending on conditions, and Tree Health Management offers free cable inspections every three years when we install your cables for you.
If your trees have suffered damage from snow loads, contact Tree Health Management to schedule an assessment.