The benefits of tree maintenance during the winter months
Written with excerpts from a publication by Joseph Tree Service in Dublin, Ohio.
Shoveling, plowing, sanding…and pruning?
A common misconception is that tree maintenance cannot be done during the winter months, or that tree care companies do not operate during this time of the year.
This has led to a surge of work for commercial tree care companies in the warmer months, and consequently, sometimes longer waits for homeowners trying to get their tree work completed.
While winter weather might make tree maintenance more difficult, there are tree care procedures that can be done during the winter months that will benefit the trees in the subsequent growing season.
“The leafless dormancy period of winter allows the trained arborist to more easily identify [dead or hazardous limbs],” explains Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP and staff arborist for the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA). “Also, if the ground is frozen, then pruning activities will have a less damaging effect on the functional root zone of a tree.”
“The trees growth (including wound closure) slows significantly and does not begin again until the following spring,” adds Michael Joseph, CTSP, ISA Certified Arborist, and co-owner of Joseph Tree Service in Dublin, OH. “Research has shown that optimum would closure is achieved by pruning during the late winter and early spring, right before the flush growth of spring.”
Andersen and Joseph agree that winter tree work can help minimize potential problems stemming from pruning at the wrong time, such as destructive insects and fungal infections attacking at the spot of the wound left by pruning. Pruning during winter months allows for the healing to begin before the warmer months bring on these complications, giving the tree a much better chance of making an uninhibited recovery.
While winter tree work may appeal to the consumer trying to get ahead on their spring cleanup from the tough winter months, trees should be assessed on a case-by-case basis by a trained arborist. Improper timing of your tree’s pruning can lead to further complications, which can cause the tree to become a hazard to nearby residents rather than a beautiful piece of the landscape.
Hire a professional arborist or tree care company to evaluate your landscape and make recommendations.
Dormant Season Pruning Infographic
Definitely a smart idea to contact an arborist in winter to avoid long wait times.
Good idea to always be proactive & seek out a professional BEFORE the winter months. Not everyone is thinking that way. Thanks for the share. Good info to be aware of for sure!
This is very true and I appreciated the read. I have even seen instances of tree damage during winter due to cold temperatures as well, or even frost injury from rapid drops and fluctuations in some areas. To maintain optimal health of your trees it is always best to care for your trees during all times of the year. Great article
Very true. Everyone needs their trees worked on when it get warmer. Early bird gets the worm as they say.
Winter is my slowest time of year yet I wish everyone understood the benefits of of pruning during the winter. As a side note the frozen ground helps prevent damage to lawns from lowering down larger branches.
Usually, you can catch a break on prices in winter times as well. Your trees can be a huge investment and you can maximize their life by doing the required maintenance even in the winter. Great Article.
Always a good idea to care for your trees during the winter months, will save you time and money when summer comes.
Awesome website, just stopping through. Just like the above comments, it’s definitely a smart move to contact an arborist before the busy/warm seasons. If anyone contacts us after April or May, we’re usually already booked out several weeks or so. Great read!
I wish all my spring, summer, autumn customers would read this article. I have been telling them ever since I started the business, winter is one of the best, if not the best time to perform tree care work. And further to your point, it is a great time for an arborist to evaluate tree health. Perhaps this is a lesson to myself and my colleagues here to offer winter incentives to encourage more seasonal business during that time of year.
Good article and sage advice for us tree care professional to inform our customers about winter tree care and opportunities to save money (should we care to offer seasonal discounts).
Great article. Many people overlook taking care of their foliage and other plants during the winter.
Appreciate the advice.
-M
Great read!! Definitely more cost effective and easier on the grass. Also less cleanup/better visuals without the leaves.
Hi,
We are a tree care service company in Al. We were familiar with this type of winter pruning and were looking more into this process to apply to our treatment protocols especially for disease management. This information has added to the clarity of what we’ve researched. Thanks!
I will definitely be sharing this with all my customers up in Mass. We have a long winter up here and people have many preconceived ideas about what is possible and not during the winter.
I like how you said that tree care services can provide products to help a tree grow in the growing season after the winter has ended. We have a little apple tree on our property that we really want to get big and strong to give us some delicious apples. I’ll have to make it a priority to ensure that it keeps growing well throughout the winter and after to get it to that point sooner.
Yes, this is an excellent piece of information to share with customers not only to add value to them in maintaining a healthy property but also gives us contractors more work in the winter too! Good stuff! Thanks!
Great info-graphic showing the cause and effect of pruning trees during different seasons. Thanks for putting this together!
excellent information I must say!
I thought it was interesting how you said that pruning your trees during the winter months allows for healing to begin before the warmer months bring on complications. My father is renovating his house so that he can sell it and retire with my mother. He wants to install all new trees and grass, so it might be a good idea for him to hire a landscaping company to help him with some ground maintenance.
In addition, workers are safe during winter months when trees are bare and visibility is improved. As far as the health of your trees, winter season pruning can reduce the chance of spreading various diseases that predominantly spread during warmer spring and summer seasons, during the growing season.
Most plants are dormant during the winter, which is typically the best time to make any adjustments to their shape. You want to prune hard at end of winter or very early spring BEFORE any new growth starts! Pruning in the winter promotes fast regrowth in the spring.
Proactive tree maintenance will greatly reduce damage to trees and even your home during storm season.
Proactive tree maintenance will greatly reduce damage to trees and even your home during storm season.
Hello! May I ask who was the graphic artist for the illustration? It was absolutely the kind of thing I want for our site on our next project. Please let me know. Thanks! 🙂
You bring out the best in other people. Bradenton Tree Services
I agree about your topic benefits of tree maintenance as there are many companies offer this type of service so winter time is little tough for company like us. Bradenton Tree Services
So lucky that we don’t have winter season here in the Philippines. But I can say that the suggestions here are helpful.
Can I include this to my research about winter season in abroad?
I’m looking for this type of an article. Thanks!
I heard about this but i also have a great offer in denton texas which is affordable tree maintenance.
Hi! I like this website because i have a lot of options to choose and good info.thanks alot god blessed.Tree Service Denton
Proactive tree care will reduce damage to trees and even your home during storm season.
My brother is thinking about getting some more trees outside his home and he really wants to make sure that they will grow better. He would really like to get some help from a professional to brace them so that they will grow straight. I liked what you said about how growth stops in the winter and begins again in the spring and can help minimize problems by not pruning at wrong times.
Great read here! I’m just starting a tree service company and live in the cold Wisconsin weather. So I really appreciated the concept of how tree growth stops in the winter and begins later again in spring. That’ll be important to understand for my climate. Let’s be honest, Wisconsin gets cold early and spring always seems to come later than I’d like haha! Thanks again.
Thanks for sharing this important tips, really helpful information.
winter time snow can be very heavy on tree limbs that are not properly maintained.
very helpful information for the proper maintenance of trees. Winter poses a lot of danger and getting ahead of things is always smart.
This is a great article. We have a tree service in Nashville and consider winter time pruning season more or less. Especially with alot of our hard woods.
I’ve been maintaining my trees during winter season and it goes out that my trees are all healthy.
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There are still good reviews about my pre plant tips compared to heated gutters reviews though.
Here in northern Arizona it can get super chilly during winter season. When the snow starts to fall it often can cause dead tree limbs to fall onto cars or rooftops, this is something to consider for sure. Thank you!
Proactive tree maintenance will greatly reduce damage to trees and even your home during storm season.
I never knew tree roots stopped growing in the winter months, such a interesting & enjoyable read.
We get much slower in the winter and often are happy to take on projects. Sometimes, we’re limited to what we can do, but overall everything is generally the same and it’s easy enough to get the job done properly. You didn’t hear it from me but we can offer more competitive rates in the winter due to a lower demand.
Cool! It’s an interesting post, Thank you for sharing these great important tips and helpful information. I hope Vancouver Tree Pruning can also give you wonderful information.
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This is a great article for small business owners like myself! I really enjoy tree service industry topics as it help grow my knowledge.<a href="https://www.coralspringstreeservices.com"<tree trimming coral springs is the best local tree experts only because we constantly look to improve, thanks to these type of articles. Thank ou
Cool! It’s an interesting post, Thank you for sharing these great important tips and helpful information. This article has good information and helpful content. I love reading especially if the article has great tips
Excellentf information
What great information! Thanks for putting this together. It’s a great reminder for us to provide to our customers here in Cleveland, OH where storm damage is common in the winter due to the weight of the snow and ice on branches.
Hello, this weekend is good for me, since this time i am reading this enormous informative article here at my home. Anthony Scott Dietrich
Thanks for an awesome article! I’m in the industry myself and was happy to see your views on how tree maintenance can be done during the winter months. The benefits of winter tree care are that it’s a less stressful time for trees as they slow down their growth rate. This leaves more time for them to heal from any damage incurred during the warmer months like storms and pests coming out of hibernation. Plus, this is when our crews have some downtime 😉
A lot has changed since you wrote this post in 2015- there’s been a huge shift in demand because people want low-stress jobs so they go with rural providers who will work year round. We’ve also seen huge advancements in equipment.
I just wanted to say thanks for the wonderful blog post that you wrote about tree maintenance in winter. It is so refreshing to read what you have written because it provides invaluable information.
Tree maintenance during the winter months is crucial to keeping the tree alive and is particularly important for making things easier as spring and summer come. Specifically helpful how you explained why and when is the ideal time for pruning. Very well written article and very valuable information. Thanks for taking your time to educate us on these topics! Reading articles like this really help expand my knowledge on the topic. Thanks again!
We do a lot of work during the winter and some of our guys actually prefer it. Working with trees can be a lot easier when no leaves are present and we can spot imperfections quite easily. Thanks for the article! We always encourage people that they can get work done in the winter to avoid the rush in the summer.
Hey,
I just read your article on the benefits of tree services during the winter months. It was very informative and detailed! I know how important it is to have a well-maintained landscape in order for them to thrive. I also found it really interesting that you mention how people are so misinformed about when they can schedule these services over the winter season – this has led to more work in warmer seasons with longer wait times for homeowners trying to get their tree maintenance done. But there are procedures that can be done during this season that will benefit trees in the growing season. It’s great that you’re giving people some insights into what they need to do for their trees while they’re dormant!
I just read your article about tree maintenance during the winter months. You mentioned that there are tree care procedures that can be done during the winter months. I have to admit, this wasn’t something I had ever considered before!
We do a lot of work in the winter months for trees. We actually encourage a lot of our customers to have us back during the slower months as when the trees are dormant, we can really do a good job of pruning them and then when spring rolls around they’re in even better shape,
Thanks for posting an awesome article on the benefits of winter tree maintenance. I’m glad someone is starting to talk about it because it’s not always easy getting people to care about what happens to their trees during the harsh winter months.
I never took into account the fact that while the winter months may make tree maintenance more challenging, there are several tree care treatments that can be performed during the winter months that will benefit the trees throughout the next growing season. I wanted to trim our trees, but I lacked the necessary skills, time, and equipment. I’ve learned how to care for our trees thanks to your post, and I’m going to hire a professional tree trimming service.
Thanks for the post on tree maintenance! I’m glad to see you’re as passionate about trees as I am.