Winter Tree Care in Omaha: How to Protect Your Trees Through a Nebraska Winter

If you've lived in Omaha for more than one winter, you know it's not just the cold that gets you. It's the wind. The dry air. The weeks with barely any snow on the ground, followed by an ice storm out of nowhere. Your trees feel all of it too.

Every spring, we get calls from homeowners asking why their arborvitae or spruce suddenly turned brown. More often than not, the answer is winter desiccation. That's a fancy way of saying the tree dried out over the winter. The good news? You can prevent most of it with a little prep this fall. Here's what we'd do if these were our own trees.

1. Give them a good, deep drink

If you only do one thing on this list, make it this one. On those dry, windy Nebraska days, trees keep losing water through their needles, bark and buds. But once the ground freezes, the roots can't pull any more in. Evergreens like arborvitae, yews, junipers, spruce and pine have it the worst.

• Keep watering slowly and deeply right up until the ground freezes.
• Don't just hose down the trunk. Soak the whole area out to the edge of the branches (the drip line).
• Get a dry spell in January? Pull the hose out on a day above 40°F and water early so it soaks in before dark.
• Anything you planted in the last two or three years needs this the most.

2. Tuck the roots in with mulch

Think of mulch as a cozy blanket for the roots. It keeps the soil temperature steadier, holds in moisture and cuts down on the freeze-thaw swings that can heave and tear tiny roots.

• Spread 2–4 inches of shredded bark or wood chips in a wide ring around the tree.
• Leave a 3–6 inch gap around the trunk. We know the "mulch volcano" look is popular, but piling mulch against the bark invites rot, disease and critters.
• Go as wide as you can. Out to the drip line is the dream.

3. Bundle up young trees

Here's a weird one. On a sunny February afternoon, the south side of a tree trunk can warm up enough to "wake up" the cells under the bark. Then the sun drops, the temperature crashes, and those cells freeze and die. That's sunscald, and sometimes it leaves a long crack running down the trunk.

Young trees and thin-barked trees take it the hardest. Think maples, lindens, fruit trees, honeylocust and birch.

• Wrap the trunk with light-colored tree wrap or a white plastic guard, from the ground up to the first branches.
• Put it on in late fall and take it off in early spring. Left on all year, it traps moisture and gives bugs a place to hang out.
• Skip the wire or string. Anything tight can choke the trunk as it grows.

4. Keep the bunnies (and deer) at bay

They're cute until they eat your trees. When food gets scarce, rabbits and voles go after tender bark, and they can chew all the way around a young trunk. That kills the tree. Deer nibble branches and rub their antlers on trunks, too.

• Put a cylinder of hardware cloth (¼-inch mesh) around young trunks. Bury the bottom a couple of inches and make it taller than your typical snow pile.
• Pull mulch back from the trunk so voles don't have a cozy hiding spot.
• For deer, fencing or tall cages work best. If you use repellents, switch them up through the season so the deer don't get used to them.

5. Get ahead of ice storms

We've all seen it: one Omaha ice storm, and the next morning there are branches all over the neighborhood. Ice can make a branch many times heavier than normal, and the weak, dead or poorly attached limbs go first. Usually right onto a roof, a car or a power line.

• Have dead, cracked or crossing branches taken out before the storms roll in. Winter is actually a great time to prune most trees.
• Got a tree with a split trunk or a tight V-shaped fork? Ask us about cabling or bracing.
• Loosely tie up upright evergreens like arborvitae so heavy snow doesn't splay them open.
• After a snowfall, gently brush snow off low branches with an upward sweep of a broom. But leave the ice alone! Knocking it off breaks more branches than it saves.

6. Watch out for salt and wind

The salt that keeps Omaha's streets and your driveway safe isn't doing your trees any favors. It splashes onto branches and soaks into the soil, where it pulls water away from the roots. Pair that with our drying winter wind, and you'll see browned needles and scorched leaf edges come spring.

• Near trees, try calcium magnesium acetate or sand instead of regular rock salt.
• Don't pile salty snow from the driveway or sidewalk on top of tree roots.
• Put up a burlap screen on the street side of your evergreens to block salt spray and wind. Leave a few inches between the burlap and the branches.
• Come spring, give salty soil a deep watering to flush it out.

We're here to help

Not sure which of your trees need some extra love this winter? That's what we're here for. We'd be happy to swing by, walk your yard with you and take a look. From winter pruning to cabling and bracing, we'll help get your trees ready for whatever a Nebraska winter throws at them.

Give Arbor Aesthetics a call 402-408-5600 to set up a visit or go to https://arboraesthetics.com/contact/. Your trees will thank you come spring.

Sources

• Nebraska Extension: Preparing Trees for Winter
• Nebraska Extension: Anti-Transpirants Help Prevent Winter Drying Damage
• WOWT: Nebraska's dry winter, windy spring take a toll on landscaping