DATE: Sunday, November 9, 1997              TAG: 9711080057

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER

                                            LENGTH:   65 lines

GIVE PLANTS PROTECTION AGAINST COLD

WINTER DORMANCY is nature's way of giving plants a chance of surviving, but even dormant plants can suffer severe weather injury, says horticulture specialist Curt Peterson of Michigan State University.

Winters in Michigan are much more severe than winters in this climate, but cold weather accompanied by strong winds often causes much winter damage to plants in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina.

The first and most important step in preventing winter injury is to plant only plants known to be hardy in this area. Some gardeners have an unexplainable urge to plant exotic plants, those native to other areas with less severe weather. That is asking for trouble.

If we have a mild winter, such plants may survive, but normal winters will often injure them and a severe winter will kill them.

Your plants may suffer winter injury if they go into winter with these handicaps:

Insufficient water. Although recent rains have been welcome, make sure to water all plants thoroughly before freezing weather, if nature does not do it for you. Research has shown that a plant can withstand winter's cold much better if it is well-watered before the ground freezes. Deep watering is always needed before sending plants into winter.

Inadequate nutrition. Keeping plants healthy with annual fertilization is important. As soon as leaves drop is a good time to fertilize trees.

Mechanical injury. Lawn mowers and string trimmers often injure trees and other plants. There's not much you can do about this except to prevent it happening again. Tree wound paint is not recommended.

Insect damage. Watch carefully next spring and spray or take preventive measures before new damage occurs. Trees and shrubs can often survive one season's damage, but the same damage a second season can do them in.

Plant location. Low-lying, poorly drained planting sites can contribute to injury. If you have plants in those kinds of areas, now would be a good time to move them.

Desiccation, or drying out, is a common problem with evergreens, particularly broad-leaf ones like rhododendrons, hollies and mountain laurels. Winter winds and sun rob the needles or leaves of moisture, and the plant can become desiccated, because roots cannot take up water to replace lost moisture when the soil is frozen.

To prevent this, plant evergreens in sites protected from drying winds, wrap the plants in burlap or canvas to shield them from sun and wind, or spray them now with Wilt-Pruf and spray again when there's a winter thaw, usually in late January.

If you have young fruit trees, as well as maples and other smooth-barked trees that lose their leaves, they may get ``Southwest disease.'' That is when the bark splits because the sun shines on the bark when it is frozen. Fungi and canker can then enter the tree. Wrapping the trunk in burlap or paper tree wrap will help prevent that damage.

To prevent snow damage, don't plant willow, silver maple or other quick-growing, soft-wooded trees. They are the most susceptible to snow and ice damage. Young homeowners often plant silver maples to get ``quick shade'' in a new yard. Come the first ice storm or heavy snow, they're apt to have a yard full of broken limbs.

And don't forget to mulch. Most plants do best with 3 inches of mulch. Mulching and watering are two of the best kinds of winter insurance you can give your plants.

One final thought, if there should be a late frost next spring, it will often kill the bloom buds on forsythia and flowering trees, which means you'll have few if any blooms that season. It won't be the fault of the plant, but the weather.

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