Winter has officially arrived in the Northeast. With temperatures hitting low single digits it looks like it is here to stay. If you have fruit trees or are considering getting some don’t think just because it’s winter your tree work is over! Having backyard fruit trees is a wonderful blessing but it’s not all picking fruit in the summer sun, there is work involved even in the winter!
Depending on how many trees and their age your winter maintenance can take a twenty minutes or if you’re like me it takes you all weekend (younger and fewer trees can take minutes a tree while the larger, mature trees can take an hour or more). Either way doing a little work this winter will help your trees come summertime!
Protection from critters and pruning are the top two winter priorities for your trees. Critter protection from field mice, rabbits, squirrels, moles, voles, etc is a big priority as these small animals can girdle or eat the bark off your trees. Getting your fruit tree protected before winter hits is important. Small rodents and critters usually have plenty to eat during summer and into fall but as the weather turns cold and food sources dry up these critters turn to your fruit tree bark for food.
Girdled fruit trees is essentially a death sentence. The best you can hope for is your trees are left severely damaged and fight thru another another year or two but never recover back to full strength.
Bark protection is simple but does take time and resources. I prefer to use 1-2 feet tall galvanized hardware cloth with 1/4″ or 1/2″ square openings to wrap my trees bark. These can be found at your local hardware or farm supply store. I like to buy an entire roll and cut to length with tin snips. Do it this way and you can protect an entire backyard orchard for under $20. I use plastic zip ties because I remove the hardware cloth once spring arrives. If you are more apt to keep your protection in place permanently then you can use a wire as zip ties typically get brittle in the sun after a while.
Have any questions about keeping your fruit trees safe from critters this winter? We love to hear from your, leave a comment below or email directly at northeastedible@gmail.com. Stay tuned next week when we discuss the other essential winter fruit tree maintenance item: dormant pruning. Remember a little work in your orchard this winter will set your fruit trees up for success next season!