12-12-11

LIVE CHRISTMAS TREE CARE AND HANDLING

            Each year after Christmas I get phone calls from folks who have bought or have been given a live Christmas tree and want to know how to handle the tree so that it will survive and grow in their yard.  The following article by Connie Smith, an OSU Extension program assistant in Fairfield County answers the basic questions and provides good guidelines for the care and handling of live Christmas trees.

Live Balled and Burlap Christmas Trees Need Special Care

          Before purchasing a live tree that can be planted outside after Christmas, you should know that you need to give the tree special care for it to survive. First, decide where you’re going to put the tree. This depends upon the tree species that you buy.  Pines, spruces and firs can all reach a good size and need a big area to grow. Not giving a tree enough space for its mature size probably is the biggest mistake people make when locating a tree.

          The next step is critical: dig the hole as soon as you get the tree. Don’t wait until after Christmas because the ground might freeze.  Mix the soil that you dig out of the hole with organic matter (compost, peat moss, etc.) and place it where it won’t freeze. If it’s outside, cover it so it won’t be wet when you plant the tree.

          It’s important to understand that the tree can stay inside your house for no more than one week. Ten days is stretching it, but it sometimes works. If you keep it inside the warm house too long, it may break bud and start growing, which isn’t a good thing when you take it outside in the cold.

          The next step is to acclimate the tree to your indoor temperature before taking it into the house. About a week before you move it inside, place the tree where the temperature is between outdoor temperatures and the house temperature. An unheated garage or building usually is a good place.  After being there for one week, it can be moved inside the house. Reverse the process when you take the tree outside.  The exception to this process comes when outdoor temperatures are moderate (around 50 degrees for a week); just in case we get warmer weather following Christmas. The main thing to remember is that you don’t want to go from cold to a warm house and vice versa.

         Put the tree in the coolest area of the house, if possible. As with cut trees, keep it away from heat vents and fireplaces. Also keep it away from a south window because when the sun comes out it also will heat this area. The tree can be put in a shallow pan while in the house. Keep moisture in the pan to prevent the root ball from drying. It’s easy for the soil to dry out in warm temperatures.

          After Christmas and a week in the garage, plant the tree. The hole should have been dug earlier and the backfill soil should be easy to use.  The final and most important step is to water the tree. It may sound crazy to do this in the middle of winter, but the tree roots need moisture to become established. They won’t grow much during the winter, but you don’t want the root ball to dry out. A thorough soaking is a must. If it’s going to rain or snow, that should suffice.

          A live tree is more work than a cut tree, but the results are worth it. A living Christmas tree is a great way to plant holiday memories.

WINTER HOUSE PLANT CARE

            House plants add color and life to the house during the winter months and they can even help to improve the air quality in a home.  However house plants also require proper lighting, temperature, humidity and moisture to stay healthy.  Winter is often a time when house plant problems can appear.  Here are a few tips to keep your house plants healthy:

• Do not over water.  This is probably the number one mistake made with the care of houseplants.  Over watering leads to saturated soils and potentially to root rot or root dieback.  Rather than water on a schedule, adjust watering to the plants need.  Allow the surface and top one inch of the soil to dry before watering.
• Do not over fertilize.  Most plants have a strong photoperiod response.  That means that they are in tune with the amount of daylight they receive.  During the winter months plants tend to grow slower or even stop their growth due to short day lengths.  Plants do not need fertilizer when they are not growing.  In spring as the hours of daylight increases and plants begin more vigorous growth, fertilizer can once again be supplied.
• Check plants frequently for insect pests.  Some of the more common insect problems that can develop during the winter months include spider mites, mealy bugs, scale and aphids.

          Symptoms of spider mites include: Yellowed leaves with tiny speckling; leaves later bronzed and possibly drying and typically very fine webbing is noted on the plant, especially near growing points.  Symptoms of scale, mealy bugs and aphids include: Leaves covered with a sticky substance; dark mold growing on leaves; tiny brown or white objects seen on leaves or in crotches of branches (scale and mealy bugs, aphids can have a range of colors); leaf drop or branch dieback and leaf or growing point distortion.

            If the insect problem is caught while the numbers are small, control options include washing the plants off in the shower (wrap the pot in plastic so that the soil does not become saturated), treating the plant with an insecticidal soap on both the upper and lower leave surface, or using a botanical insecticide such as neem.  If the infestation is very heavy, the wisest course of action may be to discard the plant.

            For more information about house plant care, contact the Athens County Extension office at 593-855.

11-28-11

PRUNING DO’S AND DON’TS

            Occasionally at this time of year I get questions from gardeners wondering if they can prune their fruit trees or other landscape plants before the onset of winter.  For most of our landscape trees and shrubs and especially fruit trees, the answer is; don’t prune in the late fall through mid-winter period.  The reason for this advice is because each pruning cut results in exposed tissue that is susceptible to dieback if exposed to cold temperatures, particularly any sub-zero temperatures.  Therefore the general rule of thumb is delay the start of dormant pruning until late winter, after the threat of sub-zero temperatures is minimal.

            On the other hand, a gardener could do some pruning on brambles at this time of year.  Any fall or everbearing raspberries can be pruned off to soil level.  The same is true for any of the primocane bearing blackberry varieties.  For those summer bearing raspberry and blackberries, prune out all those canes (floricanes) that bore fruit this past summer.  They will not bear fruit again and can be cut off at soil level.  This will leave you with the vegetative canes (primocanes) that grew up during the spring and summer months.  These are canes that will be thinned and headed back in the spring of the year.

WRAP YOUNG TREES FOR WINTER PROTECTION

            Late November is a good time to protect young and thin-barked trees from sunscald.  Sunscald is associated with winter injury and causes areas of cracked and dead bark that may result in elongated sunken, dried and dead areas on the tree.  In some instances these openings in the bark provide an entry way for other disease organisms.  Sunscald injury is most often seen on trees that have a south or southwest exposure.  On cold winter days, the sun can warm up the bark enough so that some cambium activity is stimulated in the tree, including some water movement.  Once the sun begins to decline in the sky or clouds move in the temperature in the bark rapidly drops, tissue is killed, and bark can be split.  This is most likely to occur on young trees and thin barked trees.  Older, mature trees have a thick bark that insulates dormant tissue against temperature extremes, ensuring that the cambium layer remains cold hardy and dormant on sunny winter days.

          Sun scald can be prevented by wrapping the trunk with a commercial tree wrap, plastic tree guards, or any other light-colored material. The wrap will reflect the sun and keep the bark at a more constant temperature. Put the wrap on in the fall after the tree is dormant, so late November is a good time in the Athens area, and then remove the wrap in the spring after the last frost. Newly planted trees should be wrapped for at least two winters and thin-barked species for up to five winters or more.