Assess, prune, prepare and plant trees before winter axes your chances

For the average gardener, fall is when you coast into winter. Things are pretty much finished up for the summer. Trees are losing their leaves (or soon will), and it would seem appropriate for humans to head into early hibernation for the colder months ahead.

Well, not so quick, couch potato. You have several very timely tree tasks that deserve your consideration. Before you shut it all down for five months, at least glance through these tips. Some may be calling your name.

Remove dead and damaged branches

Do so before they lose their leaves, so you can easily distinguish them from healthy limbs. If there is already decay in the branch, be careful in propping a ladder against it. Our area has many exceptional certified arborists who are available to do this pruning for you at a fair cost. They have the experience and equipment to do the job safely and correctly. Your nurseryman can refer you to trusted ones.

If you do your own pruning, make all cuts flush with the trunk or a healthy branch. If you leave stubs, decay will set in before the wound can heal, and you’ll risk losing the entire tree.

If the limb is larger than 3 inches in diameter, you should follow three steps for removal. Your first cut should be from below the branch, 12 to 15 inches out from the trunk. Cut 1/3 of the way up and into the branch, then back your saw out before it becomes bound by the weight of the drooping branch.

Then move back toward the trunk by 2 or 3 inches and cut completely through the branch from the top downward. As the branch begins to fall, it will strip the bark from beneath the limb, but your undercut will stop the peeling from extending down the rest of the branch and onto the trunk.

Finally, cut the short stub virtually flush with the trunk. Leave 1/4 inch of the branch collar for quickest healing.

Pruning sealants are normally not recommended. Oaks are the exception. To reduce the risk of oak wilt fungus invading the fresh cuts, apply a light coat of black pruning paint to the freshly cut branch tissue.

Assess effects of shading

If your lawn has been struggling over the summer, take this last chance to see if the trees’ canopies might be casting excessive shade. You need at least four hours of direct sunlight for St. Augustine, our most shade-tolerant lawn grass. If your lawn isn’t getting that much, make plans to correct things this winter. Either remove lower branches from the trees to allow more light to reach beneath the trees, or consider selective tree removal. You may have one or more trees that have grown together and become congested enough that they’re no longer healthy and vigorous.

If you have too much shade but tree pruning or removal aren’t good long-term options, consider ground covers that can handle the shade. Fall is a great time to plant them. Apply a glyphosate weed killer to eliminate existing grass and weeds in your new ground-cover bed. That spray must be applied before the first frost, so that it can go through vigorous leaves and stems. It will not contaminate the soil, so you can rototill organic matter, including fallen leaves, into the new bed within a couple of weeks of treatment. Mondo grass is an ideal solution for a shade bed. You can easily rake or blow leaves out of it each fall, plus it has a light, airy, grasslike texture. Fall is a great time to start it.

Root removal and pruning

If you have trees with large surface roots that are threatening pavement or foundations, October is the best month to remove them. Fall pruning allows the tree maximum time (6-7 months) to regrow other, deeper roots before the next round of summer heat. It’s best not to remove more than one or two roots per year.

Root-pruning is the act of trimming lateral roots of a tree that you intend to dig over the winter. By cutting a thin slit 12 or 14 inches deep at roughly the spot where you’ll eventually be digging the soil ball, you’ll encourage the tree to grow more roots before the midwinter transplant.

Best time to plant new trees

Fall is the best time for buying and planting new shade trees. The temperature has cooled, and humidity is higher. Stress on the transplanted tree is minimized now, and you have those 6 or 7 months until next summer for your tree to establish new roots. Nurseries have outstanding selections right now, and you can see their comparative vigor if you shop before they start dropping their leaves.

Neil Sperry publishes Gardens magazine and hosts the Texas Gardening radio show from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays on KRLD/1080 AM. Reach him during those hours at 214-787-1080.

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