winter watering?

[GailC]

I've figured out where and how I'm going to winter my trees but winter watering has me stumped. I'm making a cold frame with straw bales then covering the trees with a little straw too. They will be up against a fence to block any wind or bad weather.
We get snow here, a lot of it. Usually at least 2 ft, often more and the average temps are in the low teens or single digits with one - two weeks of below zero. How am I supposed to water in that? Do I really need to dig through the snow to water them just so the soil can freeze into a ice block? With my regular plant in pots, I just make sure they are damp before the freeze comes then leave them alone for the winter. Watering doesn't start up until the soil has thawed, usually in march or so.

 

[Dav4]

I've figured out where and how I'm going to winter my trees but winter watering has me stumped. I'm making a cold frame with straw bales then covering the trees with a little straw too. They will be up against a fence to block any wind or bad weather.
We get snow here, a lot of it. Usually at least 2 ft, often more and the average temps are in the low teens or single digits with one - two weeks of below zero. How am I supposed to water in that? Do I really need to dig through the snow to water them just so the soil can freeze into a ice block? With my regular plant in pots, I just make sure they are damp before the freeze comes then leave them alone for the winter. Watering doesn't start up until the soil has thawed, usually in march or so.

Trees with frozen soil don't need to be watered. In MA, when I overwintered many of my trees, mulched, on the floor of my garage, they would stay frozen for 3 months and wouldn't get watered from Thanksgiving until St Patty's day. What I WOULD do, though, would be to place snow on top of the frozen mulch. When temps periodically moderated the snow would melt and keep the soil from drying out.

 

[Jester217300]

You're confused as to what the tree needs during winter.

Deciduous trees have no foliage which means no transpiration which means no movement of water. Evergreen trees stop actively photosynthesizing and require no light and only enough water to prevent anything from drying out. There is no growth in winter, all plants are dormant. If you water your trees that are buried in snow you're likely to kill some of them off. That amount of excess water around a tree encourages rot.

We protect trees from wind which dries them out and potentially causes dieback or death. We prevent the pots from drying out but don't actually water them. Your hay barrier and 2 feet of snow is a perfect winter set up. Trees are protected from wind and the snow ensures that the pots won't dry out. They need no additional water. Leave them that way and do nothing until thaw in spring.

 

[Guy Vitale]

As long as they are snow covered you would not need to water. If you go long stretches without snow, make sure you check on them weekly to make sure they are not drying out, this should not me the case though.

 

[GailC]

Thank you, I was hoping to hear this. I recently read that trees need watered every couple weeks during winter and I just could figure out why.

 

[Zach Smith]

For those of us in more temperate zones, we do need to water periodically in the absence of rain because the dry winter air tends to pull moisture from the soil by desiccation. When we get rainy then freezing weather, just as in the north the soil becomes a block of ice and requires no attention. Most of the time for me, winter is the rainy season so I rarely have to water more than once a week.

Zach

 

[just.wing.it]

Careful with the straw....
I've heard it can draw in the mice...
Mice can be bad news...
@M. Frary may have some insight into this...
I'd use some bark mulch instead...

 

[GailC]

I've used straw before outside, never any issues with mice. They are more prone to come indoors in the winter, always a fight with them.

 

[just.wing.it]

I've used straw before outside, never any issues with mice. They are more prone to come indoors in the winter, always a fight with them.

Ten4 on that!

 

[M. Frary]

It's the voles that got me. They're insidious. You don't know they're there until the snow melts. They tunnel under it and start with your best trees then work their way down.
The straw makes a nice warm insulation,coupled with a few feet of snow and healthy trees it's the perfect location for a rodent winter getaway.

 

[GailC]

Ah voles, we don't have many of those and I've only seen them out in the county. Don't they live underground? At least partially? Its the gophers that cause so much trouble here. Before I moved into this house, I lost almost everything I tried planting to gophers. Bulbs, rose bushes, forsythia, damn things ate all the roots, my shrubs ending up being nothing but sticks in the ground.
As much as I don't like living in town, not having destructive critters eating my plants has been nice. As long as the moose don't wander through again and eat my fruit trees.

 

[Waltron]

idk.. straw seems risky man. you sure you dont have voles? I bet you have deer and rabits..

 

[just.wing.it]

idk.. straw seems risky man. you sure you dont have voles? I bet you have deer and rabits..

I thought I didn't have voles, until I saw one scurry thru the garden one day...
They're sneaky sneaky sir!

 

[Dav4]

If your snow cover is reliable, I'd skip the straw. Just place the trees close to each other on the ground in an area that is protected from the sun and wind and doesn't flood.

 

[Paradox]

Thank you, I was hoping to hear this. I recently read that trees need watered every couple weeks during winter and I just could figure out why.

If you are keeping your trees inside a structure where they dont freeze solid for months like Dav4's trees did, you need to check for water.
I keep some of my trees in my garage and they dont freeze solid and I need to check and water them.
I keep the rest of my trees in a cold frame on the north side of my house. I do have a sheet of plywood that goes on top of it when I want to keep it covered. I do keep tabs on the conditions in there and I will leave the top open when it rains and definitely when it snows then cover it back up if it is going to be very cold <25 degrees. I prefer to keep tabs on them to make sure they arent drying out completely. I also keep a remote temperature sensor in there and log the daily high and low on a data sheet. This may seem a bit OCD but it eliminates some of the guesswork and worrying by knowing what the trees are doing.

As mentioned above, I would also just make sure your trees are protected by the wind and just let them get buried in snow.
If youre worried about mice, get some small mesh bags (something like these
www.amazon.com/flip-tumble-Reusable-Produce-Bags/dp/B002UXQ7QQ/ref=sr_1_28?ie=UTF8&qid=1472066367&sr=8-28&keywords=small+mesh+bags
or use old nylons and fill them with moth balls and put those around the edges of your cold frame. Do not put them in/on the pots/soil.

 

[vicn]

Snow is Mother Nature's own best insulator next to dirt, so if you can pile snow on top of your trees and keep them covered with it, you will not only keep them insulated but as the snow melts it will seep onto the trees and water them

 

[just.wing.it]

Isn't allowing the roots to freeze solid kind-of dangerous... like freezing veggies...?
The sharp ice crystals form and cut the root tissue up.
I suppose some tree's roots may be able to withstand it, some may even like it from what I read...but it freaks me out a little...
I remember last winter, I had a couple trees still in nursery soil, and they were frozen, rock solid. I remember thinking at the time, I hope this isn't the end right here...but my Mugo and Taxus are still ok.

 

[Paradox]

Isn't allowing the roots to freeze solid kind-of dangerous... like freezing veggies...?
The sharp ice crystals form and cut the root tissue up.
I suppose some tree's roots may be able to withstand it, some may even like it from what I read...but it freaks me out a little...
I remember last winter, I had a couple trees still in nursery soil, and they were frozen, rock solid. I remember thinking at the time, I hope this isn't the end right here...but my Mugo and Taxus are still ok.

If they stay frozen and you dont get dessication from the wind it should be fine. Freezing and thawing over and over isnt great either from what I understand.

 

[just.wing.it]

If they stay frozen and you dont get dessication from the wind it should be fine. Freezing and thawing over and over isnt great either from what I understand.

OK, ok.....

 

[Dav4]

Isn't allowing the roots to freeze solid kind-of dangerous... like freezing veggies...?
The sharp ice crystals form and cut the root tissue up.
I suppose some tree's roots may be able to withstand it, some may even like it from what I read...but it freaks me out a little...
I remember last winter, I had a couple trees still in nursery soil, and they were frozen, rock solid. I remember thinking at the time, I hope this isn't the end right here...but my Mugo and Taxus are still ok.

The cells of the roots, along with every other cell in a temperate tree, have sugar molecules within them that act as antifreeze. The air and the soil temps may be below freezing, but the tree itself isn't actually frozen. At least, not until the cold becomes very severe, depending on the species in question. If the liquid within a cell freezes the cell ruptures and dies...widespread freeze damage equals a dead tree.
As Paradox pointed out, the more common issue with frozen soil is the inability to transpire...the water in the soil is frozen so it can't be absorbed by the roots. Trees in frozen soil are a t a much higher risk of being desiccated/freeze dried, which is why we protect them from cold wind and sun.