Winter burn on evergreen leaves occurs when the soil freezes and the wind is blowing across the leaf surface. The leaf can’t take up sufficient moisture to replace the moisture that is dried out of the leaf.
The result is a yellowish-brown color to the leaves with those severely damaged ones falling off in the spring.
An anti-dessicant helps to sort of seal the plant’s leaves, preventing them from losing moisture. Be sure to spray this on the leaf surface on a day when temperatures are above freezing.
The other options are to either wrap the plant with burlap or place a chicken wire cage around the plant and fill the cage with straw.
The best option is my preferred one and that is to plant these plants in the right location in the first place! These should be placed in a protected area of the landscape and then wouldn’t need this extra protection.
Rodent feeding was horrendous last winter and our landscape suffered tremendous damage from rabbits.
Remember when we had the long period of snow cover in January and February? The rabbits couldn’t get to their natural food and turned to my tender-barked trees, causing quite a bit of damage.
I learned the hard way and now have taken the steps to prevent this from occurring. Of course, it may not be necessary if we don’t have the same snow cover but I am not going to take the chance!
I planted five different varieties of Japanese maples in my landscape this summer and I don’t want to risk losing these.
They are very unique (and expensive) varieties and are small and very tender.
There are different ways to protect from rabbit feeding. There are some sprays and powders that can be placed on the bark and around the plant. I would not use these as they need to be applied on a regular basis.
You can use black drainage tile that you cut down one side and slip around the trunk of the plant. Remember, rabbits tend to feed on young tender plants so anything larger than this tile probably won’t need protected.
There are also pre-made wraps that can be used. Just remember to remove these in the spring.
I just use the chicken-wire cage and around the new Japanese maples, an added winter protection of straw filling the cage.
Pam Bennett is an Ohio State University Extension horticulture educator and the state Master Gardener volunteer coordinator. She can be contacted at bennett.27@cfaes.osu.edu
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