Are you anxious that the wintertime will bring more damage than usual to your trees? This article will tell you how you can decipher if your evergreens are showing damage from the cold.
Many types of evergreen trees will turn brownish or bronze in the wintertime. This change is due to sunlight and low temps. Typically, the more sun the evergreen gets, the more obvious the modification is and can go from green to purple. This change is called winter bronzing.
Close up of yellowish branches of pine tree
The bronzing is due to the drying of the needles, dulling the green color usually seen in the summer and letting the core rust, purple, or brown tones to come through. This is the same as to why leaves change color in the fall.
Is My Evergreen Alive or Dead?
Dead evergreens are brown in the usual way. Instead of a progression of colors from green to purple, dead limbs are evenly brown-orange to dark brown. Where a limb with winter bronzing is still supple and flexible and supple, a fallen branch is taunt and will break when bent.
When a single limb or piece discolors while the rest of the tree remains green, that part is dead. You can test it by scratching the bark using your fingernail. If you see green or gray bark under the brown, the branch is alive. If you see brown, it’s dead. Unhealthy green color means it’s dying.
You can safely trim off dead parts without hurting the tree. If there’s little damage, you might not notice the loss. If only the branches’ ends are dead, prune them back to the point where the branch is still alive. You might need to do some extra pruning to make them even.
If more significant parts die out, the balance of the tree is impaired. For some trees, some deep, serious pruning will let the whole tree regrow evenly. In other trees, like some needled evergreens, the loss of a part will never be able to be recovered due to the way they grow. Calling an Orchard Park tree care company and getting it replaced is your best bet.
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