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Hi. This is Rosie Lerner, Purdue Extension Consumer Horticulturist.
My colleagues and I would like to make you aware and
explain some of the effects of the brutal winter of 2014 on your woody landscape plans.
The extreme cold coupled with unrelenting winds and the large amounts of
salt that were applied to roads, sidewalks and parking lots
are taking their toll on landscape plants this spring.
As plants awaken from their winter slumber,
branches that exhibit dieback or plants that fail to flower or leaf out may be observed.
We are seeing considerable damage this year and we expect to see more of it later on this summer.
While it's difficult to determine the extent of winter injury until they actually break bud,
now is that time for homeowners and green industry professionals to
evaluate their plants for damage and see what corrective measures might be needed.
Plants are at their hardiest during winter dormancy,
unfortunately that happens to be when the extreme cold temperatures occur.
Plants that are adaptive to the local area and that went into winter in good condition
should have experienced relatively little damage.
But plants that were stressed due to other factors such as disease, insects, pests or the extreme drought
of 2012, these plants were especially vulnerable to the extremes of this past winter.
Some plants that are marginally hardly in our area may have previously survived in winters
that were relatively mild but this year these plants could die or sustain significant damage
including dieback all the way to the ground as a result of the harsh winter.
Although plants are dormant during the winter months
the plant tissue is still subject to losing too much water.
A condition called desiccation.
Especially from frigid temperatures coupled with strong winds.
Evergreens, especially broad leaf evergreens such as Rhododendron, Mahonia, box wood and holly
are the most susceptible because they have greater leaf surface through which they lose water
compared to deciduous plants which drop their leaves as they prepare for dormancy.
This year's unusually heavy and consistent snow cover actually did provide
very good insulation and so most plants went into winter with
good moisture supply and this extra insulation from snow cover.
But when the ground is frozen solid and there's subfreezing temperatures
for an extended period of time, accompanied by these high winds
the plants continue to lose moisture without being able to replenish the supply.
The result is desiccation which is also commonly called winter-burn.
And this looks just like the plant tissue has been scorched.
Plants such as yew or taxus could also be damaged from de-icing salts
that were frequently applied this winter to roadways, sidewalks and parking lots.
So the plants that are along these salted surfaces may show damage
that looks a lot like drought symptoms or damage to the root system.
If you suspect a salt build up, additional watering deletes the salt out of the root zone
can help reduce these toxic concentrations and improve growing conditions.
We recommend delaying and using conservative pruning practices this spring.
so that the total of winter injury can be accurately assessed.
Cutting into live green tissue at this time could cause further damage
and may also remove new shoots and leaves that are going to be critical for recovery
especially if there's been a lot of dieback.
Dead branches can be removed any time.
But be aware that many plants have been very slow and late to break out of dormancy this year.
You can always prune more later as needed, but be conservative now.
We advise home-owners and green industry professionals to not over-react
to the damage by applying too much fertilizer either too early or in excessive amounts.
People have their heart in the right place, they want to help their plants
but it takes a lot of energy away from the plants to process this additional nutrition
and this could further delay recovery of the plants.
We want to make sure you realize that hope is not lost because the good news is
most of your plants should have remained unscathed this spring and
many that were damaged can still make a pretty good recovery.
There may still be some plants that have just completely died but
usually those are the ones that went into winter in relatively poor health to begin with.
If you would like assistance in assessing the health of your plants
you can submit a sample for diagnosis by the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory.
There is a nominal charge.
If you'd like additional information on winter injuries of ornamentals
we do have an article for you to read, just come and visit our website.
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