Save Yourself a Big Home Improvement Bill
I just added this super important winter task to my weekly to-do list: thin the tree lines.
Winter is the perfect time to remove small trees (called saplings) and invasive or unwanted woody plants from your property.
Here's why:
It's much easier to see woody plants that "don't belong" after all of the leaves have fallen
Moving any wood you cut is easier without all the leaves attached too
Dry, aged wood is easier to burn or put through a woodchipper, making it easier to turn into garden amendments come spring
Any perennials you might walk on are protected by the frozen ground
By thinning the borders of your property once a year, you can save yourself a BOATLOAD OF MONEY in the future.
If you’ve ever had to pay to have a large tree removed, you know the pain.
Young trees can grow to create a problem in a shorter amount of time than you think. If you didn't plant it on purpose, and it's not a large established tree, then it's a weed.
These "weeds" often grow at odd angles (like toward your house or over your driveway) because they are reaching for the light, which is blocked by the taller mature trees.
Every year that they get bigger, they will be harder to remove, until eventually it becomes a problem that WILL cost you money, by felling or by falling. It’s also possible that these “weed trees” will negatively affect the health of your larger, more established trees by crowding around them, potentially rubbing up against them, and creating open wounds in their bark where disease can get in.
A few winters ago, we had to spend a good chunk of change to clean up trees along our property line that were leaning toward our house, over our fence and driveway. This could have been prevented if the smaller sapplings had just been removed yearly when they were very small. It also would have allowed us to keep some of the larger more desireable trees, which all had to be taken down at the same time.
Now I make sure to set aside a warm winter afternoon to clean up any small trees that I don't want to let grow-up.
If you walk your border once a year, you can easily remove young saplings yourself with a pair of loppers.
It’s also a good time to decide what trees I want to allow to grow up, if any. Not every tree needs to be intentionally planted, it can also be intentionally tended. Just be sure you’ve properly identified any tree you choose to let grow up, and have researched its characteristics so you know it will be a good fit for the location it’s growing in. Consider its proximity to buildings, power lines and roads and it’s mature height, width and habit.
Use your own best judgement when deciding what you can cut yourself and what you should hire a professional for. My personal rule of thumb is if I can cut it with my biggest pair of loppers and carry it by myself, it is fair game.
If you DO find you need to hire a tree removal service, winter can also be a good time for that, for all the same reasons listed above.
Note that this time of year is for removing unwanted woody plants, NOT for pruning. Pruning a tree you intend to keep in the dead of winter (when it has no resources to heal the cut you make) will very likely result in that tree’s slow and painful death. Use this time of year to kill, not to care for. Overcrowed saplings, bittersweet, invasive shrubs like autumn olive and burning bush, are all good candidates for January removal.
Use it as an excuse to get outside on a warmer sunny day in the dead of winter, and save spring for funner stuff ;)
Check out the video below to see just how easy it can be:
