Fall Shrub & Evergreen Care

[ez2luvlawn]

What is recommended for fall evergreen and shrub care. I am wondering what I should supplement my small young evergreen shrubs with now in preparing them for a harsh Mn winter. It seems like Mn winters seem to be very hard on evergreen shrubs and I see allot of them being brown and dead in the spring with large brown patches showing. I have heard this is from winter burn and wind chill kill.
What should I feed with right now? Should I wrap the shrubs with some type of protective blanket for the winter months? I am trying to be proactive so I don't end up replacing many of them in the spring.

[MorpheusPA]

Feeding too heavily right now is bad, although organics are always OK. If you want to feed, the cycle would be April to August or so.

The brown's frequently caused by dessication--the soil freezes, but the plant gets the occasional period above freezing and is slightly active. Heavy mulching helps this, and I use 3" of hardwood mulch on mine with compost as well. You can also spray with Wilt-Pruf, but that should wait until temperatures drop.

To prep for winter, before ground freeze water the shrubs thoroughly as well to make sure enough water is available, and also to slow down the freezing cycle a little. You can also wrap the shrubs in burlap if you want (use posts, don't wrap the shrub directly) and that'll help protect from colder winds.

As they mature, everything you do is less necessary. Mine are age 3 and going through the winter (in PA) just fine with no damage.

[texasweed]

Ground freezing that is just so foreign to me.

[marktrot1]

Morph is right on. Mulch mulch mulch is a life saver literally for evergreens when young.

I have lost many small pine and spruce to desiccation. The ground freezes below the root zone and the tree literally dries out because it cannot get moisture.

A good deep watering before your ground really freezes will help also. Any protection from drying winter winds also; like burlap or a snow fence.... or shoveling a snow wall around them after the first big snow like i do....

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[MorpheusPA]

What big snow? For us last year, that was 3".

But yes, snow can be Poor Man's Mulch, and piling it on around the bushes (never on them) really helps.

[marktrot1]

Oh definitely not on them.... i have some privets that get the heavy snow load all winter...they are crushed each year and come back like crazy in summer. An evergreen would not recover as quickly from being crushed.

Our winter was no bueno also. Our big snow came in March with just over two feet. Most were 6-10" snows...no bueno

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