Thoughts on winter storage

[bonsailevel:master]

I got tired of dragging trees in and out of my garage last winter so I covered with leaves some of the ones that wouldn't cause me to have a complete breakdown over if I lost them. To my relief everything did fine. So this year I'm doing the same with ALL of my trees. I live in Southern Indiana. Anybody out there living in a climate as cold if not colder that does this or similar? Any thoughts that would put my mind at ease would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[lehigh4me]

I live in Iowa 5a, I am going to try the same thing with several Japanese Maples. Will be keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[yashu]

The biggest thing with burying them in leaves is to make sure you can keep the rodents away. I bring almost all of my trees into the garage now when the serious cold hits. I’ve lost many to girdling but mice when buried in leaves or other loose media. Mulching in seems more secure, maybe the rodents have a tougher time getting through it.

 

[Lorax7]

I’ve been keeping my temperate tree species outside, packed in close together, mulched in, on the north side of a building since 2017, with few losses. I try to wait until after we’ve had a couple of hard freezes before taking the trees off the benches and putting them on the ground (to discourage rodents from factoring the location of my trees into their decisions about where to set up their winter quarters). In recent years I’ve taken to wrapping the trunks of my deciduous trees with copper mesh to prevent rodents (mainly the bunnies) from chewing on them. I don’t bother doing that with the evergreens, as the rabbits have thus far left them alone. After I put the trees on the ground and add the mulch, I water everything thoroughly. I think getting the mulch thoroughly wet helps discourage mice from hanging out in the storage area, presumably because they’d rather not be cold and wet. I’m in 6a, according to the new USDA maps (was 5b before).

FYI, you can find a wealth of information about overwintering (and other topics) by using the site’s search function, as this has been much discussed

 

[Kahless]

I'm in 4b and this looks just like my cold storage, except I use mulch instead of leaves.

 

[Dav4]

I'm in 4b and this looks just like my cold storage, except I use mulch instead of leaves.

Wood chip mulch is much better than leaves for a winter mulch as it stays more evenly moist and is a more effective heat sink to moderate swings in temperature at the root zone.

 

[andrewiles]

In the wet and mild PNW, zone 8, there can be bacterial issues with leaf mulching for some trees, like japanese maples. Might not be an issue in your climate. Here's a post from Michael Hagedorn commenting on it. Near the bottom he mentions it's best to keeping maples as dry as possible, and the trunks/branches away from leaf litter.

 

[bonsailevel:master]

In the wet and mild PNW, zone 8, there can be bacterial issues with leaf mulching for some trees, like japanese maples. Might not be an issue in your climate. Here's a post from Michael Hagedorn commenting on it. Near the bottom he mentions it's best to keeping maples as dry as possible, and the trunks/branches away from leaf litter.

Definitely something to consider, thank you.

 

[Eckhoffw]

I also use cedar chips/mulch to cover my trees on the ground in the winter.
I have had issues with rabbits/bunnies.
Has anyone Add success, using shaved soap as a deterrent? I’ve heard a Number of times people use Irish Spring bars.

 

[Lorax7]

I also use cedar chips/mulch to cover my trees on the ground in the winter.
I have had issues with rabbits/bunnies.
Has anyone Add success, using shaved soap as a deterrent? I’ve heard a Number of times people use Irish Spring bars.

I’ve heard of the Irish Spring soap trick, but haven’t tried it yet. I have tried a commercial repellent that contains coyote and fox urine and have found that it is very effective but for a limited time. It tends to be washed away when it rains and needs to be re-applied afterward. But, for the time between application and the next rain, the bunnies stay the hell away.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

I also use cedar chips/mulch to cover my trees on the ground in the winter.
I have had issues with rabbits/bunnies.
Has anyone Add success, using shaved soap as a deterrent? I’ve heard a Number of times people use Irish Spring bars.

We just use netting around the in the mulched (with bark chips) in bonsai. Only issue is setting up the perimeter and wiring the netting to the posts. Has seemed to work well.

cheers
DSD sends.