How to Prepare Your Trees for Winter Storms
Every winter we get the same calls. A big branch has come down on a car, a fence panel has been flattened, or a tree has dropped onto a shed roof overnight. Sometimes it is genuinely bad luck, but most of the time the warning signs were there months before the wind picked up.
November is a good time to have a proper look at the trees around your home. The leaves are mostly down, so you can see the shape of the tree and the condition of the branches far more clearly than you can in summer.
What to look for
You do not need to be an expert to spot the obvious problems. Walk round your trees and look for:
- Dead branches. They will have no buds, the bark is often flaking off, and they snap rather than bend. These are the first things to come down in a gale.
- Cracks and splits, especially where two main stems meet in a tight V shape. That joint can be weak and may tear apart in a strong wind.
- Fungus at the base of the tree or on the trunk. Brackets and mushrooms can be a sign of decay inside.
- A tree that has started to lean, or soil that has lifted or cracked on one side of the base.
- Branches over the house, the driveway, power lines or a neighbour’s garden. Even a healthy branch can cause a lot of damage if it is in the wrong place.
What you can do yourself
Small dead twigs and low branches you can reach from the ground with a pruning saw are fine to deal with yourself. Clear gutters, tie down anything loose in the garden and move the car if there is a branch you are not happy about when a storm is forecast.
Anything that needs a ladder, a chainsaw or someone off the ground is a job for a professional. Cutting at height is where most DIY tree accidents happen, and a branch that is already damaged can behave unpredictably when it is cut.
What we would normally do
On a typical pre-winter visit we remove deadwood, take weight off any long or heavy limbs, and sometimes carry out a light crown reduction so the tree catches less wind. If a tree is beyond saving or genuinely dangerous, we will tell you straight and talk through removal. We would rather you spent a little now than a lot after a storm.
Questions we get asked
Is it safe to cut back trees in winter?
Yes. For most trees, late autumn and winter is a good time for work because the tree is dormant. There are a few exceptions, such as cherries and plums, which we prefer to prune in summer.
Will my insurance cover storm damage from my tree?
It depends on your policy and whether the tree was looked after. Insurers can be less helpful if a tree was obviously dead or dangerous and nothing was done about it, so it is worth keeping a record of any work you have had carried out.
Do I need permission to cut back my tree?
Usually not, but if the tree has a Tree Preservation Order or you live in a conservation area you will need consent first. We cover this in more detail in our post on whether you need permission to cut down a tree in Staffordshire.
Get your trees checked before the weather turns
M Bissell Trees and Hedges covers Stafford, Cannock, Penkridge and the surrounding villages. All of our team are NPTC qualified and fully insured, and we take every bit of waste away with us. If you have a tree you are worried about, call Matt on 07968 421 434 or the Stafford office on 01785 82 44 10, or send us a message for a free quote.