Questions?
E-Mail
Forestry Division
If
possible, take a couple of digital photos of your tree or shrub
and include them with your questions. One photo should be a close
up of the problem area. The second photo should be of the entire
tree if possible.
Drop Off Sites for Leaves,
Yard Waste, and Branches:
- The Satellite
drop-off location at the Waste Transfer Station, at 220 North
College Drive, is likely to be the most convenient location
for people who wish to drop off their leaves during the week.
This facility is open Monday through Friday 7:00 A.M. to 4:30
P.M. and Saturday 7:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. These hours remain
the same all year round. There are two piles established in
the parking lot for dropping wastes. One is for tree limbs,
and the other for leaves and grass. All materials collected
at this location are transported to the Compost Facility for
recycling. There is no cost to private citizens for use of this
drop-location.
- The Compost
Facility, on Windmill Road across from Prairie View Golf Course
maintains the most convenient hours on the weekends. Leaves
are to be put in the same pile as the grass clippings. The Compost
Facility hours are displayed on the
City of Cheyenne Website. Materials accepted includes:
all garden and yard waste, including, but NOT limited to: pumpkins,
gourds, corn stocks, leaves, garden cuttings, grass, limbs,
etc.
For information concerning the Compost Facility please call
(307) 637-6440.
- DO NOT
rake leaves, yard and garden waste into the street or along
the curb. Yard debris can clog storm sewers causing severe storm
drainage problems.
Protecting
Young Tree Trunks from Winter Sunscald Damage
Sunscald
damage on southwest side of chokecherry tree
Photo:
Dave Waterhouse
The winter
sun is lower in the southern sky. The lower angle of the sun can
directly heat the south and southwest side of a tree trunk during
a sunny winter day. Subsequent nighttime temperatures, often well
below freezing, can cause cell damage on the south and southwest
side of young thin barked deciduous trees or deciduous trees that
have damaged bark on the sunny side of the trunk. Cell damage
can cause cracks in the bark extending inward to the interior
wood of the tree. This damaged area can be a portal for insect
and disease attack. This type of sun damage is called sunscald,
frost cracks, or southwest disease, all referring to the damaged
cells on the sunny side of the tree trunk.
Several types
of temporary trunk protection are available. A sheath made of
plastic that is installed around the tree trunk, burlap, and paper
tree trunk wrap specifically designed for wrapping tree trunks
can be found in Garden Centers. If you use paper or burlap trunk
wrap install it on the tree in mid-October and remove it in mid-May
every year for several years until the bark is mature enough to
endure the intense southern sunlight in winter.
The tree trunk may be damaged if the wrap, in contact with the
bark, is not removed each growing season. As the tree trunk increases
in girth it will not stretch the wrap, the bark will begin to
grow around it.
If you are using the burlap or paper tree trunk
wrap begin wrapping at the bottom of the tree trunk, overlap the
wrap and keep it tight going up to the lowest branches on the
tree. Use electrical tape to secure the top end of the wrap, the
bottom portion of the wrap, and in the middle of the wrapped trunk.
To properly secure the electrical tape, go around the trunk a
few times so the electrical tape is adhering to the electrical
tape. All maple trees including boxelder maple and Canada red
cherry (chokecherry) trees are very susceptible to sunscald damage.
These two tree types will need to be wrapped each year for several
years
Another way
to supply shade would be to put in 2 or 3 stakes (e.g. rebar,
t-posts, or small diameter wood), the height of the trunk and
two to three feet from the trunk. A material such as wood lathe
or a fine mesh fabric could be put between the posts. The screen
material would need to be able to survive the sun and the wind
exposure. This south and southwest side screen should be installed
soon after the leaves are off of the tree, mid-October, and removed
after leaves have emerged in the spring, late-May. If the screen
would not interfere with tree growth and movement or cause an
obstruction in the yard, you could leave it up for three to five
years, or even longer.
If you have
a tree that already has damage from sunscald, install plastic,
burlap or paper tree trunk wrap or put up the shade screen for
a few years to reduce the chance of further damage. If the tree
is healthy, and the bark damage is minimal (possibly less than
30% of the circumference on small trees) the tree may be able
to form a callus like growth each year around the wound and eventually
close off the wood exposure.
Winter
Watering
- Plan carefully
 
The combination of saturated soils, high
winds, and root damage were the demise of this spruce. Note the
new sod in the photo on the right.
Winter Watering should startup after October 31st.
Give your plants a hearty drink and then again at least once a
month during the winter. Water once or twice during November,
December, January, February, and March if the soil is not covered
with snow. Watering should be done when air temperatures are above
freezing to allow the water to soak into the soil before freezing,
and early enough in the day to allow water to soak into the ground
by nightfall. It is a good idea to mulch plants with 3-4 inches
of mulch to reduce soil temperature fluctuation and to keep soil
moisture from drying out by the winter winds. Avoid saturating
the soil. Water when no wind or low wind speeds are expected.
Basic watering information.
Helping Trees Survive the Chills
of Winter
Unlike people,
trees can't step inside to avoid the harsh winter and enjoy a
hot cocoa by the fire. However, home owners can help their trees
survive the brutality of the cold months by taking a few simple
but necessary precautions.
"Trees
often are left to fend for themselves during the winter because
people think they hibernate," said Kim D. Coder, Professor,
Community Forestry and Tree Health, at the University of Georgia.
Trees protect
food reserves and carefully conserve energy until spring beckons
renewal. Most of a tree's growth areas are shielded inside jackets
called buds. Any creature needing a meal chews and nibbles on
the resting buds and twigs, leaving trees in grave danger.
Tree Care Tips
According
to Dr. Coder, people can help their valuable trees stave off animals
and the inclement weather. "You have to think of tree care
as an investment," he says. "A healthy tree increases
in value with age - paying big dividends by beautifying surroundings,
purifying air, and increasing property value."
Dr. Coder
offers six crucial ways to protect trees during winter.
- Add compost
- Add a thin layer of composted organic mulch that blankets
the soil surface. Mulch protects and conserves tree resources
and recycles valuable materials.
- Wrap trees
- Properly wrap new trees that have not developed a corky bark
and could easily be damaged. This practice will help keep animals
from damaging a tree.
- Remove
deadwood - Remove or correct clearly visible structural faults
and deadwood. Try to make small pruning cuts that minimize the
exposure of a branch's central heartwood core.
- Lightly
prune - Perform limited green wood pruning of declining and
poorly placed branches. Pruning should conserve as many living
branches as possible, with only a few selective cuts.
- Fertilize
- Fertilize in small quantities. Adding essential elements over
a mulch layer helps provide a healthy soil environment for root
growth.
- Strategically
water - Water where soils and trees are cool but not frozen
and where there has been little precipitation. Winter droughts
call for water treatment the same as summer droughts. However,
it is easy to overwater in winter, so be careful.
For Additional
Information:
The International Society of Arboriculture offers a complete
set of brochures covering many of the basic principles of proper
tree care. To order consumer education brochures or to locate
a professional arborist in your area, contact ISA
at P.O. Box 3126, Champaign, IL 61826-3129.
Squirrel Damage to
Trees
The fox-tail squirrels common in Cheyenne
frequently strip the bark off of many kinds of trees. The Siberian
elm tree below in Lions Park is a yearly target of squirrel feeding/damage.
The squirrels are apparently eating the stored sugars made by
the tree leaves during the summer and now stored in the cambium
and other cells beneath the tender bark.
The light tan colored portion of
the limb shows the bark stripped down to the bare wood of the
limb. Frequently, if damage is severe enough around the limb,
the limb will die.
Occasionally, squirrels will repeatedly
attack one tree year after year, leaving other trees of the same
species nearby completely alone. Arrow indicates tan wood where
squirrels have been feeding. This Siberian elm has extensive squirrel
damage throughout the tree.
Winter Wind Damage
- November 27-28, 2005 Stories
of Wood Decay in Photos and Text
High winds
common in Cheyenne, typically late fall through early spring,
cause failure in trees with areas of weakness. Dead limbs, dead
trees, decaying root systems, and densely leafed evergreens are
the most common victims of wind caused failure. Decay in wood
progresses from attacking a strong solid wood structure and ends
up with wood dust. As decay progresses, the strength of the wood
rapidly diminishes. The strong wood, in branches, trunks, and
roots, is what holds the structure of the tree in place. Decay
weakens the wood. Decay can be rapid or progress slowly. A tree
with decay may survive this wind storm only to fail during the
next wind storm.
The cottonwood tree shown above had been dead for
several years. The process of decay begins soon after the tree,
roots, or branches die. In this case, decay was prevalent and
in advanced stages in the root system. It is important to remove
dead branches, or trees, soon after they have died. Otherwise
the cost, in the way of injury or property damage, is much higher
when they fail, as shown below.
What
could have been simply a tree removal is now an unsafe tree removal
and extensive roof repair.
This large cottonwood failed because of root rot.
The light tan areas above are where the large roots have broken
apart. The large roots had advanced stages of decay. Smaller roots,
the rope like structures shown above, could not support the mass
of the tree. Decay in the root system is rarely visible. Mushrooms
growing from the ground at the base of the trunk, or near the
trunk, are usually the only visible indication of decay. Mushrooms
are not always present in every decay situation.
This large spruce blew over near the Botanic Gardens.
The trunk is on the left. Visible in the lower part of the upheaved
root system is a large root. There was a similar large root on
the opposite side of root area. Unfortunately no large roots were
on the windward side of the tree which is the top of root soil
area above. Notice the shallow depth of the root system. Most
roots are within one foot below the ground surface. Spruce trees
are especially susceptible to being blown over because of the
dense leaf crown and shallow rooting.
This cemetery spruce failed because of a decay
pocket in the trunk. The decay entered the trunk through a bark
wound at the base of the trunk, seen in this photo at the base
of the tree just to the right of center on the trunk. The trunk
decay is indicated by the dark brown wood seen in the broken area.
Avoiding damage to the bark in anyway, primarily by lawn care
equipment, reduces the chance of decay getting into the trunk.
Decay in tree trunks reduces the amount of strong supporting wood.
What should be a solid wood trunk is now essentially a hollow
tree.
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