Driving around Southwest Florida after Hurricane Ian we’ve all seen the huge number of trees that are uprooted, or lost limbs. Huge palm trees that have tipped over exposing their roots. Umbrella trees that have lost all their leaves and most of their limbs. We’ve seen walls of privacy shrubs stripped of their leaves, and tall pines tipped over. Cleaning up, replanting and replacing all of these trees will take a long time. But at Peer Landscaping of Fort Myers, we wanted to give you some steps to take to repair the damage now.
- If you can’t replant them right away, do your best to protect the roots of small trees that have been uprooted. Cover the exposed roots with soil, moist burlap sacks or moss. Remove branches that are dangling.
- Replant small trees and shrubs as soon as possible. Remove damaged sections of root making a clean cut. Dig the hole large enough to fit the roots back in. Hold the tree upright and fill in the hole with the soil you removed. Stake the tree and adjust it regularly, removing the stake once the tree is stable. Water the tree well and continue watering three times a week for several weeks.
- Double check the roots of trees and shrubs even if they did not get uprooted. Due to the fact that the wind rocked them back and forth, there may be hollow depressions around their roots. To eliminate those air pockets, add some soil and water.
- Do some light pruning, Trees that have broken branches less than four inches in diameter have a good chance of recovering. Pruning ragged breaks reduces entry points for disease and insects. If bark is stripped, chisel it to form neat edges. Your final cut should be made just outside the collar (that slightly swollen part where the trunk meets the limb). This cut allows the tree to heal itself properly. Don’t prune live branches, as that may put stress on the tree. Our Peer Landscaping professionals will be able to tell you if it can recover.
- We’ve seen a lot of damaged palm trees of all varieties out there. However, palm trees have adapted to hurricane level winds and are able to survive even if many of the leaves have been stripped from the plant. As long as the heart of your palm has not been damaged, palm trees can often be straightened or replanted. For tall palms, we urge you to let us come take a look at it and prune what needs pruning and replant what needs replanting. We will remove dead brown fronds and fronds that cover the bud, while leaving any green or partially green fronds as important energy reserves for the palm. Don’t pull off any fronds that are not brown.
- Check on your evergreens, like Norfolk Island pines, slash pines, spruce trees and sand pines. So many of these evergreens were completely blown over by the winds. However, if you have one on your property that was not blown down, check it thoroughly to see if they have damaged branches and then prune those branches to help your pines bounce back stronger.
At Peer Landscaping we take pride in offering more than just landscaping, we also offer an experience for our customer. We are not your typical contractor who comes in with X’s and O’s, we are truly passionate about what we do and want to create a feeling and not just an average yard. We want you to be proud of your outdoor space and enjoy it with your family and friends. We are grateful that our clients trust us with their home and their investment and we don’t take that lightly. Contact us for a full detailed look at our process on how we work with you.
