If the first snow is announced, you have to act quickly to protect the garden plants from the snow load. If you don't, they could suffer badly.
When it gets cold outside and winter is approaching, work in the garden is reduced to a minimum. Nevertheless, you should always check that everything is in order and do little things. For example, you have to take measures before winter to ensure that your plants are not destroyed later by excessive snow loads. But even during the winter time you have to go through the garden again and again and take some measures so that heavy snowfall does not damage your plants.
Although plants such as fruit trees can easily support their own weight including fruit, if there is a lot of snow, the branches could easily bend down or even break. So never underestimate the weight that masses of snow can reach on a single branch and effectively prevent damage to your plants with the following tips.
4 tips to protect plants from snow load
➤ Tip 1 - Sweep off snow:
Actually, it is usually not necessary to sweep the fallen snow off the trees. Unless it's wet snow, which falls in copious amounts. You should always remove this, as the branches can break if the weight is too high.
Important:
Never shake off the snow! This can easily damage the branches!
➤ Tip 2 - Tie plants together:
Some plants can be quickly pushed apart by excessive snow loads. This is especially the case with plants whose branches grow upwards. These include, for example, juniper, yew and thuja. It is best to always tie these plants together loosely with a string. This also gives the plants better protection from the cold.
The same also applies to ornamental grasses. You should also tie these together in a tuft every winter.
➤ Tip 3 - Wrap plant crown:
Standard roses and climbing roses in particular need additional protection in winter. The same applies to plants cut to shape, such as box trees orcypresses. With these plants, you should always put a jute bag or garden fleece protective cover over the crown and then tie it to the trunk. This allows the snow to slide off easily. Jute sack and garden fleece are so well suited because both protective hoods are water-permeable, breathable and translucent.
➤ Tip 4 - Build Protection:
You should build a snow shelter for plants that are on the wall of the house and that could be hit and damaged by roof avalanches. It is best if you build a slatted frame around the plants in the form of a tent. In the event of a roof avalanche, they will not be hit and damaged by the full force of the snow.