Neophyte
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Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 11:14 am

Tree roots exposed to freezing temperature

Could anyone please tell me if there is any hope for my newly planted apple tree in this situation:

I discovered that my younger apple trees produce much better in the front yard than in the backyard. I don’t know the reason for this but last year when I relocated one of my 6/7 year-old trees, I got more apples than in all of the previous years combined. This year I was hoping to do the same with another tree. After replanting and pruning, it looked fine and the buds began to swell.
However we had a sudden and sharp drop of temperature from +8 and heavy rain the day before to -7 at night. Unfortunately, the night the temperature dropped, some animal visited the tree and dug around the trunk, leaving the main root exposed. I only saw this the next day in the afternoon. The temperatures climbed back to +4 - +12 today but I noticed that the buds stopped growing; they haven’t changed in size in a week since the frost, while the other tree next to it continues to wake up.
Does it mean the root was damaged and the tree is dead? Is there any hope the tree will recover next season?

Thank you.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I doubt that the tree is dead — UNLESS — it was girdled.
Go look at the bark of the tree very carefully all around where it was dug around the roots and trunk. If the bark has been chewed/peeled/removed all the way around, it has been "girdled" and fluid supply from the roots to upper parts of the tree has been completely cut off.

If only portions were removed and there are some attached/connected bark from roots to top, branches supplied by the severed bark connection may die but the rest of the tree will live on.

Once you have inspected thoroughly, check the exposed roots and make sure no burrowing animal is nesting — voles, field mice, gophers, ground squirrels, rabbits — then refill with soil mixed with sharp gravel or crushed eggshells and install a trunk protector — easiest and cheapest might be wire hardware cloth ... or you can buy products designed and sold specifically for this purpose. Then apply mulch around the tree from 2 inches away from the trunk to at least just beyond the dripline.

Remember you will need to inspect annually and loosen/replace if tree is growing too big and the protector can strangle it.


Assuming it was not girdled ...the buds that had been unfolding may have been blasted or stunted by the freeze, but buds that were tightly closed would have been protected. I doubt that the tree itself is dead, and if it’s a new tree, the loss of blooms won’t hurt it since the energy that would have gone to nourish the blossoms would now go to growing leaves.

Neophyte
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Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 11:14 am

Applestar, Thank you very much. You eased my mind.
We have lots of rabbits in our area (what a headache for me, they ate my newly planted blueberries this winter) but
I don’t see any physical damage to the tree. I think it was a skunk hunting for worms in a freshly dug, rich soil. every once in a while I can smell his scent in the backyard, apparently he ventured into the front yard too.
Hopefully, the tree is alive.



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