While roads and streets were slick with a sheet of ice this week, plants and trees took perhaps took the greatest beating.

Many homeowners had already started preparing for spring when more than half an inch of ice blanketed much of Warren County this week, damaging trees, shrubs and flowers that had already begun to bloom in the mild weather preceding the winter storm.

Mississippi State Extension Service officials recommend removing obviously damaged limbs from trees and shrubs, but improper pruning could have much more detrimental effects to trees than the ice itself, said Warren County MSU Extension Service agent Anna McCain.

“Whenever you have exposure to outside elements, it opens up the opportunity for insects and pathogens,” McCain said.

And insects are expected to be plentiful this year unless another later freeze hits the county.

“It’s a little too early to effect insects,” McCain said.

After the obvious damage is removed, homeowners should wait until spring to see if further trimming must be done.

“Many people tend to start pruning and cutting things out if they think there is damage, but it’s better to wait to do this until later in the spring,” Lelia Kelly, Extension horticulturist at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center said. “This gives the plants a chance to start coming out, and you can see what is actually dead or damaged.”

A professional may be needed to do the work, but waiting until spring allows the homeowner to see what is alive before doing any pruning.

If a homeowner decides to prune their own trees, using a special specific cut can prevent infestation, McCain said.

The first cut needs to be made on the underside of the branch, about 6 inches to a foot away from the trunk of the tree or shrub and should go approximately a third of the way through, McCain said.

A second cut should be made several inches out away from the first cut and go completely through the branch, she said. This allows the branch to fall off without tearing bark.

“What you don’t want is for it to rip,” McCain said.

Flowers and other plants shouldn’t see much of an effect because of the cold and ice, extension officials said.

Gary Bachman, Extension horticulture specialist and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station researcher at the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, said spring-flowering plants should be just as pretty after the cold.

“Their flower buds provide protection from the cold due to the increased solute content of the plant cells that act like Mother Nature’s antifreeze,” Bachman said. “The cold protection decreases as the buds develop towards flower opening.”

Tree and shrub branches with visibly swelling buds also can survive freezing temperatures.

“Buds that have not opened provide protection to the flowers inside and can tolerate cold temperatures,” Bachman said. “But once the buds have opened, the flowers are very sensitive to cold temperatures.”

Cold snaps in late winter and early spring have at least one benefit. John Byrd, Extension weed scientist, said freezing temperatures offer an opportunity to battle weeds.

“The conditions we’ve just gone through assure us that the grass is good and dormant,” Byrd said. “With the temperature fluctuations that we normally experience in winter, these grasses fluctuate between dormant and greening up for spring.”

A nonselective herbicide can be applied to dormant warm-season grasses without causing damage, he said. A good freeze keeps these warm-season grasses dormant.

 

Mississippi State Agricultural Communications contributed to this report.