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Heavy winter snow in some areas of North Central Washington, particularly at high elevations, has caused significant limb damage to young trees. Some areas had in excess of four feet of accumulated snow cover, which became compact and crusted with hard layers with intermittent freezing rain. As this snow cover has settled and melted, lower branches trapped under the snow cover have been pulled from the trees, resulting in severe structural damage to many young blocks. Young pear blocks appear to have the worst damage.
This does not leave many options for the grower. Branches still partially attached, but broken at the crotch (see figure below), cannot be saved. Growers should begin removing damaged branches completely as soon as the orchard is accessible to pruners. In many cases a new framework of lower limbs needs to be regenerated. To achieve this many trees will need topping to encourage strong new shoots on the lower trunk.
Dressing tree wounds with sealants or paints is not necessary, and in fact may aggravate the damage. Remove broken branches with clean cuts and then allow the trees to heal over the wounds. Although the scars will be visible for some years, they will be hard to find once the trees are restructured and grow to maturity.
Many experienced orchardists were wise to tie up their trees before the snow season. While damaging snow accumulation is relatively unusual, tying up young trees does pay off if you are in an area that may be susceptible to this type of damage.
