Severe Ice Storm Did Lots of Damage to Aborvitaes

15 years ago

I live in MA and a couple of weeks back we had a severe ice storm that crippled my cities surrounding me. We were without power for 8 days. Out of all the damage to our home and property, the fact that I may have to pull out all of my Aborvitaes is the worst as far as I'm concerned.

They were at least 12 feet tall and created a lush green border along the back fence of my yard. I will see if I can attache a couple of photos, before an after.

I'm trying to get some help from people who know more about Aborvitaes than I do. Some are still in tact but some appear to be broken near the roots and there's also a huge half of tree that broke and fell on them, so they're all over the place.

I'm hoping that I can find somebody to help me figure out what to do. If I have to add a few here and there it wouldn't be so bad, providing I can find some that are tall enough.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Here is a before photo of the Aborvitaes in my yard back in August:

Here they are after the ice storm two weeks ago:

A little further down the line:

This truly breaks my heart more than any other damage. We will have that large tree removed, does anyone think that some of them could pop back up?

Thanks again for looking!

Linda

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
you dont think the big tree had any impact??? .. lol .. gotta keep some sense of humor ...

after they thaw naturally .. of all the ice.. go rope them back into shape... and see how they recover ....

we can make suggestions regarding future remedies... in spring.. after we see if they can regain some of their verticality ...

they are awful resilient.. but i dont know if they will recover to what you want to see ...

this.. by definition.. is the problem with multiple leader conifers ... once they splay ... you have problems ....

good luck

ken
LindaMA
Original Author
15 years ago
*lol* Oh yes Ken, I do believe that large tree had a huge impact, but the ones broken on the other side did so do to heavy ice and wind. In all my years, I've never seen anything quite like the damage this ice storm created, the devastation as I drove through my city the following morning to get to work, was incredible. Wires and trees down everywhere, telephone poles snapped in two like they were toothpicks. I thought I was in another world that morning, it was a real eye opener. It took me 45 minutes to get out of my town to the main highway, a drive that normally takes me 8 minutes.

I will try to rope some of them back and see if they can be salvaged, thanks for the advice Ken.

Linda
Related Discussions
Lost all 200+ African Violets due to the ice storm!!
Q
Comments (31)
So, how's your collection doing so far? Just to remind you, I have AV plantlets for the asking. I need to cut down, badly. Here's what I have ready at the moment: Little Chatterbox (semimini) Rob's Pewter Bells (semimini) Bloomlover's Shadow (semimini) Princess Jade (semimini girl leaf, pink flowers - small plantlets) Witch Doctor (standard) Snowy Skies (large standard) Blue and white double (almost rose shaped) semimini/small standard trailer, NOID What I have starts of, ready in a couple months maybe: Allegro Coronation Frozen in Time Genetic Blush Silverglade Baubles Buckeye Crinkle Peach Ness's Orange Pekoe Whirligig Star Bob Serbin sport Green Ice (all standards) That's just off the top of my head. You can check out my list on my profile, I have starts of almost everything I have, as backups. I only need one backup though : ) If anyone else is interested, feel free to contact me, but I am NOT trading for AVs. Like I said, I need to cut down, not increase my collection. Avsforme gets first pick, but after that, I'm sure I'll still have plantlets available. Especially Witch Doctor. I'll probably post over in the Exchanges section in a few days, after I evaluate what I still have and what's ready.
...See More
Need Help w/Planting a Row of Aborvitaes
Q
Comments (9)
In the first picture, you can see a small flower bed at the end of the arborvitaes, well that is gone, I now have shrubs in that space. The shrubs are Pinky Winky Hydrangea, a Winter berry male "Jim Dandy", an American Cranberry "redwing" and a Blue Muffin Viburnum. They're all a good size, especially the red wing. That's about 7 feet now. I need to get a pollinator for both viburnums, red wing and blue muffin. I have one last question. When planting the arborvitaes, do I need to pull out all the roots or can I leave some in there knowing that they will eventually die. There are just so many. I have the whole already there, just need to clean them out and amend them somewhat. I like conifers too, I think they really so wonders for the landscape, not to mention that they're not a lot of work to take care of. I'm getting tired of working on my flower bed every day. Want to start planting conifers instead. Many thanks for all your help! Linda
...See More
Winter Storm Watch/Ice Storm, Gloom and Doom
Q
Comments (11)
Michelle, It is 3:35 p.m. and I am watching The Weather Channel and it sounds like Arkansas is really getting it already and conditions are supposed to worsen, so I guess the Fort Smith forecasters may "ignore" ya'll even more if you're not having the ice too. Yes, we can hope we're wrong, but "in my bones" I feel like it is going to be a bad one. I can tell by the number of birds coming to feed, and we have huge numbers today. I just refilled the feeders and put out deer corn an hour ago, and the birds are having a big old pre-storm feeding frenzy right now. Randy and I both use the Weather Underground a lot and I love their forecasts. If you've never used it, you can access it via www.wunderground.com. Randy, I agree about the internet accuracy, but I have to say that our local TV forecast (Channel 12, KXII, the local CBS affiliate) has improved a lot since Steve LaNore became their chief meterologist. Still, I take it with a grain of salt and merge together their forecast, various online sources, the NWS and my own "intuition" to arrive at my own idea about what I think "will" or "might" happen. I bet the Eskies had fun. If it snows, and they get to go out and play in it, I hope you'll take a photo of them to share with us. Ada, Uh-oh. That's not good news. Y'all be careful. I think the perennials will be OK as long as their roots weren't bone dry. If they were bone-dry, you might have some root death. After all my bragging about what a fine job our local electric co-op does keeping the power up, I saw we're now forecast to get about 1/2 inch of ice here. Well, if that happens, the trees won't even have to bring down the poles and power lines, because the ice on the power lines will bring everything down all by itself. Oh, I dread the power being out. Our house is all-electric, so if we lose power, we're gonna be cold. Moni, I'm glad you're hubby is going to be able to make it home safely before the icing gets worse and the roads are even more dangerous. We went out and did all our errands early. Now we're just waiting for the fire pagers to go off, because as soon as the temps hit 32, the accidents start popping up on the Interstate like dandelions pop up in our pastures in spring. I don't really understand the sudden ice storm trend the last 5 or 6 years. Our first few years here, we had some gorgeous snowstorms and that was so much fun for someone like me who grew up in snow-deprived Fort Worth. These last few years, though, it is all ice and no snow. I'd rather have snow. Well, if I had a choice, I'd rather have 6" of rain and nothing frozen, but that's not gonna happen! Dawn
...See More
Severe Storms
Q
Comments (6)
Glad to hear you're pretty much ok so far, Jali, and really glad to hear your tomatoes are still well cloistered! With the news on TV I was starting to picture them like they were in the pictures you posted one time after hail--totally bashed down into the soil! The only thing on TV for the last couple hours here in Denver is TORNADOS! This would NOT be a good day to be driving out on I-76!!! But I just updated radar and it looks like you have a pretty good cell moving out Limon way right now. Looks like the worst is north of Limon, and I hope that's right and that this one doesn't get you either. Denver "appears" to be mostly "safe" today, but there's still stuff building over the foothills that could possibly come down to bite us! My tomatoes aren't in the ground yet either! Still haven't finished turning over the tomato soil where they'll be planted, so at least I don't have to worry about them! But, aside from a very occasional few drops, no precip at all so far right here by me! Ma Nature must have a pretty good memory, Jali! I've lost count of how many tornados have been reported on the ground so far today, and I know there were at least EIGHT tornado warnings in effect at one time, 'cause one of the weather guys said so! Fingers crossed that it all starts to die down soon, Skybird
...See More
dcsteg
15 years ago
"go rope them back into shape... " Very difficult to do. At least a two person job. I have tried that and getting up into the tree is a majior challenge. then tieing the rope,pulling back into shape and securing...oh well ...get out the pruning saw. After close inspection you will probably find most of the leaners are cracked or broken close to the main trunk.

I am sorry but most of those aborvitaes will never take on the appearance again as shown in the first photo..

Dave
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
i was in a hurry ...

dave is correct... anything that is broken... may as well be pruned below the break ... the remainder of the branch will pop back up ... some what ....

i was thinking something like a crossbow.... wood bends ... when stressed... but retain is straightness when the stress is removed .... and these can do that TO SOME EXTENT ... any tree.. not just conifers or these ...

by roping.. i mean some heavy twine ... tractor supply ... 2500 feet for 20 bucks... loose ring at the bottom.. and go around and around as high as you can go.. then back down ... how they used to tie xmas trees to put on your car ....binding it all together will allow it to TRY to support itself ...

then wait for spring.. and release one .. and see what shape they have .... a new post.. a few pix.. and we can come to some decision whether they are salvageable or not ...

in general ... a bare branch on a conifer is dead .. ANY GREEN will allow the branch to continue life ... the issue is how many years before you are pleased with the appearance ...

if you plan to remove them.. and replace them ... start with small stock ... with SINGLE leaders... to avoid the splaying... i doubt you will find large stock as such ...

an IN YOUR LIFETIME storm is hard to be proactive with ... they are just going to happen ... and there isnt much to do about it ... except whine and complain afterwards .... this storm would have probably also damaged single leader plants ....

good luck

ken

Severe Ice Storm Did Lots of Damage to Aborvitaes

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

LindaMA
Original Author

Related Discussions

dcsteg

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Severe Ice Storm Did Lots of Damage to Aborvitaes

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

LindaMAOriginal Author

Related Discussions

dcsteg

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

LindaMA
Original Author