Tree Care Tasks You Can Do in January

January in Calgary is cold, often brutally so. The yard is buried under snow, and tree care is probably the last thing on your mind. But winter is actually one of the most productive seasons for certain tree care activities. The trees are dormant, the ground is frozen solid (which protects your lawn from heavy equipment), and the bare canopies make structural problems easy to spot. Here is what you can do — or schedule — this month.

Inspect Your Trees While They Are Bare

January is the best time of year to evaluate the structure of your deciduous trees. Without leaves, every branch, fork, and defect is visible. Walk your property on a clear day and look for:

• Dead branches: Dead wood is often lighter in colour than living wood, and it will not have buds at the tips. Mark any branches you want removed.
• Crossing or rubbing branches: Branches that cross and rub against each other create wounds that invite decay. These should be pruned.
• Co-dominant stems: Two trunks of equal size growing from the same point create a weak attachment. Look for tight V-shaped crotches with bark being squeezed between the stems.
• Broken or hanging branches: Winter storms may have cracked branches that are still attached but hanging. These are hazards that should be dealt with promptly.

Take photos of anything concerning. When you call an arborist, being able to show them exactly what you have noticed saves time and helps them prepare.

Schedule Dormant Pruning

Winter is the ideal pruning season for most deciduous trees in Calgary. There are several reasons for this:

• Disease pressure is minimal. Many fungal and bacterial pathogens are dormant in winter, which reduces the risk of infection through pruning wounds.
• The tree's structure is visible. An arborist can see exactly how the canopy is shaped and make better decisions about which branches to remove.
• The tree is dormant. Pruning during dormancy means the tree is not actively losing resources (sap, energy) from the cuts. It will seal wounds in spring when growth resumes.
• Frozen ground protects your lawn. Heavy equipment like bucket trucks and chippers can drive on frozen ground without leaving ruts.

January and February are actually among the busiest months for professional pruning in Calgary. If you wait until spring, you may be competing with every other homeowner who had the same idea. Scheduling now often means faster service and sometimes better pricing during the slower early-winter period.

Check Trunk Wraps on Young Trees

If you wrapped the trunks of young trees in fall to prevent sunscald, check that the wraps are still in place and intact. Calgary's chinook winds can loosen or displace wraps, leaving the bark exposed on the vulnerable south and west sides.

If you did not wrap your young trees and notice vertical cracks or discoloured bark on the sunny side of the trunk, the damage may already be done for this winter. Make a note to wrap before freeze-up next fall. Trunk wraps are inexpensive and can prevent years of slow healing from sunscald wounds.

Water During Chinooks

This might sound counterintuitive — watering trees in January? — but it can make a real difference. When a chinook raises temperatures above freezing for a day or two and the snow melts, the ground surface thaws briefly. This is an opportunity to give your trees, especially evergreens, a deep drink.

Evergreens lose moisture through their needles all winter, and if they entered dormancy with inadequate soil moisture, they are slowly desiccating. A thorough watering during a chinook thaw — running a hose slowly at the base of the tree for 30 to 60 minutes — can replenish some of that lost moisture and reduce the risk of spring browning.

Plan for Spring

January is an excellent time to plan tree work that needs to happen in spring. If you have been thinking about removing a tree, planting a new one, or doing a major pruning project, getting an estimate in January means the work can be scheduled early, before spring rush fills up every arborist's calendar.

It is also a good time to research and order trees for spring planting. Nurseries take pre-orders for bare-root stock, which is less expensive than container-grown trees and establishes quickly if planted in spring before leaf-out.

Protect Trees From Salt Damage

Road salt and de-icing products applied to sidewalks and driveways can damage trees in two ways: through salt spray on branches and through salt-laden meltwater reaching the root zone. If you have trees adjacent to surfaces that are regularly salted, consider these steps:

• Use calcium magnesium acetate or sand instead of sodium chloride near trees.
• Apply salt sparingly and only where absolutely needed for safety.
• In spring, flush the soil near salt-exposed trees with a heavy watering to dilute accumulated salts.

Do Not Forget the Evergreens

While deciduous trees get most of the winter attention, your spruce, pine, and cedar trees are actively enduring winter stress. Brush heavy snow loads off accessible branches by gently pushing upward with a broom — do not shake branches or pull them downward, as frozen wood is brittle and snaps easily. Check for signs of animal damage; rabbits and voles chew bark at the snow line, and deer browse on lower branches in rural areas around Calgary.