I don’t know who has how, but we have a lot of snow this year. It fell out in November, it’s still there, it doesn’t melt, as it usually does. And even regularly added extra. There is a common belief that garden owners should visit their properties in winter and carefully trample the snow around the fruit trees.
Is this really a necessary agricultural technique? Why do we need to trample down the snow around the trees? Stomped into the garden — there’s such beauty now! We’ll figure it out at the same time.
The snow swirls, flies, flies…
The first scientific observations about the significance of snow cover in nature were made by a popular meteorologist, climatologist and geographer. He initiated the beginning of observations over snow.
Having traveled all over Europe, Asia, North and South America, the scientist created many scientific works.
What for to trample down the snow
There is a strong opinion that it is necessary to condense (trample) snow. There are usually 3 reasons why this event is necessary:
- protecting tree trunks from mice,
- winterization,
- moisture retention in the spring.
My opinion — in the fight against all 3 named reasons, trampling snow is useless. You can often hear that the snow in the garden was trampled by the ancestors, sending the children to dance under the Apple trees after the snowfall. What to say… first, ancestors, despite his wisdom and powers of observation, too, could be wrong. Secondly, it is very often difficult to explain what happened a long time ago to modern people. And third, the cause-and-effect relationship may have been lost over the years: it is possible that winter dances around fruit trees had completely different reasons and purpose.
Mice
It is believed that trampled snow disrupts mouse passages in snowdrifts and prevents rodents from spoiling trees by gnawing on the bark. It seems to me that the bark of trees is not the most favorite food of mice, and they will be attracted to it only from complete despair. Forest mice and voles make stocks for the winter, training up to 9-10 kg of grain in their burrows. They perfectly climb branches and blades of grass, collecting the remaining dry seeds and berries in the winter.
If small rodents decide to gnaw trees, then the young tips of twigs and buds are much more attractive than the dry hard bark at the base of the trunk. Yes, and mice do not have the habit of moving only under the snow-in winter, snowdrifts are simply speckled with mouse tracks. How will the trampled snow prevent these animals from reaching any tree on the surface and eating the bark if desired?
I didn’t notice mice spoiling tree trunks in my garden. But ROE deer and hares really eat-and the bark on young trees, and branches. But for some reason only those parts that are above the surface of the snow. It turns out that, trampling the snow, we do not escape from mice, and for larger fans of young fruit trees, we open the opportunity to chew not only the tips of the branches, but also the stem at the base. From the broken bark at the bottom of the tree will suffer much more.
Snow as a heat insulator
We have sorted out the mice, and now we are moving on to the insulation of trees. Snow, despite the fact that it is cold in itself, is a good insulation. It has a fairly low heat transfer capacity (thermal conductivity). In loose, newly fallen snow, it is comparable to the thermal conductivity of wood and is 0.1-0.15 W/m * K. for comparison, the value of the thermal conductivity of wood is 0.15 W/m*K.
This indicator increases with increasing snow density, because its good thermal insulation properties are associated with the presence of a large amount of air in it. By compacting the snow cover, we reduce its insulation properties.
A thick layer of snow reduces the heat loss of the soil: each centimeter of snow blanket increases the surface temperature by about 0.5°C. If the snowdrifts are 40-50 cm thick, the ground temperature under them will remain within -5…+5°C at air temperatures up to -30°C. Dig up the snow and see for yourself: there will be green grass and, maybe, you will even see some bug, somewhere busily walking.
Paradoxically, but the fact: meter-long snowdrifts melt faster. They are warmed not only by the spring sun, but also by the warmth of the earth, which is greater under a thick layer of loose snow.
Accumulation of moisture in the soil
Dense snow really melts more slowly. Have you noticed that the tracks take longer to get rid of the ice crust? But it will not be possible to get an additional supply of meltwater by trampling. Under dense snow, the ground is also dense — it freezes deeper, and the soil animals along with it. As we have already found out before, under a thick and loose snowdrift, the temperature remains positive, and life in the soil does not stop.
In the spring, moisture is less absorbed into the frozen solid ground, preferring to flow down to where the soil has retained its looseness. Therefore, it is impossible to create a water supply for trees in this way. And Yes, it is better to increase, rather than reduce, the thickness of the snow layer over the plantings by conducting snow retention measures.
Harm from trampling snow in the garden
It turns out that the use of trampling snow under trees does not bring. But that’s not all: there may be direct harm. First, there is an immediate danger of freezing trees that lack a thick fluffy snow blanket. And secondly, in the spring, the compacted snow does not melt longer, the frozen soil warms up more slowly. At this time, the spring heat is already awakening the kidneys.
It may happen that the trees are ready to bloom, and the roots in the cold earth can not yet provide the awakening garden with food. Especially from this suffer stone, which bloom before Apple and pear trees.
So let’s not trample the snow under the trees in the garden! And if you want to drive snow dances and indulge in other winter fun, it’s better to go make snowmen in the yard, where the trampled snow will not hurt anyone.
I think it’s a waste of time to hang around in the garden under fruit trees in winter, and it’s also harmful. But maybe I missed something or don’t know? Share your experience and observations.
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