Ongoing winter burn annoys SoKY homeowners: Where’s the green?

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A beautiful green yard is something many homeowners look forward to in Springtime.

But this year, more than others, property owners are seeing brown needles on their evergreens.

Kristin Hildabrand Extension Agent of Horticulture says multiple worried homeowners have called the Warren County University of Kentucky Co-op worried about their winter burn.

“In comparison to other years, this one has been the toughest on a lot of plants. The ones that we have here at the office, the cherry laurels, have gotten hit really hard.”

What exactly is winter burn? It’s when needled and evergreen plants that are supposed to stay green all year lose their moisture. Parts of them can even look dead like they’ve survived a fire.

“It’s definitely unsightly, no doubt,” said Hildabrand. “I know that a lot of people don’t like to see this right now, but it’s good to know that even though the upper part of the plant looks really bad, probably the root system is just fine.”

You can see if the plant is truly dead by performing a scratch test.

“Basically with the scratch test, what you’re going to do is take a knife and just kind of rub it on the main trunk or the stem and see if it’s brown. That signals that there’s dead tissue there.”

Green on the inside shows that the plant will most likely be salvagable.

When it comes to treatment, there’s not too much you can do. The Ag Co-op recommends you wait another month before pruning.

“Hopefully with this warmer weather coming in the spring, we’ll have a good rejuvenation of growth,” said Hildabrand. “But basically, just wait for right now and kind of see what the damage is.”

Moving forward, when you are out picking shrubbery, make sure you buy winter hardy plants, something especially important for living here in SoKY.