1. I nevitably, the trees and
shrubs that you planted will
grow, expanding their canopies
Managing Trees and and coverage.
They will also reproduce
Shrubs in Your Habitat through seeds or root
propagation, becoming more
crowded and competing for
sunlight, moisture, and
nutrients.
For more nature habitat information
Visit these helpful websites: Consumers such as insects
A Plant's Home and fungi – including some
A Bird's Home disease organisms – will take
A Homesteader's Home advantage of the food sources
provided by the plants.
Food chains will develop as the
ecosystem becomes established.
Deer browsing could control or
diminish plants in the
understory.
Newcomers that were not
included in your original habitat
plant may take root.
How Do You Manage
Your Wildlife Habitat
Over Time.
First, give your trees a healthy
start. Plant them properly by
digging ample holes and providing
plenty of loose soil. Do not
fertilize at planting time. Be sure
to prune dead and dying
branches and roots as you plant.
You have selected
appropriate plants for
your wildlife habitat and
arranged them with
sufficient space and light
in your habitat plan...
How do you manage your
habitat over time.
© WindStar Wildlife Institute Page 1 A Plant's Home
2. Control weeds around effective in controlling Creeping Phlox
seedlings. Because weeds grow grasses and broadleaf
faster and often taller than weeds:
young seedlings, they compete
for moisture, nutrients, light, (1) pre-emergent, soil-applied
and space. Weed control is chemicals, and
crucial in the first 3 to 5 years
after planting. You will need to (2) post-emergent
prevent weed growth within a 2 chemicals applied to foliage
to 4 ft. zone around seedlings. of weeds. is an appropriate resident. If it
Here’s how: is not, remove and destroy it.
Check with your county
s Remove all vegetation agricultural extension Waiting until invaders are well
around the tree site before service for information on established will make more
planting, either by recommended chemical weed drastic removal methods
cultivation or using a general control around tree necessary.
herbicide like Roundup in the plantings.
fall.
s Weed around your trees. Control Overly
s Control weeds after Cultivation is probably the Successful Plants
planting. You can kill weeds least effective method of Some of the plants that you
by mulching around seedlings controlling weeds, as one introduce into your wildlife
with sawdust, wood chips, should avoid digging close to habitat may be fast growers
bark, or composted leaves. the tree in order not to and may threaten to take over
damage roots. your plot.
Be sure to make the mulch
layer about 6 in. thick to Weeding by this method also Ground covers such as
keep weeds from reappearing. must be done 3 to 5 times creeping phlox, barren
per season. strawberry, and foamflower
s Apply herbicides, but only eventually need to be thinned.
when needed, in the proper Even wild bleeding heart, which
amount at the right time. Remove Invasive Plants has a delightfully long flowering
Two types of herbicides are If aggressive invaders gain a period, can overwhelm us in
foothold at your habitat site, time.
they may compete more
successfully than your desirable “Before long, editing becomes
plants. central to the garden’s
maintenance, and the best red
Suckering or clonal trees like pen is a fearlessly used
sassafras and black locust and compost pile," writes Susan
wildflowers like white wood aster Dumaine in Woodland Gardens .
and hay-scented fern can
significantly change the ground When plants get out of hand,
layer. she “stands ready to smother
them with mulch-topped strips
The best way to deal with of old carpet when necessary."
aggressive invading species is
to recognize them early and
remove them as they appear. Nurture Welcome Volunteers
Use lists of your area’s invasive Seed dispersal through wind,
exotics published by your state water, or animals will also bring
native plant society to desirable newcomers to your
Foamflower
determine whether a newcomer habitat. If they are
© WindStar Wildlife Institute Page 2 A Plant's Home
3. encouraged, they can bring Bob Lavell, a WindStar Wildlife threaten the survival of your
welcome changes and a greater Habitat Naturalist, has found plants.
variety of native plants to your that “fences" made of several
setting. rows of monofilament fishing line Well-known problems include
attached to plastic poles deter oak wilt, gypsy moth
Plants that you planned to deer. caterpillars, spruce bud worm,
have growing in certain places dogwood anthracnose and
may also move to new areas, The animals are baffled by this hemlock woolly adelgid. Contact
producing unexpected colonies. invisible obstacle, which stops or your county extension agent to
trips them, and they usually find out how best to treat these
“You begin to realize that the avoid the area once they’ve had problems.
garden is asserting its a run-in with the fence.
independence – the sign of a
healthy garden," writes Wayne Species like rabbits and Prune
Womack in Woodland Gardens. squirrels can also change the You may need to prune for
species composition of plants reasons of safety, health,
on your site by browsing, digging, aesthetics, or stimulation of
Control Animal Damage and burrowing. (Squirrels plant a fruit production. All woody
Animals can significantly lot of trees!) When beavers build plants shed branches in
alter your habitat and its a dam, the rising water levels response to shading and
plantings. With no predators, around a stream kills nearby competition.
deer populations are exploding, forests.
and humans are squeezing them These branches, which do not
out of their habitats, as well. produce enough carbohydrates
Control Insects from photosynthesis, die and
Though we might want to and Diseases are eventually shed. The
attract them to our habitat Insects and disease resulting wounds are sealed by
sites, they can do considerable organisms are part of the what is called woundwood.
damage to seedlings and to the natural forest ecosystem and
understory of a forest, creating actually contribute to biological
a browse line 4 or 5 ft. above diversity. But in a small garden,
the ground. they can wreak havoc and REFERENCES
s Woodland Gardens. Shade
Gets Chic. Brooklyn
Botanic Gardens, 1995
Control Insects s Henderson, Carrol L.
Landscaping for Wildlife.
Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources,
Nongame Wildlife Program –
Section of Wildlife, 1992
s USDA, How to Prune Trees,
U.S. Forest Service
publication NA-FR-01-95
s USDA. Homeowner’s Guide
for Beautiful, Safe, and
Healthy Trees. U.S. Forest
Service publication NE-INF-
58-96
© WindStar Wildlife Institute Page 3 A Plant's Home
4. PRUNING GUIDELINES
(1) Prune when branches are broken off by wind, snow, or ice,
producing ragged wounds that do not seal.
You can increase the strength, longevity, and overall health of the
tree by substituting pruning for absent natural healing processes.
(2) Prune living branches late in the dormant season or very early in
spring before leaves form.
This allows maximum wound closure in the growing season after
pruning, reduces the chance of transmitting disease, and
discourages excessive sap flow from wounds.
Chemicals emitted from recent wounds can actually attract
insects that spread tree disease. Wounded elm wood attracts bark
beetles that harbor spores of the Dutch elm disease fungus;
wounds on oaks attract beetles that spread the oak wilt fungus.
(3) Prune shrubs regularly.
Pruning is also the key to maintaining the long-term health and
shapeliness of shrubs. If you remove older stems regularly as the
shrubs reach maturity, you will encourage the development of young
shoots. This will also allow shrubs to function as small trees,
arching over pathways and framing views.
(4) To save the current year’s flower crop on flowering trees and
shrubs, prune immediately after flowering.
(5) If your shrub needs a fresh start, it can be cut back to the ground,
either just after flowering or in late winter.
The shrub’s stored energy will then be directed into the production
of new wood.
This article was written by
(6) Use sharp tools and make clean cuts. Maryland Master Wildlife Habitat
Naturalist Elaine Friebele.
(7) Make proper pruning cuts at a node.
A node is the point at which one branch or twig attaches to For more information or for the
name of a Master Wildlife Habitat
another. (In the spring of the year, growth begins at buds, and twigs Naturalist in your area, please
grow until a new node is formed.) For proper pruning technique, contact:
request the brochure, USDA, How to Prune Trees, U.S. Forest
Service publication NA-FR-01-95. WindStar Wildlife Institute
(8) Avoid topping – the practice of cutting large upright branches at
E-mail: wildlife@windstar.org
right angles between nodes, to reduce the height of the tree. http://www.windstar.org
To regulate the tree’s size and shape, start pruning early in the life
of the tree.
WindStar Wildlife Institute is a
(9) Leave dead trees (snags), fallen trees, and perches. national, non-profit, conservation
A snag is a bird’s idea of a fast food restaurant – a perching place organization whose mission is to
filled with available food. The bark and soft wood of dead trees, help individuals and families
whether standing or fallen, are home to the larvae and adults of establish or improve the wildlife
many types of insects. habitat on their properties.
Scores of birds and mammals use snags for nesting and perching Photography by Thomas G. Barnes
sites, territory establishment, and a food source. A snag should be Extension Wildlife Specialist &
at least 6 in. in diameter and 15 ft. tall. Associate Professor of Forestry,
University of Kentucky
© WindStar Wildlife Institute Page 4 A Plant's Home
