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City of Wilmington employee Aaron Eady cuts of tree limbs due to damage from the recent ice storm around Greenfield Lake in Wilmingtonon on Wednesday.

Area trees are unlikely to sustain long-term damage from last week's ice storm, despite the hundreds of broken tree branches still littering sidewalks and streets throughout New Hanover County. But the immediate impact was extremely severe, experts said.

"It's probably the most damage I've ever seen from an ice storm," said Dave Young, owner of Wilmington-based Dave's Tree Removal. "It's rare for us to get anything that does this much as far as ice goes. Hurricanes and that type of thing are what we're used to dealing with. It's a different ball game with the ice."

The majority of affected trees in the Wilmington area were loblolly pines and live oaks, both native to North Carolina. Somewhat ironically, those trees were more likely to be damaged by ice because they're less susceptible to weather fluctuations than other plants.

"We were hardest hit in this area simply because the live oaks don't lose their foliage. They stay green all year round," Young said. "So do the pine trees, obviously. The trees with the foliage were the ones damaged, because there was more area for the ice to accumulate - and the more ice, the more weight, the more damage the trees sustained."

The long-term impact is dependent on the individual tree, Young said. The prognosis is dire in some cases, where broken limbs tore out chunks of trunks or caused the entire tree to topple - but in most instances, the tree should survive.

"Where the limbs broke out and did more damage than to just that limb, those spots are going to dry out because they're not protected," Young said. "For the most part the live oaks are very tough. It's really a tree-by-tree judgment call as to whether they should be taken down or whether they can sustain the damage and keep going."

The brunt of tree damage in Wilmington occurred in the Forest Hills area, where limbs snapped off dozens of large, old trees. The shower of branches had the added side effect of snapping power lines, knocking electricity out for thousands of customers throughout the city. At several points last Thursday, New Hanover County had more Duke Energy Progress customers without power than any other place in North and South Carolina.

Many of those residents didn't see their electricity restored until late Saturday, a cautionary tale for property owners who have strongly protested the utility's routine tree trimmings throughout the Wilmington area.

For several years, the utility has been removing potentially problematic trees and bushes from areas surrounding its transmission towers and lines meaning that any vegetation that could at some point grow taller than 12 feet can end up on the chopping block. The cuts are meant to prevent this type of outage, where limbs can fall and damage power lines.

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Area trees are unlikely to sustain long-term damage from last week's ice storm

ROSWELL, Ga.

A north Fulton County family says contractors cashed their check for thousands of dollars, but never removed the tree from their property after a recent storm

The Atlanta Better Business Bureau is warning consumers about contractors trying to take advantage of people who have storm damage on their property. Representatives with the BBB said theyve received an increased number of calls with similar complaints.

Homeowners Pao and Ryan Strickland showed Channel 2s Rachel Stockman the storm damage to their Roswell home after a recent storm sent huge brancheson their home.

Pao Strickland said she posted on Facebook asking for referrals and two men showed up to her home. The Stricklands said it was the weekend, so they were having trouble getting any other contractors to return their calls.

I had a feeling they knew we had nowhere else to turn so they took advantage of us, Ryan Strickland told Stockman. The Stricklands signed a contract and wrote a check out for $2,300 up front

I felt like that was a bit of a red flag, but we felt between a rock and a hard place, we didnt know what else to do. It was the weekend, rain the next day, Ryan Strickland said.

Ryan Strickland said the contractors did remove some of the branches from their roof, but in an attempt to cut a branch off the tree they caused more damaged when the branch smashed into their home.

Not only did they not do their work that we paid them for, they never finished the job and they addedinsult to injury by damaging our property, Ryan Strickland said. The tree is still sitting on the Stricklands property

Channel 2 Action News tracked down the Stricklands contractor on the phone. He said, despite what the contract said about tree removal, he never agreed to take down the tree.

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Family says they were scammed by tree removal company

Home improvement projects neednt cause the demise of trees use care and caution to protect tree roots during construction and digging

It may still be winter, but spring will be upon us before we know it. Some of us are already making plans for home or garden improvement projects. Whether you're planning to put in a new patio, repair a driveway, rebuild a sewer line or remodel or build a new home in the middle of a wooded property, there are numerous ways you might inadvertently damage tree roots that could ultimately spell the demise of your tree.

You wouldn't want this for a host of reasons for one thing, trees and shade trees add to the value of residential and commercial properties. Fortunately, with just a little care and foresight, these fatal consequences can be avoided.

Debunking an urban legend: most mature trees dont really have much of a "tap root"

When planning ways to protect your tree and the roots upon which it depends for survival, its important to have a good understanding about exactly how and where a trees roots grow. Contrary to urban myth, in a mature tree, the roots dont extend that far down. They are found mostly in the upper 6 to 12 inches of the soil, and, they extend far out from the trunk. In fact, roots typically may be found growing out laterally a distance of one to three times the height of the tree.

Avoid cutting, smothering roots and compacting soil

The digging and trenching associated with building a home, installing underground utilities and other home improvement projects can easily sever a portion of your tree's roots. Your tree might not die right away, but will begin to decline over several years. Loss of roots also increases the potential for a tree to topple over in high winds or bad weather.

Smothering roots

The fine roots of a tree need space, air and water to stay healthy and meet the needs of the tree; if you allow soil to be piled over a tree's root system, it smothers the roots. Only a few inches of added soil can smother the fine roots of a sensitive mature tree, leading to its decline and death. Don't let this happen to your tree.

Compacting the soil

More:
When you beautify your home, don't forget to protect the trees

Fertilisers contain essential nutrients (and minerals), in various ratios for specific purposes in order to bolster plant growth. Most gardeners are now familiar with the fact that nitrogen encourages leaf growth, potash boosts flower production, while phosphates encourage root development and strength. Fertiliser packets reliably carry the information about nitrogen, potassium and phosphate (NPK) content that we need to know.

So-called balanced fertilisers (such as traditional, organic, blood fish and bone or inorganic Growmore), are those that contain more or less equal quantities of all three nutrients.

Finally, I should mention that soluble and liquid fertilisers and foliar feeds of various kinds are useful, being quickly absorbed by plants under stress.

Box in containers

Our 10-year-old potted box plants, nurtured from infancy, seem to be merely hanging on to life. I suspect they need potting on into larger pots but how big should these be, and what sort of growing medium should I use?

Sue Jarvis, via email

Although you dont give me much to go on here, after 10 years even miserable box plants should have developed some sort of root ball and acquired a certain maturity. I hope you have not just been watching them eke out a half-life, undernourished in one- or two-litre plastic pots of exhausted multipurpose compost.

Here is a rule of muddy thumb: a 10-year-old plant of Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa (the small variety used for low hedging and potted topiary), presumably clipped each June into a shape of some sort as is the convention, would need to be in a pot about 18in (45cm) wide and deep. Box needs perfect drainage and rich, gutsy soil John Innes no 3 with added coarse compost to soften it up a bit.

Every spring they will need to have the top few inches of their compost replaced or revitalised with some slow release fertiliser suitable for shrubs, and a seaweed liquid feed is useful in mid-to-late summer.

Very old, large box plants may need repotting/root pruning a few years down the line, but that is a little story for another day if anyone wants to ask about it.

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Thorny problems: do I need mulches, manures and fertilisers?

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