Fall Tree Care in New Bern:
An October Yard Checklist

Do not put hurricane season away yet

Atlantic hurricane season runs through November 30, and October has a record in eastern North Carolina. Hurricane Matthew arrived on October 8, 2016. The forecast for Craven County that week warned that ground already soaked by earlier rain raised the risk of falling trees, and the storm left more than 800,000 power outages across the state.

October storms also catch hardwoods at a bad moment. Oaks, sweetgums and pecans are still carrying a full crown of leaves, so they catch far more wind than they will in January. If you have not walked your yard since summer, do it now. The warning signs to look for are in our New Bern tree care tips, and if a storm gets there first, start with our storm damage page.

Mark the dead limbs while the leaves are still on

This is the last easy month to tell dead wood from live wood in a hardwood. Right now a dead limb gives itself away: it is bare while everything around it is green, or it is holding brown leaves that never dropped. By January every limb is bare, and from the ground they all look alike.

Take a few photos of each big tree from the same spots you would stand in winter, and note which limbs are dead. The ones hanging over a roof, a driveway or the place the kids play go to the top of the list. Dead wood can come out at any time of year, so there is no reason to wait on those.

Do not panic when the pines turn yellow inside

A pine that looks like it is dying in October usually is not. Pines are evergreen, but each needle is not. NC State Extension notes that loblolly pine needles drop during their third year, and most of that shedding happens in fall. That is where the pine straw in your flower beds comes from.

Here is how to tell normal needle drop from a real problem:

• Normal: yellow and brown needles on the inside of the branches, spread evenly through the whole tree, while the tips stay green
• Not normal: needles at the branch tips turning color, or the crown going reddish brown from the top down
• Not normal: one pine changing color while the pines next to it look fine

The second and third patterns point to bark beetles or root trouble, and they are worth a look soon. We cover the beetle signs in tip 6 of our New Bern tree care tips.

Bag your leaves until November 1

The City of New Bern runs its loose leaf vacuum trucks from November 1 through the last day of February. In October the trucks are not running yet, so a loose pile raked to the curb will sit there. Until the season opens, the city asks that leaves, pine straw and grass clippings be bagged.

The rest of the city's yard waste rules, for anyone inside the city limits:

• Yard waste is collected at the curb once a week, on a day set by your address
• Limbs have to be shorter than 5 feet and smaller than 5 inches across
• Piles up to six cubic yards are picked up on your route day, and bigger piles should be called in ahead
• Keep the pile out of the street and off the sidewalk, and away from carts, cars and utility boxes
• Debris from hired work, including tree services, is not collected. The contractor or the homeowner hauls it

That last one matters when you compare quotes, so ask whether hauling is included. Public Works can confirm your pickup day at (252) 639-7501. If you live outside the city, in the county or in a town like Trent Woods or River Bend, your rules are different, so check with your own town or hauler.

Skip the burn pile

Burning leaves feels like a fall tradition, but under North Carolina's open burning rule, yard waste can only be burned where local ordinances allow it and where public pickup is not available. New Bern picks up yard waste every week. Where burning is legal, the state limits it to yard waste from your own property, started no earlier than 8 a.m., with nothing added after 6 p.m.

There is a second reason. The N.C. Forest Service counts mid-October through mid-December as fall wildfire season, and it names debris burning as the leading cause of wildfires in the state. Dry leaves, low humidity and a breezy afternoon are all it takes. If you are outside the city limits and plan to burn, call your county ranger or fire marshal first and ask about permits and burn bans.

The easier answer is to keep the leaves. Run the mower over them and leave the pieces on the lawn, or spread them two to three inches deep under your trees and pull them back from the trunk.

Plant now, not in April

Garden centers are busiest in spring, but fall is the better time to plant a tree here. NC Cooperative Extension recommends mid-September through early December, because the air has cooled while the soil in eastern North Carolina often stays warm well into December. Roots keep growing for months after the top of the tree has stopped, so a tree planted in October meets its first July with a root system already in place.

A few things Extension asks you to get right:

• Set the tree no deeper than the root flare, where the trunk widens into the roots
• Do not fertilize at planting. It can damage tender new roots
• Water every two to three days for the first two to three weeks, then once a week in dry spells
• Mulch two to three inches deep and keep it several inches off the trunk

One thing from our side of the trade: look up before you dig. Plenty of healthy trees end up being removed because they were planted under a service drop or six feet from a foundation thirty years earlier. If you took a tree out this year, grinding the stump first gives the new one room.

Save the heavy pruning for winter

Cool weather makes people want to tidy up their trees, but fall is the one season to hold off on big cuts. NC Cooperative Extension's guidance is that most shade trees are best pruned in winter, and that fall pruning can push out tender new growth just in time for the first frost to kill it. Cuts also close over more slowly as a tree shuts down for the year.

So use October to plan and winter to cut. The exceptions are the obvious ones: dead, broken or hanging limbs, and anything rubbing a roof or blocking a driveway, can be dealt with now. For how much to take and when, see our tree trimming and pruning guide.