Winter Burn
Evergreen foliage turns brown or bronze over winter, worst on the side facing the sun and the wind and worst above the old snow line. Nothing infected the plant. The leaves kept losing water all winter while the ground was frozen and the roots could not replace it.
Disease checklist
Four things to look for. If most of them match what you are holding, you are in the right place.
What gets rid of it
Gentlest option first. For most backyard cases the first one is enough, so try these in order and stop as soon as it works. If you do spray something, the product label tells you how — please read the notice further down.
1Water deeply in fall
Soak evergreens through a dry autumn and keep watering until the ground freezes.
soaker hose gardenTry this first2Mulch the root zone
Two to three inches of wood chips over the roots slows deep freezing and holds moisture.
wood chip mulch bag3Screen from wind and winter sun
Set burlap on stakes on the windward and southwest sides of young or exposed plants. Do not wrap the plant tightly.
burlap plant winter protection4Site them out of the blast
Put boxwood, hemlock, rhododendron and yew on the north or east side of a building or in partial shade.
5Stop pruning and feeding late
Late summer pruning or fertilizer pushes soft growth that will not harden off before winter.
6Prune in mid spring
Scratch the bark. If it is green underneath, wait. Cut back only what is still brown once new growth is out.
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Which plants get winter burn
Every plant we cover that gets winter burn, grouped by type — tap any one to open its page. A note beside a plant came from that plant’s own entry, because the same disease can be a minor nuisance on one plant and a serious problem on another. Plenty of plants we do not cover get it too.
trees5
Plant families hit hardest
Related plants often share the same problems, so if one plant in a family has it, check the others. The largest group here is Cupressaceae, with 3 of the 9 affected plants.
- Cupressaceae3 plants
- Ericaceae2 plants
- Pinaceae2 plants
When to treat
Wait until mid or late spring before cutting anything, because branches that look dead in March often push new growth in May.
Timing only — the label is the law
This page tells you when to watch for winter burn and when treating is worth considering. It is not a recommendation to apply any particular product. Read and follow the product label before you spray — under federal law the label is the legal instruction, and using a pesticide against it is illegal.
- Check the pre-harvest interval. Every product that’s cleared for an edible crop sets a minimum number of days between spraying and picking. Find it on the label before you spray anything you intend to eat.
- Check the re-entry interval before you or anyone else works in the treated area again, and use the protective equipment the label names.
- Confirm the product is registered for your crop in your state. This page groups many different crops together, and a product legal on one of them is not legal on all of them — state registrations differ too. Your state pesticide agency or local extension office can confirm both.
- Rates and mixing instructions come from the label, never from us. We don’t publish them because they differ by product and formulation.
Other problems on the same plants
If a plant gets winter burn, these are the problems it most often gets as well, so they are worth checking for while you are out there. They tend to appear together; one does not cause another.