Salt Wind After a Storm Changes Which East End Oaks We Look At

The ocean-side oaks are a different list after salt wind

We do not walk a Bridgehampton or Sagaponack oak lot the same way the week after a salt storm as we did in July. Windward crowns take the film. Leeward oaks can look almost unchanged. If we start with the backyard tree because it is prettier from the patio, we miss the road-face oaks that actually took the event. The storm changes which trees belong at the top of the list.

That is not the same article as winter salt on conifers. This is a post-storm oak pass: scorched outer leaves, brittle tips, and hangers that only show once the wind has dropped. Related pruning comes after we name the trees, not before. Whole-lot dull color still belongs on plant health care when more than the windward face is involved.

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Walk the windward line first

Start at the exposure. Photograph the ocean or bay face of each oak, then the interior. Note which trees sit in a gap in the hedge. A solid privet can spare an oak that a thin line did not. Hangers over a pool fence or a guest path jump the list even if the tree is not the most scorched. See tree removals only when the oak has failed, not because the leaves look ugly for two weeks.

Irrigation that throws on the road face every night can mimic salt injury. Tell us whether heads overlap the canopy. We would rather sort water from salt than treat the wrong cause.

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What to send

Photos of the windward oaks, the hedge line, and any hangers over targets. Town name. Request a consultation. More notes sit on the blog.

After salt wind, we look at different East End oaks than we did last month. Start with the trees that faced the storm.