This is the worst I have seen in our area. The first picture shows some of the downed trees on our street this morning. This is all due to the weight of the ice as fortunately there has been no wind. The second shows an up close shot of the ice caked onto our first season "Inaba-shidare". This is not good.
Wow that is terrible! So sad to see large trees like that. Your smaller maples will hopefully be fine. I hope the damage will be minimal for you.
Thanks rufretic. I have my fingers crossed that my JM that are all less than 6 feet tall will get through it with minimal damage. The problem is that it appears there will be no extended period of above zero temps; this coupled with the wind that is forecast to happen will result in further irreversible damage. Here is our a close-up of our A. Aureum:
I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not but it's an idea you might want to look into for some of the smaller plants. The only thing I can think of that I might try is pooring warm water on some of the larger areas of ice to melt off the large clumps. I know it would freeze again but if you could just get that thick stuff down in size to lower the weight, I would think that could help. Just a thought but you should look into it more before you try it, I wouldn't want you to do more damage than good. Good luck either way. Edit: Looking at your pic again, the ice is so thick it would take a lot of warm water and time, it would most likely be a wasted effort. Sorry I can't be of help, it looks like a hard situation.
Occasional events like this can sometimes suggest why certain growth modes are not present in an area naturally. Another phenomenon you see with freezing ice in particular is radical thinning out of dense stands of young native trees; older stands in my region are often full of fallen logs and branches, as hundreds, if not thousands of individuals are taken out by natural events during the years the representation on a given plot ages and grows taller.
Yeah, commiserations from here too. If you get above freezing at all, you might try shaking branches to try and get a little of the ice off. My experience is that it comes off cleanly usually, and that it's the weight more than anything that causes problems. Let's hope you don't get snow on top of it...
Yikes, that is a lot of ice! How's the power situation in your area? Forget what year it was, but I remember the real bad ice storm in Ontario and Quebec that knocked out power to a huge area, into New York and beyond. I think it took several weeks to finally get everything back up and running... We had some ice too yesterday, though thankfully nothing like what you got. The sleet came down, for the most part fairly lightly, off and on through the late afternoon and early evening, then turned to snow - a drier snow too, thank goodness. Ended up getting nearly 4". Half my in-ground maples are covered, and the few that are not seem to be doing ok. I haven't gone out to physically stand by the tree, but what I have seen through the window doesn't give me cause for concern - no real ice accumulation on the trees (and we have a big pin oak right off the deck), and only a bit of snow on the branches, none of which have any significant arching or bending that would make me run out there with a hair-dryer to melt off the worst of the ice/snow. :) I hope you don't end up having too much damage to your trees. Hard to believe it's not even January, and we're having such cold, significant weather... Gonna be a long winter, methinks :(
Sad to see such destruction. Like Emery mentioned, the biggest concern is the weight of the ice. The ice itself will protect the tree from extreme cold and moisture loss. If temperature stays below freezing, but the sun comes out it will likely result in the ice melting and falling off. The sun will warm the branch inside the ice and melt it from the inside. Sometimes on a cloudy day that is near freezing, the radiant heat from the tree itself will allow the ice to melt enough inside along the branch for the ice to fall off. In some cases the ice itself will fail under its own weight and fall off the branch. Also wind and a dry air mass can cause sublimation, where the ice goes to a water vapor or gas without actually melting. This can help reduce the weight and existence of the ice during extended periods of temperatures below freezing. I guess I'm trying to say that the days are numbered for this ice despite the forecast of doom and gloom. If you are concerned about the weight, you could try staking or using pieces of wood and twine to support the tree and branches from further stress. But sometimes more damage occurs during the act of trying to help the tree than occurs naturally over time.
We are fine but thousands are w/o power now going past 48 hours. In this cold (low teens fahreheit) it isnt good. We have taken in a relative who has been w/o power too long. Very true.