A tree planted this year is far more likely to be killed by the nylon strap still tied around its trunk than by an Ottawa winter. Cold is not what takes out young trees here. The things that take them out are all small, all cheap to fix, and all still fixable in the few weeks between now and freeze-up.
If you took one of the City’s giveaway trees, or put something in the ground this spring, this is the list. It takes about half an hour in the yard and it is the difference between a tree that is still there in ten years and one you replace next May.
Your tree is not going to freeze to death
The species sold and handed out around Ottawa are hardy here. That part is settled before the tree reaches your driveway. What is not settled is whether its roots ever left the root ball and got into your soil.
That takes longer than most people think. Colorado State University Extension’s guidance on recently planted trees, reviewed in August 2024, puts it plainly: a one-inch caliper tree takes 12 to 18 months to establish its root system, and a four-inch caliper tree takes four to six years.
So the tree you planted in May is going into winter on a root system not much bigger than the pot it arrived in. Everything below protects that, not the tree from the cold.
This is the one Ottawa year you can mostly leave the hose alone
Almost every autumn tree-care article you will find tells you to water deeply until the ground freezes. That advice was written for a dry autumn. This is not one.
The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority still has the Rideau River under a Water Safety Statement, published 10 August 2026 and titled “Rainy summer leads to elevated flows, water levels across Rideau Valley watershed.” That is the current flood index on their own conditions page, and there has been no low water advisory anywhere in the watershed this year.
There is a number attached to this, which is better than a feeling. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources tree care guidance, last modified 25 August 2026, says newly planted trees need 15 to 25 gallons — roughly 55 to 95 litres — once a week, and then adds the part that matters this year: you can skip watering if it has rained more than one inch in a week. One inch is 25 mm. Iowa State carries a conditional most people read straight past: water until the soil freezes if the weather is dry.
So check before you drag the hose out. Push a trowel in at the edge of the root ball, not out in the middle of the lawn, and go down about 10 cm. If it comes up wet, you are done for the week. When you do water, water slowly and deeply once, rather than a light sprinkle every couple of days.
And stop when the ground freezes, not when the leaves come off. A bare tree is still losing water all winter.
Take the straps, the wire and the stakes off
This is the ten-minute job, and it is the one that actually kills trees.
University of Maryland Extension, updated 27 February 2023, is blunt about it: many problems of young trees can be prevented by removing the wires, hose and stakes supporting a tree after the first year, and there is no additional benefit in leaving them on longer. They go further — research has indicated trees become established faster when they are not staked, because unstaked trees put on better trunk growth and develop a more extensive root system, which makes them more stable.
Two things to look for while you are down there:
- The nylon cord at the top of the root ball. On a balled-and-burlapped tree it is tied around the trunk. It does not rot. If it was not cut loose at planting, it will eventually kill the tree as the trunk expands into it.
- The wire basket. The wire should have been taken off the top 8 to 16 inches — 20 to 40 cm — of the root ball at planting. Often it was not.
If you find wire partly grown into the bark, take it out now. If the trunk has closed over it completely, leave it — pulling it out at that stage does more damage than leaving it, and the trunk stays weak at that point either way.
Mulch is the cheapest thing you can do, and the easiest to get wrong
Colorado State’s guidance is 4 to 5 inches — about 10 to 13 cm — of wood chip, and mulch kept at least six inches, or 15 cm, away from the trunk. That gap is the whole point. Almost nobody leaves it.
What you see instead is a cone of mulch heaped against the bark. That keeps the bark wet, gives mice a covered place to chew all winter, and encourages roots to grow up into the mulch and circle the trunk. The tree looks fine for years, then starts thinning on one side. We wrote about what a buried root flare looks like by the time you notice it in the post on trees dropping their leaves early.
Flat ring, not a volcano. Pull it back off the bark with your hand. The ring also keeps mowers and string trimmers away from the trunk, which on a young tree is worth as much as the mulch itself.
Rabbits and mice will eat the bark off it by March
This is the one Ottawa homeowners underestimate every year. Rabbits, mice and deer browse bark as a normal part of their diet, and in late winter it is the easiest food available. A young smooth-barked tree is an easy meal.
The Minnesota DNR guidance is specific, and the specifics are what make it work: fencing buried two to three inches below ground, and extending about two feet above the anticipated snow line. That word is the one people miss. A guard stopping at ground level protects nothing once there is 60 cm of snow for a rabbit to stand on.
The same page covers sunscald, which is the other winter injury: sun heats the trunk during the day, it freezes fast at night, and the bark cracks. Plastic tree guards that go right around the trunk handle both problems at once. Take them off in late spring — a guard left on all summer traps moisture against the bark.
Clear tall grass, brush piles and tarps away from the base while you are there. Cover against the trunk is an invitation.
What we would not do
- We would not fertilize it going into winter. A newly planted tree is short of roots, not short of nutrients, and the answer to a struggling young tree is almost never a bag of feed.
- We would not water on a schedule this year. With the watershed sitting where it is, checking the soil first is the whole job. Watering a saturated root ball is not neutral — roots need air as well as water.
- We would not prune it this fall. A young tree needs its leaves and its structure right now. Formative pruning can wait until it is established and dormant.
- We would not stake it if it is standing up on its own. The research points the other way, and a stake left on is one more thing to girdle the trunk.
- We would not wrap the whole tree in burlap. Protect the trunk and leave the crown alone. If a tree genuinely cannot handle the site, wrapping it every winter is treating a symptom.
If you want eyes on it
If you are not sure whether something on a young tree is a problem or just how it looks, send a photo. We would rather answer that by email than have you replace a tree next spring. Quotes are free, photos are fine instead of a site visit for most things, and the minimum charge on any work we do is $160 + HST, which covers everything.
If a tree is on a house, a wire or a driveway, do not email about it — call (613) 715-0103.
Get in touch · Pruning · Where not to plant a tree in Ottawa · What actually fails under wet snow
Quick answers
Should I water my new tree this fall in Ottawa?
Check before you do. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority has the Rideau River under a Water Safety Statement published 10 August 2026 for elevated flows after a rainy summer, so soils across the watershed are not short of water. The Minnesota DNR rule of thumb is to skip watering if more than one inch — 25 mm — of rain has fallen in a week. Dig down about 10 cm at the edge of the root ball and decide from what you find.
When do I stop watering a newly planted tree?
When the soil freezes, not when the leaves drop. Iowa State University Extension advises continuing to water newly planted trees until the soil freezes in winter, if the weather is dry. A tree with no leaves on it is still losing moisture, so the bare crown is not the signal to stop.
Do I need to take the stakes off my new tree?
Yes, after the first year. University of Maryland Extension says removing the wires, hose and stakes after the first year prevents many problems, and that there is no benefit to leaving them longer. Unstaked trees actually establish faster and grow sturdier trunks. Check for a nylon cord tied around the trunk at the top of the root ball at the same time — that one does not rot away.
Does a young tree need to be wrapped for winter in Ottawa?
The trunk, often. The whole tree, no. A guard or fence around the lower trunk protects against rabbits and mice chewing the bark and against sunscald cracking it on cold, sunny days. Fencing should extend about two feet above the expected snow line, not just above the ground. Take guards off in late spring.
Photo: Max Trees — a wood chip and mulch delivery in the Ottawa Valley. Sources, all read 21 September 2026: Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, Current Conditions, Rideau River Water Safety Statement published 10 August 2026; Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Caring for trees, last modified 25 August 2026; Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, How long should I continue to water a newly planted tree?, last updated 6 December 2024; University of Maryland Extension, Embedded Wires, Nylon Cord, and Wire Baskets, updated 27 February 2023; Colorado State University Extension, CMG GardenNotes #635: Care of Recently Planted Trees, reviewed August 2024. Written by Max, owner-operator, Max Trees, Ottawa — Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ).
Terms used on this page (caliper and sunscald) are defined in plain language in the Ottawa tree service glossary.
Before the snow, look at the bottom of your own trunks: mower and string-trimmer damage at the root flare is the wound that shows up in the crown three or four years later. On a young maple or birch the bark is about 1.5 mm thick, a trimmer takes it off in one pass, the damage is irreversible, and a wound all the way round the base is fatal. The fix is a mulch ring: at least three feet of ring for every inch of trunk caliper on a young tree, with 4 to 6 inches of bare ground between the bark and the mulch.
Max Trees publishes its prices: see the full 2026 price schedule for Ottawa tree removal, pruning and stump grinding.
Worried the wet summer hurt your trees? Read which Ottawa trees mind waterlogged soil and which do not: standing water for a week or less is harmless, the weeks of airless clay afterwards are not; spruce, sugar maple and oak are the ones to watch, silver maple and honeylocust will not have noticed, and the damage usually shows next May, not this fall.
Related: where not to plant a free City tree · what a buried root flare or girdling root looks like years later · the Ottawa tree care calendar (plant deciduous stock by mid-October, conifers by the end of September) · our published prices if you want us to look at it.