Hurricane preparation for Tampa Bay yards, done before June

Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30. The climatological peak falls around September 10, and August through early October is the busiest stretch. The best time to prepare is well before any of that: late winter through May, when curbside pickup runs on its normal schedule and fresh pruning cuts have months to close.

Waiting has a hard cutoff. Once a storm warning is issued, major trimming should stop, because collection crews halt hours before tropical-storm winds and a new pile of branches at the curb becomes a pile of projectiles. That's why we encourage booking prep in the spring and treating June 1 as a deadline. Our hurricane yard prep checklist turns the calendar into a printable list.

UF/IFAS calls correct pruning the most important thing you can do to help a tree survive a hurricane. On the walk-through we look for dead wood, cracked or hanging limbs, branches rubbing each other, limbs over the roof, pool cage or driveway, and trees leaning harder than they did last year. We photograph what we find and rank it, so the riskiest work gets done first.

Species tells part of the story. UF/IFAS ranks laurel oak and water oak among the least wind-resistant trees, so they get a closer look, while live oaks and sabal palms usually ride out storms well when they're pruned properly. UF/IFAS also suggests having large trees evaluated about every two years. If something looks structurally serious, we'll recommend having an arborist assess it rather than guess. The pruning itself follows our tree trimming standards.

Palms are where well-meaning prep does the most harm. The hurricane cut, leaving a palm with a few upright fronds, weakens it, and UF/IFAS research found unpruned palms fared better in the 2004 storms. Before the season we remove only fully brown fronds, coconuts and seed or flower stalks that could fly, and leave the green crown alone.

Rock is the other quiet hazard. The Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) warns that loose rock and gravel near a house can become projectiles in hurricane winds, so we swap decorative rock under windows and beside sliding doors for mulch, and keep any remaining rock contained. While we're there, we flag planters, yard décor, furniture and anything else that should be tied down or brought inside when a storm is forecast.

Wind gets the headlines, but water does much of the damage in a Tampa Bay storm. During Milton, nearly 19 inches of rain fell on St. Petersburg, with more than five inches in a single hour. A yard inlet packed with leaves, a swale filled with mulch or a downspout dumping against the foundation can turn heavy rain into water at the door.

Part of every prep visit is clearing what sits on your property: swales, yard inlets, French drain grates and downspout outlets, plus the leaves and debris that would wash into them. We make sure water has a path away from the house, and we never push debris into public storm drains, which only moves the flooding down the street. If drainage problems turn out to be grading problems, our site preparation crew can fix them after the season.

At that point the job is securing, not cutting. Bring in or tie down planters, décor, furniture and anything loose. Don't put new branch piles at the curb, since collection stops before the storm arrives. Take date-stamped photos of your trees, fences, beds and structures; they're useful if you file an insurance claim later, though what a policy covers is between you and your insurer.

After the storm, give the yard a careful look before walking it, stay far from any downed line, and reset your irrigation controller if the power went out, since a schedule running on the wrong day can still draw a citation. When the yard needs work, our storm cleanup crews move in with rapid response during business hours, starting with whatever blocks access to your home.