How Do Trees Survive In The Winter If They Do Not Make Food?

Trees can survive because they can store nutrients in the trunk and roots of the tree. Healthy trees maintain a high percentage of stored nutrients all year. During the fall, as the leaves begin to lose their color, the tree is in the process of translocating (movement of internal fluids, sap, etc from one location to another) nutrients into various areas of the tree. In winter, the tree is very much alive and healthy even though it appears that nothing is happening. Below ground root growth can still occur on some trees even after the leaves are gone because of these nutrients.

In the spring, trees use these stored nutrients as energy to perform all the functions of the tree until the leaves develop and photosynthesis is carrier on again.