Ume won’t bloom

The flower buds on my ume started to swell and it hasn’t swelled anymore. I keep it out side away from the wind. The soil is frozen and I only water when it isn’t frozen.

Here’s a photo I took on December 6th.

And a photo I took today, same branch. (I took the tree inside to examine it)

Why would the buds continue to swell if it is so cold outside that the soil is frozen?
I think @Brian Van Fleet is in a bit warmer location with his Umes. So do not compare your flowering times with his. My mume last year flowered a full 2 months after his.

Ume don't flower same in every climate. Mine are just starting to pop. And will be in full bloom in a week I think. Give it time, though I cant tell from the pic do the buds still look good?

some sort of fungus?blight ?

do you have a picture of it in leaf this past season??

Here are a few photos last season.

Are there any tips to help promote swelling?

Phillthy said:

Are there any tips to help promote swelling?

Click to expand...

Not that I know of, u generally need to let them due there thing. You get this guy off eBay?

you have any late fall pictures in leaf from last season?

Looking at the December 6 photos vs. current, it looks like the buds blasted, maybe due to cold. Pull one off and see if it seems withered. They looked much better before, with some white emerging, and now they just look brown. At this point, try to keep it above freezing.

Brian Van Fleet said:

Looking at the December 6 photos vs. current, it looks like the buds blasted, maybe due to cold. Pull one off and see if it seems withered. They looked much better before, with some white emerging, and now they just look brown. At this point, try to keep it above freezing.

Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts. I’ve had this happen to Ume in the ground.

Was this tree outside during that string of really cold single digit temps in the last few weeks?

Mulched in? Snow pack? Photo from December shows none of this. Up on a bench? Hopefully it will still leaf out come spring, but I wouldn't be surprised if you had significant die-back. Ume is fairly hardy, but in a container, unprotected? Unfortunate.

The tree was outside in my un-insulated sun room. The white on the ground is snow. The tree is on the floor circled in red.

One of the difficulties with Ume is they bloom so early they are susceptible to late freezes. Once their winter chill requirements are met, it doesn't take much warmth at all for them to start to swell flower buds. My last frost is around May 1st, Usually we get a 3 or 4 day winter thaw in January. This is often enough that flower buds begin to swell wanting to bloom. Any hard freeze after sap starts moving and the flower buds are killed. Don' know what temp will kill the flower buds, but if you want to see them flower, you have to keep them above freezing. For us in cold climates, this is a difficulty, as I don't have a greenhouse. Vegetative buds don't start moving as quickly as flower buds, so often they are ''hardy'' in that the tree continues to live and grow, it is just that the flower buds are often killed off. If I planted an Ume in the ground in my zone 5b climate, I would only expect to see flowers maybe one year out of 5 where the pattern of freezes and thaws would work out to keep the flower buds dormant until there is a long enough thaw that the flowers could open. More than anything it looks like late freeze after flower buds started expanding is what killed them. This trait of Ume, to bloom so very early, is the reason they are not so common in colder regions. Us cold weather northerners really need a greenhouse to do these well.

The North American native plum species bloom later, and are much more likely to put on a show for you in spring. But they are pale by comparison to the subtle beauty of Ume.

I just have to accept that I can't grow everything.

Leo in N E Illinois said:

... ...I just have to accept that I can't grow everything.

Click to expand...

We all have to, each in our own local conditions.

I brought the tree inside my garage and protected it more. There’s a few buds starting to swell and some opened up.