Bring Trees into House vs. Garage for Spring Freezes?

[Deep Sea Diver]

Bud break and root growth are not connected. Some folks often confuse bud break as breaking out of dormancy. Not so, its ‘root break and this lags bud break until the soil warms up.

However it rarely takes more then a week of warming temperatures to push a tree out of dormancy once the chilling unit requirement for that cultivar has been satisfied. So keeping the trees as cold as practicable until all danger of frost is past is a conservative move.

So one can see shuttling trees in and out to catch the early days of warmth is not a good play… waiting and taking that time to study and plan the year is a safer one.

If you want to beat the odds, get a cold greenhouse and shave about 4 weeks off either end of dormancy.

By the way, once out of dormancy it takes much more time to reacclimatize, perhaps three times more depending on the species.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Mikecheck123]

What about throwing a sheet over them for the upcoming dip to 25? Or is that not effective?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

That may work.

Sheets, frost blankets etc can be effective to take the edge off of the early morning freezes. Extended frosts are a different story. That’s a time when you want to still be in dormancy, or in a shelter like a cold frame, garage etc.

Funny, I did hear about a person that made a tent of a sheet over their bonsai for a long night’s frost and spraying it with a mist of water a couple times when the temps were dipping below freezing, creating a ‘freeze frame,’!

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Mikecheck123]

That may work.

Sheets, frost blankets etc can be effective to take the edge off of the early morning freezes. Extended frosts are a different story. That’s a time when you want to still be in dormancy, or in a shelter like a cold frame, garage etc.

Funny, I did hear about a person that made a tent of a sheet over their bonsai for a long night’s frost and spraying it with a mist of water a couple times when the temps were dipping below freezing, creating a ‘freeze frame,’!

cheers
DSD sends

Oh yea. I saw on Wigert's Instagram that on the rare occasions that southern Florida dips into freezing temperatures, they run the sprinklers continuously until it warms up.

 

[rockm]

Oh yea. I saw on Wigert's Instagram that on the rare occasions that southern Florida dips into freezing temperatures, they run the sprinklers continuously until it warms up.

Moist roots are critical in a freeze for the same reason, Water is an insulator and even gives off a bit of heat as it freezes. Roots with no moisture around them in the soil are more vulnerable to freezing than those with water around them. Make sure bonsai are well watered if a rogue freeze comes up. DEspite the 80 F today, there's snow in the forecast on Thursday and the weekend look very cold--mid 20's... Winter ain't done here yet and will be around until the beginning of April...

 

[Mikecheck123]

Moist roots are critical in a freeze for the same reason, Water is an insulator and even gives off a bit of heat as it freezes. Roots with no moisture around them in the soil are more vulnerable to freezing than those with water around them. Make sure bonsai are well watered if a rogue freeze comes up. DEspite the 80 F today, there's snow in the forecast on Thursday and the weekend look very cold--mid 20's... Winter ain't done here yet and will be around until the beginning of April...

Thanks. It's my first real winter (after living in zone 10 for ten years) and I'm scared!

 

[Carol 83]

freeze frame,’!

That reminds me of sneaking into bars with bands back in the day!

 

[Dav4]

That reminds me of sneaking into bars with bands back in the day!

I would like to think that J Geils practiced bonsai back in the day

 

[LanceMac10]

I would like to think that J Geils practiced bonsai back in the day

...don't know about bonsai, but I assure you, Peter Wolf was "100% wired-out"......

.....never mind about "Magic Dick......

 

[DrTolhur]

From Midlands 10 day forecast you might as well keep these trees in the garage until they are ready to go outside. You’ll need a week of in and out to hardengemoff and unless things get dicey that’s that. A night in doors once in awhile wouldn’t hurt them… a week straight , different story.

Yeah, I have no intention of moving them any time real soon. Not until they start to bud out, which will probably be sometime in April, I'm guessing. So this question was more just in general when I start moving them out rather than near-term. But it sounds like you recommend they go back into the garage for the indoor shuffle time. Unfortunately, our last frost date isn't until mid-May, so I think I will have to continue the shuffle for more than a week, even if only sporadically.