Here comes the hard freeze for 2024

[Apex37]

Showing lows in the low teens, upper single digits Sunday/Monday. Thankfully, I don’t have too many trees and will be storing them inside my utility room that I have all the tropicals in.

 

[Scorpius]

-9 predicated for me.

 

[Damart81]

Get ALL of your trees on the ground up against the southern facing wall of your house (if possible). Cover the pots up over the rims at least an inch deep with pine straw (shredded hardwood mulch would be better if it's available). Do NOT cover the tops with anything made of plastic. If you have to cover the tops, use material that "breathes" like old sheets or burlap (covering the tops isn't necessary and can cause more trouble than it's worth) Make sure all your trees are well-watered before doing any of this. Water at the roots is critical to protecting them. Water acts as an insulator in cold weather. Don't move the trees around during the cold snap.

Not sure what species you're working with but the above is how I overwinter cedar elm and Bald cypress here in Va. Have trees collected in La. and even a cedar elm dug near Tyler (my folks used to live over past the "Blue Store" near the lake). Both species are very capable of riding out the temps forecast down there provided they get adequate protection on their roots. I've had Texas collected cedar elm for 30 years and they've seen some substantial cold (like minus single digits) in that time. They've been fine--but you have to protect the roots.

Do you ever keep your BC in water but still mulch the top?

 

[rockm]

Do you ever keep your BC in water but still mulch the top?

No. There's really no reason to keep BC submerged in winter, particularly if you're expecting weather cold enough to freeze the water it's in completely.

 

[Damart81]

No. There's really no reason to keep BC submerged in winter, particularly if you're expecting weather cold enough to freeze the water it's in completely.

Should I just be worried about moving my Montezuma cypress to an indoor enclosure? Temperatures will be hitting mid 30s (probably lower) around the Cedar Park/Austin area. The BCs were collected about a year ago so they have been through last year's deep freeze but they were on a balcony that was protected on three sides. The other two are dawn redwoods.

 

[rockm]

Montezuma Cypress is listed as hardy to Zone 6, so it's not quite as winter hardy as Bald Cypress. If you have an UNHEATED indoor location, like a garage, that would be good place for it.

FWIW, I'd get all the trees off of the decking and directly on the ground. Any surface that allows air circulation (even a bit) underneath the pots is not a great thing in cold weather. You have all those in very shallow containers, that adds to the risk of cold exposure. The more soil mass, the more protection for the roots. With pots so shallow, you're going to have to keep an eye on the forecast. Several days with temps that don't break 38 or so with nights below freezing will mean those pots will freeze through. While that's not a disaster, it's an avoidable complication that can damage the trunk in some cases.

Mulching them on the ground--piling it up over the pot rim and trunk base is the solution as that deep covering can lag low temps by a few days--meaning the pots won't freeze through as fast, which could give you enough time to make it through the cold spell.

FWIW, I mulch my BC into garden beds the day after Thanksgiving here. The BC roots and pots are under six inches of hardwood mulch. The beds are exposed to weather all winter. I never have had to water them and they're fine with very little attention until the beginning of April. BC is on the rigth, cedar elm on the left. That's about 2 1/2 feet of snow from a January storm a few years ago.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Crazy weather - we are in the 50s today in NY. So glad I mulched everything

 

[leatherback]

All posting their weather forescast here [sh]/[c]ould consider joining the fun here too:

Share your weather!

Users from around the globe. Some in mid-winter at -20F. Others in mid-summer at 100F. Dry or wet? Thought it might be interesting to share the weather you are experiencing at post-time!?

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Damart81]

Montezuma Cypress is listed as hardy to Zone 6, so it's not quite as winter hardy as Bald Cypress. If you have an UNHEATED indoor location, like a garage, that would be good place for it.

FWIW, I'd get all the trees off of the decking and directly on the ground. Any surface that allows air circulation (even a bit) underneath the pots is not a great thing in cold weather. You have all those in very shallow containers, that adds to the risk of cold exposure. The more soil mass, the more protection for the roots. With pots so shallow, you're going to have to keep an eye on the forecast. Several days with temps that don't break 38 or so with nights below freezing will mean those pots will freeze through. While that's not a disaster, it's an avoidable complication that can damage the trunk in some cases.

Mulching them on the ground--piling it up over the pot rim and trunk base is the solution as that deep covering can lag low temps by a few days--meaning the pots won't freeze through as fast, which could give you enough time to make it through the cold spell.

FWIW, I mulch my BC into garden beds the day after Thanksgiving here. The BC roots and pots are under six inches of hardwood mulch. The beds are exposed to weather all winter. I never have had to water them and they're fine with very little attention until the beginning of April. BC is on the rigth, cedar elm on the left. That's about 2 1/2 feet of snow from a January storm a few years ago.

View attachment 523988

Great points, thanks!

 

[Maiden69]

Keeps getting better...

 

[milehigh_7]

Here’s what I did, closed pretty tight with tarps and two strings of incandescent Christmas lights per section (8 strings total). It’s holding in the 40’s under there. Also some in the garage. I may have messed up big time as I left the big boug out. I’m not sure why I did it. We will see how bad it is when I get home.

 

[Wood]

I've had Texas collected cedar elm for 30 years and they've seen some substantial cold (like minus single digits)

Whew, this was the species I was concerned about in my collection.

Has anyone tried using seedling mats to keep soil temperature up? Not entirely sure but I think the crappy plastic shed in the backyard will get below freezing and not be enough protection by itself

 

[bonsailevel:master]

Will have 9 and 0 degrees low Monday and Tuesday respectively. I've had my trees on the ground and mulched since beginning of December. Wrapped 'em up today with plastic. Hopefully it will help. First year to leave ALL my trees out this year

 

[rockm]

Whew, this was the species I was concerned about in my collection.

Has anyone tried using seedling mats to keep soil temperature up? Not entirely sure but I think the crappy plastic shed in the backyard will get below freezing and not be enough protection by itself

This can get you and your tree in trouble. Overwintering does NOT mean keeping trees "warm." It means keeping them cold within tolerable ranges. A seedling mat is not only unnecessary for cedar elm (or much else) in this area. Such treatment can push them to early bud break in February or even late January, which is a worst case scenario.

This cold snap doesn't look to be that bad. Upper teens and low 20' is not a crisis. It's just January. Simply using the ground's ambient warmth is fine in these parts. Trapping that relative warmth under a layer of mulch has worked for me for years with more southerly collected trees. The shed might work well. It will work even better if you put the trees on the ground inside of it, but again overprotecting now can lead to issues down the line in February.

Now is the perfect time to prepare for next week. You should get your trees situated on the ground and mulched over before the ground freezes. That will maximize the protection, since the mulch covering will prevent the cold from immediately reaching the ground and the bonsai pots.

 

[Wood]

This can get you and your tree in trouble. Overwintering does NOT mean keeping trees "warm." It means keeping them cold within tolerable ranges. A seedling mat is not only unnecessary for cedar elm (or much else) in this area. Such treatment can push them to early bud break in February or even late January, which is a worst case scenario.

Definitely don't want to push them to break buds early. The needle I'm trying to thread is with my two new field grown trees from Dylan Ferreira -- they've basically just gone through a winter repot so they shouldn't freeze, but I don't have an unheated garage space to ensure that.

I think my compromise will be the seedling heat mats, but plugged into this thermostat control. The top of the tree will stay at whatever the temperature in the shed is at. The seedling mats will turn on 35 degrees and below, then turn off at 45 degrees. I'll check up on the temperature in the shed for the next few days before the cold snap

 

[coachspinks]

Whew, this was the species I was concerned about in my collection.

Has anyone tried using seedling mats to keep soil temperature up? Not entirely sure but I think the crappy plastic shed in the backyard will get below freezing and not be enough protection by itself

My cedar elm saw 6 degrees last year.

 

[coachspinks]

A couple of lessons to learn from this, limit the size of your collection and only keep trees appropriate for your location. If only I would follow my own advice

 

[Mike Westervelt]

Keeps getting better...

View attachment 523999

WTF???

 

[Carol 83]

We're looking at a high of 5 degrees on Monday. I think the garage trees will be fine, we had a similar cold snap last year around Christmas, so not unusual here. On the bright side my company sells propane and the phones have been ringing off the hook

 

[Cajunrider]

How are you preparing your trees for that temperature?

Tropicals go into my garage and stay above freezing. Newly collected BCs moved to the back porch and put close to the house. I might put up a plywood wind break for the porch. That is all I plan to do.