So anyone concerned with the lack of winter this year?

[Paradox]

I have to say that I am.
I am not confident that my trees got proper dormancy.
Its been in the 50s and even 60 here in the last week. Its at least 2+ months too early for that
Worried winter will show up at some point and start killing trees if they start growing now

 

[August]

This is my first winter overwintering and we've had a similar issue here but with big swings. Colorado is always like this in the winter though; two days ago it was 60 degrees and today, well:
I keep my trees under a blanket; I think it helps keep them closer to "refrigerated". When we have mild days in the 40's and 50's I'll open it up to regulate it and then drop it again before we get an unexpected high or low. It helps that my spot it's next to our building and in the shade; no "greenhouse" effect when it's warm and stays out of the icy winds.

This is my first season overwintering, though, so I don't have the experience to back me up. I can say most of my trees are healthily dormant (I do have experience with dormant trees) and I have not seen any of them pushing buds. Maybe the darkness helps?

 

[eugenev2]

I had a similar concern the past season, winter ended about 2 months too early and never really went below 15C (59F) and went up to about 22C (71F). Then we skipped spring and went straight to summer with 30C to 37C (85 to 98F) temperature for almost 6 months. We normally don't get very cold winters, but the past years been crazy. Little concerned if we get repeated bouts like this

 

[Joe Dupre']

Here we got a bit too MUCH winter. We had a string of 4 days of low to mid 20's. A bit too much for some of my trees. Even with putting them on the ground, I lost a camphor tree and a button bush. Planting zone recommendations, I found out, are for trees IN THE GROUND. Trees in pots sometimes have a wildly different tolerance for cold weather. Just a heads-up, oaks, camphor and button bush may need extra protection from low temps.

 

[Ininaatigoons]

Shade helps so much. Who would have thought it makes that big a difference. All around here you can see the south faced lawns, road sides, parts of the yard are all grass. The North faced sides all have snow. In my back yard there are some areas that have no snow next to the south side of the house and more than a foot of snow where it was shaded by the deck a few feet away. The nano climate of the micro climate. This sort of thing is important to pay attention to as spring comes.
Also noticed there hasn't been one day less than -18 this year and 3 mid winter thaws. Usually we do get -20 or more and 1 thaw. I hope my trees do ok for sleeping and who knows what the spring is going to look like?

 

[actionflies]

Everything starting to wake up in Oregon and starting to plan for repotting in March and April.

 

[rockm]

This is my first winter overwintering and we've had a similar issue here but with big swings. Colorado is always like this in the winter though; two days ago it was 60 degrees and today, well:View attachment 472647
I keep my trees under a blanket; I think it helps keep them closer to "refrigerated". When we have mild days in the 40's and 50's I'll open it up to regulate it and then drop it again before we get an unexpected high or low. It helps that my spot it's next to our building and in the shade; no "greenhouse" effect when it's warm and stays out of the icy winds.

This is my first season overwintering, though, so I don't have the experience to back me up. I can say most of my trees are healthily dormant (I do have experience with dormant trees) and I have not seen any of them pushing buds. Maybe the darkness helps?

Darkness can help, but strings of days in the 50s with no freezing temps at night greatly accelerate root activity. We're scheduled for a string of days in the high 60's into low 70's with nighttime temps in the high 50's here. I expect most everything to begin pushing leaf buds very hard and I will be lucky if some trees don't have leaves by Saturday... BTW, The blanket is a not a great idea It doesn't provide much of a covering of any substance for the roots of your trees. The tops of trees are exponentially more capable of handling cold than the roots. Root protection is what winter storage is all about.. Mulch or heavier covering AT THE ROOTS is better than a blanket. Mulch has mass and will retain more ambient heat than a blanket.

Here we got a bit too MUCH winter. We had a string of 4 days of low to mid 20's. A bit too much for some of my trees. Even with putting them on the ground, I lost a camphor tree and a button bush. Planting zone recommendations, I found out, are for trees IN THE GROUND. Trees in pots sometimes have a wildly different tolerance for cold weather. Just a heads-up, oaks, camphor and button bush may need extra protection from low temps.

Generally speaking it's common to add a growing zone number if the plant is in a container. You move from a zone 7 hardiness to a warmer zone 8 hardiness for example. In a container, the roots have limited soil and run that normally protects in ground trees from cold. If you leave the pots uncovered in frigid weather, all sides (including the bottom) of the pot are exposed to cold, as are the roots inside. The pot will get colder faster and freeze more quickly than a covered pot (like the road over a bridge freezes before the road on solid ground)

 

[rockm]

I have to say that I am.
I am not confident that my trees got proper dormancy.
Its been in the 50s and even 60 here in the last week. Its at least 2+ months too early for that
Worried winter will show up at some point and start killing trees if they start growing now

Yep. The bonsai two-step is going to be a long hard slog this spring. Bringing in trees in leaf as we get a couple more deep freezes isn't going to be fun. If your trees lost their leaves and are ready to grow, they got enough dormancy, BTW. What would be worrying is if trees didn't begin growing as warmer temps set in...

 

[Ming dynasty]

I’m a little, but not sure what I can do. What do y’all usually do if the weather gets cold again? Take it inside garage?

What about species that can withstand/need the cold? Should I leave those outside and only take in species that can’t handle low temp?

 

[nuttiest]

That was the 'great freeze' to us... some trees in pots are first ever leafless, peach tree has fruit already, lots of chill hours... brrrr but so many tree seeds on chinese elm and maple I will bother to plant!

 

[rockm]

I’m a little, but not sure what I can do. What do y’all usually do if the weather gets cold again? Take it inside garage?

What about species that can withstand/need the cold? Should I leave those outside and only take in species that can’t handle low temp?

If the tree hasn't broken its buds open (Even a little so you can see the edge of a leaf curled within) the tree has lost 95 percent of its winter hardiness (its ability to withstand freezing) That means, once leaves are present the roots can be killed by freezing and that will kill the tree off in large sections, or all of it.

Bring trees that have broken buds inside frost-free shelter until it's above freezing outside. If leaf buds haven't opened, it's safe to leave them in winter quarters.

With weather like this, DAILY monitoring of tree conditions are needed. I've had maples go from rest to open buds in two days--BTW leaf buds will continue to "move" even if temps have dropped back into freezing if the weather was warm enough to get down to the roots. Warmth below the surface can "lag" behind cold air temps, pushing roots to grow. It's a pain...

 

[Eckhoffw]

Yep. Rain for the last couple of days here in Minnesota. However, 2 weeks ago we had a solid week of single digits.
on the bright side, I may be able to successfully keep Japanese maples here in the near future.

 

[BrightsideB]

Even though I protected my trees more then usual. I’m afraid I lost some maples when that cold front came through early January. I don’t think my tree’s actually entered complete dormancy at that time.

 

[mj_barb]

A tray of Amur woke up today. The two step begins!

 

[leatherback]

Shade helps so much.

exactly. I keep my trees in the shade until they are "allowed" to grow as much as possible in spring. So as cold as possible.

 

[Nybonsai12]

All mine are starting to move. I’ve started repots and will shuffle.

 

[Paradox]

Yep. The bonsai two-step is going to be a long hard slog this spring. Bringing in trees in leaf as we get a couple more deep freezes isn't going to be fun. If your trees lost their leaves and are ready to grow, they got enough dormancy, BTW. What would be worrying is if trees didn't begin growing as warmer temps set in...

Yea Im going to go have a look at them this weekend and see if any are swelling buds yet.

 

[dbonsaiw]

When doing the bonsai 2-step, can the trees be brought into a heated environment for the evenings? I could bring my trees into a room attached to the heated house. With the radiator shut off and window cracked, it's considerably warmer than outside, but not 70 degrees like the rest of the house. Like this, evening temps for the tree would be higher than day time temps.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

I already have about a dozen trees in the bed of my pickup. They go into the garage at night and back into the driveway durning the day. I wish I had room for even a small greenhouse.

 

[leatherback]

When doing the bonsai 2-step, can the trees be brought into a heated environment for the evenings? I could bring my trees into a room attached to the heated house. With the radiator shut off and window cracked, it's considerably warmer than outside, but not 70 degrees like the rest of the house. Like this, evening temps for the tree would be higher than day time temps.

I avoid this as much as possible. Keeping them warmer will only trigger more growth.

Personally I feel people worry too much about this. I find that species from the right zones in general do not mind a light frost even when the buds are opening. Of course, if temps drop into the low 20-ies F this becomes a different discussion.