Spring is here—in my greenhouse!

[WNC Bonsai]

As I was watering in the greenhouse this morning I noticed little green dots on my big bald cypress. Sure enough it has little green buds scattered over the branches. So I’m going to get 3 extra months of growth on it this spring. The watch is now on to see whether my Chinese elms or J. maples will be next. With the cold weather we had in December and January I think all my trees have met their chill hour requirements so now its just a matter of day length and temperature to trigger them to break dormancy. Here’s a shot of the BC with the little green buds circled in red.

 

[Colorado]

Nice! It will be awhile yet for me here on the Rocky Mountain front range. But it is nice to see the first signs of spring in your greenhouse

 

[Joelshack2362]

I'm keeping an eye on mine as well. The future cast here in Charlotte NC is mid sixties this week and next week. Hopefully they did get the right amount of cold though.

 

[leatherback]

WIll be following this to see what the growth will look like this early in the year.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

WIll be following this to see what the growth will look like this early in the year.

Me too! I looked around the others in the greenhouse and many have buds starting to swell. If you assume that most temperate zone trees need about 1000 chill hours then they probably accumulated a lot more than that in December-January—it has been the coldest 2 months I can remember since moving to WNC IN 2009. However we have now entered a mid-winter thaw with daily highs around 50 F and a string of days in the low 60s starting on Friday. Even the trees in my yard have swelling buds. This is why I got the greenhouse, to counter the problem of trees budding out early and then getting knocked back or killed by a hard freeze.

 

[dbonsaiw]

My 7b experience is very different. The ground is still frozen solid and a little snow is still there. It was "warm" today with a high of 38.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

My 7b experience is very different. The ground is still frozen solid and a little snow is still there. It was "warm" today with a high of 38.

Well we maxed out at 67 degrees today. Remember that the plant hardiness zones are based on the 30 year average of LOW TEMPS not the highs or medians, that makes a big difference.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Well we maxed out at 67 degrees today. Remember that the plant hardiness zones are based on the 30 year average of LOW TEMPS not the highs or medians, that makes a big difference.

Oops, make that 59 degrees today.

 

[Glaucus]

A greenhouse causing your trees to waken up mid-winter might actually be counter-productive. A case can be made for moving them out of the greenhouse on warmer sunny winter days.
You'd want the sunlight, but not the heat the greenhouse helps capture.
I don't know the NY state weather, but I can imagine it can still get very cold in March. And a greenhouse is not insulated and usually not heated.
During winter, you'd prefer temperatures to be stable. A greenhouse will actually give you a lot of swings during the day.
But first spending money on a greenhouse. And then still having to move trees in and out all winter, is not what one wants after spending money.

The big advantage is extending the growing season. And protecting from damaging frost, allowing you to overwinter trees you cannot keep alive normally.
But it is not a magic solution and something that makes you not have to work, not make decisions, and not be able to make mistakes.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

A greenhouse causing your trees to waken up mid-winter might actually be counter-productive. A case can be made for moving them out of the greenhouse on warmer sunny winter days.
You'd want the sunlight, but not the heat the greenhouse helps capture.
I don't know the NY state weather, but I can imagine it can still get very cold in March. And a greenhouse is not insulated and usually not heated.
During winter, you'd prefer temperatures to be stable. A greenhouse will actually give you a lot of swings during the day.
But first spending money on a greenhouse. And then still having to move trees in and out all winter, is not what one wants after spending money.

The big advantage is extending the growing season. And protecting from damaging frost, allowing you to overwinter trees you cannot keep alive normally.
But it is not a magic solution and something that makes you not have to work, not make decisions, and not be able to make mistakes.

I keep my greenhouse heated to at least 34-38 degrees F. However the daytime temps can get into the 60s even with the vents open. And when it gets up to 50-60 degrees outside it will obviously get that warm inside. I don’t love in New York, and instead am several hundred miles south in North Carolina. In this area even my bonsai that are kept outside start to pop buds as early as February some years, thus the green house to protect them after they break dormancy. It also means I don’t have to to the bonsai shuffle.

 

[Glaucus]

Moving them inside the greenhouse only after they show signs of breaking dormancy sounds the right way to go.

But it risks having to do the bonsai winter shuffle even with a greenhouse. Moving them out to give them more cool temperatures to prevent bud break, then moving them back in when extreme cold hits. And back out to keep dormancy for as long as possible. And then indeed moving them inside again when you see signs of breaking dormancy.

And in autumn, you move them inside to extend the growing season. But then outside to make them experience some chilly nights, to induce dormancy. Then inside again for extreme cold.

Only solution is a professional sized greenhouse or one that is insulation with both cooling and heating.

 

[Paradox]

My 7b experience is very different. The ground is still frozen solid and a little snow is still there. It was "warm" today with a high of 38.

You must be north of the city
It was 50 down here on the Island today

I wont see things staring to bud out until March probably

January....yikes. Hopefully you guys in NC dont get a freak freeze
Also if you dont already, you might want to monitor the temperatures in that greenhouse....might be staying a tad warm and pushing them out of dormancy too early

 

[WNC Bonsai]

You must be north of the city
It was 50 down here on the Island today

I wont see things staring to bud out until March probably

January....yikes. Hopefully you guys in NC dont get a freak freeze
Also if you dont already, you might want to monitor the temperatures in that greenhouse....might be staying a tad warm and pushing them out of dormancy too early

That’s been the problem down here in recent years. We get a cold November-December-January, then a warm period for a few weeks and plants start to break dormancy. Then we get a late cold snap which knocks everything back. Last year the apple crop was decimated here and in Georgia they actually had to import peaches from California. I got tired of doing the shuffle and having trees damaged, set back, or killed so got a greenhouse to protect the trees that regularly break dormancy once their chill hour requirement has been met.