Unseasonably Warm Weather

[Apex37]

Here in N. Texas winter is weird, but honestly can’t say I remember seeing too many 80+ degree days in the middle of January. Yesterday was 83, today 84 for the high. Lots of fluctuating between cool and warmer weather.

Keeping trees dormant is my main goal. I’m wondering if it would serve me better to unmulch trees and put them back on the bench. At least that way they aren’t staying warmer being on the ground mulched in. They’re in a spot that only gets sun early morning till about 10 and then are shaded the remaining portion of the day.

Thoughts?
Anybody else having this struggle?

 

[Gabler]

Leave them. Putting them up on benches will make them warmer, not colder. The ground is resistant to temperature change. When it’s too hot or too cold, burying the pots in mulch keeps them temperate.

 

[Apex37]

Leave them. Putting them up on benches will make them warmer, not colder.

Interesting! I would think the opposite, hence why we mulch them in. Up on the bench they’re exposed to wind and don’t have the ground to warm them.

 

[Gabler]

Interesting! I would think the opposite, hence why we mulch them in. Up on the bench they’re exposed to wind and don’t have the ground to warm them.

The ground doesn’t create heat. It stores heat because it’s massive. During a cold snap, it stays the same temperature as before the cold snap because it stores that much heat. During a warm spell, it’s slow to heat up compared to the air, so it’s cooler than the air is. It’s the same reason the ocean is cold in May but warm in September. It’s slow to warm up in the spring and slow to cool off in the fall.

Temperature is just how fast the atoms are moving around. When they’re bouncing around a lot, it’s hot. When they’re slow, it’s cold. There’s a lot of atoms in the ground, so it takes a lot of energy to get them moving, and once they’re moving, it takes a while for the atoms to slow back down. It’s the same reason it’s harder to stop a semi truck than to stop a smart car, and why the truck wins in a head-on collision. The air is light, like the smart car. The ground is heavy like a truck.

 

[Apex37]

All makes sense, thanks for the break down.
Here’s to hoping all of this warm weather doesn’t break dormancy!

 

[rockm]

DO NOT PUT THEM BACK ON THE BENCHES. The ground is your friend. It is significantly COOLER than air temps, just as it is significantly warmer than colder air.

The ground, because of its sheer mass, takes a very long time to change temperatures, either warmer or colder. The air changes temp within hours or even minutes (as we saw in early December).

The ground stays cooler than warm spells in the atmosphere, which is why soil temps are the primary trigger for stimulating buds on in-ground trees to begin growing--trees in the ground remain dormant even though temps may be in the 80's for a while--(have the trees in your yard begun to push new leaves? Bet they haven't). New growth depends on warming soil/root temperatures. That is a type of evolutionary "fail safe" that prevents trees from budding out too early and be killed by renewed or late freezes.

Exposed on benches and surrounded by warm air, the roots on your trees will warm quickly and thoroughly, stimulating new growth. On the ground, preferably under mulch, those root temperatures will remain alot cooler than the air --provided you're not shoveling new air temperature mulch over the pots on the ground--If this were me, I'd get a shovel, find a shady spot in the yard and dig a shallow pit six inches or deeper to put your trees into. You could backfill with mulch, but make sure it cooler than the air (a layer of ice poured over it can help, even though the ice will melt.

 

[Apex37]

DO NOT PUT THEM BACK ON THE BENCHES. The ground is your friend. It is significantly COOLER than air temps, just as it is significantly warmer than colder air.

The ground, because of its sheer mass, takes a very long time to change temperatures, either warmer or colder. The air changes temp within hours or even minutes (as we saw in early December).

The ground stays cooler than warm spells in the atmosphere, which is why soil temps are the primary trigger for stimulating buds on in-ground trees to begin growing--trees in the ground remain dormant even though temps may be in the 80's for a while--(have the trees in your yard begun to push new leaves? Bet they haven't). New growth depends on warming soil/root temperatures. That is a type of evolutionary "fail safe" that prevents trees from budding out too early and be killed by renewed or late freezes.

Exposed on benches and surrounded by warm air, the roots on your trees will warm quickly and thoroughly, stimulating new growth. On the ground, preferably under mulch, those root temperatures will remain alot cooler than the air --provided you're not shoveling new air temperature mulch over the pots on the ground--If this were me, I'd get a shovel, find a shady spot in the yard and dig a shallow pit six inches or deeper to put your trees into. You could backfill with mulch, but make sure it cooler than the air (a layer of ice poured over it can help, even though the ice will melt.

Thanks rock! Unfortunately they’re probably in one of the more shaded areas I can put them with my limited sized backyard. We will just wait and see how things go.

 

[Adamski77]

Also thought that spring is already coming… was low-mid teens (in Celsius) last week and suddenly such a story… wind worries me the most

 

[badatusernames]

So um, this weather

If it gets under 30 during the night, but upwards of 50 during the day (or more!) every day, is that... enough? It doesn't feel like enough.

I would be a lot less worried if I didn't think roughly two weeks of -10F were coming to throw us a curveball come Feb/March, seems to be a pattern that's pushed more from Feb and into March the last couple years if I am recalling correctly. I'm waiting for my Chinese quince to start waking up at this point and I've seen that others on this forum have seen theirs doing so! I have to admit that I'm having a hard time remembering a stranger weather, despite the fact that they've kind of all been strange in recent memory...

 

[Gabler]

So um, this weather

If it gets under 30 during the night, but upwards of 50 during the day (or more!) every day, is that... enough? It doesn't feel like enough.

I would be a lot less worried if I didn't think roughly two weeks of -10F were coming to throw us a curveball come Feb/March, seems to be a pattern that's pushed more from Feb and into March the last couple years if I am recalling correctly. I'm waiting for my Chinese quince to start waking up at this point and I've seen that others on this forum have seen theirs doing so! I have to admit that I'm having a hard time remembering a stranger weather, despite the fact that they've kind of all been strange in recent memory...

My locally-collected trees haven’t batted an eye, but last year, my Japanese maple seedlings woke up early and most of them died. I figure that was probably a good thing. The survivors should be better equipped for the next late-season cold snap.

 

[rockm]

The weather for the last five to seven years has taken on a noticeable pattern--extreme cold snaps in Nov. and Dec., followed by warm January and Feb. (but always accompanied by intermittent, sudden, severe cold snaps). It's a difficult pattern to deal with, as trees wake up far too early and people make the assumption that a warm Jan. means spring is early.

Spring doesn't arrive until late March here in the Middle Atlantic states. Temperatures remain unpredictable here until well into April. The danger to trees is moving them around, or, unfortunately putting them back on benches expecting temps to hold or warm up. Keep them as cold as possible for as long as possible. Be on the look out for early "wake ups" and protect them accordingly (bringing them inside is unfortunately, the best course of action in most cases). Deciduous trees lose 95 percent of their winter hardiness/tolerance after their leaf buds open--even if that opening is barely noticeable.