Warm winter wreaking havoc...Chinese Quince

[Anthony]

Trees entering the fridge around third week of January out April 1st.
Easier on the nerves.
I understand Canada does the same with fridges.
Enjoying Winter.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[wireme]

I always advocate on the safe side of protection for sure. I'm just really happy to be getting the cold instead of the too warm temps. I had not thought about the sharp drop in temps, as it's still only getting down into the high 20's here, which really (in the big picture) isn't terribly cold for winter in the mid-west. We will see some teens in a few days, but briefly.

Here's a question - Do trees really react to temp. range drops like that, or is it just minimum temps that they react badly to? I guess I always thought it was minimum temperatures that cause problems.

Of course all bets are off if the tree is not dormant. I just assume that if the leaves have fallen, then the tree is dormant until the buds start to move.

My guess is that sudden cold after unseasonable warmth could be dangerous even in dormant trees. Cold hardiness and dormancy go hand in hand but are two different things. Cold hardiness is affected by a combination of daylight hrs, dormancy and temps, temps possibly the greatest factor. In normal weather some hardiness is retained during spring growth. I don't know enough about it but I suspect a dormant tree can start to lose some hardiness during extended unseasonable warm spells and can probably regain some when cold comes back but it can take some time so sudden drops can hurt. If the tree has started growing of course the situation is that much worse.
I lost almost all my trees from an extreme sudden drop of temps in October 2010, (down to -25c suddenly) that was different I guess since cold hardiness hadn't kicked in yet for the year.

 

[Paradox]

2 hours later and Ive got them all in the garage, the coldframe or mulched in leaves against the house/coldframe.

If they were calling for night lows in the upper 20s and low 30s with daytime in the upper 30s to low 40s, I would have just left them all out.
Its going from the mid 40s to 50 highs down to 15 at night and then not getting above freezing for a day or two that is the concern.
Also going from a high of 70 to a low of 15 in a little over a week (about 10 days).

By the end of next week, its predicted to be in the 30s to 40s with lows to high 20s. Ill probably put some/all back out and/or open the cold frame so they can get the gradual cooling we want. It depends on what I see for temps in the different zones (garage, coldframe, mulched) over the next few days.

 

[coh]

That was probably the right decision. Necessary? Who knows, but now you can sleep at night.

Up here, most of the days in December stayed above freezing, and there were many nights where temps stayed above 40. Almost unheard of. Temps are going to plunge to the single digits tonight and may not get above 10 F tomorrow. Fortunately, I shelter all my trees, most in climate (temperature) controlled areas. If I had to keep them outside I'd be somewhat concerned, especially since we still have no snow cover.

 

[badatusernames]

How did the quince survive this strange winter? Was digging around for more info on 'em...