Upcoming Cold for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

Carol 83

Flower Girl
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Thank God our furnace went out and got replaced last week, when it was 50 degrees. It's 12 degrees at the moment.
 

Carol 83

Flower Girl
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That was good timing.
I was pretty pissed at having to spend 5K, right before Christmas, but since the weather went to hell, yeah it was good timing.
 

miker

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I broke down and at least put a blanket around the base of my large JM, to hopefully trap a little ground heat and maybe keep the temperature at the roots 15F plus. The rest will just have to take it (and many I know are perfectly fine with these temps anyways).

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The 3 trident maples, Coast redwood, sequoia, Torreya taxifolia and Venus flytrap are in the shed with a heater on low. It seems to be keeping temps inside below freezing, but well above 20F.

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Brian Van Fleet

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Southeast is getting it too. James Spann the Weatherman doesn’t believe it will hit the predicted 8f, but we will hit the low teens, so I cried uncle and move the trees for the first time in years...
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Set on the ground and watered...
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Then mulched in...
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Under surveillance...
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Underdog

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First real winter in Ohio for several years. Forecasting below zero 2 nights and the rest single digit lows. Highs in the teens. Ugg Happy New Year...
I moved several more tender trees into the crawl space last week. The rest buried in snow along the north foundation. Hoping for the best.
From now on I only want to buy extremely cold hardy trees rated for at least Zone 4. Spoken a few days after purchasing a Texas Ceder Elm from Wiggarts... LOL
 

M. Frary

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Welcome to my world everyone!
I finally can go outside and not sweat in the oppressive heat of 80 degrees.
People freak out when they come here and see big barefoot prints around my house in the snow. They're mine. I don't bother putting shoes on to get the mail or take out the garbage or other little things when I go outside.
 

miker

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I think this spell of good hard cold will actually do many of my trees good, trees like Englemann's spruce (all the spruce), fir and many pines and certainly will do no harm to stuff like potted sugar maple and other local deciduous.

I'll even admit to being a bit skeptical that this cold would harm fully dormant trident maples, but I love my trees and, therefore, am not going to risk it.

High of 16F and going into the low single digits tonight. Pair of ice skates on the way!
 

wireme

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Welcome to my world everyone!
I finally can go outside and not sweat in the oppressive heat of 80 degrees.
People freak out when they come here and see big barefoot prints around my house in the snow. They're mine. I don't bother putting shoes on to get the mail or take out the garbage or other little things when I go outside.

I do that too. I kind of like the feeling of barefoot in the snow. For short periods. probably good for health too. Tomorrow is cut a hole in the ice of a local lake and jump in day, local tradition, strange one but tradition I guess...
 

JudyB

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I do that too. I kind of like the feeling of barefoot in the snow. For short periods. probably good for health too. Tomorrow is cut a hole in the ice of a local lake and jump in day, local tradition, strange one but tradition I guess...
Do you do this? I can't imagine! And I like the cold...
 

GGB

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Eastern pa chiming in. Never done much of anything for winter protection. Even now at 3 degrees I have my Chinese elms jm and southern pines just sitting on the ground in pots. I'll admit this could be the first year I lose a tree but if I don't.... I'll be a pretty good control group for pa winterizing experiments
 

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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Eastern pa chiming in. Never done much of anything for winter protection. Even now at 3 degrees I have my Chinese elms jm and southern pines just sitting on the ground in pots. I'll admit this could be the first year I lose a tree but if I don't.... I'll be a pretty good control group for pa winterizing experiments
I'll bet your trees will be fine if they had a good 2017 and are sitting somewhere out of the sun and prevailing wind. Most people underestimate their tree's ability to handle cold temps when healthy. Like Ryan Neil told my club at a meeting years ago, if you lose a tree during the winter dormancy, look to the previous growing season for signs that the tree may not have been doing well in the first place. Please let us know how they do!
 
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CasAH

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Do you do this? I can't imagine! And I like the cold...

I do this as well. When I lived in a loft on the west side of Chicago, I would walk my dog in a tee shirt and shorts in -20F weather. The addicts and drunks thought I was crazy. The firemen would always worry about me as well. I just told them if the addicts and drunks thought I was crazy, they would not steal from my building or car.
 

JudyB

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I do this as well. When I lived in a loft on the west side of Chicago, I would walk my dog in a tee shirt and shorts in -20F weather. The addicts and drunks thought I was crazy. The firemen would always worry about me as well. I just told them if the addicts and drunks thought I was crazy, they would not steal from my building or car.
LOL, I'm talking about jumping in the ice hole. I am so used to being outside in the cold, I don't wear as much as most people do either, but not shorts! :eek:
 

JudyB

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Well, this won’t be “polar vortex” cold but it’ll be cold enough with lows in the mid teens. Aside from the Rocky Mountain Junipers and my big azalea, everything else is on the ground with a blanket of leaves to take the edge off.
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Just curious why not your azalea? I thought they were relatively tender as a species. Maybe just some varieties?
 
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