Fall colors question

Blimpsandmtn

Yamadori
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Hey all
Just wondering when exactly should a tree show its fall colors?
My Kojo no mai and Elm haven't shown any signs of stopping but temps are getting lower and lower everyday
frankly i'm jealous of you all who see these beautiful reds while I sit here with possibly confused trees.
Do show your trees fall colors! I envy😅
 
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August44

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I started a thread awhile ago on this but got very little response. I sure like the fall colors also. Peter

 

rockm

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Hey all
Just wondering when exactly should a tree show it s fall colors?
My Kojo no mai and Elm haven't shown any signs of stopping but temps are getting lower and lower everyday
frankly i'm jealous of you all who see these beautiful reds while I sit here with possibly confused trees.
Do show your trees fall colors! I envy😅
You won't get much color an anything down there, at least comparatively. The most vivid fall color depends on a mix of a variety of things (dormancy, lowest temps, latitude, species, etc.). Here in Va. we're only seeing the beginnings of color, while in Vermont trees are long past color.


Unfortunately, a lot of the intensity of color in the fall depends on frost, which Dallas probably won't get until well after leaf drop. Frost "sets" the reds in leaves. Without frost, colors tend on the yellow/gold side of things...your best color in the area will most likely come from sweet gum, black gum (tupelo/Pepperidge), not necessarily maples. As for envy, northern climates don't have Texas' spectacular variety of oaks, Bald cypress, and other southerly species.
 

August44

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Agree with rockm. We always have good fall colors here but last year the temps etc were right and we had unbelievable colors that I have never seen before.
 

AlainK

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I should have kept a precise record of all the threads here and elsewhere on the matter, but :

1/ there is no particular date when trees shed their "autumn colours"
2/ it depends on several factors :
- 2a/ the climate : cool nights, not much rain nor wind and sunny afternoons
- 2b/ the nature of the soil, how the tree was fertilized and when, or not
- 2c/ etc.
 

0soyoung

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Dry soil, bright sun, overnight chilling.

With trees in pots, having them shade adapted and then moving them into more sun will cause anthosyanin and/or xanthophyll production, giving leaves red/yellow (resp.) coloration. Both are compounds that act to protect the photocenters from being damaged. Anthocyanins do this by being layered in leaf tissue above the photocenters, shading them from damage. Xanthophylls are actually incorporated into PSII diverting electrons away from the chlorophyll that reduces water.

If you are an air-layering maniac, these colors can also be induced by applying highly concentrated IBA to the upper edge of a girdle.
 
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