bare root Celtis occidentalis

milehigh_7

Mister 500,000
Messages
4,920
Reaction score
6,096
Location
Somewhere South of Phoenix
USDA Zone
Hot
Who has experience bringing these things out of dormancy from bare root liners? I know you have to sweat them and I have tried to follow all the instructions available. They seem really stubborn, any pointers?
 

rockm

Spuds Moyogi
Messages
14,182
Reaction score
22,181
Location
Fairfax Va.
USDA Zone
7
Don't know exactly what you mean by "sweat" but dormancy is not simple "heat the thing up until it wakes up." If the plants you have haven't fulfilled their dormancy "chilling hours," they will not "wake up" easily. Each species has genetically programmed dormancy requirements that have to be fulfilled before warmer root temps have any effect on them. You could wind up cooking your trees...
 

milehigh_7

Mister 500,000
Messages
4,920
Reaction score
6,096
Location
Somewhere South of Phoenix
USDA Zone
Hot
Thanks for the reply,

I am pretty sure I get what you are saying. Of course I have no idea if these trees had the appropriate dormancy where they were. So I will just have to hope for the best.


What I mean by "sweating" can be read about here:
http://www.ca.uky.edu/HLA/Dunwell/LnrSweat.html

I was just wondering if anyone had some experience with this particular species in which they have learned to reliably overcome the deep dormancy they seem to exhibit.
 

jk_lewis

Masterpiece
Messages
3,817
Reaction score
1,160
Location
Western NC
USDA Zone
7-8
Dunno who you got these bare-root seedlings from, but they should have come to you with instructions. But don't overthink this. Plant them. They'll come out when they come out. Just don't overwater. Leafless trees need very little of it.

I've grown C. laevigata, which is very closely related, from bare root seedlings. They're always the very last tree to come out of dormancy, but they do it without "sweating." Plant them, then "no sweat" and they'll sprout when they want to. After all, Ma Nature doesn't "sweat" her trees.

That article you cite deals with plants that have been stored during dormancy in refrigerators -- uniformly cold for a long time. I doubt it has anything to do with your trees.
 
Top Bottom