Buds pushing too early

[Kahless]

The buds on my European hornbeam appear to be waking up too early. If I keep the tree as cold as possible can I stop this from happening? Or is it too late?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I honestly think it's too late. The tree made a decision, so now it'll have to live with that.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Whoah!.. Sorry! way early for this dude, especially in zone 4 (?).. watch the rest you have “protected”

To Add to what was said above..

I was once told that if you can visually “make out” the leaves’ definition... it is too late..

 

[Kahless]

So...now I do the bonsai two step I suppose. At least it is just one tree. I thought I heard somewhere you could stop the process. I think the buds must have started pushing before we got that week of below zero temps. Everything in my garage froze. Hopefully that wasn't harmful to this tree that was waking up.

 

[HorseloverFat]

So...now I do the bonsai two step I suppose. At least it is just one tree. I thought I heard somewhere you could stop the process. I think the buds must have started pushing before we got that week of below zero temps. Everything in my garage froze. Hopefully that wasn't harmful to this tree that was waking up.

As long as you two step, while keeping watch on freezes and frosts until the rest “catch up”

Where was it when it woke up?..garage?

 

[Hack Yeah!]

The first step.. is the two step...

 

[Kahless]

As long as you two step, while keeping watch on freezes and frosts until the rest “catch up”

Where was it when it woke up?..garage?

Yeah, the garage.

 

[0soyoung]

If it needs to be 'trimmed', you can buy some time by cutting it back to uncracked buds. This can delay things by a few weeks.

 

[Kahless]

When does it need to be put outside in the day? When the leaves are fully out? I don't feel like it's going to be warm enough some days. Maybe a grow light is needed. Also, the soil is 32F mulched in a bucket. I think the buds started pushing before it froze and then stopped. I assume they will resume once the garage starts heating up.

 

[0soyoung]

It only needs to come in when it is going to freeze. If the overnight lows are going to be above freezing, they can just stay outside 24x7.

Keeping it cool, though, keeps it moving s l o w l y.