No New Growth This Season

[Steven1969s]

What causes trees to stop growing?
I ask because I have 4 trees (Chinese elm, trident maple, Korean Hornbeam and Pyracantha) that didn't grow 1' this season.
All above trees were repotted this past spring, they were all fed every 2 weeks.
These are all older trees, above 25 years old. Their foliage looked fine, but just no new growth.
All of these trees are in a heated greenhouse in the winter and taken outside in spring.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[brentwood]

What causes trees to stop growing?
I ask because I have 4 trees (Chinese elm, trident maple, Korean Hornbeam and Pyracantha) that didn't grow 1' this season.
All above trees were repotted this past spring, they were all fed every 2 weeks.
These are all older trees, above 25 years old. Their foliage looked fine, but just no new growth.
All of these trees are in a heated greenhouse in the winter and taken outside in spring.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

How hard did you work them during the repot, maybe they're focusing energy on the roots? Akin to the first they sleep, then they creep, then they leap saying about new plantings - maybe this is your sleep season.
B

 

[Cajunrider]

Assuming all these trees are not so old that cell division ceases, then there must be something that forced them to either go dormant or to stop growing up-top in order to regroup. Based on your post, there are two possible reasons:
1. All the trees were kept in heated greenhouse in the winter. Could this cause them to not have a true dormancy that they should have had and now they remain in a pseudo-dormant mode?
2. All the trees were repotted. Could the repots have stressed them so much that they are still trying to recuperate and grow more roots to survive?

 

[roberthu]

Got any photos?

 

[roberthu]

Assuming all these trees are not so old that cell division ceases, then there must be something that forced them to either go dormant or to stop growing up-top in order to regroup. Based on your post, there are two possible reasons:
1. All the trees were kept in heated greenhouse in the winter. Could this cause them to not have a true dormancy that they should have had and now they remain in a pseudo-dormant mode?
2. All the trees were repotted. Could the repot have stressed them so much that they are still trying to recuperate and grow more roots to survive?

Number 1 is more likely. I went through similar things this year on some trees. Some didn't fully leaf out this year and went lost all old leaves very early this fall. Hopefully they pull through the winter this year.

 

[Dav4]

What causes trees to stop growing?
I ask because I have 4 trees (Chinese elm, trident maple, Korean Hornbeam and Pyracantha) that didn't grow 1' this season.
All above trees were repotted this past spring, they were all fed every 2 weeks.
These are all older trees, above 25 years old. Their foliage looked fine, but just no new growth.
All of these trees are in a heated greenhouse in the winter and taken outside in spring.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Are they generally healthy looking. What kind of winter temperatures did your greenhouse offer? I’d be concerned about a potential lack of dormancy affecting vigor. Also, older, more developed specimens just won’t grow as quickly as their younger counterparts. Pics and more information on your horticulture would be helpful.

 

[dbonsaiw]

I had the same with all my hornbeams and not really sure why. I am not going to repot them next year and see if that was the issue.

 

[BrightsideB]

What temperature do you keep your heated greenhouse?

 

[Steven1969s]

Are they generally healthy looking. What kind of winter temperatures did your greenhouse offer? I’d be concerned about a potential lack of dormancy affecting vigor. Also, older, more developed specimens just won’t grow as quickly as their younger counterparts. Pics and more information on your horticulture would be helpful.

The lowest temps in the greenhouse is 32f. They all drop their leaves so they definitely go dormant.
They are very healthy looking, just not growing. All of these trees are 25 and over in years.
On the coldest day in winter (I'm in NJ) if there's sun outside, temps in the greenhouse can reach 50f and a heater won't allow temps to drop below 32f.

I'll post some pictures when I get home today.

 

[Gabler]

The lowest temps in the greenhouse is 32f. They all drop their leaves so they definitely go dormant.
They are very healthy looking, just not growing. All of these trees are 25 and over in years.
On the coldest day in winter (I'm in NJ) if there's sun outside, temps in the greenhouse can reach 50f and a heater won't allow temps to drop below 32f.

I'll post some pictures when I get home today.

So you're saying they put out new leaves this spring, but they didn't grow beyond a single leaf at each bud? Am I understanding that correctly?

 

[Steven1969s]

So you're saying they put out new leaves this spring, but they didn't grow beyond a single leaf at each bud? Am I understanding that correctly?

Yes

 

[Steven1969s]

Assuming all these trees are not so old that cell division ceases, then there must be something that forced them to either go dormant or to stop growing up-top in order to regroup. Based on your post, there are two possible reasons:
1. All the trees were kept in heated greenhouse in the winter. Could this cause them to not have a true dormancy that they should have had and now they remain in a pseudo-dormant mode?
2. All the trees were repotted. Could the repots have stressed them so much that they are still trying to recuperate and grow more roots to survive?

Unfortunately I just got home and because of the beauty of daylight savings time it was already dark. I'm posting the pictures I took with my phone with flash, but I these are useless.
I think your #1 reason might be the most interesting option. I would agree with you with the hornbeam, trident and Pyracantha, but Chinese elm? .......elms go dormant in Fl and seem to grow fine there and I don't think Fl temps reaches 32f and if it does it might only be for a day or two.
But it's still a good possibility that you're right.

 

[Steven1969s]

What temperature do you keep your heated greenhouse?

Temps don't drop below 32f. 7 years ago I lost 3 nice trees to what I think was do to their roots freezing for too long and ever since I protect the tress more. My greenhouse is only 4 years old and this is the first time this happens.

 

[Steven1969s]

How hard did you work them during the repot, maybe they're focusing energy on the roots? Akin to the first they sleep, then they creep, then they leap saying about new plantings - maybe this is your sleep season.
B

I repot every 2 years and I always cut back hard. I've had these trees for a very long time and I always treat them the same during repoting.

 

[Steven1969s]

I had the same with all my hornbeams and not really sure why. I am not going to repot them next year and see if that was the issue.

Do you also winterize them in a greenhouse?

 

[Steven1969s]

So you're saying they put out new leaves this spring, but they didn't grow beyond a single leaf at each bud? Am I understanding that correctly?

Yes. Correct.

 

[Scorpius]

No top growth leads me to think root issues, but what exactly I don't know. The fact its four different species is perplexing. What did you do different this year as compared to previous years? New fertilizer? Substrate? New water source?, More or less light?

I keep my stuff in a lean to greenhouse, but I let my trees gets down to 15-20 degrees multiple times in the fall before being moved inside. As soon as temps moderate about 15 degrees they all go back out on the benches.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

The trees will gather the appropriate number of chilling hours in a cold greenhouse if the temperatures are kept between 32 and 45F during dormancy. Generally no chilling hours are accumulated at temperatures below freezing or above somewhere above 45F -50F. However extended periods of time (not just 6-8 hrs in a row and ten below..). above 42-45F could take-trees out of dormancy… and will take a week or so to return depending on the tree.

Also trees can generally go one winter without dormancy… Todd Schlafer once mentioned he thought two years for at least some.

Considering OP is in New Jersey it seems unlikely the cold greenhouse would cause the issue unless the temperatures were kept above 45F the majority of time.

If that’s not the case and the trees have been exposed to these temps multiple winters in a row, the carbohydrate stores in the tree could be depleted, coupled with very short repotting cycles, the growth could be dwarfed.

This does not seem to be the case.

So the issue has to be something else. That would leave a whole bunch of things , root issues / core compaction / overworking would be high on the list given the foliage growth description.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Paradox]

They mentioned that the greenhouse reaches 50F when the sun is out even on cold days.

Other than the 4 day freeze around December or January and the one overnight freeze, last winter was pretty mild here in southern NY which isn't far from NJ.

So wondering if the greenhouse really stayed that cold most of the time last winter.