Prunus Okame broke dormancy early.

[Mashu]

After a fairly warm past few weeks, this particular cherry blossom I have decided to break dormancy and show off a flower while also having other buds swelling pretty heavily. What should I do? I understand this can be stressful for a tree to come out of dormancy this early. Would it be possible to just move it inside on days where we are expecting lots of cold and frost?

 

[0soyoung]

I have one also.

In my case, only a very few flowers had actually pushed before this past week when temperatures dropped into the daily range between 25F and 40F. I've done nothing more than sit it on the ground (because the ground is a tad warmer for the roots than with it sitting on a bench/stand). I never considered bringing it inside as I simply don't have a place to do it. Were I to have done so, I'm pretty sure it would continue blooming and that a few weeks indoors wouldn't be a problem - just wait until it is really spring outside.

But, as I said, I left it outside on the ground. I've seen no apparent activity since it turned 'cold. Worst case, I think, is that the open flowers may get damaged. Otherwise, I'm thinking there will be nothing more to the effect of this cold snap than to delay flowering. Time will tell.

 

[augustine]

Keep it from freezing, Once they break the roots lose a good deal of their cold hardiness

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Cherries start blooming before the vegetative buds open. Sometimes a few flower buds are days or even weeks ahead of the majority of buds. If all the vegetative buds are still fairly tightly closed, it will still be frost resistant as far as foliage is concerned. Flowering buds can be killed by late frost and have no frost damage to vegetative buds. If you want to keep all the flower buds, you will have to do the ''in and out dance''

Once vegetative buds start showing a little green, cold tolerance is also completely gone. At this point, you need to do the ''bring it in, take it out'' dance to keep the tree alive.

 

[0soyoung]

I left it outside on the ground. I've seen no apparent activity since it turned 'cold. Worst case, I think, is that the open flowers may get damaged. Otherwise, I'm thinking there will be nothing more to the effect of this cold snap than to delay flowering. Time will tell.

A bit more than a week ago, the temperatures warmed up again and mine picked up where it left off. It is now blooming nicely wlith no apparent freeze damage. How about yours, @Mashu?

 

[Mashu]

A bit more than a week ago, the temperatures warmed up again and mine picked up where it left off. It is now blooming nicely wlith no apparent freeze damage. How about yours, @Mashu?

Sorry, I've been gone a while. It hasn't been warm enough for me to bring 'er out again. Unfortunately, in my dry house it's quit difficult to keep the soil moist. The leaves right now are starting to wilt and I fear for its life.

 

[0soyoung]

Sorry, I've been gone a while. It hasn't been warm enough for me to bring 'er out again. Unfortunately, in my dry house it's quit difficult to keep the soil moist. The leaves right now are starting to wilt and I fear for its life.

A couple of possible remedies for dry air inside are making a humidity tent (aka terrarium) for it and/or 'misting'. The point of misting is not to wet the leaves, but to raise the relative humidity of the air around them - a little ultrasonic humidifier set by it would probably work.

I presume you aren't over watering it. Too much water in the soil/substrate means roots suffocate and leads to similar above ground symptoms.

Any way, hope it makes it.