Sango Kaku air layer concern

Jcurl

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I took this air layer off of my larger Sango separating it at the end of June. The foliage wasn’t great all summer but it hung in. Developing roots I’m sure. So my concern is the air layer dropped all but maybe 4-5 leaves a week or so age. Then the buds started to swell and now it’s blooming flowers. Question is, being that it’s fall now should I pick off the flowers to keep it from wasting energy it needs to be storing for winter?
 

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0soyoung

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Very strange.

The energy to make flower buds from terminal vegetative buds was expended some time ago. Normally what follows are vegetative shoots and leaves while the flowers form samaras which it will do even if the flowers don't get pollinated. So, plucking flowers will stop the future use of carbohydrate making (likely unviable empty) seeds.

However, the real concern is that it may leaf out and then that new succulent tissue gets frozen --> you don't want this as there is a high likelihood that your layer would then be killed outright.

It would be helpful to know what USDA zone you are in (as this indexes the likely cold temperatures coming). Your words only make it clear that you are conversant in English and live somewhere in the northern hemisphere (probably in the US, but maybe Canada). Revealing your location as the city, state you are in would likely be helpful for further advice (btw, such geographic info does not give anyone sufficient information to come to your backyard and steal/ruin your plants).
 

Jcurl

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Maineville, Ohio 30 mins north of Cincinnati
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Very strange.

The energy to make flower buds from terminal vegetative buds was expended some time ago. Normally what follows are vegetative shoots and leaves while the flowers form samaras which it will do even if the flowers don't get pollinated. So, plucking flowers will stop the future use of carbohydrate making (likely unviable empty) seeds.

However, the real concern is that it may leaf out and then that new succulent tissue gets frozen --> you don't want this as there is a high likelihood that your layer would then be killed outright.

It would be helpful to know what USDA zone you are in (as this indexes the likely cold temperatures coming). Your words only make it clear that you are conversant in English and live somewhere in the northern hemisphere (probably in the US, but maybe Canada). Revealing your location as the city, state you are in would likely be helpful for further advice (btw, such geographic info does not give anyone sufficient information to come to your backyard and steal/ruin your plants).
Haha, my mistake. I’m in SW Ohio zone 6
 

Forsoothe!

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Growing seasons around the world vary widely and it is difficult to get a perspective on what someone says when we don't know where in the world they are. We need to have your info on every post, or you’ll be asked over and over. If you go to the upper right hand corner and click on your Icon, you can add your location and people will be able to customize advice for you, and you might connect with another local.




<<<<< It will show here.
 

Jcurl

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Haha, my mistake. I’m in SW Ohio zone 6
Growing seasons around the world vary widely and it is difficult to get a perspective on what someone says when we don't know where in the world they are. We need to have your info on every post, or you’ll be asked over and over. If you go to the upper right hand corner and click on your Icon, you can add your location and people will be able to customize advice for you, and you might connect with another local.




<<<<< It will show here.
Thanks for letting me know
 

Shibui

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My guess is that the change of location from the mother tree to a more protected location has confused the tree's clock and it now thinks spring has arrived.
There is no problem cutting the flowers though I doubt those few will waste much energy.
I would try to find a location that is not too protected now so the tree can sense cooler weather approaching and go dormant for your winter.
We don't have severe winters here but I have had maples leaf out right at the end of autumn. Did not appear to cause any problems though they had leaves all winter. The following spring thy grew as normal so probably no real cause for concern.
 

SeanS

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I had the same happen with a separated layer last season, although it still had 100% of its leaves and only produced one little sprig of flowers. I’ve read it’s the new tree thinking it’s dying so it produces some flowers in a last ditch effort to reproduce before it dies. Mine was perfectly fine though and is happily growing this season.

Yours does sound a little concerning, the flowering definitely seems like an emergency reproductive response. Hope it pulls through 👍🏻
 

Jcurl

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My guess is that the change of location from the mother tree to a more protected location has confused the tree's clock and it now thinks spring has arrived.
There is no problem cutting the flowers though I doubt those few will waste much energy.
I would try to find a location that is not too protected now so the tree can sense cooler weather approaching and go dormant for your winter.
We don't have severe winters here but I have had maples leaf out right at the end of autumn. Did not appear to cause any problems though they had leaves all winter. The following spring thy grew as normal so probably no real cause for concern.
Thank you, I’ll do that.
 

Forsoothe!

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This has been an uncharacteristically warm and pleasant non-autumn in my part of the mid-west (central states). It went all the way down to 50°F last night and has been at least the high 60's in daytime in September and half of October. I would characterize this as a very long summer, so if some short season trees are acting a little funny and seem to be growing like it's spring, I wouldn't worry about it, and there's nothing constructive that can be done anyway. Anytime a tree is upset in its growing cycle it can be expected to try to recover if the growing conditions permit. There is no way for the tree to know about things like calendars, -they just respond to conditions of the moment, and the conditions right now are not fall-like. Doing anything at all other than adding protection like sinking the pot and mulching so the roots assume the cooler temperatures of autumn and winter may be problematic. The normal autumn/late summer tree growing conditions of diminishing sunlight and photoperiod, drier & cooler weather, and leaves that are getting close to the limits of their lifespan, conditions that en toto signal to the tree to switch growing to roots and maturing next year's buds instead of continuing to nourish leaves which dry up and blow away. Those signals are 60 days late. Next year may get even with us and this will disappear into the averages as an aberrant year that proves the rule.

At least, some good will come of this kind of autumn in the north: the Azaleas that are longer season plants of the south that are in our northern landscape and bloom every-other-year will have had long enough to set seed and flower buds so next spring should be better than average for us for Azaleas. (He said, perhaps prematurely.)
 
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