Trees didn't wake up.

[miker]

Well, after a fairly long, cold winter (only my second keeping trees here in PA), I have had a number of trees either not wake up at all, or start to leaf out weakly, then die. I have also had a few that are just leafing out weakly and I am not entirely sure what could have happened.

I wintered my trees on a porch area near the house on a brick surface right on the ground, except for the conifers, which sat elevated on a table in the same area. The only ones I protected are the tridents and a redwood and sequioa and these are alive and well. The rest were on their own.

The losses I have identified so far:

Gingko- never woke up and is just a dead stick
Japanese beech- never woke up and the elongated buds were rotted when checked
American beach sapling-never woke up
American hornbeam sapling from Florida, never woke up
Stewartia monadelphia-buds opened but are not developing into full leaves
Acer saccharum-locally sourced sapling, leafed out very weakly(other from same source leafed out fine)
Southern sugar maple-only one small branch has a couple buds starting to open very weakly, rest of tree may be dead
Englemann's spruce, this weakened tree (my fault) died in March, last bit of foliage turned brown
Oriental spruce- the rest of the foliage died after the top died back last year, also my fault
Pinus parviflora, Koto Hime, turned yellow, then all needles died in the last couple months, buds never opened
Pinus parviflora, Arakawa, same as the Koto Hime, dead

There may be others to add to the list, but the above is what I can think of so far.

As for the culprit(s) responsible for the loss of my deciduous trees, I am not sure. Our lowest winter temperature was -2- -3ish F, and I know nothing dried out over the dormancy period. Perhaps the roots on many froze and were killed leading to the deaths in some and the weakness seen in other trees? Maybe everything stayed too wet and a lot of the trees just rotted? Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[cmeg1]

Maybe repeated freezing and thawing.Were They exposed ?

 

[miker]

They were just sitting on the ground, in deep shade, but not mulched in. I think they all stayed pretty wet.

 

[cmeg1]

They were just sitting on the ground, in deep shade, but not mulched in. I think they all stayed pretty wet.

Yea,I think they’re just to exposed...Last winter got brutally cold in January in Southeast PA anyway.
Something I am considering this year is sinking pots into a deep bed of peat moss.It is sterile, absorbs moisture,so probably will not turn to puddles of mud in late winter rain.Peter Chan mentioned it in one of his older books.I am seriously considering giving it a try with my grow out trees in bulb pans.Then some leaves over top.
Should not have to water them all Winter...And probably be a great method for very good draining bonsai soil.

 

[coh]

The only ones I protected are the tridents and a redwood and sequioa and these are alive and well. The rest were on their own.

I think this statement tells you all you need to know. If you look up "root killing temperatures" (or root damaging temperatures) you'll find that many species suffer root damage or death at temps above what yours were exposed to. If the trees were exposed to that kind of cold plus wind (plus multiple freeze/thaw cycles) that can be a lethal combination, especially if any of the trees were on the weak side going into winter. The other thing to consider, we had that extremely severe, prolonged cold outbreak in late December. I don't know how cold it got where you are but perhaps the trees weren't fully cold-hardened when that brutal weather hit.

In your area you have to, at the very least, protect those pots with mulch if you don't get reliable snowcover and you want to leave trees outside.

 

[Lorax7]

I’d suggest surrounding them with mulch next winter.

 

[MACH5]

Sorry to hear miker. It is disheartening. It has been a very strange winter transitioning into a fairly cold spring. I am experiencing the same with a ginkgo. Except that mine thankfully still looks very much alive. In speaking with Suthin yesterday, he said it is very possible to be a fungus. So he suggested to spray it. He has seen that in the past with fungus been the culprit. I assume you have checked carefully that none of your trees are green under the bark?

 

[discusmike]

Im having similiar issues with a stewartia n mine was mulched

 

[Cable]

Sucks man. I lost five right off the bat: a crape myrtle, 2 distylium, and 2 jap maples. My amelanchier woke up and leafed out then the leaves turned red and fell off so that's most likely a goner.

 

[Dav4]

Yeah, I lost more trees... some of my nicer trees... in the last 6 months then I did in the previous decade. I suspect my actions ( or inaction) contributed to some of the losses. Oh well, live and learn... it’s part of the game.

 

[Random User]

You're not alone @miker, I've lost some that I thought were the healthiest of the bunch.

It was a very strange over-wintering period (especially the spring).

If I may suggest one thing, I wouldn't give up on them too early. I had an ash once that didn't leaf out until the end of July... this year, it was near the first tree to show... even before the white elms. The birch are really late, and I actually thought that the roses that I had in the ground died... they began to show life a couple of days ago.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Chicago!

Sorce

 

[jimib]

Im in Columbus and we too had a nasty cold, wet spring. I lost a Bloodgood, the one in my avatar, a cascade procumbens nana, shohin Kingsville Boxwood, and lost a fight with needlecast on a JBP.

 

[miker]

Thank you for the kind words everyone. Yeah Dave, I suspect some sort of action on my part could have prevented some or all of these deaths. It is really a shock to lose so many trees suddenly when I felt like I was beginning to get the horticulture side of bonsai down pat.

Certainly more thorough winter protection was needed for many of the trees, I guess I had to learn the hard way. Additionally, repotting many of my trees that are just basically in soil into a better, more aerated medium as soon as Spring hit may have helped as well. I moved from my parents to an apartment this past September and do not have a single square foot of real estate here at the apartment that is fit for keeping trees. There is just no appreciable light on the porch and of course inside near the window won't work. I used to do most of my work on my trees out in the yard late at night before bed, and since I no longer live there, I just can't put in that kind of time there anymore.

I forgot to mention a few others that either died or are doing poorly:

-Locally sourced white oak (Quercus alba) in several gallons of soil, dead.
-Locally sourced scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea) in several gallons of soil, leafed out prolifically last year, has pushed just a few sappy, scrawny leaves that are not maturing normally
-Quercus robur (×3), 1 dead, the other two have just leafed out and very poorly on just a couple branches, these are in heavy clay so that might have something to do with it.
-Dogwood, sapling from a large tree at my parents house, dead
-Several other random tree seedlings and saplings that I had potted up from a variety of locations locally are dead in their pots.
-A number of my trees that had sprouted last year in my two seedling trays died, these trays were just set on the ground near everything else for the winter.

On the flip side, I have a number of survivors as well, a good many of which are surprises considering the same conditions killed local oaks, sugar maples and the like. This is just a few of the survivors:

-All of my conifers, of all species and sizes (except those two white pines I mentioned that came from California in the middle of winter) and the few that were already weak.
-All of my Japanese maples not only survived, but came out of dormancy healthy and vigorously, even the cultivars such as my Beni Kawa. None of these were protected at all except my Beni Kawa on a few of the coldest nights.
-Yoshino cherry, trunk chopped and root ball just sitting in the same bag it came in, in flawless shape.
-Torreya taxifolia, no protection and in smaller than a 1 gallon pot, came out perfect.
-Amur maple, no surprise there!
-Zelkova serrata, looking great.

The deaths were really just hit or miss, but as I reflect more I think prolonged (like 6 months) wet, cold soil and subsequent rot played a big role. I just cannot see cold alone completely sparing a Japanese maple and killing a white oak and sugar maple sitting just a couple feet away in the exact same conditions.

A few photos:

Southern Sugar Maple


White Oak


Scarlet Oak


Japanese Beech


Stewartia monadelphia

 

[hamme1rl]

I also experienced a harsh winter with 1/3 of my 20+ trees dying or coming out weakly, including the corky in my avatar. I live in mid Michigan. I did keep my trees in a protected window well over winter where I could watch them and water occasionally. Temps in mid 30's mostly. have followed this routine for over 20 years. Never lost more than 1 tree this way. I repotted my Korean Hornbeam, Corkbark Elms, Weigelas, Am Beech in April. All looked good root wise and all are dead or nearly. Others I repotted look great.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Many of my deciduous were very weak and confused this year - and it is probably due to the fact that we had the OPPOSITE problem you experienced. We didn't have any cold weather until February - and even that was weaker than normal.

It's mid-June and several of my deciduous are only now starting to push their uppermost buds.

 

[GGB]

Hey Mike, fellow Pennsylvanian, I lost two trees this winter. Didn't lose anything the last few(which were milder). I found that anything planted in potting soil needs cover from rain/snow in our winters. I had a nursery can that filled with snow and rain and froze to the ground so the roots were saturdated and I couldn't even move the poor tree into the garage. So it continued to fill with freezing rain and melting snow, never leafed out. Alas it was a pine. Actually they both were pines and both had always been fine outdoors in the winter before this one, but I think the saturated freeze thaw cycle just blasted the roots this winter. I wpersonally will continue to keep my hardiest trees outdoors all winter, they did great. BUT if you have ANYTHING in poorly draining soil it shouldn't be left in the elements. JWP are extremely cold hardy (well past our zone) and I would bet the cold isn't what killed them, probably wet roots. My two cents and first hand experience. PA is a weird place. Too cold for many southern trees that stop right at our border or just into it, too hot for many northern species like larch that just barely scrape northern PA, and two wet for most any tree west of the mississippi. We're extreme here

 

[AZbonsai]

and it is probably due to the fact that we had the OPPOSITE

Agreed! No peaches or plums on my fruit trees this year! I do have apples but they are subpar. Not enough chill hours.

 

[theone420]

Agreed! No peaches or plums on my fruit trees this year! I do have apples but they are subpar. Not enough chill hours.

Yeah we didnt end up with one huge batch of peaches like normal but we do have what looks like 3 small batches. the first batch is almost done and there are some just about ready to pick (prob another week) and then we have another batch that is still small and looks like at least another month before they are ready. very strange year for sure.

 

[theone420]

Many of my deciduous were very weak and confused this year - and it is probably due to the fact that we had the OPPOSITE problem you experienced. We didn't have any cold weather until February - and even that was weaker than normal.

It's mid-June and several of my deciduous are only now starting to push their uppermost buds.

our landscape trees took forever. our fruitless mulberry just started putting leaves last week and our Chinese elm that usually is full by March didn't have a leaf until April,