Trident maples not going dormant

jkg777

Seedling
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I have a few trident maples and two of them still have green leaves on them. One of them is a 2-3 year old seedling and it's still putting out new growth. The second is a larger pre-bonsai I bought a month ago and it still has green leaves on it although the leaves are starting to change colors. All my other seedlings and pre-bonsai tridents have already dropped all their leaves. I have both of them outside if the temperature is above freezing. I bring them into the garage over night if the temp gets below freezing. When I bought the pre-bonsai tree I was told to not let it freeze, so that is why I'm bringing it in at night.

I'm zone 6b and have heard that tridents can't be left out all winter in this zone. Not sure if that was accurate or not but the pre-bonsai is a nice tree and I don't want to kill it.

Is there a way to get them to go dormant for the winter besides what I'm currently doing?

Thanks.
 

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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I have a few trident maples and two of them still have green leaves on them. One of them is a 2-3 year old seedling and it's still putting out new growth. The second is a larger pre-bonsai I bought a month ago and it still has green leaves on it although the leaves are starting to change colors. All my other seedlings and pre-bonsai tridents have already dropped all their leaves. I have both of them outside if the temperature is above freezing. I bring them into the garage over night if the temp gets below freezing. When I bought the pre-bonsai tree I was told to not let it freeze, so that is why I'm bringing it in at night.

I'm zone 6b and have heard that tridents can't be left out all winter in this zone. Not sure if that was accurate or not but the pre-bonsai is a nice tree and I don't want to kill it.

Is there a way to get them to go dormant for the winter besides what I'm currently doing?

Thanks.
I think moving them in and out of the garage is counter-productive. I'd find a nice spot to overwinter them outside and leave them to it.


Fwiw, I've got tridents outside in 6a MI. They had green leaves on them when they got off the truck from GA a month ago and froze solid within 2 days of arriving as the temps fell to 22 F. Currently, they're mulched in and frozen on my concrete patio under a light dusting of snow and will stay there until next spring.

I think a bigger issue overwintering tridents is preventing them from breaking dormancy prematurely then having their roots exposed freezing temps again...
 
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jkg777

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I think moving them in and out of the garage is counter-productive. I'd find a nice spot to overwinter them outside and leave them to it.

Thanks for the input. So the advise I got to not let them freeze was incorrect then. I'll leave them out and see what happens with them.
 
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Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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Thanks for the input. So the advise I got to not let them freeze was incorrect then. I'll leave them out and see what happens with them.
The soil of my potted Trident maples has frozen every winter for over the last 20 some odd years … Not one loss yet
 

rockm

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Thanks for the input. So the advise I got to not let them freeze was incorrect then. I'll leave them out and see what happens with them.
Tridents tend to be stubborn to enter dormancy (at least mine here in Va. are). I have one particular older trident that holds onto green leaves well into November. I let it get hit with occasional frosts and freezes. It takes a few of those shallow freezes (32-30 F) and then changes leaf color almost overnight. It drops all it leaves within a day after that.

I leave it out under mulch all winter. Have for 20 years now. Hasn't been a problem even though we've had temps well under 10 F in that time.

Babying your trees is prolonging the situation. Get them outside, I'd get them under a thick mulch covering and let them be.
 

jkg777

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Where from?

Things bought from different places and things pruned to much or late tend to be last.

Sorce
I got the tree from a bonsai place in Pennsylvania with the same zone as I have, 6B.
 

jkg777

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Tridents tend to be stubborn to enter dormancy (at least mine here in Va. are). I have one particular older trident that holds onto green leaves well into November. I let it get hit with occasional frosts and freezes. It takes a few of those shallow freezes (32-30 F) and then changes leaf color almost overnight. It drops all it leaves within a day after that.

I leave it out under mulch all winter. Have for 20 years now. Hasn't been a problem even though we've had temps well under 10 F in that time.

Babying your trees is prolonging the situation. Get them outside, I'd get them under a thick mulch covering and let them be.
Thanks for the input. I left them out last night and we had 21 degree overnight temp. I'll see what happens with them.
 

jkg777

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I'd get them under a thick mulch covering and let them be.

Just so I understand, what is the purpose of the mulch? To help keep them from drying out, wind protection, slow down temperature change? All of these? Thanks.
 

jkg777

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Here's some pictures of the trees.
 

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Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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Just so I understand, what is the purpose of the mulch? To help keep them from drying out, wind protection, slow down temperature change? All of these? Thanks.
Mulch acts as insulation between the ambient air temperature and the soil temperature. Placing a potted tree on the ground and mulching it prevents the soil in the pot from exaggerated temperature swings- the ambient temperature of the earth, even frozen, doesn't fall much below 32 F- which won't keep the soil from freezing but will keep it from reaching dangerously cold levels. It will also help to prevent repeated freeze thaw cycles and hopefully slow the breaking of dormancy when the weather begins to warm up next spring.
 

rockm

Spuds Moyogi
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Thanks for the input. I left them out last night and we had 21 degree overnight temp. I'll see what happens with them.

Just so I understand, what is the purpose of the mulch? To help keep them from drying out, wind protection, slow down temperature change? All of these? Thanks.
All of these. Mulched on the ground, the pile of mulch "traps" ambient heat from the ground, as well as lags air temperatures--it takes longer for the temperature of the interior of the pile (where the trees' pots are) to get as cold as the air temperature. This is both valuable in winter AND in the spring (to prevent too much warming that makes trees vulnerable to Spring freezes and frosts.
 
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