Wind burn

yamins

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During the recent hurricane to hit the East coast of the US, a number of my trees experienced what I think is severe windburn. (The trees were put in an area that we thought would be very protected, but apparently it wasn't enough.)

Evergreens seemed hardly affected, but deciduous trees were extremely hard hit. The edges of leaves have turned brown and the leaves curled up all over many trees.

My question is: what should I do now? Is there any particular recovery regimen I should follow? Is there enough time left in our growing season (it starts to turn cool here in october) for trees to recover at all?
 

Brian Van Fleet

Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
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You'll probably want to keep them in a shaded area, watch watering and allow them to get a little on the dry side between waterings. If some shoots sprout, don't expect them to live if there isn't time to harden off. With a little luck, they'll go into an early dormancy and emerge just fine next spring.

If the deciduous trees shed their leaves, it is a sign of life. Dead trees tend to not shed their leaves.

Good luck.
 

jk_lewis

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Just do not overwater. It's too late in the year to expect (or want) new leaves. Brian's advice is great.
 
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Are the leaves dying and falling off ??? Normally I would suggest removing the leaves, but I think you are better off leaving them on... if you remove them, than your tree probally will start putting out new growth. Reguardless, the leaves are damaged, so like the others are saying, some shade, and very little water.
Sorry to hear it, good thing you don't get these things that often !!!
 

rockm

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FWIW, It's not windburn. It was far too humid and wet for that to happen. It is probably from all the rain. The roots on the trees have basically been underwater for days. Watch the watering, let them dry down a bit. Don't remove the leaves. If you don't overwater, this is just a cosmetic thing.
 

Fangorn

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A member of my club told me a story about being at a Bonsai Nursery in Japan after a Typhoon and the mad rush to rinse the trees with fresh water. The concern was that the rain had a high salt content getting much of it's moisture from the ocean. Add a close proximity to the ocean and the chance of wind blown saltwater that you could have in LI this could be whats wrong with your trees
 

yamins

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Thanks everyone for all the advice. It seems the consensus is to not overwater and keep in partial shade.

@rockm -- so you're saying, it's basically a response to massive overwatering? (One thing that makes me think s it is windburn is that the damage is almost entirely to leaves on the outside of the trees profile. The same phenomenon has happened to the "real" trees all over LI -- tops and outsides of trees look like they've have had their leaves been "burnt" brown, while leaves that are protected from wind seem less affected.)
 

rockm

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Might be the salt spray...hard to tell really. It's not windburn, though. Windburn is a drying cell tissues when dry air passes over leaves drawing moisture from them faster than the plant can replenish it. Given the extensive rain that came with the storm, dry air wasn't an issue.
 
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