Arbutus: Arbutus Tree in Alberta

I have been given a beautiful 2 feet high nursery grown potted Arbutus from Vancouver Island. What can I do to help it survive in our climate. I am in Three Hills,
Alberta (70 Km NW of Drumeller). Our soil is clay base. Can it live in a large pot? Someone suggested misting it daily with salt water. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sun, Arbutus have (after2/3 years )a moderate esigens, live good in pot and remain little size ;Arbutus prefer acid soil ,but i think that is a bad idea salt water, in pot use dedicate soil for acid plant is best ...alex

 

Hi Alex 66
Thank you for your reply. It was greatly appreciated. It is now sitting on the deck in the sunshine. Should I be bringing it in on chilly nights? We have had snow as early as September.

Thanks again,
Sunshinedf

 

They will tolerate some cold and snow.

I planted a 1ft tree last summer and did not protect it over the winter. We hit -12c for a couple nights last November and it was completely buried in about a foot of snow for several days. It is thriving this year. Where you will run in to trouble is the cold dry winds and real winter cold snaps in Alberta. Best to shelter it from the wind, pull it into a shed or something if a cold snap hits and hope for the best. It it likely going to be very difficult to keep it going for more than a couple years if it does survive the winter, but worth a try for fun.

 

It will not tolerate an Alberta winter so don't plant it outside. Pot culture is fine, using an acidic mix. While the tree may be fine at -12ºC, the roots will not be. I would try to avoid exposing it to temperatures below -5ºC and ideally, don't let the rootball freeze.

As for winter care indoors, bright light and COOL temperatures (between 0ºC and 15ºC)

 

SUN if your Arbutus remain in open garden you covered the Arbutus around the trunk with pine bark or little piece of wood, for branch,pot and leaves use one special cover(white) easy avaible in garden center,myArbutus is in soil and the min .temperature tollerate is -5/6°under zero..alex

 

Hello Alberta,

I agree with the writer below. I lost my outdoor try at arbutus because the ground froze and the root system is just not built to handle that. I'm in a 5b zone and it hits -40 here and as another poster talked about, it is the dry cold winds in late winter that suck the moisture out of everything. Doesn't phase our maple trees nor anything else planted in the ground, but this type of wind does hurt our rhododendren bush and it has broad leaves like the Arbutus.

If you were going to try it outdoors you would need to cover the ground around the tree so the ground did not freeze too deep, even then I think you would want to put straw or something around the tree to keep it from being wind blasted.

If you bring it in, I put mine by my patio door, they get light but they won't get too cold. I wonder if you put it in a shed would that do it to keep the roots from freezing?

Good luck, Michael

 

Arbutus / Mardone (Arbutus menziesii) are quite specific in thier cultural requirements. I've never heard of indoor cultivation of this particular genus, nor could I imagine it. A massive tree that couldn't be more far removed from it's native habitat (Alberta).

Cheers, Barrie.