I received some tree today that are totally dormant, and winter is still only a future prediction here. It has been it the eighties for weeks and it will not cool down until November sometime, so what do I do with trees that are dormant. I told the seller not to send them until November. So what do I do with winter dormant trees when it is in the 80's. I don't have refrigerator big enough to keep trees. These are snake bark maples, sorry if I have repeated my self but it's been a hard day plus it is hot and we are in a terrible drought. Some think being in the 80's( 28 degrees) is nice, well not when you work in the hot sun all day, maybe to sit around and drink margaritas or something. Your help and advise would be kindly appreciated. Dick Beasley in Virginia
How about an iced large cooler or insulated fish tote {styrofoam ones are sometimes used to ship perishables to grocery stores}, or are they too large ? Trees covered with just moist peat moss in a plastic bag.
The trees were pulled out of a 25 cent blow pot and put in a plastic bag with the planting medium. They are about a meter in height, so I think that putting them under my house is the best bet so far.
Hope it's cool enough there, not sure at what temperature the buds will enlarge. Guess if you decided to use a cooler the trees might be flexible enough to bend a bit, so you wouldn't have to shorten them.
If I were to get a huge cooler and put that under the house with ice I may only need to put fresh ice in it twice a week until Thanksgiving. That is a real kick in the butt isn't it.
I'd plant them. These like cool positions anyway, so giving them some shade until outdoor temperatures lower would go with that. They shouldn't be coming out of cold storage at this time of the year, plants go into it in fall and then are sold the following late winter-early spring. If these have not had a growing period since last summer their future viability would then come into question.
Yeh, kind of annoying. Thought maybe if you wanted to keep temps around 45 F or less might be OK {whatever it takes to keep the buds from breaking} , guessing it would be about 70 F in the shade there. Haven't had any experience with this circumstance, hope they do well.
I don't know what Zone they came from but could it be possible that a Zone 4 has all ready seen it's fall and the trees have set their buds for next year? I were to set them out in the shade they would be coming out of cold storage so I don't understand that point. We can still see upper 80 anytime, it was in the mid 90s the fist part of last week.
How do you know they were in cold storage right before you got them? Are you assuming this unlikely circumstance based on a lack of leaves, or did the supplier say they had come out of a cooler?
Richard, many of my snakebarks have lost leaves already. And this is a long way from zone 4, although we didn't have much of a real summer, and it has been horribly wet. Some of the snakebarks are known for early leaf drop, like the conspicuums. I guess I'd plant out and hope for the best, too. -E
when i received maples i plant maples immediately!!go Richard made a hole and drink one good liquid after ..the rain and frost are near... CIAO alex
I don't know if they came out of cold storage and I doubt it. I am just not use to seeing trees with such plump buds when everything here is still so very green and some of my maples are putting out new leaves right now due to the cooler weather we are having. I have seen some trees tuning color maybe one in 200, and I think this is due to the drought. The supplier said he did not ship until the trees were going dormant that is why I said to ship only ship in November. So maybe he did put them in a early dormancy because he belive the trees should be dormant to ship them. I don't understand that but I think that is what I read on his web page. The trees look to be in the most excellent shape, I want to keep it that way. I have called him but he has not returned my call yet.
after the planting the trees sleep ,the leaves go down and zzzz!!!!But roots wake up and search the nutriens elements in the soil ,water and fertilize for happy trees .....alex
YES, plant them. Alex66 is right, they'll grow roots as long as the weather permits. They won't break dormancy until they've had sufficient chilling hours which won't happen until next spring.
Here in NJ, we are not quite in the 80's, but defintely still in the mid 70's and all my conspicuums have lost their leaves. My other snakebarks have been turning for about a week now. Most everything else is still green up here. I would plant them as soon as possible, but make sure they get water and stay out of the sun and wind all winter. While they may have come from a cooler climate (pacific northwest), the winter they came from and are used to is sure not to be as cold as those here in the mid-atlantic.
