I live just outside of Boston and I have 2 Chinese elm I put in my cold frame and we saw temps down to 0 but it never dropped its leaves. One of them still has about 70% of them and are green whiloe the other one dropped? any explanation?
No explanation for your area but I rarely get dormancy in my deciduous trees in so cal. Is it the first winter for these trees there?
I think I scoped up the one that isnt dormant from a box store this time last year and kept it inside. I just dont get that it made it through 0 degree temps in a pot and held 80% of its leaves green? Basically its a broadleaf evergreen for this season? Just curious
I would still treat it as a deciduous until next winter if it proves you wrong again. It will probably drop its old leaves once it starts pushing new buds
I agree and wasn’t planning on treating it any differently. Great pics of what you do for a living, clearly had your and full recently keep safe so you can keep growing bonsai!
How long was it that cold? Has it been getting close or was it warm in the shelter most of the time . That might make a difference. Mine was out side all winter only getting to 30 ish but for several weeks it did finally drop all the leaves.
Its been in the cold frame sine Dec, so about 3 months
Well I was trying to speak to hours at 0 degrees. It might not have gotten cold enough for long enough to go completely to sleep
Gotcha, my mistake. I mean it is in the same cold frame I keep larch, fir and other species that need the most winter dormancy…mainly because I ran out of space and it was a $15 big box store elm, not the best practice lol
I have had a Seiju/cork and Villosa/smooth barked elm for 20 years and have never seen a complete leaf drop and I don’t put them in the greenhouse until threats of sub freezing weather here in Bend, Oregon.
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Interesting that this behavior only happens in pots, it’s got me wondering about fungal relations also sending dormancy signals…and millions of other unlikely causes
So I appear to have several different genetic varieties of Chinese elms. One variety is very much like yours, tends to hold its leaves even thru very cold conditions. The other 2 varieties lose there leaves in the fall like most deciduous trees. I’ve been told by some pros that these different varieties have probably been shipped into the country over the years so some exhibit much better winter hardiness than others. I’m a grower so I actually tag and denote these variations and market them for there specific genetic advantages.
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