Trident Maple not breaking dormancy

Horticulture
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Hello everyone! This is my first post on a forum, though I have been lurking here at Mirai for about a year.

I was hoping someone could help me figure out why my Trident maple has yet to push buds. I live in zone hardiness 6B, we are steadily seeing highs and lows between 40’s and 80’s F, and everything else I have has long since broken dormancy. The Trident seems to be drinking plenty of water, and a scratch test reveals lots of live green tissue. It spent the winter on the ground, mulched and in the center of the huddle of my other trees. I did repot it this spring, into a larger container to let it put on some weight and gain a bit more vigor.

This is the only Trident Maple I’ve ever had so I don’t know if they are typically late, but I would think no swollen buds by early May is abnormally late. This is also not unusual for this tree, it is always the last one to open, but I would say this is even later than normal.

Any feedback is appreciated, if you need better info let me know and I’ll try to answer.

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If there are any other Trident maples in your area, nurseries or in your neighborhood, go check what they are doing. :+1:t2:

1 Like
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Hi!
I’m in eastern Washington state, my medium sized Trident isn’t even trying to push buds yet. Wintered outside, well protected. Coldest night…17F in March here.
A local member said his outdoor wintered Trident is the same. His greenhoused tree is fully leafed.
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If you repotted the tree BEFORE bud push, and did much rootwork, that would REALY slow down buds also.
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Patience grasshopper…
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Post script… I DID just go out and look, the Trident is JUST popping 1/16" green buds… Some of the fine twig branching DID get frosted… Will make it easier to decide what to trim…

1 Like
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Ok. Maybe what I’m experiencing is much more normal than I realized. I will have to look into other ways to winter my Trident. I didn’t know they were such babies about the cold! Thank you for your helpful responses.