Chinese Elm questions and wintering

[pskt1234]

Thanks for the apology, no worries! Affect is hard if not impossible to determine in text.

I’m a customer of Brent’s and have I’ve read through his articles previously and have just reread the statement in his article on dormancy “Subtropicals such as Chinese elms, Ulmus parvifolia, have little if any dormancy requirements” and have tried to hunt down its source to no avail. Instead I observed the quote repeated on the net multiple times. Perhaps Brent would enlighten us about the source of this quote. Thanks for pointing this out btw.

On the other hand I did find research on bud dormancy release on elms that appears to suggest a short dormancy was required for bud release with their estimate of 35 chilling days for the Chinese Elm and less for the European Elm (See Modelling analysis and chilling requirement estimates section). Also that Photoperiod seems not to be important for the release of buds for either of these trees.

Looking at the avg climatology for Malibu CA it appears that there are sufficient low temps (<45 or <50F depending on the models I saw.) in the winter to induce the short amount of dormancy needed in the Chinese Elm, as does Kelseyville, CA where I believe Brent’s greenhouse is located, as will many other places in North America.

Conclusion: I could be wrong in my interpretation and I’m open to other interpretations, but the literature suggests that The Amazing Unicorn should keep his Chinese Elm in cooler temperatures, perhaps outside during the day if in the 40s (given the input from the folks on the blog) and/or in the garage if the temperatures are suitable to attain sufficient chilling days in the next months rather than outside for the best health of the tree.

All other advice pertaining to proper watering by the folks here should also apply - dry the soil out a bit between waterings etc.
cheers
DSD sends

Here's my 2 cents worth. I live in Wisconsin, zone 5. I have several 10 to 15 yo chinese elms. Outside year round. After the leaves have fallen off of the mature oaks in my yard, I take my ce, put them on the south side of my house, up against the foundation in a hole in the ground deep enough for the pot to be buried up to the rim. I cover the top of the pot with leaf mulch up to the lowest branches. I take them out of the ground in March or April after the danger of below 0 degrees fahrenheit has passed and put them back on their benches until next time that the oak leaves fall. I put them in the ground in the fall after all the other trees have lost their leaves even if the ce still have their leaves. No water when in the ground, only melting snow, just like their full sized counterparts. This is a tried and true method for overwintering that works FOR ME! Hope this helps!