oriental sweetgum

[esteve59]

Hey gang,

I purchased this oriental sweetgum seedling on ebay...the problem (i think)
is the tree has leaves,,,,,it came from Los Angeles,CA.....and I am in Maryland...
Should I introduce cold temps to induce dormancy,,,,,I don't want to shock it....
Or would it be safe to just keep it warm and do it next season ?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[rockm]

Whatever you do DO NOT PUT IT OUTSIDE. YOU WILL KILL IT.

It will NOT go dormant. It has had no time to prepare and has no ability to withstand the cold.

Keep it inside until the danger of frost and freezes have gone-probably until mid-April around here.


Temperature DOES NOT trigger dormancy. It is shortening daylength, over a period of months that tells trees to go dormant.

 

[Bill S]

it be safe to just keep it warm and do it next season ?

Yes this is how you would treat this at this point, then it's a question of the hardiness of this species, which I don't know much about. If it's hardy, get it out in the spring and let it get used to Maryland, if not look into overwintering.

 

[esteve59]

Thanks guys,,,,I appreciate your advice

 

[jk_lewis]

Assuming we are talking about L. orientalis, it's probably tender in your area. It comes from Turkey. Info I could find indicates 8a is the coolest zone it is happy in. There's not much info avalable on this species.