Shin Deshojo leafing out too early? Please Help

[David P]

Hi, I live in Los Angeles. Here is my 2-year-old Shin Deshojo, which recently dropped its leaves in December. After it dropped its leaves, I took the opportunity to cut and trim some of its small branches, and now it's leafing out. Seems a bit early to be leafing out. Why is this happening, and will I still be able to repot in spring? I was planning to sort out its roots during the repot and change the soil, as the current mix seems to stay too wet most of the year. Please help.

 

[yenling83]

Hey! Because the climate is so mild with warm winters compared to the plants native environment, sometimes trees leaf out early especially in So Cal. While it's not ideal, it's not horrible either. If you'd like to re-pot the tree, I'd do it now. Personally, my repotting season is generally in January and February and I'm in San Luis Obispo County, CA. Typically it's recommended that you re pot deciduous trees as buds are swelling, but before they leaf out. I have however seen some videos from Bjorn-who I'd trust, showing them repotting older Japanese maples just as they start to flush out. I believe I remember Bjorn saying that it's actually less stressful for older trees to repot at this time. If I were you and I wanted to repot that tree, I'd do it now as opposed to waiting much longer.

 

[David P]

Hey! Because the climate is so mild with warm winters compared to the plants native environment, sometimes trees leaf out early especially in So Cal. While it's not ideal, it's not horrible either. If you'd like to re-pot the tree, I'd do it now. Personally, my repotting season is generally in January and February and I'm in San Luis Obispo County, CA. Typically it's recommended that you re pot deciduous trees as buds are swelling, but before they leaf out. I have however seen some videos from Bjorn-who I'd trust, showing them repotting older Japanese maples just as they start to flush out. I believe I remember Bjorn saying that it's actually less stressful for older trees to repot at this time. If I were you and I wanted to repot that tree, I'd do it now as opposed to waiting much longer.

Hi, thanks for the advice, I will repot it asap. I just found it so weird that it dropped all its fall leaves, and I did some small branch trimming, it started to leaf out all within about 2-3 weeks' time. I figured it would stay dormant at least until Spring.

 

[vp999]

I didn't even think trees drop leaves at all in Socal lol.

 

[David P]

I didn't even think trees drop leaves at all in Socal lol.

They do with a little help. lol.

 

[Dan92119]

I didn't even think trees drop leaves at all in Socal lol.

I live in San Diego and trees do drop their leaves. I think the issue is the "Pineapple Express" that we have gotten lately. The temperatures have been warmer than usual. This week I will be getting night time temperatures in the 40's which is enough for trees to go dormant. It is still early in the year and I expect that we will stay mostly in the 40's at night likely until early March. Only my English elm is still leafed out and I have a few green buds on a few of my Mulberries.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I'm no maple expert, but in regards to the why: my maples produce new growth after injury, regardless of the time of year.