When to winterize

[jimib]

There's a lot of posts recently about getting ready for winter. I've searched, and maybe I've missed something, but when should I mulch my trees? I'm in zone six, and we are having days in the 50s and night as low as the low 30s. I'm just curious when I should get these things covered up. Thanks for any advice.

 

[coh]

I don't do the mulching thing (I keep my trees in my barn and garage) but I try to leave them out exposed to the elements for as long as possible - usually don't bring most of them into shelter until around Thanksgiving around here. But it depends on the weather and each year is a bit different, and some less hardy specimens come in earlier.

 

[JudyB]

Depends on what trees you are talking about, and what your options are.
Grove port is in zone 6?

 

[Dav4]

When I lived in zone 6 MA, for temperate, cold hardy trees, I would plan on winterizing when night time temps were consistently falling into the mid 20's with dips into the low 20's... that used to happen around Thanksgiving.

 

[jimib]

I was trying not to be a pita, but I'm tired of killing trees.
Trees:
JBP, San Jose & Shimpaku juniper, kingsville boxwood.... bonsai pots.
Colorado blue spruce, Black Hills Spruce, rhododendron, satsuki, kurume, sharps pygmy maple in nursery pots.
Options:
Unheated greenhouse, gets full sun though.
Raised bed, out of wind but sun until late afternoon
Porch, out of sun and wind
Unheated but insulated garage. Stays above freezing in everything but sub-zero temps.
If anyone wants to play match game, please do. Maybe I'll have less loss this year. Thanks again

 

[jimib]

Depends on what trees you are talking about, and what your options are.
Grove port is in zone 6?

Yes, I'm just a few miles south of the Franklin Park Conservatory.

 

[j evans]

Already did mine, days st 55 and nights 28 - 34 or so. Lost a few in years past.

 

[M. Frary]

I wait until mine are frozen solid.
Theyve already seen temps in the 20s at night but that doesnt hurr them.
Mine are all very cold hardy trees so 20 or even teens at night exposed isnt a big deal.

 

[sorce]

tired of killing trees.

Winterizing...Begins with Ferts in Spring.

And Fall.

Health.

Places don't get trees thru winters.
Places just confuse trees.

Health gets trees thru winter.

I would use the raised bed.
But realize you are mulching against the sun.
Not against the Cold.

(Unless your trees weren't properly winterized as per above.)

Sorce

 

[miker]

We have had chilly fall weather now for almost 3 weeks but no freeze and it looks like we may make it to the second week of November without one, so everything is staying put for the foreseeable future. I am going to shoot for Thanksgiving.

 

[rockm]

I don't put anything away until the end of November, including all my southern species, like Bald Cypress, live oak and cedar elm. Unless we're forecast to get a stretch of extreme cold--like lows in the low 20's at night for three or four days (happens occasionally), I wait for all of my trees to get hit repeatedly by frost and shallow freezes. Those freezes can freeze the top inch or two of the soil at times on my large trees.

This exposure is very important for overwintering. Not only does it put the cap on their impulse to grow, it also enhances the trees' ability to withstand the sustained winter freezing about to come.
From Brent's dormancy article
"Ideally, four to six weeks of decreasing day length and mild cool weather where the temps are around 25 to 35F at night, will adequately prepare them"
https://www.evergreengardenworks.com/dormancy.htm

 

[JudyB]

I was trying not to be a pita, but I'm tired of killing trees.
Trees:
JBP, San Jose & Shimpaku juniper, kingsville boxwood.... bonsai pots.
Colorado blue spruce, Black Hills Spruce, rhododendron, satsuki, kurume, sharps pygmy maple in nursery pots.
Options:
Unheated greenhouse, gets full sun though.
Raised bed, out of wind but sun until late afternoon
Porch, out of sun and wind
Unheated but insulated garage. Stays above freezing in everything but sub-zero temps.
If anyone wants to play match game, please do. Maybe I'll have less loss this year. Thanks again

You can paint that greenhouse with white greenhouse paint to keep the sun from being a problem and use it for your more tender things. I would keep satsuki and kurume in there. Don't know about Rhodies. I'd also stick JBP in there too. Spruce should be able to ride out the winter in a windless position, and I think Sharps may be ok out there as well. I'd probably put the maple in the greenhouse though if you're not sure. A cold greenhouse if you can keep it cold is the ultimate (as far as I'm concerned) safe place for winterizing trees. I use heat mats in mine, and have differing zones for different hardiness trees. It may be zone 6, but with the weather patterns being crazy the last few years, I wouldn't count on it not to get extended cold snaps like it used to.

 

[William N. Valavanis]

Its important to keep the sun off the trees, especially in greenhouses or poly houses.

Before the advent of "overwintering white poly", nurserymen used to paint the clear poly with greenhouse whitewash. One of my students had a poly house in his back yard for overwintering. His wife did not like to look at the large white poly structure. So, he simply painted the white poly with paint to match his house. Problems solved.

 

[jimib]

Thanks for all the replies, they really cleared some things up for me...

 

[Vinnie Charity]

This is something I'm doing more research on as well.

This will be my first time having outdoor bonsai and I would like them all to be alive next Spring. I've been fertilizing them like crazy and they are all pretty healthy.

I applied the last fertilizer at the beginning of the month and haven't applied anymore since.

I'm planning to build cold frames out of the cinder blocks and boards that I use for benches (sort of convertible benches ), and I have windows to put on top to protect them.

What do the pros think?

 

[chansen]

One winter time hint... don't forget to water. I know I'm the exception for most in the conversation (Utah is really dry), but your trees will die if they get too dry in the winter too. I water about 2-4 times a month in the winter, and if it's 40 or higher I'll check them more often. I winter in a greenhouse, so no rain/snow on them. I don't let the greenhouse get below freezing.

 

[JudyB]

I'm planning to build cold frames out of the cinder blocks and boards that I use for benches (sort of convertible benches ), and I have windows to put on top to protect them.

Be careful if those windows are actually transparent, you could wind up cooking your trees in those cold frames if they get a lot of sun. Better not to have light inside that cold frame. Trees that are dormant don't need light.

 

[Dav4]

This is something I'm doing more research on as well.

This will be my first time having outdoor bonsai and I would like them all to be alive next Spring. I've been fertilizing them like crazy and they are all pretty healthy.

I applied the last fertilizer at the beginning of the month and haven't applied anymore since.

I'm planning to build cold frames out of the cinder blocks and boards that I use for benches (sort of convertible benches ), and I have windows to put on top to protect them.

What do the pros think?

It completely depends on what species your keeping and the climate you have. I'm not familiar with Richmond but would imagine it's usda zone would be 7... typical winter lows in the single digits approaching 0 F... that's similar to mine here in GA. Keeping my cold hardy trees on the ground and out of the wind and sun when frozen is pretty much all I do. For prolonged cold in the teens or colder, mulching with wood chips would be a good idea. Newer folks tend to over complicate their winter protection plans/overprotect their trees during the winter which leads to issues with drying out or breaking dormancy too early.

 

[jimib]

What he ?said. I moved stuff in and out day after day last spring and lost my 3 best trees.

 

[Vinnie Charity]

Be careful if those windows are actually transparent, you could wind up cooking your trees in those cold frames if they get a lot of sun. Better not to have light inside that cold frame. Trees that are dormant don't need light.

I was planning to prop the windows slightly and keep a remote thermometer inside of them that would alert me of any potential heat build up, I forgot to mention that. Basically the trees I'm storing are all cold hearty, I just want to keep the wind off of them. I'm trying to go as low tech as possible...