back to freezing weather

My trees are now leafing out or at least bud swelling.  Next week is another long deep (28F) freeze over several nights.  

I need to prune them back and would like to collect some scions.

Question.  How long before these trees are dormant again?  

Thanks

Once mine have started to break dormancy, they haven't gone back dormant, unfortunately.

Depending on what you were wanting to do with the scions, you could probably still take scions and graft amongst your own trees, it just might be hard to send them or give them to someone else if the new growth has started, since it may wilt quickly once pruned.

Only one Asian Pear (Shinseiki) is leafing out.  The rest are seeing bud swelling and I checked and the bark is starting to slip. Hoping that they will go dormant so I can prune.
The one that is leafing out is always leafing before the others so I will top dress it as soon as I can find a good video on doing Asian Pear.  
Next week we are expecting more hard freezes several nights in a row.  
How long do you think it takes for trees to go back to dormancy?

Dennis Bangham wrote:Only one Asian Pear (Shinseiki) is leafing out.

That's good. Maybe the others will slow down coming out of dormancy once the warm weather passes.

The rest are seeing bud swelling and I checked and the bark is starting to slip. Hoping that they will go dormant so I can prune.

I've pruned some at bud swell and they seemed to do pretty much like normal. I pruned some others though after the new growth had started to come out about 2 inches or so and it seemed to severely stunt the growth that year. Maybe pruning as soon as possible might be best if you decide to prune? Depending on your goals, maybe training instead of pruning could be best?

Next week we are expecting more hard freezes several nights in a row.
How long do you think it takes for trees to go back to dormancy?

From what I've seen the buds will continue to swell and won't go back dormant unfortunately. But if you get some cold weather coming soon, that can slow it down pretty good and help delay it some. Hopefully the ones that haven't leafed out yet will stay like they are with the coming cold weather.

I also haven't had them go back into dormancy once they've started to wake up. They seem to use a lot of stored energy to push buds, etc., and I suspect there wouldn't be enough energy to jump back into dormancy, just to repeat the process in a couple of months.
I have had trees kind of suspend growth, meaning the sap flow slowed down and the swollen buds just kind of sat idle until it started flowing again.

I found this https://www.canr.msu.edu/profiles/dr_gregory_lang/sweet_cherry_research/fruit_bud_hardiness  but I remember another website that had similar information but with pictures which is more helpful. TLDR is the smaller they are the more cold hardy.

while going through this spring like weather in what should be the middle of winter makes me think of how global warming is going to wreak havoc on fruit trees

While I don't dispute the exaggerating effect climate change is having, as long as I can remember, there has been a warm-up in the middle of January, followed by a resumption of winter weather on the back half. Before we were seeing such massive swings in otherwise normal weather patterns, I remember record-smashing January weather, like the 17.6 C we experienced in 2005. Though that's the record, I remember almost a decade earlier having similar warmups for a day or two in January where we'd go to recess without coats.

I imagine that in colder years, such a warm-up would take it from "too-cold-to-snow" to blizzard conditions rather than from "frozen-to-my-dress-pants" to short skirt and t-shirt weather, but in those years, when the warmup wasn't as extreme but was prolonged enough, there were serious orchard losses due to trees budding out and then dying. Not so much as the ice storms we are prone to in slightly milder weather than that, where whole trees just died, but depending on where you live, this kind of thing can be a real problem.

I do wonder if there's anything you can do to decrease the tree's temperature. If it were started early enough, perhaps an artificial ice layer would help. I mean, yes, replicating the effect of an ice storm might not sound like a good idea, but if we were talking about a truly thin layer, and not substantial enough to cause the branches to become brittle and break, the melting ice would first cool the tree, then the evapourating water on the branches and trunk would do the same. If the nighttime temperatures dipped low enough for freezing, the process could be repeated as necessary. Even just keeping them from drying out might keep the temperature down.

This doesn't help in the immediate term, but ultimately, I think having the type of terrain that allows control over the movement of cold air is the best way to ensure that it can be cold enough in warm areas for trees that require cold to maintain it until the appropriate time.

I do hope, Dennis, that they just slow so much that when the weather picks up again, it'll be like they just started. Keep us posted, and good luck.

-CK

We had very hard cold the last three nights.  Down to 21F each night.  Many of the fruit trees had some bud growth but no leaves showing (except one asian pear) before the cold came back.
I expect the bark is no longer slipping and the trees are dormant again. I can check to make sure but these trees need to be pruned.

Is it possible to use any of those for grafting?

Here are some of the buds after the last few nights of hard cold.  (hard cold for norte alabamer)

I'd think you'd be fine to graft those.

Thanks. I will grab some scions this morning.

I found this article at California rare fruit growers that is helpful here.  Did not know you can collect scion wood during summer.

I'm seeing a few blueberry blooms on some of my blueberry bushes, don't think I've ever seen any this early before.