They are usually among the last trees to leaf out. No sign of leaves on planted Catalpas here, yet, and I don't expect there to be for another couple of weeks yet.

Resin

It MAY be that it took enough winter damage to have the top killed off, or almost killed off. The suckers from the bottom can be turned into a "new" tree, if that proves to be the case. I would wait a bit longer (mid-June?) for leaves to come on the branches, as normal. When that happens, carefully cut off the shoots at the bottome - any stubs you leave will continue re-sprouting, in my experience. Water sprouts, on many trees, are a sign of stress, a means of ensuring the tree's survival, if the top should die.

If it stays leafless, then you have to decide which of the new sprouts can be the new tree. Safest might be to selct 3-4 of the strongest, and take off the rest. Come the fall, you can decide which of the sprouts is the nicest, and remove the rest. With a relatively large root system, the "new" tree should make good growth, and be fairly tall in a short time.

To cut off the trunk of the old one, do it carefully so as not to damage the "new trees-to-be"; it may be a job for more than one person, one to cut and one, or more, to carefully hold shoots out of the way. Try to leave a slight angle to it, sloping away from the trunk(s) you think may be the new tree, if you can decide then. Be sure no edges of the cut come below the start of any of the new shoots, although if they are arising from the root area, that shouldn't be a problem. In fact, the ones that you can keep out of the way of the cutting may be the ones that can develop into the "new" tree, by default!

Thank you both for your good thoughts. I wll try to be patient until Mid-June. My husband reminded me that last year I was impatiently waiting for some leaves to appear also. I believe that in light of how cool this spring has been the onset of leaves is even slower than usual. Still dipping down to mid-30's at night.

Dibbit: It the tree has been top-killed this winter would I have green underneath on top? It just looks so healthy when I scratch it.

Thank you.

Kate

Kate, since you DO have green cambium, then no, I don't really think it has been killed back. That was more a worst-case-scenario, and I should have said so. I think it's just going to be patience.

If you think of it, making a note on your calendar to be patient NEXT spring may save you some angst. If your temps are still that cool at night, that may be the deciding factor in when it leafs out or keeps waiting....

I was just yesterday looking at a fully-leafed catalpa in Fresno, with fully-formed new capsules. If yours is not showing any signs of leaf buds opening, I think your tree is toast.

Fresno is well inland in central Calif., with hot weather by now; if Kate has cool coastal Northern Calif springs (i.e., fogbound), Catalpa leafing dates will be a lot later.

Resin

Thanks again pineresin. I feel pretty doubtful the tree is "toast" with the circumstancs I described above. And yes up here in Plumas County we have had a looonngg cool spring. Some of us are starting to feel the transition to summer like weather will never happen. The evening temps are forecasted to be closer to 40 this week so apparently there is hope:-)

Kate

I planted 2 southern catalpas last year. One was hit hard by grasshoppers 3-4 times and severely stressed. The top appeared green all thru winter, but it did not leaf out. The top has died now and suckers are sprouting from the roots. The other one leafed normally and has grown about a foot.
Also have a northern one growing wild by creek. It has also leafed out and grown about 18".

My N. Catalpa needs several consecutive weeks of warm weather to coax out its buds. About 1 inch sprouts now, nipped alittle on the ends by light frost a week ago.

Compared to others, Catalpas vary from fairly to quite late in leafing out.

Well, it's been warm off and on for a while, and really hot today. My catalpa is peculiar with tiny leaves at the tippy top of branches. Flowers forming, but why are the leaves so tiny and sparse? Is this too much water? Not enough water? Disease? Planted December 2005. Leaves fairly normal last spring but yellow. It was a big tree to transplant, came in big wooden crate barrel. Went into good soil, good hole, wet area.

Hope it regains its form and makes more leaves!

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Any knows what's wrong with my catalpa tree, picture above?

Did your catalpa finally leaf out normally?

cascadians, that growth looks normal as long as it keeps expanding (cool weather will slow that down). If the leaves eventually get only alittle larger than that, tho, then there's certainly some other issue.

Checking back in about my Catalpa. After waiting until last week or the first week of June I checked my tree again. It had no sign at all of budding/leafing out and no longer passed the scratch test. So I was ready to dig it up and start over but my husband convinced me to follow Dibbit's advice above so on Thursday I removed the trunk and chose a new leader. So far so good. I fertilized gently today for the first time so hopefully the "new" trunk will fare better than its predacessor.

Again all the thoughts are appreciated.

Kate

Okay folks, fast forward from my original post back in May to now on my Catalpa Tree.

Like I said above back in early June I chose a leader from the new growth spouting at the base, cut the trunk down to a couple inches and the 'new' tree sprang up like nobody's business! The new leader is now far taller than the tree was at the end of last summer.

So here's my question. How do I winter protect this baby? It is not woody at all and will need something to cocoon it from our Zone 7 weather. Generally we are talking about ten degrees as a low here. I'll try to get a picture but the trees stalk is green and healthy but definitely not woody. I don't want it to die back to the ground over the next few months if I can help it.

Thank you.

Kate

Around here, the catalpas come up like weeds in people's yards, and it's difficult to kill a sapling, even in our winters. I go around the house I own in town with a drain spade removing them before they get enough growth to turn into bonzai.

I'm zone five/six and my catalpas have endured minus twenty two. Mine is Catalpa ovata, but the ones in town are the typical northern catalpa. But, even a Southern catalpa should handle zone five without a problem, definately zone seven.

Wow, here I was thinking my catalpas were dead and it's only march 12th. I guess patience and faith is a good thing to have growing stuff. I went out to break off a stalk and it was still all bendy. I can't imagine them coming back, but from what I've just read they probably will. Incredible!

It's finally been warm enough in the late afternoons to inspire most of my trees to leaf out -- but not the Catalpa yet. Its branches are swelling with nubs. Hoping it does better than last year. The tulip tree is weird again, sparse little leaves. But the other trees are doing really well!

Ours is doing the same thing. Did your tree die? Torn on what to do here.

Lana, that doesn't look good. I'd say all the branches not leafing out are dead. After a few weeks, cut off the dead parts -- catalpas can resprout fairly well but yours might be too damaged to make a reasonable comeback. Cause might be verticillium wilt.

My Catalpa looks about the same here near minneapolis. it was sold as a northern catalpa but turned out to be southern catalpa. Not sure why if finally succumbed this year because it wasn’t that cold. It made it through several polar vortices with just some minor tip dieback but the trunk did crack one year.

My catalpa was doing very well then the gardener mowed it right down..

Will it come back ???!!!

It should. Younger trees can sprout from the ground pretty well.

Ok, thank you!

But you better make sure it doesn't happen again.....

using the term gardener for a dude who cant tell a tree from grass is loose usage ...

try hiring a gardener...

ken

Mine hasn’t leafed yet. Still passes scratch test but no buds, no leaves. In KC and had several very cold days over the winter. I’m torn.

Laura, they can be very late to leaf out. Absence of buds is concerning tho (were they killed by a late frost?)