lets see.. what can we include in the equation??

how mild was the easy year??? was this winter worse than last ????

is it potted?? ... forcing growth thru ferts????

was there relative drought prior to the bad years??? ... even well cared for... they could have gone into winter in various states of readiness ....

interesting there is the same damage on the understock plant ... this winter i presume ....

i would have thought.. the wire would have made it worse ... how could it have made it better????

whats the bud at 6 oclock at the bottom of the pic ... understock probably ....

no snow cover??? ... i always thought CO was buried in winter snow ... probably a mountain thing ...

anyway ... i have never figured out definitive answers to damage at any particular time.. as there are so many variables... its simply impossible to narrow the focus down.. to any one or two variables as to the cause ...

i am thinking i was looking at something you sent me this morning... but it was to early to focus on the name tag ... lol ...

ken

That is an odd one, Nate. That bottom part looks like 2013 & 2011 growth and no 2012 growth. The only thing I think of is that 2012 was a good year for forming needles and they were healthier than the rest. That, or the black wire gave them juuuuust enough heat. ;-)

tj

That's it! the black wire! :D

Wow, if it is the black wire did Nate stumble on a new way of preventing burn?

Thanks Ken, TJ, WannabeGardnr, and Severnside!

This one was grafted in spring 2011. It stayed in a pot through the summer of 2011, and was planted out in late fall of 2011.

Fall 2011
{{gwi:615634}}

2011 growth
{{gwi:615635}}

2012 growth
{{gwi:613611}}

The wire, of course! It was right in front of me and I didn't even realize it. Someone ought to put a patent on that. ;)

Ken, yep the 6 o'clock is understock. There's still plenty of snow in the mountains. Down here at lower elevations the temps can fluctuate from day to day and the snow doesn't stick around as much.
{{gwi:681104}}

Do you remember if it put out pollen cones or female cones during this timeframe? This usually happens alternate years; during the years there is cone formation, there is less energy for vegetative growth, smaller annual ring and sometimes even smaller needles throughout the plant. Between a thinner stem and weaker needles, I wonder if this might account for the strange pattern of winter burnout.

Alex, good question. I don't recall seeing cones.

Here is another pic, from July 2013, where the foliage still looked ok. I also wonder if the removal of understock branches had anything to do with it.
{{gwi:681105}}