I agree with you David for the most part. I think that as a whole we should wait. However, there are instances like in my garden where a few tiny ones have been reduced to sticks which I took out. A few sticks I left, but the ones I took out were taking valuable space that I deemed was more valuable raising an older tree rather than waiting for a tiny tree to "maybe/maybe not" recover. These tiny ones I didn't pay much for so I can part with 'em without too much loss. Waiting for these to "maybe" recover would be kind of foolish too because they're so small. Actually a few I've left in theb ground and will plant a big one pretty close to it because I see that they have a chance but I want a nice tree there right now too. This way if these ones recover from the rabbit attack great but if they don't I'll have another one there.

I thought a part of gardening was patience?

Our trees are young - most shorter than me and I'm short, damaged but showing life. As long as they show a little green, I for one, will wait this out and see how they do. Atleast 1 full year before making the decision to pull them.

Each person here needs to evaluate their situation and do whats best for them. But I'd hate to see anyone reacting hastily & loose something that could be quite beautiful if just given a little time.

My only reason for emphasis was to calm folks fears ...cause the bottom line is we don't know period...but the odds are some if not all will survive...many folks are really worried and to bombard them with doom and gloom not based on scientific studies and knowlege is not fair to them or their peace of mind. If you don't know something for sure the best action is to wait and do all you can to have a possitive conclusion. As has been said a hasty decision is ones choice but I think most here and in the JM community should take a watch, wait, and hopeful possition...We will know who is right in a few weeks or couple of months in the mean time there is no reason to get folks upset when this is a truly unusual event and noone really knows the ultimate outcome.
Oh the other reason for my empasis is I'm a hot head and I was getting a bit miffed at doom and gloom and hasty comments that I felt were not helping anyone and possibly upsetting folks or pointing them to making stupid hasty decisions ...I don't though think folks should put their heads in the sand ... these trees are injured some severly..it's the permanace of such damage that is the question...David.

I think that we are far more stressed than our plants probably are. ;)

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens! Thanks to everyone for taking the time to share your opinions.

We all just need to sit back and relax. I am confidant most of the damage will be repaired by mid summer. These trees are resilient and have been around a long time. They can endure adverse conditions more then we give them credit for. I will post photos of my damaged trees in July just to prove that they can and will reproduce new leaf structure.

Dave

My bloodgood looks about like the pics above. I think mine was slightly less leafed out, probably becase it was just planted last fall. Right now I am worried if the tree is established enough to put out new growth. Should I fertilize or just sit tight for now? It is still under warranty, but frankly I would feel guilty holding the nursery responsible. I saw a lady yesterday hauling a large frozen patio container back into the store here in Kansas City. Just does not seem right!

One week in and it's readily apparent that the foliage on my Seiryu, Bloodgood and Tsuma Gaki are toast. While they've not had ample time to dry up and as one suggested, fly away with a slight flick, I'm sure the existing foliage will not revive.

I had a discussion with Sam from Eastfork Nursery today. She advised to carefully remove the destroyed foliage as soon as possible. She claims the trees are still pushing valuable energy/nutrients to these leaves; all for naught. She believes the quicker the foliage is removed the better the chances that available resources can be put towards new budding. She emphasized sterilizing shears/pruners w/ alcohol.

I think I'm going to take some finely pointed shears and remove the most obviously destroyed foliage.

To pep myself up during these dark times, I've requested Sam send me an "Orange Dream."

bkfisher

One caviate and a disclaimer to my "more" optimistic thoughts on this whole stinkin' mess!! My thoughts were and are based on that cold snap being followed by more normal weather ... here that has not been the case with more freezing or near freezing night time weather ...not nearly as bad as it was but with day times in the upper 30's to upper 40's there is no radiational warming. If I were you BK I would wait til it warms up a bit to do any clipping ... my current thought are those trees with the most damage that haven't shot up new leaves yet are most likely the ones to do the best ...if the new set of leaves pops up in this weather the plant probably won't, as some have direrly stated, not have thwe energy to do much more once those are zapped and that seems to be what is happening here now ...so do what you like but I don't think waiting a week is gonna hurt ya and you definitly don't want any new leaves coming out now if your weather is anywhere near as bad as mine is and being in IN I figure it is similar...David

I am in the same mess as everyone else. My gut feeling is it would normally be a good idea to fertilize and clean up the dead foliage now but I think we should wait until the weather patern stabalizes and we are out of the freezing temps. I think the worse thing that could happen would be for the plant to push new growth and then get hit again. David

We have stabilized back into the low 70s this week. Most of my foilage is turning brown. After a quick look, i did see several trees pushing just a couple of new buds out at the base of some leaves and new branch stems that were zapped.
I am still waiting to decide what to do with the foilage and dead stuff. I am beginning to think i might just let it do its thing and avoid the risk of damaging any new buds and growth. Especially for larger trees. It looks like the new growth is completely dead, and not able to draw any energy from the tree, and it is being used at the base to push new stuff.
Lets keep our fingers crossed.
Of cours i see we have some forecast back into the 30s next week, ugggggh.

Mike

yes I haven't even considered de-leafing my large trees I think you'd have to have either no life or be nuts to do so each tree would take a day or more of painstaikenly tedeous work... my 15-20 ft bloodgoods shed their dead leaves already on their own ( after about three days) and unfortunatly shot out new stuff which is again damaged but nor badly...I have seen others just loose them in the wind ...I stand by my statement to wait a few more days less risk doing more damage than nature will do ..you don't want any pushing of seconday buds til this mess is over!!! david

It helped to read the article bkfisher referenced above. I feel encouraged, especially as my Japanese maple had completely leafed out before several nights of freezing weather (southwest Virginia), and now every leaf is shriveled and drying. Fortunately, the "regular" Green Mountain maple next to it enjoys sleeping late every spring, and only has barely-visible hard buds on it. I will just keep an eye on my beautiful Japanese maple and keep hoping for the best.

HI Evertone,
I live on the outskirts of St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden made an announcement through the local news not to prune bushes and trees. They said not to expect a new leafing out until mid summer.

Again I certainly wouldn't want to argue with those folks they seem knowledgable but I can't see a blanket statement like that making much sense ... thousands of differnt plant species many in differnt stages of developement YIKES that is a rather optuse statement IMHO...add to that the situation in St. Louis is not the same as say Chicago ... New York etc... I wouldn't feel real good about making such a blanket statement for St. Louis let alone precribing it for elsewhere...Add to that many of my JM's have already started setting new leaves albiet some have been again blasted...I can't make much sense out of that statement ... In addition most of my other trees and bushes show little effect here ( my bridal wreath spirea is fully leafed and not damaged at all same with my nine barks and most other bushes) and the hard maples and my Griseum haven't even broken bud yet and we are only about 2 weeks behind St. Louis on average...David

OOOPS my screen is a 19" but did not show the whole line I didn't see "NOT" to prune I still stand by my feelings on leafing but I misread the statement I agree with their pruning statement "NOT"...I need a wide screen monitor !!!! SORRY

That's what I said in the very beginning of this thread as stated by Missouri's Botanical folks.

These secondary buds will form. Not a third set though. It has been noted that defoliation in large trees (Japanese Beetle for example), entire defoliation - the tree will produce the second flush and completely re-foliate.

Again, A) The tree may die as evidence of branches dying which of course is easily visible,
or B) The tree will re-foliate (also as stated above) 'if enough energy reserves (roots) are able to set the secondary set of buds'.

I await as well. It's all the cycle of a tree. Roots remove water and nutrients from the soil and push them up while the leaves in combination with the sun produce the sugars and starches (photosynthesis + root nurishment), that are then deployed back down and into the root system for reserves at times such as this. To re-itterate, the stronger the root system/the larger it is, the better chance of survival the tree has. That's my opinion.

Maybe we should all do the walk over burning coals dance for good luck.

Good luck,

Dax

Hey Dax,
Sounds like you live in my neck of the woods. So according to your info if it's a new bush put in just a few weeks ago it may very well not make it. I put in a popcorn viburnum and it looks worse then anything else in my yard.
Thanks,
Vic

Vic,

Don't know. Was it the size of a pencil or the size of a Rhinocerous. That might help you decide.

Good luck Vic.

Dax

But can a recently (or very recently, just planted) potted tree have the roots to overcome this handicap of losing all the first set of leaves?... couldn't a recently planted tree really be set back for a few years and have trouble with such as summer heat and future hurdle?

Just thought I'd weigh on on the status of my JMs here in Indianapolis. Number in (parentheses) is the amount of years I have had the tree. Older trees purchased at nurseries probably when 3-5ish years old (????).

Sango Kaku (3) - deader than a doornail. Good riddance, vile beast. LOL

Crimson Queen (4.5 yrs) - I have had Covered most nights w/ a sheet staked down, eastern exposure next to the house - Ol' girl is looking pretty good! A few ends of branches that peeked out from under the sheet are wilted but overall, looks great!

Two Bloodgoods (1 yr), 1-1.5' trees - Uncovered, southwestern exposure, sitting ducks on the tundra of the backyard. Blasted but I noticed today that the leaves weren't totally fried. Still at least 50% of the leaf is still in decent shape! Down, but not out!

Bloodgood (9 months) - 6" seedling - hadn't leafed out yet...new leaves coming out now.

Viridis Laceleaf (4.5 years) - My biggest, most vigorous beauty. Uncovered b/c no sheets would stay on b/c of wind. Southeastern exposure. Looked like it got lit on fire but today I noticed that there are some leaves that aren't totally goners! Young stems/branches still look pretty decent. Impressive!

Viridis Laceleaf (3 years) - Northeastern Exposure. Besides the Sango Kroaku...LOL...was hit the hardest. Still appears that it will recover and I see there are some leaves that didn't make it out in the first flush before freezing.

Not sure if this is interesting info to anyone but thought I would share my observations/experiences in this!

Thanks!
Andrea

Good report keep 'em coming I will post mine in a week or so already some surprises...nice to hear from an anti Sango person "vile beast" is a good term ...I and several other "comrads" are convinced it is not a good tree for this area other rave on it's goodness ( they likely be from not round these parts ;>) ) all I can say is DITTO to the good riddence quote ...david

LOL...I kept having such bad limb die-out that I was hoping it would go home to be w/ Jesus so I could put something pretty in its place.

I already gave away a younger one that I had to cut in HALF since so much died and I figured this one wasn't far behind!

Ironically, the little one is doing GREAT in its new home. Go figure...TRAITOR. lol

I had three maples really leafing out when the coldspell hit. They were in that stage where they looked like leaves but were still a bit corrugated or slightly still folded like a fan. My 'Katsura' is up against the east side of my house and has quite a few dead terminal leaves but there are a good number that are still alive. My 'Murasaki kiyohime looks similar and my 'Fjellheim' is toast. I almost ripped it out of the groung today in frustration but resisted the urge( since its a witches broom of 'Sango kuku', its kind of in keeping with theory of its lack of hardiness). I had alot of die back on it this winter and this unfortunate weather may be its last straw, but I'm trying to give it a chance. There are several others that were just short of leafing out and are likely to have damage. I'll post follow ups when I'm sure. Sorry to all that have had many maples affected by this freak coldspell. I know its discouraging but I appreciate everybody posting to see what these maples can really take. Thanks, Dan

You are indeed lucky with the Katsura it is one of the few trees I will not grow outside a container it is VERY frgile and an early leafer The Murasaki is pretty durable but also an early leafer... mine, that I grafted last year leafed out first of all my green house JM's and also the first to take when grafting ...it likely will always be a treat to be damaged by early frosts but hardy enough to take it IMHO..David

Oh I forgot to add Dan ...that you are lucky to be so far north...or those other trees would be toast too ..or another way of looking at it if you had later leafing trees more acceptable to Chicago you may have had NO damage or very little.
I find it curious and bizzare that for once JM'sters in the north are for once the lucky ones whereas the southern "protected" jm "friendly" areas are now the ones in the most trouble ...I am firmly in the middle... better than southerners worse than northeners ;>)David

David, I get your point. This is the first time I've felt lucky to be zone 5. Maybe I should have added that the 'Katsurara' has a 2 1/2-3" caliper and has been in the ground for seven years. It has been pruned to keep it 6' tall because of the spot its in. Here's a couple of photos from a couple of years ago.
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Sorry I don't have a more recent pic. I've been focusing on my conifers recently but I'm back in JM mode this year. 12 new ones in the garage. Unfortunately I think I picked the wrong year to bolster my maple collection.Dan

Nice tree actually very nice ...there are always exceptions to any blanket statement... it's likely the proximity to building heat from bricks or secluded spot helped you...but I still never recommend it for around here even though it is a gorgeous tree.The winters are just a bit too cold for such a tender tree and it leafs extreemly early subject to late frosts which your location of your tree probably precluded this happening .I am a bit suprised since it's the nicest specimen I've seen in this here parts...I'd guess you have created a micro climate for it ( or actually placed it in one) ... I NEVER suggest placing JM's that close to buildings but in this case it was a good call intentional or not ...David

I am amazed that your Katsura looks that good. Just to let you know my Murasaki Kiyohime looks bad. It had leafed out and even though I cover it well about 95% of the leaves are dead. It has been in the ground for 3 years and was about 30-36" across. Since it was established I hope it leafs back out as it is one of my favorite Japanese maple. On the other hand Shishigashira was mostly leafed out and only partially covered by a sheet but looks fine with justt a bit of tip burn.

I planted a 4' tall Bloodgood just a few days before the big freeze here in Kansas City. It was fully leafed out and has now lost all its leaves. However, I already see many new buds so I have hope that it will leaf out again. The Oshio-Beni JM I planted in 2001 was also mostly leafed out and its leaves are toast--but, it also has many new buds. I plan to keep the trees well watered, and fertilize lightly when leaves develop. Any other suggestions? Is there any way to provide the trees with sugars to aid in their growth and pushing new buds?

Murasaki Kiyohime is also an early leafer I love the plant and yours sounds full grown or about so quite nice ...but I am not surprised by the damage . I was originally gonna plant mine out but have decided to containerize it ...although this is a once in a lifetime happening ( likely) I think we in northern enviorns probably would be wise to keep any early leafers in containers ...I didn't think so before but do now ...for those farther south I think this doesn't apply ...this was truly a freak incident for them especially!! Here's alink some of you might be interested in ...it involves commercial grapes but illustrates for MO. the swing in temps, and how unusual they were the only thing it doesn't show is the two concurances together one after the other which I feel is a once or twice in a lifetime thing for MOST folks ( heat and cold). http://iccve.missouri.edu/alerts/

Hi David,
From the SC News, the forecaster said it was one of those 50 year happenings, so I don't expect it to become a norm. How are your blueberries and grapes? -Ivy, from Lumber Bridge, NC.

Here is a link that might be useful: App-A-Lot Ranch

I wonder if insurance covers stuff like this? LOL Seriously though...wonder if you would need a separate rider or if there is some obscure thing we aren't aware of for expensive plant collectors?

I live just outside of Nashville and I have two JM's. One is a bloodgood that has been in the ground about 3 years (it's 6') and the other is a dissectum one (can't remember the name right now) that has been in a large pot for about a year (4'). They both look horrible. They were fully leafed out and beautiful before the frost. Two weeks later, all of their leaves are brown, shriveled, and dry. In addition, the ends of most of the stems/branches are brown, brittle and hollow (they look just like straw). I'm unsure whether the dead stuff is new growth from this Spring, or last year's growth. It looks really bad.

On the bright side I have noticed 4 tiny new leaves on the Bloodgood. Maybe there's hope after all...

Well with the weather being a little more pleasant outside mid 70s, nice breeze, my depression waining, i have decided to venture out and see how everything looks.

The leaves that were hit are now dropping. The trees that were really growing hard, have basically white stalks (the new growth) that are starting to fall over. They are hollow inside.

Things look very promising though. At the base of alot of these stalks are tiny buds emerging. If we maintian these temps highs 70's, lows upper 40's, i expect to see some fast action over the next two weeks.

Mother nature and these maples never stop mazing me!

Hope everyone else has some good luck also. I know you guys in the midwest are going to be stir crazy as you wait to see if you get the second coming of spring!

Yes, we in the midwest are going stir crazy. There are some promising signs of new growth. Vibunums look dead but maples have new growth. It's hard to wait but I waited all winter I guess I can wait some more!
Vic

Here are two pics of my 'Katsura'.The first is from today and the second is from a couple of weeks ago.

Dan,

I saw your pics of the Katsura. I'm surprised to see it leafed out already in the bottom pic more than two weeks ago. The interesting thing is that none of my JM's have even leafed out yet and I'm in the northern suburbs of Chicago. First, my AP Red Emperor and Acer Japonicum Aconitifolium are the only two that have broken bud in most of the tree. Second, it seems that your leafed out Katsura made it through fine through our couple of weeks of near freezing lows.

It seems then that Katsura is an early leafer, and that near feeezing temps don't faze JM's that have leafed?

Could you let me know which cultivars you have that have survived for over three years in this area? I've been wondering because it seems these JMs are much more hardier (winter-wise) than many of us give them credit for. My champion is the Crimson Queen and its going on into its fourth season. All of my trees even ones considered exotic (read delicate) survived the long cold of FEb. like Villa Taranto and Chishio Improved--(what did them in was not the weather but critters). Of course even in the long frigid course the temp never went down to the min. zone5. It went down to zone 5b (and 6a like minimums).

I think hardiness has alot to do with how hardened off they are before winter and of course where they are planted...If you get hit in fall with early frost expect problems ...also many JM's grow a bunch in fall and if they are still growing when even normal killing frost /freeze appears they will suffer damage.In addition each yard of field has warm and cold spots protected and unprotected spots which could and in fact DOES make a big differnce ...

So far I think most A.P.'s will do ok in zone 5 especially 5b except under extreem circumstances... if they are healthy to start out with and NOT twigs the size of pencils ..3-4 years old minimun and true counting NO ebay garbage that posts a two year tree that is only through one growing season thats a OME, or a one thats a new four month old graft!!
I do think some will have winter die back in many but the mildest winters but should survive and pop back in zone 5...
Now what we have just gone through is differnt and you guys up there are lucky but you are more likely to have a late killing frost after they leaf out up there in general but this past debacle is unlikely for any place anytime soon ( I hope!!!).

I would consider Dans experience with Katsura a freakish one and would NEVER consider planting that tree in your area...or any cultivar that is an early leafer which are best left to the Southernm enviorns ( although this year they got hit the hardest...)

With hundreds of good beautiful differnt non early leafing cultivars out there that should do well in zone 5 (b) possibly 5a ,...I see no reson to take a chance and see Dans experience not normal.

And remember the zone thing is just a guide and in fact there is a new one that has been put together with the last 20 years temps and many folks have "moved" including me from 5b to 6a... in addition you may be considerably warmer or colder than two streets down if you are high up low down near a lake yatayatayata there is NO way to really tell exactly what zone you actually are in ...it is a guide thats all.And always remeber thyat Jm's will do best not north of zone 6 and most growers put zone 6 on all but a few cultivars... Most really don't know any more than we do ...well less cause they arn't in our zones...but it's a CYA they know they will do ok in zone 6 (usually) and they don't want folks complaing and I can't blame them .David

My current thinking on our spring disaster is this... I think both Dax and I are correct... both the negative and possitive!! I think the trees that have releafed are doing so on late primary buds and enough leaves even those with a few should see them through... I think others that are denuded you will have to wait a bit until the secondary buds come out maybe a month or two if they do come out to know for sure. The larger the tree the more likely it has a bunch of late primary or early seconday buds now appearing ... ALL of my older JM'S 15-18 ft have fully or virtually fully releafed and are lookin' good...as well as all late leafing JM's ( not re- leafed but "leafed").
Overall the linearlobum did the best among the smaller trees some virtually untouched... the dissectums the worst ) (actually "the worst" doesn't do them justice)except for a few that seemed only lightly damaged for some reason. It was mixed results on smaller palmatums.
I will do a full report but this is what I have found and my thinking on the subject so far at least for HERE in central Illinois. For others in worse hit areas or lesser hit areas there may be and likely will be differnt results from this disaster..David

I have about 20 new leaves on my Bloodgood and I do think they were late primary buds. In the last few days some of the new leaves have started to die . On close inspection I noticed they are sticky. When I looked closely at the tree, I noticed the branches are also "weeping" espicially were branches intersect. The best way I can descibe it is that it looks like the tree is sweating and I believe this is sap because it is also sticky. Is this caused by freeze damage to the cambium.

Of all the japanese maple that had leafed out Shishigashira seems to be the toughest. This was seconded by the owner of one of the best garden centers around and who also has a large collection. Others may rebound and be fine but it look fine now. Koto-no-ito seem fine with about 65-70% of leaves being ok in an exposed area.
A.J.Green Cascade and A.P. Mikawa Yatsbusa had both leafed out and look fine but were well covered and located near brick walls, A. P. Red Filigree Lace was 1/2 leafed out and just covered with a thin sheet over some fencing and look good, A.P. Filigree, Yasemin, Beni Shichihenge and Purple Ghost All were covered by paper leaf bags over tomato cages but still look wilted with a few new leaves here and there, Murasaki Kiyohime, Acer Campestre Carnival, Styrax Japanicum Pink Chimes and Cornus Controversa Variegata all got hammered and look bad David

Ezochi, I'll try to e-mail you personally with that list of maples you wanted. I don't feel like defending my garden choices tonight by posting them publicly. Dan

I am also quite surprised to see the arborday zone map http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm According to this (when I put in my zip code) I get zone 5/6! I guess as you David have moved from zone 5b to 6a, I think I may have moved from zone 5a to 5b. If people don't believe in global warming they should check this out: the zones have shifted in the last 40 years to much warmer average temps all over the country. In the 60's Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and much of the Midwest was in zone 4. The 1990 update put most of Illinois in zone 5. Now, the latest 2006 update shows most of Illinois in zone 6. And those of you in zone 4 (like much of Iowa and Nebraska) have shifted into zone 5.

This shifting into warmer climate is potentially good news for JM gardeners, but the downside is the unpredictable weather that we saw this past April. We may see more of this kind of erratic weather pattern.

Yes the swings in severe weather do mute the possitive zone changes. just like the scientists predictions of more numerous and severe hurricanes, storms, drought areas etc... our recent swing in temps may be our type of new problem ...lets hope not. Although I personally habve been containerizing most of my new cultivars I purchase..Just to be safe and I really like making my own medium and doing the whole container thing ...there is a bit of a learning curve but it allows you to constantly change your yard and adjust placement for max benifit of the JM ..yes it is more time cunsuming to do and take care of but I like it and for many but not all Jm's it is a good way to grow them...and if I get tired of it I can always plant 'em out...David

My largest Bloodgood...approx 9 feet...looks to be dead from the bottom 1/3 up. I'm just sick about it! Dry and withering brown branches while new leaves randomly are coming out of the trunk about a foot off of the ground. my yard is supposed to be in a magazine photo shoot in about two weeks...how is that for AWFUL timing???? This tree is right next to the pond. Maybe they can photoshop it out. lol

Here in Little Rock we really got it good. Although some areas I have seen where the maples look just fine. Good friends live on a rocky hill and didn't have any issues with theirs. My yard was not so lucky, but my Tamukeyama was spared many of the lower leaves and on the side closest to the brick wall it looks ok. And it's showing signs of either the buds that didn't leaf out or other ones leafing out. From what I have read above, those shouldn't be leafing out until later in the summer. So perhaps they were buds that just hadn't leafed out yet. My tall upright green maple (not sure of the cultivar) is about the same but with plenty of die back (much more twiggy). My Full Moon is low to the ground and got covered with the hostas and is 100% ok. My large Crimson Queen got bit much like the Tamukeyama, with the lower leaves being pretty much ok. So I don't think mine are goners but they sure are sulking. And they were SO gorgeous before the frost.

I just wanted to chime in on what is going on here in AR.

All this information is very interesting and I thank all the contributors. However It would still be more useful to quote the temperatures (if you knew them) that hit your maples.
Granted the leaves start to cook past the high 20's but from the description of the damage given in the thread, and in addition to the cultivar variability, there seems to be a temeperature difference in the damage.

Gomero

Gomero I think you are correct to a degree... most of the damage area had temps in the upper 20's few at least a couple of nights...some had it for up to 7-8 nights and days in the low to mid to at most upper 30's. Some of us like me had one REALLY cold night of 19-20 and 4-5 in the mid 20's then 4-5 in upper 20's. But I think although relevant the most important part is how far along the trees were in leafing and if all primary buds had leafed out...That is why those south had the most damage in the northern enviorns had NONE.Add to that some of us covered our plants at least "somewhat" but some like me were fooled once at the beginning and once at the end by the weatherman and left stuff uncovered and of course some trees close to buldings under large trees or otherwise sheltered were affected differntly.So there were alot of variables...but the one constant was leafing.I feel unconfortable actually stating this or that tree is REALLY hardy with all these variables although I will soon report... An example I have a Fireglow and an Emporor 1 within 15-20 feet of one another both totally exposed.. the Fireglow was virtually unaffected even though uncovered for all but the coldest night the E1 was toast covered all but two nights but looks alive and viable just leafless ...I have another E1 a bit awat a a bit more protected with some leaves...Anyway you get my point WHY... they are similar Bloodgood lineage trees of similar date of bud break...and the E1 was actually healthier in my opinion ...I guess you'd put Fireglow in the super hardy colum but I don't feel totally comfortable doing so ..David

I agree with David, there are alot of variables to this damage.

Here in Atlanta we got down to the high 20's for the first night, and it appeared things werent to bad. But the next night we dropped to the low 20's and the next morning it was obvious what was damaged, and it was most of it.

After looking around last weekend, it seems quite odd which trees got it. I have over a thousand seedlings growing, most smaller than a foot, a few up to 4 ft. They are a mix of reds and green palmatums, burgeriums. They are in about 6 different locations. The damage is different from location to location, but even different within the location. One green has lost everything and is turning black, while one next to it lost all leaves, but it starting to bud back. It appears the ones that are turning black, got some internal damage in the cambium. I would have thought some of them which were partially shileded by other maples would have fared better. But side by side one will be a goner, while a brother seedling next to it is coming back. It is very strange.

Like David, it is hard to ascribe partucular cultivars, especially when it appears so random. Most of my trees has been out for weeks, so i think most of my primaries buds are gone, which is why it is taking along time to see any bud push. I can say my 'Sangu Kaku's (Davids favorites, LOL) are coming back strong, but they were 6 and 10 ft and very healthy. My 'Wilson Pink Dwarf' and 'Chisio' didnt hardly lose any leaves, while a nice healthy red palamtum 6 ft by 6 ft is totally devastated. Most Laceleafs have lost all leaves, but starting to see a few buds pushing. Two yatsuba forms are little lollipops with brown dry leaves, but also see some buds pushing on them. 5 ft 'Sieryu' lost many leaves, but seems to be coming back. 7 ft 'Butterfly' loas all leaves, but pushing some. 7 ft 'Kara su Gawa' looks bad, havent seen any buds yet. 5 ft 'Purple Ghost' toast no buds yet. 5 ft 'Fireglow' and 'Moonfire' loast all leaves, but appear to be pushing more buds. 3 ft 'Toyama Nishiki' not looking good.
Basically it was all over the place.

After driving up to the mountains sunday, i noticed it is very sporadic all over. Micro zones playing a big role, along with the state of the trees spring stage. Our oaks were leafing out, and were damaged badly. A look up into the mountains gives an almost end of fall loook to it.

Hopefully none of us will ever see anything like this again here in the states or in Europe where you are Gomero.

It gives me nightmares to think what it would be like to have a large mature collection like njacer and others.

Mike

Yes I have seen some cambium damage the blackness on a few cultivars most have it just on the upper branches that were thinner and had juice a flowing...I have a couple with it on trunks and I think they are toast I think that is a tell tale sign if your tree has no black area by noww or at least none in trunk area it will likely releaf and be ok IMHO. Most that had pushed small branches have those branches white ...dead!!.
I have also noticed the trees with a few leaves left or have put on a few leaves are pushing buds /... the ones with NO new leaves are not...meaning that having a few is signally the tree to push having none is not doing it now.
I will say from my and others posts the dissectums were hit the hardest.
I will also say those JM's that kept their leaves or many of them for the most part look a little perverted not normal but healthy.And even some that hadn't pushed or fully pushed at freezing and have now look worse than usual but healthy generally.

I would also say that collections of older trwees say 10+ years will likely be ok... mine were all somewhat damaged but have re- leafed ...my assumption is they had mucho more primary buds unopened at the time of freeze which makes sense to me since they are large and have since leafed out with those extra buds .
I will also say those new leaves are more fragile than normal one of my older Atros lost about 1/3 of its new leaves in our latest debacle 40+ mph winds... but otherwise looks healthy...this has never happened before even with high spring winds.
To sum up this post ...The older the tree the better it took the freeze. All trees were somewhat effected meaning keep an eye on them they are not now "normal". Most will probably pull through and you should know by now which ones probably won't David