Salvage tree ravaged by very late freeze

5 years ago

I have a male fruitless weeping mulberry that I planted in the fall. It was budding out beautifully this spring. Then we had a very late very hard freeze. Complete with inches of snow and everything. The freeze killed all the buds. It has put out a few new buds but as of today the buds still haven't leafed out. I'm thinking there really isn't much I can do except to just wait and see if it makes it. The only thought I had was that maybe I could try watering it every day for a week to see if that will coax it to breakbud. Something sort of like sweating a tree I guess. But I'd also want to be careful not to over-water.

Here are a few pictures of the current bud situation. You can see some buds look like there just about to go. But they've been about like that for a while now.

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Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a
Original Author

4 years ago

So for anyone who is curious here is the end of summer update. This tree did finally leaf out. a number of the branches partly or completely died. It put on many small leaves but apparently they were enough because it started a fresh flush of growth in the last two weeks of august. Here is are some pictures from today.

We'll see what happens next spring but at the moment things do look promising.

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Comments (7)

bengz6westmd
5 years ago
wait and see if it makes it.

That's all you can do. Hopefully it should come back. Don't overwater it because right now it's hardly using/needing any.
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a thanked bengz6westmd
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a
Original Author
5 years ago
I wanted to share an update. Here's a picture from today. It's finally putting on some leaves. They are just opening up and still small but look promising. Hopefully June 26th is not too late for to put down some roots and store up energy for winter. Once all the buds fully open up I'm thinking I'll come in and prune all the dead wood off. It looks like there are a number of branches that either totally dead or the ends are dead.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
4 years ago
the question is.. will it be able to store enough energy this fall.. to wake up in spring .. and who knows.. keep us posted ...

after flush in spring.. trim out any dead stuff ... but dont trim off new growth ... it needs to replenish itself.. so give it the season to do so.. before you start trying to prune it back into some aesthetically pleasing form ... every leaf is an energy making machine.. so leave as many as you can .... before you go to town on removing viable branches....

ken
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a
Original Author
4 years ago
Ken, thanks. I too am concerned on whether it will have enough time to store energy for spring. Many of the "early" turning trees are already beginning to turn for fall. Luckily so far we're having a warm fall, hopefully that will give it more time.

Thanks for the pruning advice. I was thinking pruning next string might not be the best so very helpful to hear that from someone else. Assuming it survives the winter I'll plan to prune for shape in very early Spring 2023.
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a
Original Author
4 years ago
For everyone who has been following along on this here is a picture from this morning (the following Spring). The tree survived the winter and is leafing out. Though it appears to have lost a few more limbs. Hopefully it will start recovery this summer.
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a
Original Author
4 years ago
For everyone who has been following along on this here is a picture from this morning (the following Spring). The tree survived the winter and is leafing out. Though it appears to have lost a few more limbs. Hopefully it will start recovery this summer.