Tree Tips

October 2021

Deciduous Trees

In late October, as the deciduous trees turn color, they signal that the tree is cutting off contact with the leaves. Chlorophyll is withdrawing leaving other pigments in what we know as our fall color.

When most of the leaves have their full fall color — around late November — you can defoliate the tree and cut back to the buds you want to come out in the spring or wait until January. You should not get a new growth spurt. In addition, the tree will not bleed the way it will if you leave cut back until December or January so do it now or wait until late January to early February.

“For deciduous trees, when most of the leaves have their full fall color, you can defoliate the tree and cut back to the buds you want to come out in the spring or wait until January.”

Continue to fertilize through December as this is the time the trees store up energy for the big push in the spring. Getting into the high phosphorus type fertilizers such as 0-30-0 to 0-54-0 on all of your flowering and fruiting trees in later November.

We already see shorter days and soon will be getting cooler temperatures. I will take down my shade cloth mid-month as we had the autumnal equinox in late September and the sun is lower. the days are getting shorter, and the nights longer.

Your early flowering trees like quince, ume, and crabapple can be transplanted at this point. Doing it now reduces the likelihood of getting those gnarly growth-cysts on your apple family trees.

Coniferous Trees

Except for Black Pines, you candle cut in June, this is the ideal time for wiring and styling. Clean out weak, dead, and sickly foliage so you can concentrate on the healthy style-able foliage. On long and lanky older branches, go back to the fresh back budded growth for styling.

“Clean out weak, dead, and sickly foliage so you can concentrate on the healthy style-able foliage.”

This is also the ideal time to style and wire these trees. Styling is always easier when the foliage is not there to interfere with the wire. The branches should also be flexible and easy to manipulate. Later they will become more rigid and brittle. In Japan, wiring is done October through February at which time transplanting starts. We get to start transplanting earlier (December through mid-March) because of our milder climate.    

This is also a great time to put in trees for a growing ground. They get a chance to settle in for a big push in the spring.