brrr.. that snow looks cold ...

what are your thoughts.. that the actual damage didnt occur in the heat of summer ...

and only 'showed' ... once the plant stopped pumping water ... and went into slow motion dormancy ...

as far as i am concerned.. its a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma ...

or as i like to say .... an enigma wrapped in a burrito, covered in green sauce ... you never know whats in the middle.. lol ...

one of the reasons i wonder.. is that nothing really happens fast.. with trees and conifers.. and yet you want to think ... that this all happened inside of what.. 4 weeks ....

i just dont know ...

ken

To me it looks like frost damage instead of sun burn...

I'd simply call it 'winter desiccation', that in turn being thought to be the result of cold, dry wind more than anything else, with the concurrent inability of roots to function in frozen soil being a necessary precondition.

I'd add too that this is one of the few relatively rapid events in nature. Somewhat related, I have some Chrysanthemum "Samba" in a few work beds. Ye may not know this plant, but it is truly a "hardy mum", a fully perennial plant which successfully blooms in the very late fall here in WI. It actually went into bloom in Nov. only to fully brown up just last week, when a very cold night came along. One day-looks perfect, the next-fully browned up. That's a similar happening from essentially the same cause-very cold air. Wind simply brings more of the causal agent into contact with the plant tissues.

+oM

I'm fairly confident sun burn is the issue. Same thing happened last year when the plants where exposed throughout the winter with no burn.

Then March came along and the burning increased in intensity while the sun increased in intensity. I can observe many of these plants right from my living room....yeah I can get bored in the winter!lol

The common denominator here is that the ground was frozen during these months with below normal temps.

FWIW, I've seen regular arbs come through winter fine and dandy only to burn bright orange in April when a certain weather pattern develops: Ground still frozen, cold high pressure to our east and north, causing relentless N.E. winds that are very dry. OTher times, a N.E. wind is anything but dry, ie. that's the snowstorm wind direction, but this is a different scenario, and one which happens with some regularity.

Yeah, I guess sunlight plays a part too. But the dry wind desication is a well-known phenom.

+oM

you guys can ignore me all you want.. lol .. but i will repeat ... for any newbs reading along ...

such damage is intensified .. just like interior browning .... by any significant stress to the plant ... at any given time of the year ...

such as.. planting.. drought... etc .. severe winter ... high cold winds... etc ...

you can NOT.. in my opinion.. simply say... the insult.. or injury occurred.. when YOU SEE THE CHANGE ...''

shawnee dave.. will erect giant screens ... which i could not enjoy looking at such for a number of years .... all the power to him ..

whaas.. if i may be so bold.. simply gets rid of under-performers ... all the power to him ...

me.. on my 5 acres.. every plant is an experiment ... and i dont focus on each and every ... every day ... yes.. they piss me off when i happen to look at them.. but they are a learning tools ... if for nothing else.. to add my two cents here .. and now ...

e.g. .. i used to do an annual post on the ugliest skylands in the world... [of which this tom thumb is a mini sport] .... at 12 years old ... it is FINALLY getting its act together ... it burned like this for years ... it lost its leader repeatedly ... growing new ones where i didnt want them.. lol ... and to top it all off.. 10 miles away.. hidden lakes has what is at least a 45 footer .. happy as pie ...

no matter the damage on the one in the pic.. if the buds remain viable ... proper color and hard.. the plant will survive.. and eventually will grow a root mass necessary to overcome whatever problem is causing this ... [which BTW.. on my Skylands.. i am thinking the plants around it.. after a decade.. are now shading it properly ... i would like to take credit for a brilliant plan ... but the plan was just to watch it die.. and it never did .. lol] ...

so it all boils down to how often you have to look at it.. and your tolerance.. for an under-performer ... sometimes.. there is never a definitive answer .....

what i dont get.. is why a zone appropriate plant ... would have 'frost' damage ... if it is supposed to live thru a winter with freeze ... maybe joy could explain such???? .. its counter-intuitive .... UNLESS ... there was some insult in a prior season ... and joy .. i am not arguing... i am asking for theory ....

ken

Hi Ken, frost damage appaers when the young growth isn't hardenend off enough before the first early (night)frost will show up.
This can happen after a season of long growing weather.
I hope this is clear for you now what I was trying to say...

I didn't get it either but I follow now. That would only happen early in the season or if there was a second flush. I have had a few decidious trees put out a second spurt of growth in late August after drought to then be damaged by late season frosts since the growth wasn't hardened off.

whaas.. if i may be so bold.. simply gets rid of under-performers ... all the power to him ...

I do have a habit of doing that, lol.

Gents please note I'm only refering to growing season golds. Others examples include Picea omrika 'Peve Tijn' and Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Gold Charm' They looked like gold, pun intended, all season long. Expect this past March and now this November.

Its more or less an observation in which I need to be careful with placement on sensative gold tissue cultivars. Perhaps with age they will suffer less. The plants have three full growing seasons. They are showing more burn in the examles I described than in one of the hottest and driest summers ever recorded during their second season. 2012 the year I plan to forget.

Last year was a slow progression into winter, I can understand no burning then, even given the summer we had. This year was pretty abrupt and with no isolating snow, so I can see it desiccating worse this year.

tj