more freeze>more flower??

Discussion in 'Maples' started by alex66, Apr 13, 2012.

  1. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    ..i grow maples in my garden from 1998 and i never see one "invasion" of flower and samaras on my maples like the last two years..the differences in the last two winter (2011-2012)is the very low temperature, ice and many snow!...there is one scientific reason ?someone see this phenomenon in your garden?
     
  2. jacquot

    jacquot Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Last year in the NE US after a very snowy and fairly cold winter I had very heavy samara production. My mature Koto no Ito had never set seed, and isn't this year after a very mild winter. Last year half the tree was covered, and the leafing suffered on that half interestingly, too. This year all seems as before. We are definitely experiencing interesting climate vicissitudes and resultant horticultural effects. What it all means long term is yet to be seen...
     
  3. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    thanks Jacquot :)
     
  4. bigjohn33

    bigjohn33 Active Member

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    Hi i absolutely do agree
    I havé the same thing here, in the southwest of France near bordeaux
    I see this, as à self defense phenomenum
     
  5. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Yes my idea is similar your maples in dna have remember of the freeze era?!
     
  6. JT1

    JT1 Contributor 10 Years

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    There was a study on the influence of fertilizer on seed production by the US Department of Agriculture on red maples and other varieties of trees in an area of forest in PA. They found that fertilizer increases seed production and the effects last for about 2 years. But some trees of the same species consistently don't produce regardless of conditions, possibly due to genetics. But of the producing trees, production increases with fertilizer.

    http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/newtown_square/publications/research_papers/pdfs/scanned/ne_rp439p.pdf

    Growing up in an area where winters tend to be very harsh, it's always been said that high seed production is an indication of a bad winter to come, but I have no scientific evidence to support it. In fact some years it would be true and other years it was not.

    A study was done on the effects of climate on seed production in Abies, Acer, and Betula. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2745.1999.00352.x/full
    They cited a few interesting points:
    -High temperatures together with low precipitation during the previous summer were correlated with high seed production.
    -However, seed crop was negatively correlated with high temperatures in either early spring or August in the year of seed maturation, and with low rainfall in July–August of that year.
    -High seed production was related to warm, dry conditions in the spring of the previous year (i.e. at reproductive bud initiation) but to a moist summer in the year of seed maturation.

    I could not find anything relating harsh winter conditions to seed production. But, I certainly can follow the logic supporting the idea, that a tree is reactive to a harsh winter by producing high amounts of seeds as a life insurance policy. It seems the opposite is true, that the harsh conditions of last year’s growing season plays a part in high seed production the following year. Maybe since the tree is dormant over winter, it's not paying attention to winter conditions like we do. Maybe winter has nothing to do with it and it’s just our own human nature to try and understand nature through our own experiences and logic.
     
  7. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    JT1 more interesting post ! thanks!!:) i show the link in "maples"facebook :)
     
  8. jacquot

    jacquot Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Very interesting, and spring/summer of 2010 is fairly anecdotal at this point for me, but maybe I can find records. So interesting that last year was heavy seed production here. This gives some background for research, thank you!
     
  9. JT1

    JT1 Contributor 10 Years

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    Yes, 2010 was very dry for us here in the Midwest. Many of the large trees in forest areas were so stressed that fall color started to come on in August. This was followed by the heaviest seed production I have ever seen in 2011. Furthermore, 2011 was the wettest year for us on record (providing ideal conditions for seed maturation).
     

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