Very early Spring

All of my elms and maples have leafed out about a month early due to put unseasonably mild winter and spring here in northern iowa. Are there any precautions or problems which may arise due to this occuring? They were stored in the garage and have been moved outside in the past week. Any comments are appreciated

You will need to protect them from freezing temps...see Bill V's most recent thread.

Hi David, this is a treacherous time for our trees, especially those tender leaf maples. Don't know about Iowa, but here in Oregon these nice spring days can head south in a heartbeat. Watch the weather reports closely and be prepared to move back inside if your temps drop.

Young maple leafs can be burned by frost or freeze. Though it doesn't hurt the trees in the long run, you lose some of the best colors of the season. I hear of folks who bring them in every night until the danger of freeze or frost is passed, but I have too many trees to do this. A small stick frame with a pvc cover that you can open during the day should give enough protection. Rick

RKatzin wrote: I hear of folks who bring them in every night until the danger of freeze or frost is passed,

Its becoming something I've just gotten used to as part of spring in Upstate NY as a bonsai "keeper" I just stepped out and counted 41 trees on my deck that will all have to come inside tonight. Mostly all stuff that leafed out during the false spring a few weeks back.

-Jay

I wish I had the problem. Here in Georgia, spring seems like a distant memory. My nightly low temps this week have been around 60 with daytime highs of 90. That's more like June. You guys up North stop hogging the Jet Stream!

FrankP999 wrote:I wish I had the problem. Here in Georgia, spring seems like a distant memory. My nightly low temps this week have been around 60 with daytime highs of 90. That's more like June. You guys up North stop hogging the Jet Stream!

Here, too, but the low is going to be 41 here Friday night. I won't move anything anywhere (not even my 2 figs) but that is chilly compared to what we've had lately.