Dormancy for Chinese Elm

thejimmyrigger

I agree with Rockm, removing its leaves and then bringing it indoors would be a death sentence. It living in the house in winters is hard enough, don't make the poor guy grow a full set of leaves too.
From a biological standpoint, it shouldn't be done.
If you have an unheated garage, it would do fine in there, just put a large light bulb (something hot, maybe halogen) about two feet away from it in there, AFTER its gone into doramancy. The bulb will give it enough heat to take the winter, and the garage will regulate the temp. Just don't get it too warm, untill spring.
I beleive evergreengardenworks.com has a good explanation of a tree's reactions to spring*.
jim
edit:
*to the seasons changing

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jeremy_norbury

My Chinese elms all live outside all year round and they do drop their leaves (well 95% of their leaves) during the winter.

We get several periods of -5C to -8C (18-23F) during the nighttime during a typical winter and I take no precautions with them. None of them died over this last winter. They are now all looking very fresh with masses of buds and new leaves.

Jerry
Amsterdam

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jcayer

Camay123,

I think there is a little misunderstanding here. You live in a
4b/5a zone, but CANADIAN Zone.

Clrosner lives in a 6/7 zone, USDA zone, which is about 8/9 zone for us in Canada. USDA zone and Canadian zonal systems are not the same...

You can check this out:

http://www.trees-seeds.com/zone.html

So when you refer to Ulmus parvifolia that are hardy for 5b zone are you talking about US or Canadian zone system?? Because this could mean something like zone 7 for Canada.

Just a tought,

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Camay123

jcayer

I always tought US zones where the reference. Im talking in US zone. The book I use refer to the "United State Departement of Agriculture" when showing a map of Canada and the hardiness zone.

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jacobonsai

I live in Buffalo, NY and the Winter's can be rough...I have a Chinese Elm planted in the ground next to my house, and for last Winter I placed bricks around the Elm creating a type of wall where only the top part of the tree wasn't protecting by the wall, then I insulated the inside of the wall with dead leaves from a regular sized tree that lost it's leaves in the fall.

I must have done something right, because this Spring, the tree is doing real good...

D3rutat

Defoliating a tree is not the same thing as going through dormancy. Elms can be either indoors or outdoors, but i have seen that they do much better outdoors, with a dormancy period. Elms are hardy in zones Zones 5B - 10A.

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ozzerbon

Regarding Ulmus parvifolia, here are 3 pics of three of my trees and these 3 blokes have become evergreen, [2a is a Chinese yamadori] and [3a] broom style was hard-pruned back last night, and during this coming week two thirds of its foliage shall be defoliated.

However I live on the fourth floor, and never get frost, Sun from the East until about 2pm, and the trees never come indoors.

Nigel

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ulmus parvifolia 1a.jpg (39.7 KB, 128 views)

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Pic 2a

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ulmus parvifolia 2a.jpg (38.4 KB, 124 views)

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Pic 3a

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ulmus parvifolia 3a.jpg (33.8 KB, 126 views)

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