When is it safe to move maples outside?

tazzer

during the warm spell in January a bunch of my japanese maples budded. To protect teh new buds, I kept them in an indoor porch that i thought was unheated. It turnd out that the porch was heated, but still stayed cool as it is glass enclosed (no insulation at all).

Well, the trees are now in full leaf (have been for two months). They all look healthy, excpt for light green leaves, which i assume is from being indoors. I want to move them outdoors as soon as possible, but am worried about them losing their leaves.

I am in Philadelphia PA and they are predicting temps in the 60s for then next two weeks with lows in the lower 40s and upper 30s.

Should i worry? Have the leaves hardened enough so that leaf loss is no big deal? how would you tell? Wil they be fine if the temps drop close to freezing?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks

Advertisement