Deciduous in Sth Qld

[PWC]

South Qld covers a large area with a diverse range of weather from reasonably warm mild weather along the coast to cold frost affected areas inland and the mountainous areas where it often gets into the low single and below zero temperatures. I am seeing differing responses to winter here with different trees I moved up form S.A. some of the Ash have dropped all leaves while others continue to put out new growth.

My young Tridents are still fully clothed but slowing down, I tried cutting back a couple late Autumn to see how they would respond and they pushed new growth. It will be interesting to see the outcome over winter as we tend to only get a few cold days a month in winter and low 20 degrees during the day.

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[melbrackstone]

Qld weather really doesn't suit many of the deciduous trees, that's for sure. All my tridents and Japanese maples still have leaves, but most of the ones on the southern side of the house, where it's colder, have coloured well this year, On the northern side, they're mostly still green.

With such a short cold season I suspect they will behave a little differently to what you're used to. My best colour this year has been the crepe myrtles, for some reason!

[greg27]

All my ash, cherries, Japanese maples and hawthorns still have green leaves down here in Adelaide, with some new growth appearing on a few. The trident maple is the only one to have lost any so far!

[PWC]

Qld weather really doesn't suit many of the deciduous trees, that's for sure. All my tridents and Japanese maples still have leaves, but most of the ones on the southern side of the house, where it's colder, have coloured well this year, On the northern side, they're mostly still green.

With such a short cold season I suspect they will behave a little differently to what you're used to. My best colour this year has been the crepe myrtles, for some reason!

The only colour change I did get was from my Crepe Myrtle as well, a few English elms I have went yellow but they did not grow well since the move and I fear for their long term future.

I was thinking that pruning the tridents now may lead to shorter internodes with slower growth rates though out the cooler periods.

[melbrackstone]

I was thinking that pruning the tridents now may lead to shorter internodes with slower growth rates though out the cooler periods.

The ones you pruned in Autumn probably won't have grown long enough to prune in the Winter, but if you're looking for ramification then Winter is generally regarded as a good time. YOu can see the structure of the tree better with no leaves. Defoliation during the warmer months can often lead to extra buds pushing too. Ryan has been pushing his idea of not pruning back to two in Winter, but to four or even six, so that when it buds out, you can then do a late Summer prune by choosing the best new branches from leaving more options. You should have no trouble getting two flushes of growth in the Sub Tropics.