did the cold weather kill trees?

[crappiefisherman]

Does anyone know if the oaks will leaf out.Im afraid the very cold weather has hurt them.My yard is full of dead blooms and no leaves seem to be growing. Im puzzeled

[Phil Lilley]

Mine are in the same shape and what my guests tell me it's widespread all over the Midwest. I don't they are dead, but I don't think they'll leaf out much this year... we'll see. If ours are dead or dying, then millions of others are too.

[Wayne SW/MO]

My Walnuts and Oaks are starting to bud again, but not the Sycamores or Chinquapin.

[Dave Cook]

Same thing happened in the KC area. I also noticed the same up around Chillicothe Mo. I looked for new buds on my oaks and they are there, they just need time to develop.

[trout fanatic]

My pin oak is finally starting to re-bud. I was really concerned about the wife's magnolia as they aren't that hardy anyway-but it too is starting new buds so I think we will be all right

[skeeter]

It sure killed those blasted gum balls on my sweet gum tree YIPPEE !!! Won't have to clean them up all year long like usual... Yep, oaks look brown and not the brown they develop when they flower. Some other trees seem unaffected but unless trees had enough sap up in them to split open due to hard freeze, they are not dead, just under stress.

[mcp633]

A local nursery owner here in JC said that it will probably take several weeks for the trees to pull out of this if the weather stays like it has. She assured me that they will get a second set of buds.

[Terry Beeson]

This kind of thing has happened before. It's not like this is a "freak once in a million years" occurance. Trees are VERY resilient and can withstand a lot more than we might care to give them credit for. Yep, the trees for miles and miles around the midwest are looking bad, but they are not dead. I drove down to central Arkansas over the weekend and the trees down there are just beginning to come out of it. But all of this will just mean a "bad year" for the growth of the trees and fruiting. If we don't have another late freeze next year, just watch them NEXT spring... They will more than likely make up for this spring.

The bad part of this for a lot of us is the resulting food source for many animals will be very small this year. Squirrels, deer, bear, and turkey will have a hard time this fall and winter due to the fruit and nut crop being very short. If you have a feeder and/or food plot, remember that this year.

[skeeter]

The bad part of this for a lot of us is the resulting food source for many animals will be very small this year. Squirrels, deer, bear, and turkey will have a hard time this fall and winter due to the fruit and nut crop being very short. If you have a feeder and/or food plot, remember that this year.

Terry that's an excellent point. I don't believe the oaks will re-flower when they sprout new leaves, thus no acorns. Turkey deer and squirrel are facing a tough winter. Last Fall the White Oaks had a bumper crop of acorns and I heard a lot of hunters grousing that the deer weren't moving much because they didn't have to go far to find food. In the Ozarks hill country, where not much in the way of food crops are farmed, this is gonna' be a tough year.

[TexomaOkie]

I spent nine days on Lake Texoma this past week and a half and was surprised to find so many oak trees in that area that appear to be dead. We've camped in the same spot for over thirty years and three of the eight trees we camp under showed no signs of life. The reason I believe them to be dead is that the healthy trees are fully leafed out in that area. With permission of the park manager, we sawed up one of the trees for firewood and it definitely showed no signs of life on the inside.

It's definitely an odd situation here. I have to believe last years extreme drought conditions in our area damaged some of the trees.