Experiencing a probably false spring... Anybody else?

[WildBird]

January and February are usually the coldest and slushiest months of the year in my area. Normally we get at least a bit of snow, but we haven't yet.

Currently we are on a warm spurt (around me), and it has been going for a couple weeks now. The birds have started to sing, and I know for sure that it is much too early for the goldfinches and robins. This morning I found lead buds on a couple of my fruit trees and bushes.

I think this is a false spring. We still have a long February ahead, and this warm spurt can't last for long. I have heard that if fruit trees try to wake from winter, then it freezes again, the trees won't give off any fruit. Is this true?

How do you think this will affect the gardening season and wildlife? Is anybody else experiencing this?

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Same thing here. This year was forecasted to be a mild winter and it has been. If the weather pattern causing this stays in place we may have a true early spring. If it doesn’t we will have another likely damaging cold snap. Right now I think it’s too early to tell. Especially for your area. For me I’ll have a good idea in late February/early March. And yes false springs can cause severe damage to fruit trees. It’s a common problem here in the south. There are some varieties that are less prone to damage though.

 

[flowerbug]

certainly not. overnight temperatures here have been in the low teens F. finally got cold here at least overnight. the daytime temps have been up in the mid-20sF. the forecast has us going up above freezing for a bit, but i hope it won't be too much for too long. i like it when winter is winter and the spring tree flowering and strawberries don't get screwed up and mess up the harvest.

 

[digitS']

Wildbird, your home is several hundred miles south of here.

We are having an unusually warm winter. It's about the same as January 2020, remarkably mild. However, yesterday afternoon was the first time that temperatures rose enough for some melting after 4 or 5 days of temperatures in the 20's. The weather reminds me of my childhood home in southern Oregon.

My cousin, who has a home only about 10 miles from where I once lived, sent me a picture of her light snow-covered yard. Oregon looks about like here. Meanwhile, if we check on my birthplace, on the central California coast, we see that the Monterey Peninsula picked up nearly 3" of rain in 24 hours. I was wondering where that big Pacific Ocean storm was going!

No. I feel like I have been transported about 7-800 miles south. It isn't spring and fall weather 2020 came down kinda typically cold and snowy. Summer was simply devastatingly dry, throughout the West. It would take someone far more weather knowledgeable than I am to have any confidence on the long-term. The norms are what I followed with the gardening calendar last year. That seemed to have worked well enough for the growing season.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Not today, currently 12 degrees F outside. VERY typical of January. ONLY year without a winter (early Spring) recently was 2012, where my 2011 spinach never died, and I harvested it in March of 2012.
No early Spring here.

 

[WildBird]

Same thing here. This year was forecasted to be a mild winter and it has been. If the weather pattern causing this stays in place we may have a true early spring. If it doesn’t we will have another likely damaging cold snap. Right now I think it’s too early to tell. Especially for your area. For me I’ll have a good idea in late February/early March. And yes false springs can cause severe damage to fruit trees. It’s a common problem here in the south. There are some varieties that are less prone to damage though.

Then I guess we'll just have to hope that it is spring for good

 

[ducks4you]

I have lost peach tree blossoms for about 5 years now. Last year, on Mid American Gardener, I heard some advice--"decorate" your fruit tree with C9 lights, the old timey OUTSIDE Christmas light bulbs. They might create enough heat to keep the blossoms from getting frosted off from a late Spring freeze, which we have ALSO been experiencing.
Just some FYI.

Holiday Lights for Frost Protection: Which to Choose?

"For frost protection of citrus, use the large, C9 Christmas/holiday lights..." Now, there's a phrase we've been tossing around a lot l...

farmerfredrant.blogspot.com

 

[Dirtmechanic]

We have been experiencing 70f daytime temps. Short sleeves in January! Even though we are heading back down in temp ranges the days are 55-60f and nights hover around freezing. I wonder if there are growth regulators available to slow bud development? Anti-Fertilizer!

 

[WildBird]

We haven't trimmed are four trees yet, and as I mentioned earlier, they are budding. Should I attempt to trim anyway?

 

[flowerbug]

what kind of trees?

are they small enough you can cover them?