Hey Everyone,

Is it normal for a tree to come out of dormancy, put on growth, and then close the terminal bud?

My trees are still indoors, the house stays around 70.

Could the plant have been induced back into dormancy?  The leaves haven't dropped.

Thanks guys,

Dom

My plants did this due to cold weather.  Luckily my plants just started branching out below that bud once the cold weather was done.  I am not sure what would have caused it in 70 degree temps.

So the terminal bud stayed closed and induced branching and never continued?

The terminal bud died. Then branching began underneath. The tree behaved just as if I had pinched the terminal bud. Be careful that the dead bud does not begin to mold. Mine did due to 5 straight days of rain but I just removed the molding dead terminal bud. The tree is doing great because I didn't really want the trunk getting any taller. The only problem I can see from this happening is if you needed the trunk or limb to continue getting taller.

I had this happen to a couple of young fig trees that went into an extended stall. The terminal buds closed; the existing leave got large, very thick, dark green, and quite healthy looking. Then the tree just sat there without changing for several months. The bud stayed active looking and green. It just never opened. Then one day (recently) the trees just exploded in growth.

It's normal for the terminal bud to stop growing during periods of drought or low fertility. Drought is the most common cause for a pause in growth during warm weather. This isn't really dormancy. It's just a response to growing conditions. In fall growth stops due to cooling weather. Or we hope it does. Growth can continue into fall/winter if the tree is pushed with enough nitrogen and water. That late growth is freeze sensitive and not desierable.

Hey Cliff,

Thanks for getting to my question, so would you say if it closed in April I should not expect growth? Should I just air layer them to get something out of the season?

I'll post a picture in a few, the tree is in a five gallon container with 7 shoots forming branches about 2.5 - 3 ft each.

I would say to just make sure the tree is well watered, and feed it very well with fertilizer. Then give it some time in full sun.

I up-potted my most stalled tree into a large SIP, fertilized it generously with CRF in the potting mix, plus added MG in the regular watering (I used a mix of non-organic and organic CRF for fear of burning the leaves with too much chemicals.) It took a few weeks; but the tree not only started growing upward again quickly, it has added two 6" branches too.