Something I wrote for ..... I forget what. :o) Forcing Woody Plantssize> When the hustle and bustle of the Christmas and New Year holidays are behind us, our thoughts often turn to spring and a longing for the flowers it brings. While many of you are already familiar with forcing bulbs and branches of woody plants, but its likely a few might not be as familiar with the woody plants as they are with bulbs. IÂll try to give a little overview on forcing twigs and branches mixed with some of the science that drives it. Branches clipped from flowering trees and shrubs can easily be forced into bloom. Trees and shrubs that bloom early in the spring form flower buds the previous fall before dormancy. Successful forcing depends on the type of plant, cultivar, stage of dormancy, and temperature. Plants begin preparing for dormancy as soon as the length of night becomes longer than day length, around June 21. Changes in growth includes directing energy to newly forming buds and storing energy in roots and cambial tissues. As nights grow longer and temperatures fall, leaves drop and the plant is moved to dormancy. During true dormancy, the tree is in a deep state of rest and protected from cold. The mechanism by which the plant is released from itÂs dormant stage is an accumulation of chill units or roughly - hours of cold temperatures between freezing and 45* F. Different plants require different amounts of chilling, but most growing in MI need from 1000 - 2000 chill units (or hours). Once chilling, sufficient to release the plant from dormancy has occurred, the plant is capable of beginning growth - usually after several consecutive days of root temperatures near 50*. By mid-January, most temperate plants have had sufficient chilling and are technically no longer dormant. This stage is often called a period of quiescence, or quiet. It is in this period that woody branches should be cut for forcing. Those that are cut too early will perform weakly with unimpressive displays. Select the younger, more vigorous branches which will have a larger number of flower buds. Flower buds are usually larger and rounder than leaf buds. If you have trouble telling the difference, cut a few buds open and look for flower parts. Some fruit trees bear flowers on short fruit spurs. Watch for these on apples, pears, and ornamental crabapples. Select branches at least 12 inches long, pruning them flush with the trunk or main branch. By pruning small branches flush, the wound will heal over quickly, with little danger of insect or disease damage. Be sure to use sharp pruning shears or your concave cutters to minimize damage. Once the branches have been cut, bring them indoors and place the stem ends in water immediately; or better, totally submerge the branches in room-temperature water overnight. A washtub or bathtub works well for this. This soaking allows the branches and buds to begin to break dormancy. Following this, place the branches in a bucket of water. Water may need to be changed often to prevent it from becoming foul. Another method, if soaking is not possible, is to place the cut ends of the branches directly into buckets of water and mist the branches frequently the first few days. You might wrap a piece of damp burlap around the branches to help maintain high humidity. After spraying or soaking, the branches are ready for forcing. The branches should be placed in a relatively cool place (60 to 65 degrees F.) to develop. Higher temperatures will cause the buds to develop more rapidly, but size, color, and quality may be sacrificed. Along with higher temperatures often goes lower humidity, which may cause buds to dry out and fall off. Branches need light for forcing, but not direct sunlight. Heat from direct sun is too intense. If you remember the springtime conditions when these plants bloom naturally, it will be easy to remember the conditions they need. How can branches, completely isolated from roots, be forced to give up their blooms? As the plant goes from dormancy to quiescence, root activity increases and stored energy (photosynthate, in the form of starches) is moved upward where it adds to the concentration already stored at the base of each bud. As a water supply is introduced, a complicated chemical process begins, turning starch into usable energy. Turgidity increases, cells elongate & the bud opens. To help the buds open and keep them from drying, mist the branches occasionally during the forcing period. The closer to spring that branches are forced, the shorter the time required until bloom. When the flower buds are well developed and starting to show color, remove the branches from the bucket and arrange them. Branches that are removed from the buckets at this stage are less likely to have bruised and broken flowers. Arranging the branches at this stage also allows the enjoyment of watching the flowers open. The branches should be kept in a bright, but not sunny location and will last longer if they can be moved to a cool (40 to 50 degrees F.) location at night. Some common woody plants you can force: Red Maple Alder Serviceberry Quince Hawthorn Forsythia Witch Hazel Beauty Bush Honeysuckle Magnolia Apple Cherry Pear Rhododendron Pussy and other Willow Spirea And many others I cannot think of. Have fun. Al Fassezke

Your question is a little confusing......:-) Was this tree tagged as a Yoshino cherry? If so, do you have reason to question that ? 'Yoshino' is a cultivar of Prunus x yedoensis, so if labeled as such a very good chance that's exactly what it is. Otherwise, the vast majority of flowering cherries are best identified when they are in bloom, as the flowers are their primary distinguishing characteristic. Have you seen actual beetles on this tree? Japanese beetles can certainly cause damage but they would skeletonize the leaves rather than leaving the smaller holes and dead tissue behind. I'd suspect some smaller, larval type of insect. Look for tiny little worms/caterpillars crawling around, especially on the back side of the leaves . These can easily be dispatched by hosing down the tree or applying insecticidal soap. If you opt for the insecticidal soap, apply very early or very late (soon after daybreak or at dusk) to reduce any possibility of additional foliage damage.

Labels for the photos of April 9: Photo 1 has 3 large shrubs, front to back: Fat Albert Blue Spruce, Coppertina ninebark, Shadbush of some type. Lower growing, back to front: Amsonia hubrichtii has the feathery leaves and very pale blue flowers; the bright pink flower on a low bush in front of the blue spruce is a rhododendron, I think Independence Day; The bright purple is a Salvia, but I don't remember the type, and the one sort of between the rhodie and the salvia is a Hellebore seedling. Photo 2 has two Rhododendron Olga Mezitt with a combination of green and bright red leaves, one on the far right in front of the dark green arborvitae Techny and one in front of the bright yellow spice bush. The yellow tinted arborvitae between the Rhodie Olga Mezitt is Sunkist. The red, yellow, green shrubby thin between the Sunkist arborvitae and the right side Rhodie is one of the same varieties in the first photos, Amsonia hubrichtii in all its fall glory. The blue-green low groundcover in front of the Sunkist arborvitae is Greystone dianthus AKA pinks (though it is white flowered) and the rambly out-of-control groundcover near the front left is Nepeta AKA catmint. There are a couple of the same Fat Albert blue spruces, one to the left of the yellow spicebush, and one just peaking out to the right of the Sunkist arborvitae. Here are some photos from earlier in the life of this bed when it was in its third growing season. I deliberately left lots of room for the shrubs to grow, so there is quite a bit of mulch showing. Since then I've also added a few plants here and there as I could shoehorn them in. From June 2010 This covers much of the same area as photo 2 above, and though the trellises shown here are still in the same place, they are not nearly as visible now as they were in 2010 when this photo was taken. The Techny and Sunkist arborvitae are smaller as are the Fat Albert blue spruce. The purple flowers are the Nepeta AKA catmint, and the white flowers are the Greystone dianthus AKA pinks. The feathery plant to the right and slightly behind Greystone is the Amsonia hubrichtii in its first season. To the right of that in front of the blue spruce and also in its first season is one of the Rhododendron Olga Mezitt. From June 2010 This is a close up including the blue spruce, Amsonia, and Coppertina ninebark (plus a tiny bit of the rhododendron's leaves at the bottom) from the first photo in my earlier post. And here is a photo looking down the bed to give an idea of how relatively sparse it was in its third season. From June 2010 I spent a bit more money than I often do on the evergreens to get reasonable sized plants, though I did buy them at the autumn sales in 2007, since I wanted medium-slow growing evergreens. Many of the rest of the plants have been added as quart pots, or in the case of the hydrangeas in this bed as, rooted cuttings in 4" pots. I knew that the hydrangeas, clematis and perennials would get larger faster than the evergreens so the smaller plants would catch up. Here's a photo (taken from a higher vantage point so things look a bit shorter than they are) of the whole bed from the end where photo 1 from April 9 was taken. This is one of the quietest times of year in this bed, after many of the spring and summer bloomers have stopped, but before the fall color erupts. There are still a couple of hydrangeas not very visible in this photo, some asters, colchicum bulbs blooming, and the white fluffy seedheads of clematis along with varied foliage texture and color.

Jun, You might have better luck with the taste of your 2 inch loquats by leaving them until they start to turn almost light orange. The sourness can turn to sweetness at that point. Loquat is one of those trees that grow wild in Bermuda (along with surinam cherry, pawpaws, peach and to some extent avacado and almond). Interestingly, we had hurricane Igor just pass yesterday, most fair very well in strong winds (peach and pawpaw not so much but both seem to comeback). With their propensity to grow wild so well, this vouches for their ease of care (I.e. none).