Hi Tim,

that first bud looks damaged and/or dead. Hopefully the Mag will flush out big time for you and it will get more established. My Mag has never seen a high temp in the low single digits. The coldest high was probably 10-12F or so. Lowest temp was -8F. BUT mine is against a south facing 6' tall fence which will tend to warm up if sunny (at least when it was small). It now towers over the fence.

There is no sign of new growth on my Mag yet. Trees don't typically leaf out here until last week of April to first week of May......but with all this warm weather they may leaf out a couple weeks early??

Hi Tim,

that first bud looks damaged and/or dead. Hopefully the Mag will flush out big time for you and it will get more established. My Mag has never seen a high temp in the low single digits. The coldest high was probably 10-12F or so. Lowest temp was -8F. BUT mine is against a south facing 6' tall fence which will tend to warm up if sunny (at least when it was small). It now towers over the fence.

There is no sign of new growth on my Mag yet. Trees don't typically leaf out here until last week of April to first week of May......but with all this warm weather they may leaf out a couple weeks early??

Thanks.

Should I prune that bud off? I don't want to lose the entire stem and want to encourage growth elsewhere on it if the bud is dead.

Did you get that localy or from down south? IT could just be that the old growth isnt used to your climate extremes. I planted an Azalea that was shipped in from bc. THe first eyar it does almost right to the ground, the next year it survived a bit more, and this year there is no die back at all.

It looks ok for the most part, itll flush out I think.

Hi Tim,

I don't do anything to my EB Mag so I don't know what you should do. Mine has been fully hardy here since day 1. I just took a photo of a branch end from my EB Mag.......so you can compare what it 'should' look like. Hope this helps. What was your source? PS, it's the hottest day of the year.....I left work early to enjoy!!

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not very clear....took a couple more:

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If I didnt see the thread title, or original post, I would be asking " how did you manage to get a Ficus Elastica to survive?" 😀

Nice mag Tim (s)

Kinda looks the same as mine. I'm wondering if the Wilf pruf hurt it ?? Seems weird to have that much damage on mine and none on yours.

Wilt pruf suffocated the plant? Hmmm...

Hi Tim,

if you use wilt proof again......use it only on 1/2 the tree...............good experiment.

To be honest I've would cover your magnolia with some burlap for winter no matter if there would be mild winter or not. It should be done in any case until your tree would achieve a good size.

We call them foundations wreckers here. 😆

Hi Tim,

I spotted this old photo of my mag after it's first winter (spring 2005 photo). This is what it looked like. Mine was in a 'greenhouse' with open sides......mostly used for moisture protection but I'm sure it heated up more during the sunny days. The low was -8F in the 'greenhouse' that winter.

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Here's the protection..........good thing it kept the moisture off my cactus/yuccas :banghead:

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Tim

I think the mild winter has kept it going.

first year hardiness though is not very......

I would leave it,don't clip anything and let it come back where it can,it
will be much hardier next year and will probably need to be.

Thanks for those pictures Tim. I see some of the same "black" bark that mine has. All the buds are still soft and pliable. If dead, they would be hard and break easy, no?

Jim, I agree. I am not cutting anything off until I see how growth will resume. I think I got blessed with the best possible winter for it to get established. If I start anymore, I will need to protect the first winter.

Hi Tim

Not much more time until our Mags will start to grow. I bet we'll see some life in the next 2 weeks.

Hi Tim,

here's an update on how my EB buds look now. Any sign of life on your Mag?

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The EB should be leaf'n out soon.