Tree Tips

October 2026

The club show

Our Show is Saturday October 3rd, with setup the night before on Friday October 2nd at 7 PM. Coincidentally, our first meeting for October is Thursday October 1st. The theme is emergency prep for the show. If you haven’t finished your prep for your tree, this is the last night to do it. If you still need a stand for your tree, contact me BEFORE Thursday as I might have one that will work for you. Text me at 408-966-6220. Also, remember to bring accent plants for your trees, and if you will, to share with others.

transitioning to fall weather

In late October, as the deciduous trees turn color, they signal that the tree is cutting off contact with the leaves. Chlorophyl is withdrawing, leaving other pigments in what we know of as our fall color. When most of the leaves have their full fall color (late November or early December), you can defoliate the tree and cut back to the buds you want to come out in the spring, leaving a stub. Be wary of possible die back—you could also do the cutback in mid January if you are nervous about it. The tree will not bleed the way it will if you leave cut back until December or January, so do it now or wait until late January/early February. You should not get a new growth spurt.

Continue to fertilize thru December as this is the time the trees store up energy for the big push in the spring.  Move towards the high phosphorus type fertilizers (0-30-0 to 0-54-0) on all of your flowering and fruiting trees in later November. We already see shorter days and soon will be getting cooler temperatures. I will take down my shade cloth mid-month as we had the autumnal equinox in late September and the sun is lower, the days are getting shorter, and the nights longer.

Your early flowering trees like quince and Ume and crabapple can be transplanted at this point. Doing it now reduces the likelihood of getting those gnarly growth-cysts on your apple family trees.

Conifers: except for black pines you candle cut in June, this is the ideal time for wiring and styling. Clean out weak, dead and sickly foliage so you can concentrate on the healthy style-able foliage. On long and lanky older branches go back to the fresh back-budded growth for styling.

This is also the ideal time to style and wire deciduous trees. Styling is always easier when the foliage is not there to interfere with the wire. The branches should also be flexible and easy to manipulate. Later they will become more rigid and brittle. In Japan, wiring is done October through February at which time transplanting starts. We get to start transplanting earlier (late December through mid March) because of our milder climate.

This is also a great time to plant trees for a period of in-ground growing. They get a chance to settle in for a big push in the spring.