Something amazing and glorious happens each spring: trees sprout their buds. In New Jersey, winters can be long, cold, and grey. Thank goodness for evergreen trees adding some color to winter.

As you know, trees drop their leaves in the fall and sprout their buds in the spring. How do trees know when to do these things?

Here’s something funny to consider: trees tell time! It may sound weird, but they have time sensitive genes that keep both a 24-hour clock as well as a daily one—a lot like humans. And just like humans know that they need to put a coat on when it’s cooler outside, trees sense the weather and temperature changes such that they know when to drop leaves and when to sprout their buds.

Typically, in New Jersey and much of the Northeastern USA, trees sprout their buds in late April and early May.

Those buds have been dormant, waiting to sprout for many months. During a typical summer, a tree gets a lot of sunshine and is able to store up extra food, which is then used to grow new buds so the tree can “come alive” again as the temperatures warm up.

Lately, it seems like weather patterns have been atypical, such that one day it’s 80 degrees and the next it’s 40 degrees. This sudden change confuses both trees and people—and it’s not a good thing. If a tree sprouts its buds and tries to grow, but the temperature goes below freezing in April, May or June, a tree’s inner clock gets messed up, and the health of the tree can deteriorate.

Big Foot Tree Service can remove and/or replace any trees on your property that look like they’re not doing too well. Call 973-885-8000 for tree service.