Many people have been concerned lately, as photos have been popping up showing trees already starting to change their colors. The speculation around winter coming so soon had people worried, but based on various tree experts there shouldn’t be any alarm. It’s common for a few trees here and there to show some different colors earlier in the year thanks to stress placed on the trees.
It is true that each of the sightings of these color-changing trees have been just one tree in a collection of many green ones. But it does bring up a fair point as to how a tree is stressed in the first place? Well, sometimes it can be Mother Nature, by making an area extra wet or extra dry it can stress out the tree and force it to shed or change colors early. And that isn’t even counting that for trees a year or two isn’t much to them, so sometimes they show stress from something that happened to them years ago.
But Mother Nature isn’t the only one that can stress trees into their ‘gray hairs’. The most common cause is damage to the roots of a tree by human machines, especially when those roots might be sticking out of the ground in some areas. Even damage from some time ago could be affecting it now. However, considering our recent hot and dry weather string, many tree enthusiasts are placing the stress on that more than anything is.
As for whether we end up with an early fall or winter, it is entirely possible, but as for now things have been on track with the seasons. If we do see either one come early, it is likely to only be a day or week at most, but only time will tell. So until then, if you have a tree changing leaf colors already, remember to take special care of it for now!
Source: http://www.mlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2014/08/trees_already_changing_color_i.html
