Leaves expected to change color quickly this week
Photo and story by Becky Legel, posted Oct. 24, 2007
Due to summer drought conditions and the warmer-than-average fall temperatures, leaf colors in central Missouri did not start to change until early this week. In addition to delaying the show of fall colors, the weather conditions may have also made the colors less sharp.
“I believe that we might have had good color without the heat and warm fall,” said Christopher Starbuck, MU extension specialist for woody ornamentals. “Many trees recovered nicely from the April freeze due to cool temperatures and good rainfall during July. However, the leaves that developed during this period were succulent and susceptible to drought stress during the August blast furnace.”
Summer drought stress caused many trees to lose leaves in order to conserve moisture.
“The less leaf area exposed, the less moisture needed,” said James Quinn, MU extension horticulture specialist.
The fact that some trees have already dropped leaves will limit the amount of color that people can observe.
“Even sassafras trees, which are normally very dependable for reds and oranges, seem to have dropped many leaves before or during color development due to the heat and drought,” Starbuck said.
Traditionally, leaves usually start changing colors at the end of September and reach their brightest colors in mid-October according to the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) Web site.
“In Michigan, fall colors peaked about Oct. 7, where in Missouri, it is about two weeks later,” Quinn said. “The warm weather has probably delayed the process about one week. I would expect the peak to be this coming weekend.”
Central Missouri should see a “mass change of color from green to reds, oranges and yellows” as the week progresses, according to the MDC Web site.
The colors of fall usually last until the end of October when temperatures get too cool and trees begin to drop their leaves. However, oak trees often have nice colors into November, Quinn said.
Even though the beginning of color change was delayed this year, central Missourians should not expect the color to last longer than usual.
“If we have cool, sunny weather into November without excessive rainfall, we may get decent color on some trees before the leaves fall,” Starbuck said. “However, that is a lot of ifs. If it drops down into the low teens suddenly, like it does sometimes at this time of the year, that may be the end of it.”
