I've noticed several trees that I thought were killed by Hurricane Sandy now pushing foliage in unusual places. They clearly have some life left in them, but their normal growth pattern — on stem tips — seems to have failed. They are now activating latent buds along their trunks and inner branches.
What's going on and how will this play out?
As I understand it, the hormone cytokinin which initiates spring bud break is made in the root tips, so if saltwater saturated the root zone and desicated these tips through osmosis, the resulting lack of hormone production would leave in-tact buds waiting for a silenced starter's pistol. Are those buds now dead, or still set and waiting to spring forth? As new root growth picks up speed — and produces more cytokinin — will they eventually get their signal and push new leaves? The branches don't seem brittle or dead, and they clearly want to live, so I'm not sure.
WIll these trees eventually recover, die a slow death, or just end up deformed and weak? Your guess may be as good as mine.
Storm damaged willows in the Long Island City flood zone pushing inner foliage.