|
| Hello all. I have a dying eugenia (brush cherry) on my hands!
It was bought from a mall store (i know i know, but it was a going out of business sale!). It is also my first attempt at bonsai, so i was kind of prepared to have this one croak on me. Anyway, the tree is 2 years old according to the seller, about 10" tall, and the width of a pencil. I knew this poor guy would need serious repotting, but i could never imagine the horror of the root system once it was exposed:
So, before repotting in some akadama, i sliced the offending taproot off... this left about 20% of the root structure. I pruned about 50% of the leaf/branch structure, and wired it into position (quite nicely wired for my first attempt, i must say). But as you can imagine, poor Eugene has steadily declined over these past 3 weeks. His leaves are shriveled and brittle, and have lost their green shine. Is there anything to be done, or is he my first Casualty of Bonsai? Thanks for your help! -Paul
|
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| Hi, well first off, you might have done the taproot in a couple of stages (leaving more of it on for now), and not wired on top of everything. You've stressed your tree a lot. However, find a clear plastic bag to put over it, not tied at the bottom but kind of snugged a bit, keep it in good light, but not raging SW sun (yet... Aug. will be ok if the tree recovers), and don't water until at least 1" or more is dry in the pot. Did you pot into potting soil (bad), or something faster draining with lots of grit in there (good)? The trouble with PS is that the bottom half of the soil stays soggy (it's mostly peat) all the time, and the rest dries too fast, whereas a mix of grit and small gravel with a little organic stuff is a lot better for it. Hope it recovers! Keep an eye out for too much condensation in the bag (let it dry out a bit if necessary) if the sun's too hot, though a little is good. |
|
- Posted by plennispan (My Page) on Tue, Jul 3, 07 at 15:21
| I had a feeling i was going a bit overboard as i was working on the tree... Im sure its a common newbie mistake to do it all at once. Thanks much for the tip, I will practice more restraint with my next tree. I hope lil eugenia survives! |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Bonsai Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.