Help with Buxus Harlandii

[Beano]

Hi,

I was hoping someone could give me some advice on my Boxwood. It is 6 years old and I bought it in November from a nursery as an established bonsai. I have dabbled with bonsai over the years since I was a teenager but haven't tried much in the way of advanced branch training or leaf size reduction. I love this tree, however, there was a very hot couple of days last week where the temperature reached 36.5 degrees celcius and I forgot to water for a whole day. It is only a small tree and was so dry when I realised that the soil had contracted away from the edge of the pot. What I now have is a very crispy boxwood. The leaves haven't dropped and even though some are clearly dead and crispy there are others that are more yellow (not brown) and still soft to touch.

One of the nursery staff advised me to remove all of the dead and yellow leaves, so that the tree can save itself instead of trying to save the leaves and dying altogether, but I thought I would check with some bonsai experts first.

I would appreciate any advice you can give, thank you!

ETA - I have removed some of the really crispy redundant branches and the branch is still alive and green underneath the bark.

[alpineart]

Hi Beano , drop it into a bucket of water and let it soak for a day . I have an issue with one of mine and the heat here is about the same . The leaves will drop off so no need to remove them , some that are not completely cooked may green up .You may loose a side branch but that's the penalty for not monitoring little pots .I place all my tree's in scoria or sand trays just for those forgetful occasions . Hope it does recover .

Cheers Alpineart

[Beano]

Thanks!

Its been this way for about 5 days now, I did put it in a container of water for about 6 hours that day I found the soil contracting from the edge, then took it out again. I'll just keep watering and hope for the best... I have a smaller serissa now, so hopefully the smaller plant will keep me on the ball for both of them.

[kcpoole]

Ahh the first lesson learnt

Our trees need to be watered often, and usually on days like you describe 2 or for some even 3 times a day.
We have all done just what you describe and have learnt the hard way.

Keep it watered and out of direct sunlight for a few weeks, and see if it recovers but with Buxus I will doubt it.

Ken

[Beano]

Darn. I hope it does. This is not the first tree i've done this to. Its also still outside... in direct sunlight! I don't have housemates and have a job where I am away from the house sometimes for more than 12 hours. Then once you're cleaned and fed when you get home you don't want to go outside anymore.

I am just waiting for the serissa to die now. From what I've heard they are particularly fussy and don't like change. It would have been getting Eastern sun at the nursery but is now getting western sun at my house. Apparently thats enough for it to drop all its leaves. We'll see.

Anyway, I have created a wet sand tray to put them on while I'm at work, hopefully that will help.

[Beano]

Well the box is pretty much the same. I can imagine I can see an ever so slight color of green in the softer leaves, but in most lights it's just yellow still. But it hasnt dropped the leaves yet.

I don't want to jinx the serissa, but it looks like it will flower soon and is going well. I trimmed a branch off and decided it should be a cutting (glass of water). It hasn't got roots yet but new leaves have grown! I'm going to wait for the blossoms to flower then do some branch reduction on the parent tree.

[Beano]

I took all the leaves off. They were dead, but the branches and trunk seem to still be green and alive under the bark. Will it ever grow new leaves?

[Karl12]

Hi, all you Bonsai : Questioned: I bought a beautiful Buxus Dwarf Japanese Box from my Nursery! Can I transfer this Tree direct into a Bonsai Container after I trimmed It ??
Kindly advise me.
Karl,

[Ray M]

Hi Beano,
Sorry to hear about your Buxus. I would like to suggest the following. Give it a drink of Seasol at least 3 times a week until you see some recovery. I use the 25ml per 9 litre mix. When you give it a drink of Seasol, water the tree and then poor the Seasol over the whole tree and down into the soil.

Regards Ray

[Josh]

Hi, all you Bonsai : Questioned: I bought a beautiful Buxus Dwarf Japanese Box from my Nursery! Can I transfer this Tree direct into a Bonsai Container after I trimmed It ??
Kindly advise me.
Karl,

Hi Karl
Probably best to start a new thread for this one and made post a few pics so we can see the tree and the pot you intend to put it in. There are a few factors to consider. Size of original tree and how hard you pruned it? How big is the current rootball compared to how small is the bonsai pot? What time of year you plan to root prune? Starting a new thread will give you somewhere to document the progress of your tree. I have more info to add but will wait for the new thread and pics to answer more correctly. Cheers.

Josh.