When do you give up on a tree?

Share your success stories about defoliation, bare rooting and anything else relating to maintaining healthy bonsai.
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NickJS
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When do you give up on a tree?

Post by NickJS »

Hi everyone,

I think I may have killed a couple of trees recently from removing too much at once...Although I'm not sure...

How long do you generally keep the trunk potted up after the foliage have wilted/died off?

I've had trees come back before like Chinese Elm from just the trunk but the current ones are Juniper/Black Pine - so I'm unsure if they will?

I'm kind of gutted about the Juniper, especially since the mistake I made with it could have been prevented by waiting til another day :(
Last edited by NickJS on April 8th, 2017, 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: When do you give up on a tree?

Post by Pearcy001 »

Sorry to hear Nick.

If you're seeking the best possible advice a photograph ​tells a thousand words.

Unfortunately if species such as juniper or pine are showing signs of death it can often be to late. Get the photographs up asap so you can get the best possible advice.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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Last edited by Pearcy001 on April 8th, 2017, 1:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Daluke
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Re: When do you give up on a tree?

Post by Daluke »

interesting question. Treeman wrote something relevant I picked up on - basically it's don't waste your time babying a dying tree that will never make a good bonsai. Cut your losses and put your effort into something decent.

I'm finding my collection is, with attrition (experiments failing, heavy wiring, dying) reducing. But the remaining are in my opinion developing well as Bonsais.

Anyhow -

Junipers and pines - if they look dead they will be.

Deciduous trees - scratch the bark and if it's green it is alive and is just shedding leaves.

Food for thought.
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treeman
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Re: When do you give up on a tree?

Post by treeman »

Believe it or not losing trees is an important part of the learning process. It hurts for a while but that doesn't last long. However what you learn from it does! I still lose things from time to time. A few of years ago I dug about 20 pines out of the ground. Some were more than 10 years old and a few of them had a base of 4 or 5 inches. I lost 10 of them one after another. The reason was that I didn't pre-cut the roots 6 months before lifting them and there were not enough fine roots left to sustain the trees. That was a few grand down the drain... not to mention the waste of time. Lesson learnt! Move on with the knowledge that every mistake adds wisdom. Get some new pines and junipers and I doubt you will lose them a second time.
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Re: When do you give up on a tree?

Post by [ Kane ] »

treeman wrote:Believe it or not losing trees is an important part of the learning process. It hurts for a while but that doesn't last long. However what you learn from it does! I still lose things from time to time. A few of years ago I dug about 20 pines out of the ground. Some were more than 10 years old and a few of them had a base of 4 or 5 inches. I lost 10 of them one after another. The reason was that I didn't pre-cut the roots 6 months before lifting them and there were not enough fine roots left to sustain the trees. That was a few grand down the drain... not to mention the waste of time. Lesson learnt! Move on with the knowledge that every mistake adds wisdom. Get some new pines and junipers and I doubt you will lose them a second time.
Solid advice that.
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NickJS
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Re: When do you give up on a tree?

Post by NickJS »

Thank you very much for the advice everyone,

I definitely think both of them are gone based on the comments - I took way too much off when they were re-potted and they didn't bounce back sadly...Oh well, 2 more spare pots haha.
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Re: When do you give up on a tree?

Post by Pup »

I am not giving up on this one.
IMG_4545.JPG
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Re: When do you give up on a tree?

Post by Kevin »

Hello Pup,

There's a touch of green in the foliage.
Encouraging signs.
Hopefully it'll pull through with the others.

Goodluck,
Kevin
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Re: When do you give up on a tree?

Post by [ Kane ] »

Pup wrote:I am not giving up on this one.
IMG_4545.JPG
Look, I'll come collect that one from you.... haha. I'm gonna say this one will pull through.... I hope it does.


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