I went out of town recently for a short camping trip. My tree and humidity tray were moist enough to typically last the duration that I’d be gone.
Fast forward and it was quite dried out. Lost about 30% of the foliage/inner ramification.
It’s been holding for about a week fine, but doesn’t seem to be improving much. Any recommendations? TIA
I think that all you can do is keep the appropriate soil moisture level and keep it out of the hottest sun. It is likely to take a season to recover health and then you can redevelop the ramification. Remember that bonsai is a long game.
Continue to maintain a good balance of water and oxygen. And don’t fertilize at all
Courage.
Dawn redwoods will sprout from old wood. Including the main trunk…
Just before I posted the above, I noticed my dawn redwood forest had several droopy front leaf tips. By sundown they had curled up and French fried… Second day at 85+F. 85Fposted for the next two days, then 65 and rain…
.
Water, water, water.
Will evaluate long-term temps for time to put up shade cloth. Slows down growth, but, saves trees…
I’ve had many dawn redwoods that have fried in the increasing summer heat when I decided to leave for a few days on vacation. I feel your pain! I think others in this thread are spot on with their advice - stick to your fundamentals (watering) and don’t fuss with the tree. It is stressed, give it time to recover and don’t change too many things at the same time.
One suggestion I might have to help cope with the summer heat is to find a good micro climate in your yard that is favorable to this species. Anything above 85 seems to really torch these trees - you might see if you can find a spot close to other plants or shrubs where the relative humidity is higher and the tree won’t be subject to intense sunlight, winds or other direct summer exposure that causes issues.
When I’ve had stressed redwoods with fried foliage in the past, I found it valuable to get it into a cooler spot (both cooler for the roots and cooler for the foliage) and where other plants were transpiring to help with the humidity.
I think you’ll find that if you treat it right you can expect some additional growth in the mid/late summer into the fall. I find that I get two periods of growth - one in spring and then another push in summer.
Hyup…
Been there, done that… Didnt really hurt the trees.
Shade cloth went up. Happy campers. Summer trimming happened, new buds popped. Crazy healthy.
.
Watch this week’s DR video when it is posted… pure gold…
Completely forgot to reply to all of your great comments. Thank you all for your input. Luckily I think he’s going to make it. After a couple weeks of slowly re-hydrating it recovered well. I lost most of the new growth and ramification, but any branches that existed before this growing season seemed to make it OK. Just a little bare in many spots.
It is interesting to see though how much more quickly the soil dries up compared to tropicals that are right next to it. I know there’s a number of variables involved, but something that I’ve learned from nonetheless
Lots of organic fertilizer. Easy on the inorganic…
