every year I have pines and junipers that start nice and green in the spring and then start going brown and die. I am in Ontario Canada.
I have sprayed for bugs and sprayed copper for fungus. I even applied nematode this year. What am I doing wrong?
Are you allowing the trees to recover between major actions? Repot one year and style the next.
Are you maintaining the proper balance of water and oxygen? Letting them dry out a bit before watering but not bone dry. This is particularly important for a few weeks after repotting. Also don’t fertilize for a few weeks after repotting.
Why are you treating with pesticides and fungicides? Have you identified specific issues before doing so? I only spray when I identify an issue that needs to be treated and a hard stream of water and toothbrush are my first round for many pests. Remember that many chemicals are phytotoxic so it is good to minimize use.
Since moving to a new town I have had varies larch start green and suddenly start withering and going brown. Not all my larch are affected. It was after a very rainy spring. Maybe root rot. I tried copper as it was suggested by a fellow club member. The tree still died. Some were repotted and some were still in their nursery pot. I also have some pine, usually from the west coast and grafted that suddenly start browning in the spring, again some repotted and some still in nursery pots. I have done the paper test for spider mite but no spider mite. I water and then tilt the pots now to drain faster and bring in more oxygen. Most trees are healthy which is why these few are so frustrating. As to the bug and Funda spray, I’ve lost enough trees that I’m experimenting. No one has been able to look at the trees and give me a direction to go.
Thanks for responding.
I would first start where Marty suggested..
How could they be potted and styled with wire in the same year?
Balance of water & oxygen are number one.
Also where are they coming from?
Wildly collected material would be in a non bonsai container with non bonsai soil for at least 2 full years before you touch them.
Then the First step would be to repot and then wait at least another year before any styling.
If nursery stock, you don’t want to be styling and repotting in the same year.
You can’t style until the tree is strong.
How are you over wintering them?
In your area they need to be kept between 30-40 degrees Fahrenheit and they probably need water once per week, during this dormant cycle.
If they drop below 28 degrees Fahrenheit you are probably going experience some root death
Why aren’t you using spag on the top as a top dressing?
There are too many blank spaces to fill in the answer.
Are you losing trees you have had for years or are you rushing the process and restarting every spring with new material?
I don’t know any of the answers but it gives you places to look at your situation.
Best
Thank you for your response .
I may be rushing new nursery stock. In most cases I try to set the primary branches and trunk line while the tree is still in the nursery pot.
I bury the pots up to the rim for the winter. The spag and moss combo is something new to me. Most people I know add moss for shows and then remove it. We have trouble keeping the moss alive unless kept in the shade. We must be collecting the wrong kind of moss.
The following year if all is well I try to get them in a bonsai pot.
I’m studying the online material. It’s a lot to take in with so many varieties of trees.
Most of the trees are healthy but the odd one suffers.
I was just hoping others that have experienced the pictures that I attached earlier might have come up with their experience and solutions.
Keep on growing.
So as you bury the pots in the winter are they out of the sun and wind?
Most people think they must be on the south side of a structure and get blasted with sun everyday.
But that makes them freeze and thaw to often IMO
I always leave everything on the north side of the house, getting only morning sun but eliminating the radiant heat from the full sun. Let’s face it you have probably seen a 10 degree F day but the roof is dripping because the sun is out.
Over wintering in our Northern Areas is a very tricky thing to do with small material in small pots.
I would guess some of it is how they are being overwintered, roots are dying and they push green but when the tree need the roots to work, they aren’t there,
Spag on top isn’t for show, it is to promote root growth at the surface so the pot is full of roots, it also helps to retain moisture in the soil during the growing season.
I am losing a juniper as we speak because I heeled them in in a cold frame but three of them looked bad when I took them out.They were monitored weekly in the winter, but as the heat is ramping up this tree is dying.
Overwintering could be a large part of what you are seeing.
I would really study over wintering techniques and see if you can fine tune your situation.
If they over winter for a season or two fine in a nursery can you know they can handle the temps, perhaps repot to bonsai soil in the nursery can and see if they can survive in a deeper pot.
When we see -20 and the wind is howling there isn’t a lot of hope, they are going to freeze soild and some roots will die.
Although traditional bonsai encourages use to use the smallest pot possible for the look, it makes it very hard to over winter outdoors unprotected IMO
I am switching to deeper mica pots as I learn more about winter survival.
They funny thing is a fourth juniper in the same cold frame frozen so soild it shattered the pot but it recovered without issues.
These are just thoughts, I am no expert. It sounds like you have more experience then me but maybe you will see something that sparks a new thought.
Thank you for your information. I have tried to shelter the trees in the ground hedged by cedar on the east and south and a large prune on the west side. Not all trees fit in that area and so some of the pots along with some garden trees were more exposed. I tried to clump them together for some wind protection but your right it may be the winter freeze and thaw that we have been experiencing recently.
I will work on the spag and moss surface. Do you use dry spagnum or does it need to be living to work well?
The spag is new, a dried product that is rather expensive.
It is ground or shredded by raking it over 1/4” metal mesh
Then moistened and used on the surface of the soil to promote root growth from the top to the bottom of the pot.
Because it is dried and cleaned it comes in a pressed bail and quite is a pain in the butt to shred but it works.
I believe Mirai recommends also rubbing your collected green moss the same way and then mixing them 50/50 and applying it.
The green moss will eventually take root and then you have a nice system to keep the roots moist and to encourage root growth.
I use this brand but it is expensive.
Welcome to the Forum, Russjardine1!
If you don’t like the bright color, you can dye it with a mixture of water and sumo ink - I soak it in a 5 gallon bucket with some ink added and then let it dry on screens before shredding it. By the way, I did this in late winter this year and tried drying it in
my bathroom - BIG MISTAKE! It gave off a rather unpleasant earthy odor. It’s better to do it in summer, when you can put it outside to dry. The end result was very good despite all the trouble. It came out sort of a medium grayish olive green and looks much better IMHO than the undyed stuff.