In need of a Pine Expert...

Staselwood

Hello All,

One of my customers called me and said he had 5 trees that he needed some help with. So last weekend he showed up and we started unloading them. I have seen his trees in shows in the past and are nice. But as he opened his topper to his truck, all of them had several areas of yellowing.

As I took a deep gasp and said WTH? He told me the whole story.

Him and his wife were changing the 90 gallon fish tank water they have and about a 5 gallon bucket of water got thrown out the back door and hit his trees in their winter storage. not thinking this would be a problem he didnt think twice.

I have inspected them all and the pines have new candles extending on most all branches. along with these 3 pines were a Shimpaku and Hinoki. They are both discolered as well.

Here is where the question comes in...

1. pines. since the candles are extending should i just leave them alone and hope for the best? once they open in fall remove all the burnt needles? Or should i repot to make sure nothing is in the soil?

2. Shimaku - not sure here... dont know if the roots are damaged or not. foliage is for sure. Should i repot (bare root) to remove any trace amounts of the fish tank nutrients?

Not sure what all is in the fish tank water, Amonia i am guessing is the harmful agent at work here...

If anyone has any ideas please share.
Jeff

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Jeffery Carr

Staselwood Bonsai Studio
Hanover, Ohio
cell: 740-403-0215

...Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now...

www.staselwoodbonsai.com

mailto:jcarr@staselwoodbonsai.com

Your Source for: Tools, Wire, Soil, Pots, Bonsai and More.

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marcovgv

I have been in to saltwater and freshwater aquariums for a long time. i have used the water from my aquarium to water my plants with good results. but then again my aqaurium setup are mostly natural using plants for filtration. I dont really add anything to the water.

well I am assuming that it was a fresh water tank, because if not the salt is the culprit. So i have to say that it must be the ammonia, apart from that i cant imagine any of the trace elements or things we add to the water would be harmful. i mean most fresh water aquariums i have dealt with have some sort of plant life in them any ways. There is a copper treatment we use to treat ick that might cause damage to plants. had they done any recent treatments to the water lately? ammonia levels can get pretty high depending on what type of filtration and how long the water has bee sitting there with out a water change being performed.

Rock Chester

If it were mine...


1. pines. since the candles are extending should i just leave them alone and hope for the best? once they open in fall remove all the burnt needles? Or should i repot to make sure nothing is in the soil?

Yes, I would leave the top alone. I would give the soil a drench in a weak solution of a product like an organic seaweed or Jon and Bobs products*, like that. Something with benficial microbes to wash out salts and get the soil community back to health, you might even take a PH level. Watch the top for insects they like a weak tree so much. YOu will get the tree out of schedule by not working the candles in the summer but in this case it seems neeeded to observe how it does. Do your fall cleanup and pull as many od damaged needles as possible.

2. Shimaku - not sure here... dont know if the roots are damaged or not. foliage is for sure. Should i repot (bare root) to remove any trace amounts of the fish tank nutrients?

Same here to the soil, get it back to functioning but dont repot. Shimpaku put out a flush of growth much later and are so slow growing, so be patient.

*http://www.johnandbobs.com/fixes/garden.html
used their products with super success, pricey though

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Staselwood

rock and marco... thanks! I will look into the soil drench, i have never used a product like that. and yes, i am assuming it was a freshwater. I feel pretty certian that he would not have thrown it on them if it were salt... ha

They affected areas do look like if a cat or dog marks them. thats what led me to the amonia thought.

__________________
Jeffery Carr

Staselwood Bonsai Studio
Hanover, Ohio
cell: 740-403-0215

...Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now...

www.staselwoodbonsai.com

mailto:jcarr@staselwoodbonsai.com

Your Source for: Tools, Wire, Soil, Pots, Bonsai and More.

Vonsgardens

Who knows why gunk can cause damage as you describe. What kind(s) of pines are they? JBP, JWP, etc. That may influence how you handle them. I am a firm believer in when in doubt do at least a partial repot to freshen the soil and to assess root damage.

After you know what kind of pines please repost. John

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

Staselwood

one JWP
one JBP
one loblolly pine
one shimpaku
one hinoki

this apparently happend over the winter. not like last week. so its not a fresh "kill" if you will...

i will also get some pictures tonight. so you can see the damage.

__________________
Jeffery Carr

Staselwood Bonsai Studio
Hanover, Ohio
cell: 740-403-0215

...Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now...

www.staselwoodbonsai.com

mailto:jcarr@staselwoodbonsai.com

Your Source for: Tools, Wire, Soil, Pots, Bonsai and More.

TimD

Ya sure it's not pests? Just seems strange all species effected by a random bucket of water. Would have to be a well aimed toss to get them all. A pest infestation would spead though.

Just brain storming for yaa.

Staselwood

thanks, i need the extra brains on this one. His winter storage is piling them all together in a very small area, with wood around them and bunches of leaves tossed in. so its not out of the question that they all got hit. plus, its all on one side of them, like that was the direction of the toss... once i get a pic on here you will see...

I did check for scale and mites, didnt see anything. I will double check though to be sure.

none of his other pines or junipers got anything too. they were not in the spash zone i am assuming.

__________________
Jeffery Carr

Staselwood Bonsai Studio
Hanover, Ohio
cell: 740-403-0215

...Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now...

www.staselwoodbonsai.com

mailto:jcarr@staselwoodbonsai.com

Your Source for: Tools, Wire, Soil, Pots, Bonsai and More.

bwaynef

Its easy enough to find out. A false assumption could make this unnecessarily harder to troubleshoot/resolve.

By the way, my interest is piqued with the loblolly. I can't wait to see the pics.

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