Tie your trees in!

Alasdair

As those of us in the Uk know, it has been getting rather windy over the past few days.

I have an Acer platanoides (norway maple) of the shohin size. It isn't really anything specil, just a 10 year old 6 inch stick in pot. I love this little guy. I came home from work yesterday to find that he had decided to move. not just a few inches across the bench, but physically out of the pot and travel a good few metres down the garden! It seems the leaves had acted as sails, caught the wind and let my tree fly! My mame literati ash wasn't far behind.

So i spent half an hour yesterday with a big bundle of raffia tieing each of my tree's to their pots and their pots to the beench.

I've learned the lesson of securing your trees when repotting.

Al

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I can feel another "I wish that was my tree" moment coming on...
Currently studying BSc Plant Biology at the Universty of Wales, Aberystwyth

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Joanie

Mobile trees! Yikes! Hope their roots are all right?

Joanie

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Bonsaifreak

Lost a litterati from a recent wind gust as well. This one was pretty well tied to the slab but the wind managed to rip it off. I'm working on rescuing what's left from it...Painful...

Jorge

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clrosner

I use Bungee cords to hold all of my trees down, and since they are usually wired into the pots, so far (I am knocking on wood) I haven'y had any wind damage in many a year!

I might just add that when a tree is blown out of its pot, it is a good idea after replanting it back in the pot to soak the baby in water with some sort of a product like Roots2 to alleviate the shock!

Now you know why I use Bungee cords! A lesson learned the first year I started into Bonsai!

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Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7
arteacher3725@yahoo.com

CHECK OUT MY UPDATED WEBSITE AT[B]:
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rockm

"It seems the leaves had acted as sails, caught the wind and let my tree fly! "

"I've learned the lesson of securing your trees when repotting."

How about the lesson of using trees with huge leaves as shohin? The ability to fly isn't a great asset for a bonsai Sorry, couldn't resist. Ignore me...

Alasdair

I think part of the problem was that it had almost completly dried out in the wind, making it much easier to dislodge. The roots are fine. I don't usually tie them into the pots so that i can lift them out every now and again to check their progress and assess the need for repotting etc.

Ok, ok, ok. I know i use some rather large leaved species, but in the 6 years i have been bonsaiificating this maple i have got to a point where the leaves are only 1inch across, compare to the 8+inches the full size trees have (really pleased about this). It's a very resiliant species. The leaves are as thin as A.Palmatum but it doesn't get scorched by the sun and in the past it has accidentally dried to a point where it appeared it wouldn't come back. A good soaking and a few hours later the leaves were good as new.

Roots2? I haven't heard of that product. it's not like the dreaded superthrive is it?

Al

__________________
I can feel another "I wish that was my tree" moment coming on...
Currently studying BSc Plant Biology at the Universty of Wales, Aberystwyth

node

I'm about to loose a juniper that fell on the ground a couple of weeks ago. I had repotted it a few weeks before that, so it hadn't had the chance to get a good grip yet. As it was in a pond basket I didn't tie it down at all. It was cheap pre-stock, but lesson learned anyway...

I think there are few surer ways to kill a tree, than repotting it twice with a four week interval.

On my way home today, I drove past the broken remains of a 12" diameter hawthorn that was still standing when I left for work in the morning ...

It's windy, and boy am I glad that I moved some trees from the top shelf before I left the house...

Stefan

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malhomme

We've had recent winds of 70-88 mph lately, accompanied by hail ranging from marble sized to grapefruit size!!! This has happend multiple times over the last few weeks. The local news has called one an "inland hurricane". LOL

I am director for our annual show this weekend and I'm hoping that we haven't lost any of our good trees. Even shredded leaves from the winds could keep them out of the show. One of my shohin cascades was blown from the bench and tho tied into the pot, the pot shattered! It seems to be recovering nicely however.

Cheers,
Jim

clrosner

Al:
I've been using Roots2 for about six years and haven't lost a tree to repotting. It supposedly has many other uses, but I use the granuales and sprinkle over the soil before placing the tree into its new soil lessening shock during the replanting.

Michael Persiano talks a lot about Roots 2, not only in granuals but in the liquid form. He can tell you more about it than I. I just did a google search and here is a URL that also talks about the liquid. http://www.gardeningthings.com/sm/c...alog_id=1.11.20

(edit: removed email address for security)

__________________
Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7
arteacher3725@yahoo.com

CHECK OUT MY UPDATED WEBSITE AT[B]:
www.carlrosner.com