Tree asks: To die or not to die?

Olivia

I have found that it's a problematic thing to keep my little and woody livingones alive...

I like a lot of blooming trees and have allso few of them from Midterraean area: 2 x Olea europea and Calamondin mini orange tree!

... but I'm living in zone 5 without greenhouse. Maybe I don't need to explain: but winter is cold mosty 0C=32F and before Chritmas sun hardly rices at all. After Christmas it's sunnyer but tempperature goes under -20C=-4F and that lasts often 2 months. Summer is OK but short. In june is mildly warm and rainy, in july temp. rises over 20C=68F, it can be sunny and that can last two and half months.

I'm just beginer but like blooming fruit trees as I said. I haven't found a good bonsai care or treeplanting books from Finland so I need advices.

If you know some good bonsai care book for blooming and winter dormant trees, should be indoor care advices too... and aveilable through internet. So if you know some tree-life-saving-books, please, reply me.

I'm interested to know too what kind of tools you use for your bonsai. Have you had some very nessesary tool for you?

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Bart Thomas(deceased)

Olivia:

We could help you better if we knew (in general terms) where you live.

There is an excellent Species Guide on the BCI web site, along with a lot of other good information.

Olivia

I'm living in Finland, zone 5.

Aaron_K

Hi Olivia,

Welcome to the forum. Ideally, you would be better off growing trees that are more suitable to your environment, unless you are growing indoor species such as ficus, serrisa, chinese elms etc. However, as you pointed out, Finland does not receive a lot of sunlight during the winter period, and so a good deal of artifical lighting for indoor trees/tropicals would be preferable.

You will have great difficulty keeping mediterranean olives alive in Finland over the winter period. They just do not like the cold especially temperatures as low as -20C.

If you can, try finding a local bonsai club in Finland, as they will be able to help you significantly, due to the fact that they are well aware of the climatic conditions and the lengths they have to go to in order to keep their trees alive during the winter months.

Regards,

Aaron

Olivia

Hi again!

I know that Olive is not skandinavian plant, but I just happened to get one the other got later. Allso people have said that it is easy bonsai and could be indoor too... so I've heard about citrus too (why not Calamondin mini orange?)

But most important question for me was: Do you know some useful book about Bonsais for beginner (basics about most important things, good for me - styles, not so important for me yet)?

If you know, just suggest names of books for me (need to be available trough internet).

Thank you!

Olivia

Hey! Maybe this post is in wrong place too. Sorry I'm new here and just find the other discussion forums (I feel really like thumb in middle of hand ).

Alasdair

The best thing to do would probably be to use ebay and search for 'begginer bonsai' under the books category and see what is available to you.

You would be able to grow the olive and orange as indoor trees as long as you had a good lamp to provide much semi-natural light. It's going to be a chore making sure they don't get too cold in winter though. May i suggest you try silver birch, beech, fir or spruce for bonsai as they are gerally hardy at cold temperatures.

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

clrosner

Olivia:
I don't know if this would help, but I have an article I wrote on the following URL:
http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/a...e.php?viewid=26
It is how I constructed and what I used to build my own "greenhouse". I have about 40 trees, including Ficus Retusa, Ficus Wiandi, Olive Europa, Black Olives, Brazilian Rain Trees, Texas Ebony and Buttonwoods. They all do well (I say that with fingers crossed) in the environment that I have created in zone 6/7.

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

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

Olivia

My first tree died slow and painful death: It was olive, that litle 'Ollie'... Reasons must be many: dark winter, overwatering, too hard crafting, pets... oh my pets!

I had had it only two years.. sob, sob... I thought that first winter was too much for it but last spring it started to live some how... sob... but then my two hortonomous cats... sob... they really like olives, yes they do... but they started to be too enthusiasted about crafting that bonsai... sob... I couldn't manage to protect it well enough. I wanted to find some kind of protection from cats and finally find a nice birdgcage... but too late for my poor first tree.

Firt tree will rest in peace and the rest will be in peace.

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