Bonsai ID and Qs

tachigi

Fish using snow is a great way of winter time watering. If the soil freezes the snow doesn't melt and if it does stray above 32 then you get a nice slow damping of the soil.
Ya done good!

__________________
Tom

Shady Side Bonsai
Bonsai Vault
4MAAT

Mcspeed

Ditto from me.


hehe now he's hooked, another Bonsai'ist in our mad world.

__________________
If at first you don't succeed -- skydiving is not for you.


Always remember that you're unique -- just like everyone else

Enjoy this day.
Bill

fishbone

Thread revival. Other than a brief day or two when the soil looked a little dry when it froze up [3*F outside], the little tree is doing great.
However, today is 62* in Lincoln, bright sunny day, you'd swear spring started a week ago. So this little guy will probably come out of hibernation? Anything I should do or just let it be?

ElGringo

Thats good to hear! I'm not familiar with your climate, so I'm not going to suggest anything. Just beware of late frosts (if you have them). Here, flowers are blooming and creatures are waking up, although I know that in Feb everything will probably freeze up again, which can damage reletively delicate new shoots. As for my spruce and fir (which prefer colder temps), I'm expecting new growth in April, even then I'll be keeping an eye on the weather reports for any cold snaps. Hopefully someone from your region will be able to advise you more specifically.

__________________
Richard

Wales= RBS 6 nations champions 2008!!!!!

Dav4

I would leave the tree alone. Hopefully, you mulched the pot with bark. This mulch not only protects the roots from cold but also keeps the soil from warming up excessively, which is a major precurser to breaking dormancy. I would assume you have several more months of winter cold to get through, and this is the time of year when things can become tricky if you keep your trees in an outbuilding. The sun is rising highter in the sky each day, and the heat gain in your garage can become excessive. The goal now is to keep the tree cold as long as you can. Ventilation is key on very sunny days, and even at night if its not too frigid outside. Ideally, ambient temps in the garage shouldn't exceed 40F for more then a few days. If the tree starts to grow, you will need to protect it from frost until spring is here to stay.

Dave

fishbone

Gotta love Nebraska weather sometimes ... Today it's back down to 10*F and we've got a semi winter storm going on. Yesterday I don't think the temp in the garage went over 45 or so, I have a small Rubbermaind container filled with about 5 gallons of water and it was still partially frozen when I got home. I imagine if it got 60 it would have been completely thawed. I'll watch for the temperatures to make sure the garage doesn't get too hot, or at least no warmer than it is outside.

Dav4

Its OK if the temps get over 45F periodically. I will occasionally get temps in the low 60s inside my garage for several days in a row in mid to late winter if the weather is mild and the sun is bright. The key is to keep the ventilation going over night to cool things down. When the ground has thawed (usually mid-late March), I'll move some of the larger trees outside and either mulch them in my garden or just place them up against the house foundation to protect them from particularly hard freezes we can still get into April.

Dave

rockm

What Dav has said is key to overwintering. Mulch is used as much to keep roots cold in the early spring and late winter thaws as much as it is used to keep the worst winter chill out. Early bud break is a real problem if you have nowhere to put trees that have leafed out.

Storing trees in the shade is a must. Late winter thaws followed by early spring hard freezes will kill exposed bonsai, or bonsai that have inadequate root protection. Once trees leaf out, their roots lose their winter protections. If they have leafed out or have extended buds where leaf edges are easily visible, leaving them out to freeze can mean disaster.

Late winter and early spring are the most dangerous time for bonsai stored outside. Even more dangerous than deep winter freezes.

fishbone

Well, this past week-end I drove up to Bellevue, NE which is about a 40 minute drive from here in Lincoln and met up with Les from Nebraska Bonsai who was nice enough to meet with me, show me how to prune the roots of my juniper as that's always a scary endeavor for a newbie, we've also changed the soil from plain dirt to a propper mix that he's also showed me how to do. My wife and I were over at his place for almost 3 hours, mostly talking about bonsai, different types of soils and mixes, showed me trees, tools, etc.
I'm no expert on this stuff but Les has been in the hobby for many many years. I can tell you that I've seen first hand the passion and care he puts into the hobby and the soil that he sells so in exchange for his help I'm pimpin' his products Contact him or check out his site if you need any soil, tools and bonsai.

Anywhoo, my little juniper was a bit stressed, some of the top foliage was dry and crumbled, nothing that Les was worried about though. He did say that he suspects the tree never really went fully dormant because it was greener than he'd expected. We changed the soil, trimmed the roots, repotted it with some very slow-releasing ferts mixed in [tiny and yellow, what is it called?] and also gave me some sort of hormone[?] for me to mix in 2 gals of water. I am misting the foliage to help during this stressed time and the juniper is now outside in a place away from wind and where it is receiving afternoon sun. The temp here dipped these past few days first to low 40s and this morning was 31*F.

Later edit: almost forgot, the type of soil we used was a 50/50 mix of haydite, pine bark and a bit of sand which he explained that helps split the roots and develop many finer roots. Sound good?