cotoneaster help!

JohnnyG

Hi,

Well it's unfortunate that my very first post on bonsaiTALK is about a dying bonsai! I bought a cotoneaster from a nursery a few weeks back. It wasn't being grown as a bonsai at the time. I cut it all back to basically just a trunk and three branches and wired it up. Since then I've had it sitting next to a window where it gets about 2-3 hours of direct sun through the window each day, then partial sun most of the rest of the day. I've been watering it about once per day, or a bit more if the soil feels especially dry. At first it looked like it dealt with the pruning okay, as it starting growing back some buds and small leaves... but now what has grown is looking really dry. As far as I can remember I haven't changed anything. The only thing that is different is that I recently started misting it once per day, and yesterday I put it outside for a few hours in warm temperature. Any help? What am I doing wrong??

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bisjoe

Cotoneaster is not a houseplant, they need to stay outside. Mine have survived 13F with some protection. As other outdoor plants more than a week or two indoors will cause it a lot of problems. It's OK to keep it inside in a cool basement while dormant, but once it starts to grow leaves needs to be out.

meushi

What bisjoe said

Do the scratch test on the trunk, if it still is green under the bark you put it outside and pray it will make it. If it is not, put it in the bin.

If it recovers or if you get another cotoneaster, let it grow freely until next summer then clip it back and use the most interesting clippings as cuttings. Cotoneaster root so easily that it would be a waste of money to ever buy more than 1 of each subspecies. After a few months, you'll have enough cotoneaster to keep you busy for some time. If you have a garden, plant one of the cuttings and let it fatten in the ground for some years. That one will also give you many more cuttings if you ever need some again.