trident confusion....

jmuzzey

hello all, i am fairly new here, but not new to bonsai. i seem to be having a problem with my trident maple. it is about 15 years old, and was overwintered in my garage. i live near chicago, zone 5. when the weather started to warm up, it started to push new buds out, so i moved the tree outside along with my other trees. i kept them along the foundation of the house because night time temps were still below 35 degrees. with the buds starting to swell, i wanted the tree to recieve some sunlight.

we ended up getting a very cold snap, with a bit of snow that melted ina few days. this was back in late february, early march i think. all of the buds that were swelling, have died. the tree is still green under the bark, but there was a bit of dieback in the outer branches. i rubbed off the dead buds, pruned the dead branches off and repotted the tree to inspect the roots. the roots are white, not rotted at all, and look very well. i didnt really trim the roots at all, as i dont want to stress the tree any more than i had already. i repotted into a very free draining soil, the soil from brussels bonsai, as it is my favorite to use. i still water it, but i have zero growth on the tree as of yet. it is still green under the bark, but i dont see any new buds, no leaves of course, nothing.

is it just a matter of being patient now? or is my tree doomed for the bonsai graveyard? i had this happen three years ago to a well established chinese elm, but it was due to the roots freezing then rotting away. that is when i learned my lesson about overwintering trees, especially chinese elms and trident maples, as they dont like severely cold temps, and can be tempermental if not taken care of in winter. any help and information would be greatly appreciatted. thank you in advance!

jmuzzey

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Bruce Winter

I think it's just a matter of time and all will be well.

rockm

You are learning how to overwinter trees. You have found that pushing them too early has dire consequences. The impulse to "get them outside and growing" as soon as possible is exactly the wrong thing to do. You want to keep them still as long as possible in the spring. You want them to slow down, not speed up. The longer they stay cold, the easier the spring transition will be.

Now, Off the overwintering soapbox. If you have green bark the tree is probalby just sulking. Get it outside in full sun and keep it frost free--it may be past the last frost date in your area, but you will still have to keep an eye on things, as April can be tricky. Tridents are pretty hardy (although in your area they can be marginal in winter) shocks like this can be overcome. Wait and see. If the tree shows no growth by the Fourth of July chuck it.

Alasdair

You have learned a valuable lesson here, keep an eye on the weather forecasts. My tree's don't get any special overwinter treatment, but the dreaded late frost can still do serious damage. i'll be keeping an eye on the weather for frost until the start of june, when cold watch will turn into heat wave watch.

Your trident will be fine, as rockm said it is just 'sulking'. Take his advice and all will be well.

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

Bob O

Be patient. As a beginner I repotted & trunk chopped a trident all at one time. The tree went 2 years without growth then in the third popped a few buds & is back in development now 4 yrs later.

Bob O

jmuzzey

thanks for the replies everyone. i wasnt trying to push it too fast, as i was told that once the tree starts pushing buds, you have to get it out of the garage and into the sun. i should have given it more protection from the cold spells though. laziness gets me every time i guess.........

i have th e tree in an indoor greenhouse right now, because this week we have frost warnings for overnight temps...... during the day, it is in the 60's though.

one more question for any of you....... do any of you use superthrive? and does it works like they say it does? i just picked up a bottle for 7 bucks at a local walmart, i am going to give it a go with some black pine sseedlings i have and run an experiment ........thanks agan for the info and advice..
jmuzzey

rockm

Leave the plant in shelter until frost danger has passed.

Skip the Superthrive. It is useless and a waste of money:

http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/showthr...ght=Superthrive

You will get some people that swear by it though. I've been doing bonsai for over 10 years now. Stopped using this stuff a long while ago, saw no ral benefits and alot of questions its producers won't answer--yet they charge a pretty penny for it...

BlackDeathTuna

so since we're on the subject i to live in the general chicago area just bought a trident last week repotted root pruned and leaf pruned as i was instructed by the person who sold it to me said to, as he said that repotting it this time of the year would be too stressful for the tree to try and keep the leaves on its been almost two weeks and nothing really starting to get worried....

jmuzzey

hmmmmm, that is interesting. i was always told never to completely leaf prune any tree while repotting, as it would put way to much stress on teh tree for it to handle at one time. i have always trimmed back some of the tree's leaves when i prune the roots, but never completely defoliated it. maybe someone with more experience can explain.

i also have been rereading some of my books lately, and i found an article that said if you look at the roots and they are white, but when you grab them, if you can slide the "covering" right off, where just a single "thin hair" remains, then you have root rot. well...... i took my tree out of the pot, and noticed all the roots were pencil lead thick, with fine hairs attatched, but you could strip them all very easily. so i trimmed the roots back to the stronger portions and hardened off type roots and set it back in the soil. i want to do everything i can to try to make sure this tree makes it. since pruning, i now am just going to leave the tree alone and let nature take its course.

i have always read that root rot looks like black mushy roots, but this article was the first i had seen with root rot being explained with having white roots. should i use a fungicide to treat it, or just leave it be?

jay