Vacation Is Death Sentence For Trees!

Lesley

I just came back from a four week vacation and am heartsick because 40% of my collection is dried-out and dying!!!

I thought I had everything covered! I hired a teenager to come daily to take care of my animals and trees. I also bought a timer for an oscillating sprinkler( in case the teenager didn't show) and I set it for twice a day for 30 minutes each time. I put my wisteria, willow, and azaleas in humidity trays.

The timer and teenager worked well, but we had two 104 degree heat waves during the time and things just heated up? and got out of control! Most of the dying are water-lovers and shohin also some conifers!

I've only been a bonsai artist for a year and this is my first tragedy!

Can I save these trees? (35) I soaked and shaded them but should I remove the dried out leaves and branches and hope for re-growth?

Any words of wisdom out there?

Can't bonsai owners take vacations

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Ladybug

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TreeBay

First, I'm sorry for you, but these things happen.

Keep the trees (and yourself!) cool, just lightly shaded and moist but not overwatered. A lot of trees are more resilient than you think. It's important not to overwater now because the roots need air as well as water. If there is anything you can do to increase the ambient humidity, it will help. Mist the leaves frequently or soak the ground under your benches.

If after 24 hours any of your deciduous trees are wilting, it would probably be worth cutting back some of the foliage to help balance the load with what the roots can provide.

Wisteria is probably no problem at all. I've picked up a 5 gallon dried out wisteria abandoned at the roadside with no foliage and it came back no problem.

There are some foliar spray products called Wilt Pruf or Antistress 2000 that form a layer across the stomata (breathing pores) of leaf surfaces and help reduce moisture loss. They're probably not extremely effective after the damage is done, but it might be something you could consider using before you go away next time.

Some other ideas:

Group trees of similar water needs closely together to make it easier for your part time watering helper.

Put high-demand trees in the shade. Trees like Wisteria, Bald Cypress, willow, beech, birch, redwood, and even elm could survive wet feet for a few days, so you could use a saucer under them.

Plan your vacation for the colder months

Get a local expert to agree to come by at least once while you're gone to check over things.

Look into one of the timed mister units. There is one in the banner ad that cycles through here. You can set it up to go off periodically while you're gone, and it cools by evaporation.

Don't ask me about Beech, though!

Regards,

Matt

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Thomas_J.

Lesley,

i'm afraid your quote says it all. I never take a vacation because I have too much invested in both time and money with my trees.
I just had to leave the country for a week because of a death in the family, and that's the only thing that could get me to leave at this time of the year. I was fortunate that my children were able to comprehend the importance of watering my trees at least twice a day. I know I wouldn't have been able to stay longer than a week though, because the thought of leaving them alone longer than that would be unbearable. In the fall and winter it's a different story. If i felt I really needed to get away for a week I probably could.



That's about all you can do for now. That and hope for the best.

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Thomas J.

Lesley

Thomas or Matt or anyone with advice!

After a few days in the shade and occasional watering, the trees (35) still look bad (leaves and needles dried and dropping), but I'm beginning to look at them more closely. Maybe they won't die?! There is still visible green in the trunks and large branches. Some trees have leaves that are partially green and holding onto their branches. The branches are pliable not brittle. I have been taking 3 or 4 trees a day and defoliating (not completely) with the hope that I can reduce the stress and improve their appearance until they die or recover or until winter.

I do have a question though! If the tree is wired should I remove the wire for awhile to decrease stress on the trunk and remaining HEALTHY (if you want to call them that) branches?



Lesley

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Ladybug

Earl

Sorry to hear about this. It happened to me last year when I trusted my trees to somebody else. You've gotten good advice so I hope most of the trees come back. If they don't, all I can say is hang in there. You can always buy more!

Earl

bayoucity1

I'm slowly but surely working my way through all the threads, but I've yet to find see anything regarding insuring trees. I'm pretty new to this, having only tortured some junipers and a holly, but I couldn't fathom spending more that a few hundred dollars on a tree unless I could insure it. Any thoughts?

TreeBay

Not too much you can do to reduce stress at this point other than keeping the humidity up and the temperature down. Removing wire will probably not do anything beneficial, but will risk tearing the fragile hair roots as they regrow.

Hang in there. It takes weeks to know about deciduous trees and a couple of months to know how a conifer will react.

Regards,

Matt

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Treebeard

Lesley, I am so sorry to hear about your trees.

Earlier this year (ironically while I was redesigning my display area ) 2 of my trees got a very dry. Only for 1 afternoon, but the damage looked bad. One was my fuji cherry , the other was my leaning beech .

The cherry was buried in the garden to about 1" up the trunk, pot and all, between taller plants to provide shade and humidity. It worked, it now has new growth. The old crispy leaves haven't dropped off yet, but at least it lived.

The beech - I am fairly certain it will survive, just with placing it in the shade and keeping it moist as Matt suggested to you. New leaves won't grow this year, but next year it will come back good as new. How do I know? experience...

I hope this info helps you, although I fear it will be too late for some of your trees.

Keep smiling,

Chris.

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carmi

Lesley,
The first time is the hardest….
I am traveling a lot abroad, at list twice a year, I had tried almost everything, and each time the unexpected happens.
Last June I had traveled to Toronto for a week, that week was the hottest week for this season in our area in many years, one of it's days was the hottest day in the last 55 years (no records before…), at that week I had lost many trees.
This month we had traveled for a fortnight to the USA, and again there were very hot days, and again I had lost many trees.
So, that is life you have to make your choices, losing trees or staying at home…

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Shalom (Peace),
Moshe.

Colors are an optic illusion of light – As viewers for the bonsai creation. M.S.C.