Brisbane Flood salviging my bonsai

[Samegyed]

Hi all,

I live at Rocklea brisbane, my house went completely under water for 3.5 days, bonsai included.
My hopes were high about saving my bonsai until I retured to the house and notice a thick slime of oily chemical residue on everything. 95% of the foliage has gone brown and dry, or droped of, it doesn't look good. I sprayed the foliage with water and organic soap, then rinsed to remove the oil.

Any advise on saving the plants that I have left would be greatly appriciated.

Should I defoliate the brown leaves?
Should I rinse the roots to remove the oily chemicals?

By the looks of them my chances are grim, I think.
Cheers

[Kyushu Danji]

I'm not going to be of much help, just really feel for you mate. Hope you can manage to salvage some of your bonsai.

[shibui]

Brown leaves will fall off when they are ready if the tree is still alive. I'd leave them for now. Plenty of bonsai have come back from conditions like this so don't be too pessimistic at this stage. I'm not sure about the oily residue. While I have never had to deal with such a situation and can't see what the pots look like, I'd give the pots a good water to rinse out as much of the contamination as possible and cross my fingers.
All the best with the cleanup and good luck with the trees. Keep letting us know over the next few weeks how they go.

[john tapner]

I think the best course of action would be to do an emergency repot of the worst effected trees and then use Seasol to help the trees recover. Partial shade for the next week or two. Reduce the foliage by 50% and keep your fingers crossed............

John T

[Chris]

I have an olive stump for you john tapner

good luck with the clean up

[waltersh]

Sorry to hear mate, That must be a nightmare well loved bonsai can be very hardy though - clean up quick and have faith in their recovering skills, If, well, WHEN, they bounce back post up some photos
Good luck mate

[craigw60]

I would use different techniques for each species, the figs should probably be completely cleaned of old soil and repotted, I would say it is still a pretty safe time to repot junipers, deciduous trees could present a bit of a problem you probably should clean as much as you dare off the root ball and give them a bit of fresh potting mix, A good scrub with warm soapy water may help to remove some of the grime.
Good luck with your trees I am sure with a bit of TLC most of them should come good.
Keep us posted
Craigw

[Tony Bebb]

That does not sound good.

St Brendans had oil everywhere also. From the car yards and wreckers apparently. Bloody aweful stuff.

Haven't had to deal with oil soaked trees before, but I reckon you've done well with the soapy water. If the species will allow I would defoliate, and I reckon you should repot the trees even though the time is not right to remove the oil from the soil as it will coat the roots and inhibit breathing. Keep them protected from sun afterwards.

I would be happy to come around to have a look for advice or help to do this or you could bring them to the Bonsai Society this weekend. Send me a message if you like with your phone number and I can follow up or you can call me on 0438 452 105.

Happy to help if you want.

Best Regards

Tony

ps Replied to this in Floods and then found this so added here so you don't miss it

[Handy Mick]

[Samegyed]

Thank you all for the advise. I hav'nt had time to re pot as I've been so busy trying to find a retal house for me and my wife to live in (my wife's 2.5 month off having our baby girl, so we're desperate for a house). No time for anything else really.
The only thing I've done is scraped the top layer of oily soil off, and watered them.
All my plants, that i salvaged, have got fresh buds on them bar one of my figs. they should be O.K.

Cheers all thx for the help.

[NathanM]

I am very sorry to hear you were so devastated by the floods  I am also in Brisbane and very luckily got away unscathed. I’m more than happy to come over and help with sorting out your trees, or anything else you need help with 
Even if you need somewhere for them to stay for a while, I can house them and look after them for a bit 
Send me a PM and I’m more than happy to help!
My number is 0439 754 013 if you would rather just call or sms.
Nathan.

[NathanM]

Also would be happy to do some repotting for you too! I've got enough mix at home to do it for you!

[Chris]

i was looking back threw the thread an noticed i stuffed up a little any ways here is the fix up.

I wrote

I have an olive stump for you john tapner

good luck with the clean up

i realized i added the wrong name so if Samegyed is still interested in an olive let me know.

Good luck with the house hunting

[Glenda]

I have no advice except to offer you heaps of immature plants to begin your collection again. I want to down=size, and every cutting I stick in a pot grows so now I have just too many plants. Am willing to post them if you are interested.

Glenda