Help!! Trident Maple CPR!

[waltersh]

Hi All,

Well after getting home from holiday (and buying some lovely trees off various forum members!) I came home to find my Trident absolutely crisp.. My housemates forgot to water it for 4 days (even though I wrote them SO many text message reminders and put post-its all over the house!!)

Please help me try and revive if there's anything I may have missed, I have watered it 3 times today (and midnight last night), it's leaves are still green but some break to the touch anyway.. I'll go out and take some photos

It's been about 2 weeks since its last feed.. Should I do it again?





Maybe it's not as grave as I think it looks, but being the bonsai my mum bought me for christmas it means a lot and I don't want to lose it!

Thank you all!!

[Ash]

HI Hannah,
Oh no! Put the whole bonsai into a tub of water and let it soak until the air bubbles stop coming up. Then remove (by cutting) the dead or crisp leaves, leave the greener softer ones towards the centre of the plant on. Keep it in a cool place and wait. Don't fertilize or anything else until growth begins again. It will probably look pretty ordinary for a while but you should keep at it!

cheers
Ash

[NBPCA]

And don't keep it sopping wet all the time while it is without leaves. You don't want to overdo it.

It should recover.

Grant

[waltersh]

Thank you Ash!! I will do this ASAP! the only "cool" place I have is the laundry... I know it's inside, but it'd be better than the scorching heat perhaps? Tamworth is sitting on 40 degrees at the moment

Thank you again!

[ozzy]

Don't give up on it, the trees just heat stressed and it has defoliated itself to conserve water, if its not too far gone it will send out new shoots once the emergency is over, and as been stated already don't fertilize, fertilizer will just draw even more moisture out of the tree, it should have plenty of stored energy to regenerate.

[LLK]

From experience, the laundry is a good place in hot weather.
I think too that your trident will recover. One thing others haven't said: MIST IT, several times a day.

Lisa

[bodhidharma]

Also might be beneficial if it needs a prune to do it now. Dont forget to seal the cuts. There is also a great product called Aminogro Mist spraying with this will be very beneficial.

[bunjamon]

If that spot get direct sunlight you might want to put something on the wall to reduce the reflected heat. Bamboo screens look good. The brick wall can get pretty hot and I would suspect the side facing the wall got more crispy

[waltersh]

Thank you ALL so VERY much I panic about my little maple haha, he looks a lot happier now though!!

I had no tub around or rain water so I had to use tap water in the laundry sink (i cleaned it free of ANY soap first though!)... I have heard this can contain too much lime and other chemicals and is bad, but it's all I had.. I hope our rainwater tank pipe is fixed soon!!

I will drop into bunnings asap for a big dipping tub!!

If all I have is tap water for now, is there anything I can add to make it a little more plant friendly?

I didnt expect so much help so quickly, you're all amazing, thank you!

[Chris H]

Just relax. I wouldnt worry about tap water, it is better than no water and Ive never really worried bout the difference myself.
As Grant said give it a good drink but dont rewet it constantly, it still needs to dry out a bit.
In a couple of weeks you should have new shoots in new locations.

[waltersh]

Alright so an update,[*]
The leaves ALL fell off they were still green but crispy so the wind took them.. does it still have a chance? (yes I'm still stressing a bit lol sorry!)
I gave it a bit of a cutback too.

I've been giving it baths, should I add some seasol? If so, how many ml to the litre?

Surgery on Monday.. I'm leaving the plants in the care of a family friend who's done bonsai for 30 years though so they should be ok!

[Edward Scissorhand]

Yeah it still has a chance. Check all the stems. Are they still green and spritely? Or are they wrinkly and starting to fade to a dull brown colour. Check the buds if theyre still green. In the next few weeks check for movements in the bud, if they grow then your in luck. Keep soil on the slightly moist side. But try and not water log the tree continuously. If it was my tree I would take the tree out of the pot and check the roots. Cut out anything thats dead black, then repot. GOOOOD LUCK!!

[kcpoole]

Still too early to tell
give it a scratch thru the bark and see if the cambium still green, If so then you are fine

Keep the watering up to it and seasol at the recommended dose on the bottle

Ken

[waltersh]

Also might be beneficial if it needs a prune to do it now. Dont forget to seal the cuts. There is also a great product called Aminogro Mist spraying with this will be very beneficial.

OH and forgot to ask, I bought some of this and have been misting - is it safe to mist with Aminogro all the time? or should I just add it occasionally? Sorry for all the questions!!