Bonsai care.

[gettinginfo]

Hey all,

First time poster and I'm new to Bonsai's in general. I was given a Bonsai a few months ago and have been caring for by simply having it in the shade and watering it before the soil dries up. Anyway after the big heatwave we had in SA the plant is looking a little worse for wear. I'm now wondering how I should be caring for it. We judged that on hot days of over 30 degrees it is probably too hot for the plant even for a short period in the morning so on days like that we keep it in the shade. When its a bit cooler we place it in the sun for short periods of time.

A majority of the leaves have gone brown and their appears to be emerging sprouts coming. As seen in the picture the tree doesn't look overall healthy.


My questions are how long should I place the tree in the sun? How often should I water the plant? Should I trim the plant to allow the new leaves to grow? Also what type of bonsai is this? Is it native?

Thank you in advance.

[Marc]

Hi Gettinginfo. Looks like an ASH and it seems healthy to me. In would consider them a hardy tree. At this time of year, being a deciduous tree, it will lose it's leaves anyway, so let that happen. From looking at the 2nd pic, you can see a very healthy green set of shoots there, so no dramas. I reckon looking at it, the whole tree is alive. Keep doing what you are doing, i reckon 50/50 shade and sun during the day, and keep moist, not wet. feed well over winter and watch it reward you in spring.

ummm, looking at the 1st pic it seems to me a lot of roots, could be too many, but without pulling it out of the pot and looking underneath too hard to say. If you have confidence you can do this yourself, possibly prune some off. Or take it to a bonsai shop in SA (ask Asus - here's there) and ask them to help out.

keep us posted on it's progress.

[aaron_tas]

i reckon marc is pretty much spot on, but as he says...

the best information is from a bonsai artist in your area

[Bretts]

I am surprised that you guys suggest this tree is healthy. Yes it has every chance and should bounce back but this tree is definitely not in the best place at the moment. It has pretty bad leaf burn and that coupled with re sprouting now as it should be almost going dormant can cause problems especially if the tree was already weak.. I don't like the look of the soil much either.
The sprouting does show that this tree still has energy though. Moving the tree around during the day is not a great idea in my opinion. Most of the bite is gone from the sun now so I would suggest finding a spot that will expose the tree to any cool nights but sill a little sheltered from midday sun. This will make the tree dormant as soon as possible. I would not remove the scorched leaves as they may still have a small use to the tree but I would think they would drop off very soon.
I would guess this has been caused by a combination of moving the tree around too much, too much sun and also that the tree has dried out. It could also have been caused by any one off these three.
With decent care it seems healthy enough to make it through the winter then in early spring as the buds start to swell re pot the tree with good bonsai soil.
Like I said it should bounce back but you need to avoid what has happened here.

[kcpoole]

As Soltan mentioned, Moving a tree around unless ou have to is a recipe for Trouble

All my deciduous trees Get filtered light during the hot part of the day (10 - 4-5ish in summer) and full sun in the mornings.
I Have had some leaf burn from the wind but not much.

They get watered in the morning and again in the afternoon if needed ( if the temps get over 35 or so here), that way they roots do not stay damp over night. In SA in summer you may need to water more often then I do.

Suggest you find a milder place to keep it during the summer ( Under a tree or shadecloth), and over winter / spring it should recover with good care.
Repot in Late winter / Spring before bud break and you hopefully will see it thrive

Lastly, see if you can find a local group that you can get some tips from.
Good Luck
Ken

[josh_x]

Had the same problem with an ash that I had dug up at the wrong time of year. After I got it home a heat wave hit, got real bad leaf burn.
Just looked after it in a semi shaded area letting it get about 2 hours of morning sun and then filtered for the rest of the day. Next season it sprouted.
one of my best trees now.

I'm in Adelaide also so hopefully that helps

[anttal63]

not uncommon for this specie to do this at this time of the year. most of mine do. my guess and observation is they get pot bound quickly and fall in a heap this time of the year or even back a month ago. they need alot of soil to stay happy. and theyre tough as nails. cut the dead leaves off and you will probably find it will pop all over. with little if any detriment to the tree. come late june sometimes later the new leaves will fall off again. july repot! cause they are early poppers, a lot of the time august. you guys in adelaide should probably be defoliating 3 times in a grow season, to develope finer growth and keep them in check.

[Marc]

Hi Soltan, i reckon a tree can be healthy AND have leaf burn... ust about every deciduous tree in Australia would get leaf burn, that's not to say it isn't healthy.

[Bretts]

I try to think of leaf burn along the lines of defoliation. Slight leaf burn I class as partial defoliation and can be done constantly. Severe leaf burn is more like a complete defoliation and should only be done every other year to a healthy tree.
I don't think this is leaf burn this I would call leaf scorch that tends to show destruction within one day were leaf burn tends to show gradually over days or weeks. I believe it has happened because of drought or being in extreme heat condition or both.
It could kill an already weakened tree and undoubtably has weakened this tree. It could also cause a tree to lose branches. Not a healthy condition in my opinion.

[Marc]

Of course without handling the tree ourselves we can't know. But for me all my decids get leaf burn and/or scorch every year. I defolate sometimes and they reward me all the time. Unless the tree is ill then it can die. From this last summer, I lost a few, it was inevitable. But looking at this tree, seems to me it was very much alive. How healthy it is, well, that will be a never ending question...

[Pup]

First things first get it off the ground onto a stand of some sort. In the area that has partial shade from about 10 am.
Then get some seasol onto it. Then ask the person who gave it to you where they got it. Go and get some after care instructions if you have none, if you have read them again!!. It is alive and not terminal!!. It now depends on you. Pup

[aaron_tas]

i have a couple of ash, they both were yamadori around late spring.

both were defoliated twice during summer to test them, both are doing fine.

i am in launceston, so anywhere north of me should be better still