AusBonsai

I was just watching a video by the great guys out at Nutritech Solutions and came across this handy bit of advice.
Brix levels are a guideline to nutrient density and apparently this is built up in the leaves during each day and transported down to the roots each night. You can measure the brix levels with a refractometer which on a side note seems a great way to check that your trees are working like they should.
There has been a discovery that occasionally the brix level drops dramatically in the middle of the day. It is believed that the plants know when a bad storm is coming and secures all the sugar down in the base so that if can rebuild itself after the storm
It makes sense then that defoliation and pruning should be done first thing in the morning so the minimum amount of sugars are wasted. If you are religous with the brix testing you could even wait for a storm that induces the drop. Maybe the tree stores them in a different manner in this instance?

Anyway as we enter the warmer period remember that some trunks, branches or surface roots can be burnt by the sun after defoliation or major pruning. I found this happened with a hornbeam a couple of years ago

I like the idea of a refractometer to understand how healthy my trees are I might have to get one No I'm serious

this is interesting brett, its got me thinking that if this is the case then what about strong winds or just windy days? if the tree stores all its sugars down in the trunk when a storm is coming i wonder how this is "sensed"? whether it is increase in winds or moisture in the air? its an interesting topic brett. and this refractometer sounds like a handy little device to. can i ask where you got this information from??

regards jamie

They guess it is the barometric pressure I think.
I thought I should show you the video
http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/blog/?p=908
It is only severe weather I believe

hmm interesting, i will watch the video when i get the chance, on the not of barometric pressure, that can rise and fall depending on when it is going to rain etc. so i guess the more chance of strong winds and rain the more the sugars go to the trunks, this might even be a reason why one of my tridents havent popped yet, we have had pretty windy days for most of the start of spring. it just hasnt been like a normal spring yet, keen for these winds to stop too.

It would have to have some relation to the shift of sugars in the dormant period as it sounds like much the same thing on a less drastic scale but I think it has differnt triggers

yea thats true, it interesting to find out how trees work, and it can help us all in our bonsai journey

Ha!

Minister for War and Finance and I watched "The Happening" movie last night. You guys should watch it and get a laugh out of it's theme with this thread in mind.

Tech

Dispel the non-believer

Brett why did you not tell me this earlier. I went and pruned my Melaleuca rhaphiophylla this arvo AH!! shari]

As I said ah Shari will it be OK will it

I think it might pull through Pup. Just remember next time

Common sense would dictate that if you defoliate a tree on the hottest day of the year with a westerly blowing it might be worthwhile giving the now newly exposed portions of trunk,rottage etc a bit of protection for a day or three and then harden it off gradually.

?

I must have been lacking that sense a couple of years ago

Bretts wrote:I must have been lacking that sense a couple of years ago

No criticism just an observation.

You learn by experience and books can only go so far.

You and a lot of people live in areas that are difficult to grow certain trees and a lot of advice is tailored for other areas where the climate has some humidity in summer for instance.

No criticism just an observation.

Thought as much but thanks for clarifying
Some trees are more suseptable to this than others as I understand beech is one to be extra carefull of. I had some dieback under a chop point on a hornbeam and it was a year later that Ray pointed this out as sunburn

Bretts wrote:

No criticism just an observation.

Thought as much but thanks for clarifying
Some trees are more suseptable to this than others as I understand beech is one to be extra carefull of. I had some dieback under a chop point on a hornbeam and it was a year later that Ray pointed this out as sunburn

Ask Don Delucca,

He can cook J Black Pines, Parottia and Ash in a snap, let alone anything delicate in that extreme heat.

I don't know how Ron P from Mildura keeps anything alive out there!