AusBonsai

I potted this 20 year old maple into diatomite/coco peat this year for the first time, and it blew out because the mix holds nothing stable.
I thought I got it in time, the leaves hadn't wilted, soaked in seasol overnight, should have settled.

Four days later the leaves are drying out, fading and hanging limp. There's no drying or puckering in the stems (yet?).

On the left, sick leaves and on the right, healthy leaves. Mix has not dried out , but is also not being overwatered.
HELP!!!!

Gavin

GavinG wrote:I potted this 20 year old maple into diatomite/coco peat this year for the first time, and it blew out because the mix holds nothing stable.
I thought I got it in time, the leaves hadn't wilted, soaked in seasol overnight, should have settled.

Four days later the leaves are drying out, fading and hanging limp. There's no drying or puckering in the stems (yet?).

On the left, sick leaves and on the right, healthy leaves. Mix has not dried out , but is also not being overwatered.

P1040284.jpg

HELP!!!!

Gavin

What about defoliating? If the leaves are dryish or crisp they will fall off anyhow.

Grant

Sorry to hear that Gavin, and I can offer no reason as to why.
Except that tying trees into pots is for that reason. To stop it blowing out of the pot ,and also to minimise the root movement while the tree recovers from the root pruning.

When the tree is being blown by the wind be it gentle, or strong the trunk moves. So do the roots, therefor they do not repair themselves well. So when you have weak roots, you have a weak tree.

I hope that in some way helps, you with this situation.

Cheers Pup

Might be worth what Grant suggests. A lesson tie your trees into your pots. Diatomite and mixes containing it is free draining and quite light. If you have alot of foliage and no bottom support a good wind can cause trees to tip out. Good luck with it, maybe seasol included in your watering regime for this tree may help, depends how severe the roots dried out. Misting the foliage may also help?

i have a Japanese maple that i put into a bonsai pot for the first time. i had remove alot of roots cos the trunk extended deep into the original plastic pot without me aware. should have checked but it was only a little one i was playing with. anyway, the same thing happened. the leaves wilted then started to dry up. i watered with seasol and placed in shade. it is starting to bud now its been a few weeks so dont give up.

This maple is probably suffering from serious root damage from the movement. This tree needs to be defoliated and once repotted watered once and misted regularly if there is to be a good chance of it surviving. Dont warter too often or what little root remains will drown in wet soil. Be very careful with the use of coco peat as it can remain too wet for too long. good drainage and oxygen rich soil is vital for this tree.
Good luck with it
Akamatsu

Hey Gavin

As Akamatsu said, I would say the biggest problem would be the root damage created by wind burn. Good job on you recovery method, but I would suggest insted of a complete defoliation that you give it a hair cut and reduce the foliage mass by around 1/2. It may create a little too much stress defoliating at the moment, and leaving some leaves on would help I reckon. Treat it like you had just root pruned it and hopefully all will be ok.

Tony

Many thanks.

3/4 leaf-pruned and fingers crossed.

Gavin