Greetings dear Bonsai community, I'm a new to the Bonsai topic and have started with a Wisteria as my first bonsai. As the title implies, my extremly young tree (6 to 8 months old) has been losing nearly all of its branches and leaves, with only 2 of 6 destinct branches remaining. Should I be worried? Is there anything I can do to save my tree? Or should I prepare myself for the worst?
Chinese Wisteria losing branches in Winter
- Thread starter Renault
- Start date
dmwphoto
Yamadori
Post a picture of the tree. Whare are you located?
Will do so shortly. I live in West Germany
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Nybonsai12
Masterpiece
Are there buds on the tree? If it’s going dormant this appears normal.
dmwphoto
Yamadori
looks fairly normal to me
WNC Bonsai
Masterpiece
These are deciduous vines which lose their leaves inckuding the mainstem in winter. Have you been keeping this one inside? They need to go dormant. Mine are sitting outside where it has been down as low as 5 F with their soil frozen solid for about a week. They lost their leaves back in November.
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
Your tree is very young. What you thought as branches are actually just compound leaves. They will drop in the winter. Right now your tree does not have a branch yet.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Your tree is shedding leaves for the winter. They are temperate zone deciduous plants and require winter dormancy.
Leaves on wisteria are compound, which means individual "leaves" are made up of smaller individual leaves on a stem. Your tree is shedding those primary leaves. Your seedling, as said, has no real branches at this point. If you are expecting blooms, you're also in for a long ride as wisteria can take up to ten years to become mature enough from seed to produce flowers.
Also-- If this is inside, it's going to die, BTW. Wisteria is not an indoor plant and will decline and die over a couple of years of inside care.
Leaves on wisteria are compound, which means individual "leaves" are made up of smaller individual leaves on a stem. Your tree is shedding those primary leaves. Your seedling, as said, has no real branches at this point. If you are expecting blooms, you're also in for a long ride as wisteria can take up to ten years to become mature enough from seed to produce flowers.
Also-- If this is inside, it's going to die, BTW. Wisteria is not an indoor plant and will decline and die over a couple of years of inside care.
Thank you everyone for the information. I didnt knew that the things i thought to be branches were considered part of the leaves.
Noted. Some Bonsai beginning sources in Germany claimed that you could grow Wisterias indoor, but I will try to get mine outside.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
I would avoid the "beginning sources" you're reading. They're wildly inaccurate. FWIW, I would not put the tree outside at this point if it has not been kept outside all year. If it has been inside for that time, it has not had to build up resistance to cold and could be damaged by freezing. Keep it inside in a cool humid bright place and wait for spring when the danger of frost and freezing has passed. Wisteria are pretty aggressive growers in the wild. They are common around me in the woods having "escaped" from domestic gardens/yards. Typically wisteria bonsai need very large trunks to support their wild growth and huge flowers.
The best wisteria bonsai begin from old plants collected from wilder sources outside. Old vines converted to bonsai by aggressive top and bottom pruning. There are a few great examples of wisteria that grow near me in an old Revolutionary War - era plantation ruin. Something to shoot for:
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WNC Bonsai
Masterpiece
It’s too late now to put it outside, the winter cold will kill it right off. Trees and vines need to slowly go into dormancy starting in late summer. Since your wisteria has not been allowed to go dormant it is not winter hardy. Your best bet is to place it in a location with moderate temp where it will basically become semi-dormant. Do not let the roots dry out even though it has no leaves but also do not keep the soil saturated or it will rot. If it is reasonably strong it may survive the winter inside but 2 years inside will likely be fatal.
