Dwarf Hinoki (Nana Gracilis) issues

[Anjin Blackthumb]

Greetings everyone. Been a couple years since my first post. Still have about a million questions, but I'll go one at a time.

So, I found a pretty good size hinoki at a local nursery. Loved the trunk movement when I got into the plant, couldn't resist taking it home with me.

Ref: Zone 5, Colorado Front Range, 5000' alt. Plant purchased in July. It's a 3-gallon.

Conventional wisdom seems to hold that this like most conifers is a full-sun plant, maybe 30% afternoon shade per Bjorn IIRC.
Nursery people here say absolutely not, this is a nearly full shade plant....So I put it in the Colorado mostly full sun. And the tips of much of the foliage immediately crisped and browned. So back under the covered porch it went and it's doing better now.

Questions are: 1. What's up with that? 2. How well do they winter over? 3) how soon or late can I get it out of the nursery soil and into some pumice/akadama mix, or 4) Fuggetaboutit, take it back to the nursery while it's still alive and buy more junipers?

I'm trying to learn everything I can from these online gurus, but all the tutorial-making experts are in England, Tennessee, or Oregon... sea level rain forests compared to Colorado, and all the rules seem to be different here.

Any advice would be appreciated. TIA.

 

[PeaceLoveBonsai]

Pics?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Check out this link.

https://rockymtnbonsai.com/index.ph...i Cypress will not live,be dead in the spring.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Anjin Blackthumb]

it did happen!

The interior growth is kind of hoary and not in organized fronds. Probably clean most of that out and work on the vertically oriented sprays.

 

[caffeinated]

Depending on where and when you buy the plant, any plant, it may have leafed out and hardened off in response to the intensity of sun it had been getting where it lived. My Nana Gracilis can happily deal with high 80s heat once its worked it's way up through spring and summer, but when we had our heat wave in late spring, even under shade cloth, I had a bunch of trees burn and even lost a few since it had only been in the high 70's, maybe some 80s up to that point.

 

[erich_raudebaugh]

I have several hinokis, they do like shade, or full sun but limited hours. So full sun is fine, but not all day long or they will burn in the hottest part of summer (especially in windy conditions at altitude). I used to live in northern Arizona, which is a bit like Colorado, but Pacific Northwest summers are pretty dry and hot, not at all a rain forest, so Ryan Neil's advice isn't far off. Your winters are much colder, and a hinoki in a pot may need protection in the coldest parts of winter.

As for the 'organized fronds', you will have to wire and style the tree, then with years of pinching the pads will start to look good. Hinokis are not like junipers, you can cut them and pinch them and they will be fine.

 

[PeaceLoveBonsai]

Looks healthy, so that’s good. The advice here has been good, so I want add much.

My sense is CO will be difficult, but not impossible. I love Hinokis, so I’d want to give it a shot. I’d give it garage protection in the coldest months and work hard to keep it from the wind and hottest part of the summer sun.

I’d also be conservative with my repotting, looking for a good sized pot to transfer in the spring.

Bjorn is really good with hinokis. I’d recommend soaking up as much information from him as possible. Then ask around the Denver club for others who might have hinoki experience.

Good luck!

 

[bwaynef]

I've got two hinokis, and I think at least one of them is Nana gracilis. They're sitting on my benches that get 6-8 hours of sun, 95º heat, and 101% humidity. I don't think SC's winters are especially taxing on a hinoki, particularly the way CO's might be.

When it comes time to work on that tree, I suspect it will be in need of more shade as you'll be exposing areas to sun that weren't getting sun previously. That's just something to keep in mind.

 

[Anjin Blackthumb]

Check out this link.

https://rockymtnbonsai.com/index.php/2020/11/06/colorado-bonsai-hinoki-cypress-bonsai-bonsai-u/#:~:text=Hinoki Cypress will not live,be dead in the spring.

cheers
DSD sends

Thanks DSD!

-COMNCOBONGRU

 

[Anjin Blackthumb]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I’m devouring Bjorn’s and Ryan’s content. Gods it’s a lot.
One of the things I struggle with is just getting going. I left a procumbens in the nursery pot for over 2 years out of fear of doing the wrong thing. Well Colorado did a 180 this spring and soaked us forever. Roots got waterlogged and I had to do a summer repot to save the tree.

Didn’t want that to happen with the hinoki.

I’m going to try to insulate my cedar greenhouse shed this year for those plants that can’t take -10F. Though I don’t think I lost any this last winter and all the conifers were heeled into the ground.