Prunus Dulcis

[MiguelMC]

Greetings nutters (that didn't sound quite right)

A friend of mine, in celebration of our friendship and knowing my love for trees, gifted me a almond tree now the problem is that this person in question knows absolutely nothing about horticulture or bonsai and even though the intentions were all in the right place, I'm afraid she gave me a dying tree.
I have zero experience with Prunus and from what I've gathered these trees can be quite finicky, I would love someone with more experience to give me some pointers on first keep it alive and maybe turn it into a beautiful in la few years.
the tree is about 1.2m high 3ft if my conversions are right (its been a while since I used the imperial system)
it looks quite dehydrated the leaves are not dry but shriveled quite a lot.

it has some green sprouts near the base that look quite weird.

were are in early spring here so i don't think its possible to do a trunk reductions without fully killing it.
like always any comment is appreciated

 

[Shibui]

The top does look sad. Probably got a bit dry one day. Almond is relatively hard to dry so it will probably sprout new leaves soon if you keep it watered better.
Almond is susceptible to a number of diseases and that is more likely what will cause problems if any occur.
Most almonds sold commercially are grafted. At 1.2 m tall (that's 4ft) it may be a grafted tree and could be grafted onto several possible rootstocks so if you do chop low you may even end up with a peach tree (depending what they have grafted onto originally) As those suckers grow from the base you may be able to pick any difference and work out what the rootstock is. We would normally keep removing any suckers growing from the base because they often grow very strong and may take over from the almond grafted on top but they may be useful for you to develop a bonsai.
Early spring would be a good time to do trunk reduction if you want to. Probably best to seal pruning cuts with some sort of sealer because one of the diseases is gummosis which gets in through pruning cuts, especially in winter and early spring in wet weather.

 

[Cypress187]

Why do you think it's "under"-watered? It looks more overwatered. Are the leaves crunchy or mushy?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Over watering and Under watering can have similar symptoms. Over watering leads to roots rotting, the rotting roots can not absorb water, the tree looks dehydrated. Under watering can lead to the tree looking dehydrated. Alternating between too much and too little water is most common. The dehydration of under watering kills root tips. Then when over watering, the dead root tips become the point of entry for various vascular diseases, fungal and bacterial rots. In all cases, foliage looks dehydrated. Mushy foliage if a vascular rot has travelled to the leaves. Often by this point if a vascular disease has traveled to the foliage, it is too late for chemical treatments to be effective.

Use your finger, for most people the most accurate way to determine soil moister. More accurate and less expensive than electronic moisture meters. Feel the moisture of the potting media after digging finger into the mix at least 2 cm or just less than one inch. Get below the surface layer, which tends to be dry in spite of middle of the pot being moist.

Put this tree outside, where it is shaded most of the day until you see signs of new growth. Then move it to full sun. It should be outdoors year round in Lisbon, Portugal. I would do no pruning until you have several months, if not a full year of healthy growth. Weak trees respond poorly to bonsai techniques. The health of this tree needs to be re-established before you begin the ''bonsai techniques''.

 

[MiguelMC]

P

The top does look sad. Probably got a bit dry one day. Almond is relatively hard to dry so it will probably sprout new leaves soon if you keep it watered better.
Almond is susceptible to a number of diseases and that is more likely what will cause problems if any occur.
Most almonds sold commercially are grafted. At 1.2 m tall (that's 4ft) it may be a grafted tree and could be grafted onto several possible rootstocks so if you do chop low you may even end up with a peach tree (depending what they have grafted onto originally) As those suckers grow from the base you may be able to pick any difference and work out what the rootstock is. We would normally keep removing any suckers growing from the base because they often grow very strong and may take over from the almond grafted on top but they may be useful for you to develop a bonsai.
Early spring would be a good time to do trunk reduction if you want to. Probably best to seal pruning cuts with some sort of sealer because one of the diseases is gummosis which gets in through pruning cuts, especially in winter and early spring in wet weather.

First of thank you very much for the well thought out response I very much appreciate it
Só you are saying it is safe to do a trunk chop. Don't you think reducing the hight might stress the tree a bit too much?
I don't enjoy those bottom suckers that much tbh. And I think that at that hight it might just serve to create a swelling on that area. Being a peach or an almond tree won't change that much my decision they are intereating to me mainly due the flowers.

At this stage my priorities are
1) keeping the tree alive
2) creating a good radial root system
3) developing the truno line.

 

[Shibui]

Cypress and Leo have good points. Wilted leaves can be either over or under watering so might be good to check how healthy the roots are before attempting much. I picked underwatering simply because my experience is that vastly more trees seem to die from lack of water than from too much. Also the tree has been held by several people who know next to nothing about horticulture for an unknown time - again, underwatering seems to be far more common result.

IMHO Reducing the height will not stress the tree too much. They normally take it in stride and grow new shoots if at all possible. If the tree was healthy before losing the leaves it will survive whether you cut or not. If it lost leaves because it is sick it probably won't survive whether you prune it or not.
If you don't like the suckers then remove them now before they get larger. Suckers at the base will cause swelling but that's usually where we want the trunk to be thicker so swelling can be good provided it is the right location. many of us intentionally leave low branches - sacrifice branches- to encourage lower part of trunks to thicken so there will be additional taper in the trunk.
Your priorities are good.
Keeping the tree alive is a good aim but reality is we have all had trees die. Try to prevent this but be prepared and move on after deaths. Pruning the tree and/or roots should not harm a tree but there are plenty of other thinks that will.
Create a good radial root system is a good aim and is usually my first priority. Good pruning of the roots is the best way I have found of achieving this so you will need to bare root the tree and cut roots. Now will be a good time to do it given the existing shoots have died. you will also get a chance to assess the state of roots to see if root rot from overwatering has affected the tree. If so you can prune affected roots and possibly save the tree. note that visible roots (nebari) seems to be less important for flowering prunus bonsai than say maple bonsai so if your roots are not perfect no need to stress.
Developing the trunk line is also important but you seem reluctant to prune. How else do you propose to develop a good trunk line - taper? movement? Pruning is a very important development tool for bonsai.

 

[MiguelMC]

Cypress and Leo have good points. Wilted leaves can be either over or under watering so might be good to check how healthy the roots are before attempting much. I picked underwatering simply because my experience is that vastly more trees seem to die from lack of water than from too much. Also the tree has been held by several people who know next to nothing about horticulture for an unknown time - again, underwatering seems to be far more common result.

IMHO Reducing the height will not stress the tree too much. They normally take it in stride and grow new shoots if at all possible. If the tree was healthy before losing the leaves it will survive whether you cut or not. If it lost leaves because it is sick it probably won't survive whether you prune it or not.
If you don't like the suckers then remove them now before they get larger. Suckers at the base will cause swelling but that's usually where we want the trunk to be thicker so swelling can be good provided it is the right location. many of us intentionally leave low branches - sacrifice branches- to encourage lower part of trunks to thicken so there will be additional taper in the trunk.
Your priorities are good.
Keeping the tree alive is a good aim but reality is we have all had trees die. Try to prevent this but be prepared and move on after deaths. Pruning the tree and/or roots should not harm a tree but there are plenty of other thinks that will.
Create a good radial root system is a good aim and is usually my first priority. Good pruning of the roots is the best way I have found of achieving this so you will need to bare root the tree and cut roots. Now will be a good time to do it given the existing shoots have died. you will also get a chance to assess the state of roots to see if root rot from overwatering has affected the tree. If so you can prune affected roots and possibly save the tree. note that visible roots (nebari) seems to be less important for flowering prunus bonsai than say maple bonsai so if your roots are not perfect no need to stress.
Developing the trunk line is also important but you seem reluctant to prune. How else do you propose to develop a good trunk line - taper? movement? Pruning is a very important development tool for bonsai.

I'm willing to trunk chop it, I was just worried about doing it now, ty for the feed, I'll will reduce it in high then

thank you all that gave me some feedback all is appreciated.