Shohin Holly Bonsai Tree Help?
- Thread starter l1ght
- Start date
Poink88
Imperial Masterpiece
Why not ask your vendor? He/she might know.Thanks for that! At least now I know what it is and how to treat it during the winter. Now I just need to find out how to make the foliage grow out more.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
If I were you, I would contact the seller and ask him to definitively ID the species of the plant you bought from him. Failure to do so can severely compromise your ability to do anything with it past this year.
If it is a yaupon, you will have to provide significant shelter for it in Zone 6, as in a deep, mulched cold frame, or a cold greenhouse for storage. Bringing it inside for the winter will weaken or kill this already fading tree. Next spring, if it were mine, I would get it out of the bad soil it's in now and repot it in fresh decent bonsai soi
If it is a yaupon, you will have to provide significant shelter for it in Zone 6, as in a deep, mulched cold frame, or a cold greenhouse for storage. Bringing it inside for the winter will weaken or kill this already fading tree. Next spring, if it were mine, I would get it out of the bad soil it's in now and repot it in fresh decent bonsai soi
Well it looks like this tree might not be for my climate/zone, so I cancelled the order since it hasn't shipped out yet and got a full refund. New Jersey sucks... and not just because of the winters lol.
Since I'm here, do you guys have any tree suggestions for me and my zone?(zone 6b). Would a Chinese Elm be able to survive cold winters? Any other species come to mind? Right now I have a Fukien Tea Tree that stays outside 24/7 and its growing and flowering like crazy, but I'm sure that will cease once the winter comes along.
Since I'm here, do you guys have any tree suggestions for me and my zone?(zone 6b). Would a Chinese Elm be able to survive cold winters? Any other species come to mind? Right now I have a Fukien Tea Tree that stays outside 24/7 and its growing and flowering like crazy, but I'm sure that will cease once the winter comes along.
Poink88
Imperial Masterpiece
Lucky you!
Chinese Elm should work. Also, how about trident maple, pine, juniper?
Chinese Elm should work. Also, how about trident maple, pine, juniper?
Last edited:
lol, is that sarcasm, or are you serious?
I'm really interested in a Chinese Elm. If trident maples weren't so awfully expensive I would definitely buy one. I will check out pines and junipers for sure!
Poink88
Imperial Masterpiece
You know how I felt about the tree. I am serious that you got lucky to get out of that deal.
lol, yes, I know how you feel about it. Maybe subconsciously, we both shared the same dislike for it and that's why I didn't hesitate to cancel the order.
linlaoboo
Mame
this is true with property taxes, corruption among other reasons, but we are near NYC and Philly if you're into big cities.
Fukien tea needs to come inside when temperatures drop below 55 degrees. Good luck maintaining them during the winter with the heat on. I've killed 2 myself, the 2nd one lasted almost 2 seasons.
Chinese elm will be good with some winter protection plan. They're really a decidous tree but some people have had luck keeping it indoors like an evergreen tree. In my experience they run out of energy indoors after 2 winter seasons. To prevent that problem, I throw mine into a dark storage shed after it enters dormancy when all the leaves drop. Minimum 60 days later I bring it out and let it come out of it's sleep and it'll be strong and well rested. If left unprotected, it can die of frozen roots. Some people in our region think it just needs dormancy once every 2 years.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
If you're in N.J., you have:
Allshapes bonsai in Ringoes and Chase Rosade's Bonsai Studio in New Hope, PA (just over the NJ line near Philly).
Both are highly recommended by NJ bonsaiists. They both carry starter material that's hardy in your area.
Allshapes bonsai in Ringoes and Chase Rosade's Bonsai Studio in New Hope, PA (just over the NJ line near Philly).
Both are highly recommended by NJ bonsaiists. They both carry starter material that's hardy in your area.
Redwood Ryan
Masterpiece
Noooo. Not at all. Temperatures cool down in fall and winter, which would then change the temperature in the greenhouse, unless it's heated of course. If you're growing deciduous species you wouldn't have a heated greenhouse for the cold months. If you have a heated greenhouse it would mostly be for tropical trees. Indoors temperatures never change, so the deciduous species never cool down and continue growing without rest, where they then eventually die.
linlaoboo
Mame
Acer Ginnala is often overlooked as a bonsaiable Maple. It can definately take the cold as it's from siberia. You can find stuffs like Azaleas, boxwoods, hollies, Cottoneaster, yews, junipers and chamaecyparis at big box stores as nursery plants. Good nebari is hard to find from nursery plants but sometimes you get lucky.
I see now why they die if they are indoors. Makes sense too. Thanks!
Poink88
Imperial Masterpiece
Also note that HUMIDITY plays a major role on plants. Might not be as critical for deciduous trees in winter but it is for evergreens.
jk_lewis
Masterpiece
And don't forget humidity. Greenhouses supply all the warm, humid air that a tropical tree needs. Your living room doesn't, and if it did, YOU wouldn't be able to live in it for long and your furniture would turn green.
You truly, truly need to visit your nearest public library (I'm sure NJ has them) and check out a few books on bonsai. Bonsai in some ways are quite a bit more difficult to keep happy than a pet dog. It takes a bit of study.
jk_lewis
Masterpiece
And don't forget humidity. Greenhouses supply all the warm, humid air that a tropical tree needs. Your living room doesn't, and if it did, YOU wouldn't be able to live in it for long and your furniture would turn green.
You truly, truly need to visit your nearest public library (I'm sure NJ has them) and check out a few books on bonsai. Bonsai in some ways are quite a bit more difficult to keep happy than a pet dog. It takes a bit of study.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Temperate zone trees go through a lengthy process in preparation for winter dormancy. Deciduous trees don't drop their leaves because of the cold. They drop them because of the shorter days in mid-to late summer and autumn (days start getting shorter at the end of June, at the summer solstice). The shortening day length (shorter light exposure) trips off hormonal changes in trees that "tell" them it is time to begin preparations for the coming winter.
As the days grow shorter, deciduous trees shift their energy from pushing new green growth to preserving starches and other nutrients in roots and wood. The most active growth period for them is early spring through mid-summer. New shoot and leaf production tails off through mid-summer, but root growth continues into the fall.
Warming soil temperatures in the spring, "tells" them to begin growth. Since ground temps can lag far behind air temps in springtime, this is a failsafe that tends to prevent trees from beginning growth when the dangers of freezing temps are still around...
This is a round about way of saying that constant indoor lighting can't hope to replicate this process. That's why temperate deciduous trees like maples, elms, hollies, oaks, etc. can't be brought indoors for the winter. They have no way of "knowing" when to go dormant and continue to grow, expending all their energy. Indoors, their internal clocks are short-circuited.
Some growers in tropical zones who grow temperate zone trees plunk them in refrigerators, which can serve to force dormancy to some extent (although it's not technically dormancy, but a strong arm way of shocking them into stop growing). It's not really a great way to keep deciduous trees.
As the days grow shorter, deciduous trees shift their energy from pushing new green growth to preserving starches and other nutrients in roots and wood. The most active growth period for them is early spring through mid-summer. New shoot and leaf production tails off through mid-summer, but root growth continues into the fall.
Warming soil temperatures in the spring, "tells" them to begin growth. Since ground temps can lag far behind air temps in springtime, this is a failsafe that tends to prevent trees from beginning growth when the dangers of freezing temps are still around...
This is a round about way of saying that constant indoor lighting can't hope to replicate this process. That's why temperate deciduous trees like maples, elms, hollies, oaks, etc. can't be brought indoors for the winter. They have no way of "knowing" when to go dormant and continue to grow, expending all their energy. Indoors, their internal clocks are short-circuited.
Some growers in tropical zones who grow temperate zone trees plunk them in refrigerators, which can serve to force dormancy to some extent (although it's not technically dormancy, but a strong arm way of shocking them into stop growing). It's not really a great way to keep deciduous trees.
Brian Van Fleet
Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
fore
Omono
That does look like a really nice Brian. Great trunk movement!
