Sweating Trees

[justBonsai]

One of my smaller oaks due to unavoidable circumstances had all the roots die when I was living away from my trees in the summer. There's some new roots but the tree hasn't shoved out new buds or leaves for over 7 months. At this point it's a 50/50 whether it'll live.

I remember reading Tony Tickle's article about sweating trees to improve backbudding:
https://yamadori.co.uk/2016/01/04/improving-the-success-rate-of-yamadori/
http://www.spinkcd.org/wp-content/themes/spinkcd/pdf/ndpmcnl7274.pdf

Apparently it is also a technique to force weak trees to bud. At this point there's nothing to lose. I bagged my oak and will let it cook in the sun, full humidity and heat. I'll add some pictures later and post results in a few weeks if it worked. Has anyone else tried this before?

 

[my nellie]

The black plastic bag is a "standard" technique of Italian bonsai fellows collectors of trees from the wild.
And it has been for a looong time before, as far as I know.

 

[justBonsai]

The black plastic bag is a "standard" technique of Italian bonsai fellows collectors of trees from the wild.
And it has been for a looong time before, as far as I know.

Yeah I always do it on oaks with good success but that was for repotting after big tap root cuts.

Never tried it on a weak tree, we'll see if it rescues my oak.

 

[my nellie]

I hope it will!

 

[milehigh_7]

"Sweating" is a good idea with many species that don't break dormancy easily. This is especially useful when dealing with bare root stock. Species such as Western Hackberry, Hawthorns and many others it's a pretty important step. You balance high humidity with temps above 70F being careful to prevent fungus, plant them just when buds swell. Could take as much as 14 days of the treatment.

 

[hemmy]

being careful to prevent fungus

I’ve not tried this for collected deciduous material. Any tips on preventing fungal growth? The cited ND article just mentions rinsing them down, but what about using a copper or other fungicide spray? Or maybe dusting the whole tree down in Cinnamon, a natural fungicide?

Do you put them in full sun if the outside temps are lower (70-80sdegF)? And do you mist every day? What about including a basin or cup of water to evaporate and keep humidity up?

Thanks!

 

[my nellie]

Any update on this tree @bleumeon ?

 

[CasAH]

Any update on this tree @bleumeon ?

Julian is in Japan doing a Bonsai apprenticeship

 

[justBonsai]

Any update on this tree @bleumeon ?

In Japan right now, but while I was still in Socal I would tarp up all my coast and cork live oaks after repotting. All survived but my sick oak and produced very good back budding.

Unfortunately my smaller coast live oak was just too weak with many problems from the previous year and died.

 

[my nellie]

Sorry to hear... but as always, on we go

Julian is in Japan doing a Bonsai apprenticeship

Fruitful learning, Julian!