Tree Killers Anonymous, confess your crimes here....

[Fidur]

Not so Anonymous, but anyway I think it's good for our souls (and also for our bonsai knowledge) to confess here our worst offenses with trees.

I'll begin....

Hi, my name is Fidur and I've killed trees...
I'm not used to lose trees, but last spring-summer I was able to destroy some of them...



Somehow I created the perfect conditions (shade mess + frequent watering) for a fungal festival. When I was aware it was too late for 10 of my trees.
So my sin was not to apply an antifungic treatment in time. This year I've been doing so every 3-4 weeks, and everything has been fine.....
In fact I have been applying a systemic insecticide and a systemic fungicide (mostly in the growing season) and I think it's a must for us bonsai growers to do it.

 

[SFDrake]

Not so Anonymous, but anyway I think it's good for our souls (and also for our bonsai knowledge) to confess here our worst offenses with trees.

I'll begin....

Hi, my name is Fidur and I've killed trees...
I'm not used to lose trees, but last spring-summer I was able to destroy some of them...

View attachment 607005

Somehow I created the perfect conditions (shade mess + frequent watering) for a fungal festival. When I was aware it was too late for 10 of my trees.
So my sin was not to apply an antifungic treatment in time. This year I've been doing so every 3-4 weeks, and everything has been fine.....
In fact I have been applying a systemic insecticide and a systemic fungicide (mostly in the growing season) and I think it's a must for us bonsai growers to do it.

Do you mind providing the brand of systemic you are using? I am having some issues with the humidity here in Florida

 

[Fidur]

Do you mind providing the brand of systemic you are using? I am having some issues with the humidity here in Florida

I don´t mind, but be aware that those brands are unlikely to be sold there, and anyway I choose them just because those were the ones I found in my local garden center, and not necessarily the best...

 

[SFDrake]

Indeed, Spain is a bit far from me. This is what i purchased, but im hesitant to use it because the dosage instructions are for large trees and I don't want to wipe out my whole garden at once

 

[Cadillactaste]

I've not killed many trees. While earlier this year...down with pneumonia with compromised lungs...9 prescriptions. Total daft in a medicated fog. I gave an incorrect watering schedule for my tropical. My ficus recovered... my bougainvillea I've had since 2015...never recovered. I monitored watering the pathetic thing...and finally gave up come July. It was toast. But my heath is good...and my trees from Jerry Meislik ...recovered. If I had to choose a loss between those two...and they suffered the most. I'm glad my Natalensis Ficus from Jerry recovered. posted it on Instagram today. I'm glad it did so well. It was the only Ficus to fully defoliate. Yet made a full recovery with no dieback

 

[nuttiest]

Thank you Fidur. I needed this juniper photo. Feeling so bad about mine this summer.

 

[leatherback]

I killed my first 1KE tree. I bought a nice yamadori for my Nippon Bonsai Bonsai Techer qualification exam. Did a decent styling of it in fall. Then in spring I saw candles extending everywhere, the odd backbud showed up. So when I saw the first needles form I made that mistake everybody has and I should have learned to control. The urge of impatience.. and decided: Let's get it out of these ugly skewed plastic pots and into the bonsai pot.

It stopped pushing. I watched it over summer decline untill it was brown in fall.
I have the corpse sitting between 2 other old pines that are waiting for a styling session (this winter?). A strong reminder. Go Slow.

Repotting Pine is my Achylles Heel. I have absolutely no feeling for pine roots.

 

[Shibui]

Do you mind providing the brand of systemic you are using? I am having some issues with the humidity here in Florida

Brands vary from place to place. It is more useful to know the active ingredient, then you can search locally for a product with the same actives.