Western Hemlock in Need of Help

Thuj Life

Seedling
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Location
Oregon
USDA Zone
8b*
Western Hemlock
I picked up this western hemlock from a nursery in early spring, did an air layer in May. Last week new growth above the air layer started to die. I thought I did a good air layer job—aside from starting late...my gut tells me this thing’s going to slowly die if I don’t take action. But not sure which course of action to take. I've recently moved this into more shaded area - gets a little bit of late morning sun, early afternoon sun and then shade the rest of the afternoon/evening. A new spot in the yard, deep watering, misting any chance I get has slowed the decline but I don't think I'm out of the woods yet.

What would you do if you were in my shoes?
 

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Relatively speaking, not many people are developing this species for bonsai. Especially outside the PNW. Even fewer will have experience layering them. Hopefully some come out of the woodwork…

I have a bunch of collected western hemlock.
None have been air layered but some contained ground-layered roots when they were dug up. So the species is capable of it.


Assuming the layer isn’t drying out..What likely is happening is your tree is allocating energy towards growing new roots (or callousing) instead of finishing the foliage it recently pushed. It needs the roots more than new growth. A similar thing can happen with collected trees when they are dug up after shoots have started extending and before they harden off.

What I would do
Put the tree in a shadier location than it is now. Wh will grow in shockingly low light levels. Less light will keep it cooler and slow desiccation. Some or all new growth may still be lost, but this should help slow further decline.

I would have waited until new growth hardened off to layer. The needles are better at retaining moisture once they are hardened. I also would use a tourniquet rather than girdling the trunk; and 1/8” bark in addition to sphagnum moss around the layer site.
 
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Relatively speaking, not many people are developing this species for bonsai. Especially outside the PNW. Even fewer will have experience layering them. Hopefully some come out of the woodwork…

I have a bunch of collected western hemlock.
None have been air layered but some contained ground-layered roots when they were dug up. So the species is capable of it.


Assuming the layer isn’t drying out..What likely is happening is your tree is allocating energy towards growing new roots (or callousing) instead of finishing the foliage it recently pushed. It needs the roots more than new growth. A similar thing can happen with collected trees when they are dug up after shoots have started extending and before they harden off.

What I would do
Put the tree in a shadier location than it is now. Wh will grow in shockingly low light levels. Less light will keep it cooler and slow desiccation. Some or all new growth may still be lost, but this should help slow further decline.

I would have waited until new growth hardened off to layer. The needles are better at retaining moisture once they are hardened. I also would use a tourniquet rather than girdling the trunk; and 1/8” bark in addition to sphagnum moss around the layer site.
Amazing, thank you @Cruiser !!
I will be taking your advice and posting an update in a few weeks
 
Assuming the reason for the sir layer is because you want two trees, developing the bottom part into a huskier bonsai?

It looks like the tree took a hit for too much sun on that side. The foliage is pretty far from the layer. The further anway All this clicks with @Cruiser ’s post and recommendations.

btw: We have two really nice heritage Western Hemlocks at PBM. They demonstrate Western Hemlocks make incredible bonsai. Especially in good hands. Here is an image of one of these.

IMG_0365.jpg

Cheers
DSD sends
 
@Deep Sea Diver yes, air layering to potentially turn this into two trees. I'm most interested in the bottom 1/4. There's some really interesting texture that gives the tree an older appearance

That PBM WH is an incredible tree! I've been to PBM once, sadly traffic was so bad I got there 5 minutes before close - out of breath after running from the parking lot, frantically looking at as many trees as I could LOL...Can't wait to go back in a couple weeks and take my time.
 
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