Regretting an awesome vacation

[Jarath]

I arrived home late last night to find my most expensive tree dead after such a wonderful vacation. I almost cried. I am at a lost, not sure what to say. I appreciate the 2 people helping me, but want to RAGE on them. How can you miss the biggest fuckin tree I have, how? Aghhhhhh.
Next vacation ain't happening in a while. I am installing a camera with live feed and a larger automatic watering system. Thankfully my 2 cats and my dog are still alive. Sorry to vent on you all, but I need a shoulder to cry on. My loses are as follows;
2 fukien tea trees, large sand pine, podocarpus, crepe myrtle and about 10 saplings of elm and bahama berry. More damage is sure to come. Several of my junipers are looking awful.
Anyways, I will tend to my trees and salvage what I can. Ahhh . SHIT.

 

[barrosinc]

Been there... Lost 3 trees last year.
Worst feeling ever.

 

[whfarro]

I feel your pain! I put up a cheap automatic watering system after a similar situation. All components available at HD or Lowes.
Some good step by step instructions on threads on this forum. Use the search function.

Here's a good one:
http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/building-a-watering-system.23628/

 

[vicn]

It happened to me, too, @Jarath. I was so down, I just quit trees for several years. Try to clean it all up, salvage what you can, and try to forget about the ones you lost.

 

[Wilson]

Unfortunately we learn that you can't rely on people to take care of our trees... I had a bunch die when I was away, and a good number of people on here have suffered similar situations. Automated is definitely the way to go, I will set mine up for next spring! So sorry you have to go through the loss of your favorite trees.

 

[Relknes]

I feel your pain. When I got married, I left all of my trees with a friend for 3 weeks (the week of the wedding and two weeks over my honeymoon). They had a large garden and had been wanting to get into bonsai. I had lent them a few books on it, and they said they were reading them. I also left them with instructions for the trees.
I returned from my honeymoon to discover that they had simply put the trees on their patio with their other plants. The trees had received a brief blast from a garden hose twice a week.
In Los Angeles.
Durring the hottest summer on record.
None of the trees made it.
It took several years and a move to another state for me to start up the hobby again. My condolences on your loss. If your friends offer to take care of your trees again you should probably tell them, very politely, to go suck an entire bag of mummified monkey dicks... or you could tell them that you have it handled via an automated system.
You know... whichever suits your relationship better.

 

[Smoke]

Well...revel in the fact that un-important shit like an election is coming in 16 days....which quite possibly will change America forever.

 

[music~maker]

I arrived home late last night to find my most expensive tree dead after such a wonderful vacation. I almost cried. I am at a lost, not sure what to say. I appreciate the 2 people helping me, but want to RAGE on them. How can you miss the biggest fuckin tree I have, how? Aghhhhhh.
Next vacation ain't happening in a while. I am installing a camera with live feed and a larger automatic watering system. Thankfully my 2 cats and my dog are still alive. Sorry to vent on you all, but I need a shoulder to cry on. My loses are as follows;
2 fukien tea trees, large sand pine, podocarpus, crepe myrtle and about 10 saplings of elm and bahama berry. More damage is sure to come. Several of my junipers are looking awful.
Anyways, I will tend to my trees and salvage what I can. Ahhh . SHIT.

That sucks. I've definitely had similar experiences with people improperly watering things after I left what I thought were clear instructions.

Nowadays, nobody waters my trees without a full garden walkthrough and watering lesson just before I leave.

My condolences. Best thing you can do is go get some more trees to work on.

 

[petegreg]

I'm always sorry to hear this. And I'm sorry to say I hate vacations.
Been there... Last time some five years ago. Coming back home in the night I spent all the night submerging poor trees and emptying two bottles of wine...
The only person who can keep my trees alive is my mother. So if she can arrive I can depart.

 

[JudyB]

Wow, so sorry. I hope you don't give up, and I hope you do not loose everything.

 

[justBonsai]

The average yard gardener isn't going to know how to water bonsai trees properly especially when most enthusiasts tend to use open free draining soils as opposed to the more standard nursery mixes. I installed a water system a bit over a year ago and it works well enough that I don't have to fear vacations. When I'm busy my mom is also able to help me a lot and trust her for the most part in tree care.

 

[Soldano666]

Such a bummer. As said before we have all suffered these loses but it doesn't help soften the blow. It really is the worst feeling ever seeing them in such a condition. Sorry for your losses buddy

 

[choppychoppy]

I arrived home late last night to find my most expensive tree dead after such a wonderful vacation. I almost cried. I am at a lost, not sure what to say. I appreciate the 2 people helping me, but want to RAGE on them. How can you miss the biggest fuckin tree I have, how? Aghhhhhh.
Next vacation ain't happening in a while. I am installing a camera with live feed and a larger automatic watering system. Thankfully my 2 cats and my dog are still alive. Sorry to vent on you all, but I need a shoulder to cry on. My loses are as follows;
2 fukien tea trees, large sand pine, podocarpus, crepe myrtle and about 10 saplings of elm and bahama berry. More damage is sure to come. Several of my junipers are looking awful.
Anyways, I will tend to my trees and salvage what I can. Ahhh . SHIT.

Where you at in Fl. bro ? Im here in FL too - Ive got so many trees I dont know what to do with em all maybe I can get you a few things to make the loss sting a bit less.

 

[Cadillactaste]

@choppychoppy thats mighty kind of you to make such an offer to the poster. I wouldn't mind seeing that weeping tree to the left a bit better.

@Jarath ...sorry to hear this happened. Many have experienced the same thing. Doesn't make it easier to swallow when it's you.

 

[Barry]

I know exactly hw you're feeling today! I was in Canada this week and got a call from a neighbor yesterday afternoon. My next door neighbors tree fell in my back yard. I came home today and while I feel lucky that it missed my greenhouse and most of my shelves it did demolish an ume, a cork bark elm and a really large JBP. Im hoping that my neighbors insurance will cover the trees as well as my fence and garage!

 

[jquast]

Team up with a local club member and trade-off taking care of the others trees while they are away. I feel comfortable knowing that while I'm away that someone who knows how to care for and water trees is looking in on mine and I do the same for him. Had a neighborhood kid water the trees for we many years ago and even after giving implicit instructions that they need to water everyday found out afterwards it didn't happen.

 

[Vance Wood]

It is a difficult thing to deal with but you have to set up an automatic watering system. Even if you have someone you believe you can trust you are limited by the limits of their understanding. I ran into a guy once upon a time that was "bitching" about losing trees. To make a long one story short he did not water his trees at all. He believed that if you put a tree in the ground it does fine if it only gets the occasional rain, therfore he treated his future bonsai compost the same way. You set up a watering system that works in covering all the trees with no border issues. You make sure you use the system at least for two weeks before you leave. Then you can trust someone to look out after the details when your gone.

 

[miker]

I'm so sorry, that really sucks. My sand pine(Pinus clausa), which is not even remotely close to as nice as yours was, might be destined for the same fate after its first winter in Pennsylvania.

I think this happens to all of us sooner or later, but that does not help it hurt less.

 

[Jarath]

Where you at in Fl. bro ? Im here in FL too - Ive got so many trees I dont know what to do with em all maybe I can get you a few things to make the loss sting a bit less.
View attachment 121043

Clearwater, Fl.

 

[choppychoppy]

Clearwater, Fl.

Well you're not too far from me - Im in Gainesville. If you are ever up this way send me a message.

@choppychoppy thats mighty kind of you to make such an offer to the poster. I wouldn't mind seeing that weeping tree to the left a bit better.

I will take some pics of the weeping Yaupon tonight for ya