American Elm, too much sun?

[The Warm Canuck]

This is why I gave up on pond baskets entirely. Sometimes you can water all day and the water just flows out the sides rather than through the root ball. I'm probably doing it wrong. And I don't mean to hijack the thread with a debate about pond baskets.

I don't have this issue with the pond basket in the ground, with similar substrates inside and outside the pot.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

What bonsai nursery in Ontario did you buy this from?

Ray Shivratton's in Orono

 

[Wilson]

Ray is a real nice dude.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

Ray is a real nice dude.

Yes he is, and a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

Pumice was created for pond baskets.

 

[penumbra]

New leaves look like Slippery Elm, Ulmus rubra.

 

[VAFisher]

If it's hornbeam it can take a bit more shade than American Elm would. Hornbeam is more of an understory tree. I get some scorching on mine from time to time.

 

[Scrogdor]

Kinda looks like a watering issue, possible it's not getting enough water due to one reason or another. I've been struggling with a couple of elms that I got recently that came in soil that becomes instantly hydrophobic once the top lair dries out. I'd wet the soil and the top lair would be soaked, but about an inch down everything was dry as a bone. It's possible that when you water it's just soaking the top then diffusing to all the soil around it, but not deep into the main root mass.

 

[ShadyStump]

Kinda looks like a watering issue, possible it's not getting enough water due to one reason or another. I've been struggling with a couple of elms that I got recently that came in soil that becomes instantly hydrophobic once the top lair dries out. I'd wet the soil and the top lair would be soaked, but about an inch down everything was dry as a bone. It's possible that when you water it's just soaking the top then diffusing to all the soil around it, but not deep into the main root mass.

I have a couple like this right now. It's a major pain.
Just give it a good soaking routinely, though not necessarily every day. If it's hard for water to get in, it's hard for it to get out.

 

[Scrogdor]

I have a couple like this right now. It's a major pain.
Just give it a good soaking routinely, though not necessarily every day. If it's hard for water to get in, it's hard for it to get out.

one of my chinese elms already has suffered pretty bad, many of the emerging buds at the top turned crispy. Can't wait to repot it into some better soil.

 

[ShadyStump]

one of my chinese elms already has suffered pretty bad, many of the emerging buds at the top turned crispy. Can't wait to repot it into some better soil.

Yeah, you'd think bonsai specific nurseries would come up with something better. I get the man-hours of watering trees in the preferred inorganic soil and the soil components itself are expensive, but there are more reasonable in-betweens than the commercial nursery mulch.

 

[Gabler]

Carpinus caroliniana is a swamp tree. They're impossible to overwater. I wouldn't put one in standing water like a bald cypress, but I keep mine constantly wet, and they grow like weeds. I also keep them in full sun once I get them established and growing quickly.

 

[The Warm Canuck]

The tree turned out to be a hornbeam, which got killed by a rabbit this spring

 

[Darth Masiah]