Did you kill your first tree? How?

BonsaiNaga13 said:
Started last year, My first was either a s shaped serissa or many Willow cuttings. One Willow cutting survived an the serissa started dropping leaves the second I brought it home so exchanged it an the new one did the same before eventually dieing. Now I have plenty of seedlings, and some native yamadori from my back yard. Serissa are fussy and I was a novice plus they were greenhouse grown and I didn't have a greenhouse. Now I'm learning to develop and keep alive my seedlings before I try anything more advanced.
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Yes i heard Serissa are quite difficult for beginners!
 
I killed three mallsai, that was years ago, during my university days. After a two week trip I came back to find them very dead. It was my first foray into bonsai. In hindsight I would not have made it very far back then. The interest never died.

This time around, no casualties so far. That said I had someone dig up a Duranta for me, and they cut just about all the roots. Fingers crossed though, its a very hardy species and I am hopeful. The tree itself, aside from a bad case of reverse taper, is VERY promising!

All the best with your first.
 
I killed my first trees buy throwing them out,more than anything.
And mostly the reason for doing so was failing to wire at proper time ......as new shoots are growing and just before they lignify.That way they set in a couple weeks..before control is lost.
Fore some reason
I thought you only wired after leaf fall.
And potting soil took a toll also.
 
My first bonsai survived me, sold it at a show. A really poor example of a Hollywood juniper, variegated no less. What was I thinking? May or may not be alive today.

Killed many of early ones, but I do have my first Japanese maple which I got in ‘88. It is thriving still. I think it was number 4 or 5.
 
Of course. All of first trees dead over time from lack of H2O:(.
 
Ficus tigerbark S shape, overpruned overwatered and changed the soil.
DEAD
 
My first few trees were things I collected then about 6 months later having spent a lot of time on this forum realised they were the literal definition of sticks in pots. Had a willow thing, some random Hawthorn right angle piece of crap, a buddleia, stag horn sumac... all went in the bin to make space for some better material. Some of that better material has also gone as I'm continually learning what is and isn't total shite. I expect half of what I have now is still crap as well!
 
My first was a chinensis juniper of some sort back in 2013. I made all the mistakes on it- Too much pruning and root work, too much water, wrong soil, picking at it every week, and so on. I just couldn't leave them alone the first few years. I must have killed 30 or 40 trees the first year alone. I do still have 3 from that first year that are still trying to recuperate lol. I've since learned to restrain myself but it wasn't easy.
 
Lazylightningny said:
My first was a chinensis juniper of some sort back in 2013. I made all the mistakes on it- Too much pruning and root work, too much water, wrong soil, picking at it every week, and so on. I just couldn't leave them alone the first few years. I must have killed 30 or 40 trees the first year alone. I do still have 3 from that first year that are still trying to recuperate lol. I've since learned to restrain myself but it wasn't easy.
Click to expand...
Ah yes... it's so hard not to smother them with love!
 
My trees come in three varieties: Non-natives that I bought and die within eighteen months, tropicals any poorly-trained simian could keep alive, or natives/invasives that I collected and are still alive out of spite. This winter was particularly brutal on my Japanese maples - I went into it with a half-dozen saplings, came out of it with a half-dozen dead sticks. I've yet to have a conifer or evergreen of any sort live more than about eight months - which includes the first juniper I bought from a nice lady at a roadside stand. That poor thing never stood a chance; the only place I had to grow it outdoors was a windy porch in central Texas. I was salty when I dug its remains up and realized it was just a cutting with a few dinky roots.

I'm sure the death toll will be even higher come next spring when even more plants don't wake up. Thus far, the only things I haven't killed any of have been the Ficus, Portulacarias, and Scheffleras - which sucks because they'll never be good trees in Michigan's climate.
 
Very first tree. Juniper pro nana from Epcot. Kept it indoors, went on vacation, Aunt didn't water at all. Dead. Would have died anyway.

Fast forward, second first tree. Kept outdoors until freeze then into the garage and didn't water all winter. Dead.

Fast forward, third first tree. Wasn't hardy to my zone and I didn't give it enough winter protection. Dead.
 
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