Hi again, and a boxwood

eferguson1974

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Hello again, it's been a long time since I posted last. I haven't had time or money for bonsai. But last fall my neighbor pulled out some boxwoods from his yard. I didn't know until they were half dug, half pulled out with a truck. I tried to save 2 but only one survived the winter. It's in a shallow plastic storage box I drilled holes in. The dead one is in it too. The live one is about 4" across and gnarly. I'm pretty sure it could be a cool bonsai. So I want to know how long to let it recover before I start. It's in sphagnum moss and mulched with pine straw. Should I take it out of the box to see about a training pot? All the foliage is new, it had just a few leaves over winter. I know it will need some or all the big branches cut off eventually. I'm not worried about a design or front until I know it will survive. It was brutalized. I think some roots stickney over towards the far end of the box. I left all I could. I'm surprised it survived.
I left the hose in the pics for scale. I'm in zone 7A, if that matters. I guess I need to know what to do next, and when. A boxwood is very different from the strangler figs and tropical species i kept in Costa Rica. I appreciate any advice.
 

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Tiki

Mame
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Dat der ain't no boxwood. Itta Ilex. Mhmm.

Deep red tips are a good sign it's coming around from being collected. Summer time you "can" repot ilex, but I wouldn't want to unless I had to. But my summers can go triple digits so there's that. You say "brutalized" I read that as not much root and not much green when collected. My advice would be sit on it a solid year after collecting and get it on a fertilizer plan. Kinda let that train build up steam and momentum before hitting the hill.
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
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Bro! I been thinking about you a lot lately in this Aquaponics design!

Hay!

Sorce
 

eferguson1974

Chumono
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Bro! I been thinking about you a lot lately in this Aquaponics design!

Hay!

Sorce
Hi Sorce, I hope you're well. I'm still playing with aquaponics. I have 2 tanks and 4 growbeds. And a bunch of organic veggies in soil. And a hydroponic tower garden. One aquaponics bed is too full of strawberries, I have to thin them out soon. I had some ficus (of course) but they didn't survive the winter inside. LED shop lights are not grow lights, lol. I have a ponytail palm in a bonsai pot and that's it. But when I saw the neighbors pulling out shrubs I asked for the fattest ones for bonsai. I didn't think they would make it but the one did. I guess it's best to leave it until fall at least and it's been a year to do anything to it. And then I don't know what to do first. I suppose it needs a training pot and bonsai soil. Then what? Wait a year? Keeping bonsai here is a different sport than next to a rainforest. It takes longer for them to heal and grow back here. Down there it's always growing season if you water. I miss it.
It's good to hear from you. If you're working on aquaponics stuff I'm happy to help if I can. I'm glad to see you're still here!
 
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