mister_project
Seedling
Hi All,
I'm very new to bonsai and apologize if this is a dumb question or it has an obvious answer. I searched the forums and other resources before coming here, but I didn't find specifically what I was looking for. I'm hoping someone here can help me before it's too late for my wisteria.
I purchased the plant locally at the beginning of last winter. I live near Seattle in zone 8b. I immediately put it into a 1 gallon bucket, as I've read that can help the root and trunk structure grow more desirably. I tried to disturb the root structure as little as possible given my timing with it. I also put fine sawdust shavings over the soil and placed it in a dish with some water in the bottom so the soil could wick moisture up as desired. I kept the water level pretty low to make sure that the roots were all above it and the plant wouldn't drown since I realize too much water is a bad thing. I put all of that into my garage, which stays around 40F-45F at night in the winter. The plant seemed to do just fine but did start budding around a month ago. I thought that was pretty early, but wasn't sure if that meant I failed to hit dormancy or if the plant was just letting me know it was ready to come out. In my experience, plants in Seattle do some odd things and bloom earlier than other locations so I didn't think about it too much.
I took the plant out of the garage and placed it on an east-facing window sill inside. I didn't put it right outside because we were still having temperatures dip into the 20's some nights outside. The wisteria was growing vigorously and has a couple tendrils which were about 24" long. By that point I was getting nervous because I've read that wisteria's should be inside as little as possible. The information I could find indicated that mature wisteria is probably cold hardy to 20F or maybe even lower. Since this is a younger plant and is in a pot, I followed the recommendation of one poster who said to wait until temps were safely above freezing until the plant has some time to mature and settle in a bit. We'd been having lows in the mid to high 30's by that point, so I figured it was safe and took the plant outside. I put it in a location that receives full sun until early afternoon and is then in the shade. Within 2 days the leaves were all starting to fade or yellow in color, and were shriveling up. The plant started dropping leaves quickly to the point where most of the leaves on the new growth and tendrils have dropped, and now the older leaves are starting to look a bit sickly as well. I have the plant inside again but am not sure what to do. It seems like taking it outside like I did will kill it quickly, but keeping it inside is ill-advised and doesn't seem to be helping either.
I'm confused that I had a healthy, voracious grower that is now looking as if it might be headed in the completely opposite direction after just a couple of days. Does anybody have ideas or know what I'm doing wrong? I appreciate any help you can give.
So as soon as the lows
I'm very new to bonsai and apologize if this is a dumb question or it has an obvious answer. I searched the forums and other resources before coming here, but I didn't find specifically what I was looking for. I'm hoping someone here can help me before it's too late for my wisteria.
I purchased the plant locally at the beginning of last winter. I live near Seattle in zone 8b. I immediately put it into a 1 gallon bucket, as I've read that can help the root and trunk structure grow more desirably. I tried to disturb the root structure as little as possible given my timing with it. I also put fine sawdust shavings over the soil and placed it in a dish with some water in the bottom so the soil could wick moisture up as desired. I kept the water level pretty low to make sure that the roots were all above it and the plant wouldn't drown since I realize too much water is a bad thing. I put all of that into my garage, which stays around 40F-45F at night in the winter. The plant seemed to do just fine but did start budding around a month ago. I thought that was pretty early, but wasn't sure if that meant I failed to hit dormancy or if the plant was just letting me know it was ready to come out. In my experience, plants in Seattle do some odd things and bloom earlier than other locations so I didn't think about it too much.
I took the plant out of the garage and placed it on an east-facing window sill inside. I didn't put it right outside because we were still having temperatures dip into the 20's some nights outside. The wisteria was growing vigorously and has a couple tendrils which were about 24" long. By that point I was getting nervous because I've read that wisteria's should be inside as little as possible. The information I could find indicated that mature wisteria is probably cold hardy to 20F or maybe even lower. Since this is a younger plant and is in a pot, I followed the recommendation of one poster who said to wait until temps were safely above freezing until the plant has some time to mature and settle in a bit. We'd been having lows in the mid to high 30's by that point, so I figured it was safe and took the plant outside. I put it in a location that receives full sun until early afternoon and is then in the shade. Within 2 days the leaves were all starting to fade or yellow in color, and were shriveling up. The plant started dropping leaves quickly to the point where most of the leaves on the new growth and tendrils have dropped, and now the older leaves are starting to look a bit sickly as well. I have the plant inside again but am not sure what to do. It seems like taking it outside like I did will kill it quickly, but keeping it inside is ill-advised and doesn't seem to be helping either.
I'm confused that I had a healthy, voracious grower that is now looking as if it might be headed in the completely opposite direction after just a couple of days. Does anybody have ideas or know what I'm doing wrong? I appreciate any help you can give.
So as soon as the lows
