Loropetalum

Baz

Sapling
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Hi all
I have a loropetalum (chinese fringe flower) Bonsai and the leaves are going brown the flower buds are shriveling the ocasional leaves are stook together I water with rain water from a but and feed with a half strength Ericasiouse feed the tree is in a semi shaded position but gets the morning suI re potted at the begining of March this year this tree is about 10yrs old and been in my posesion about 3yrs with no problems any help or advice would be most welcome

Barry

Z8 England
 
Barry, it's probably the repotting( unless you changed something you didn't tell about), how much of the roots did you remove, remember that after potting your watering needs to match the tree's needs, it's probably not drying as quickly as it was prior. It may just be in recovery mode, but I confess to not knowing much about this type tree.

To cover bases though have you checked for pests?
 
Fringe flower

Hi Bill
Thank you for replying I chopped about a third off the roots due to this tree filling the pot I did not feed for about 2 weeks and left the tree in shade It seemed ok at first then started to develop these brown leaves I am begining to think that it maybe somthing to do with the water i used because we had a flat roof re felted last year and now i am wandering if something has got into the tank I do use a sock over the pipe into the tank to catch any rubish but who knows it could be chemicals from the roofing all my other trees are ok

Barry
England Z8
 
Hi Barry
Loropetalums go into shock very easily,they do not repot very well. I've tried to do around 5 or 6 and only one survived. Keep it on the dry side ,let the soil dry out between watering. I don't think your water is the problem,the are just a little hard to grow.

Greg
 
Gee I must be doing something right. So far I have found the one I have to be pretty easy to grow. I repotted in March and other than a few days of slight wilt afterwards, it barely skipped a beat. I did find mine likes more sun than just early morning sun and not much fertalizer. Did you let it flower this spring? I did not and removed every bloom as soon as possible, since I figured the stress of repotting was enough for this year. Do you have a picture?
I included a picture of my Fringe Flower (before repotting). It's a work in progress, the work involved is trying to reduce it enough to put in a proper pot. It started out as a 4 foot nursery plant about two years ago.
 

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M.B., that is a nice tree. First one that I have seen that actually looks like a tree. Since they are like bougs and wisteria, getting one with a thick tree like trunk with tree like branches is pretty good work.

Hope to meet you in Modesto in Nov. at the convention, Al
 
Thanks Al, I found this at a small, out of the way nursery in Rocklin, CA. I could tell it had been in the pot for a very long time but loved the movement in the trunk. As you know, many Fringe Flowers look like sticks in pots almost forever, so I jumped on this as soon as I saw it. The root ball was a mess when I finally repotted it this spring but that's to be expected. It will take a long time to sort it out.

Ah the Modesto GSBF Convention. I went on the GSBF website as soon as I heard it was going to be so close. They didn't have the workshop schedule posted back then so I need to revisit and see if there's anything still open and of interest. Thanks for reminding me. Otherwise I'll just go for the day, sit in on some demos/lectures, go "SHOPPING" at the vendor area and spend way too much money. Looking forward to it.

Barry, sorry to have hi-jacked your thread. Did your plant survive?
 
I found something similar to yours MB at a nursery about a month ago and jumped on it. Your right, most are sticks in pots or they are clump style with lots of trunks growing out of the ground. The trunk is a little over an inch which is one of the largest I've seen for this type in a nursery environment. Of course, there are many varieties, and choosing the wrong one could just end up in heartache. This variety (burgundy) has an excellent peeling bark, flowers all season, and has a fast growth rate.
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Thats a real good tree M.B. Nice trunk and movement. I guess they don't like alot of humidity,its very humid where I live. I see alot of them in landscapes around town and often I see them die back.
The one that I did have that lived was a foot tall with about a 1 inch trunk. I sold it last week and don't have a pic of it.

Greg
 
Since they have good resistance to disease and pests, they are described as being long-lived. I generally accept that to mean they will outlive me.

Enuf to make them worth working on -- and something other than an accent plant -- thanks! Over on BonsaiTalk there's a photo of a "professional" bonsai Loropetalum with a great trunk that looks to have some real age on it. So: one more species to consider as I fill up my too-limited shelf space.
 
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