Moving.....

GerhardG

Mame
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Rosh Pinah, Namibia
USDA Zone
9b
Hi All

Hope your 2009 started better than mine......:confused:

I've been forced to take a job in another "town", actually a mining town in the middle of nowhere.:mad:
Search for Rosh Pinah on Google Earth if you don't believe me:D

I don't know what the USDA zone for the Hell is, but I guess I'll be in that one.
I've given away 2/3 of my pre-bonsai and most of my normal plants, the few left are my children...
At this stage I have serious doubts whether I can fit more that 2-3 of the small ones in my car for the 900km trip, the rest + 4 remaining bigger trees will have to go into foster care......

I figured I would just use cling wrap to hold the soil in place just incase, but I couldn't help but wonder about 8-9 hours the trees will spend inside the airconditioned car.......can't be good for them?

They'll have to adapt to about 5 C higher max temps (40C easily) and cold winters with occasional winter rains that drift up from SA's Cape Province......but my main concerns is the AC.

AC kills my sinusses......how about my trees?!?!?!?

Thanks
Gerhard
 

bisjoe

Yamadori
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Sammamish, WA
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I wouldn't think that 9 hours would affect them. When I moved mine by car in 1993 it was 14 hours drive
at about 30C with the A/C on all the way and they were all fine. The A/C will dry the air, so thinner leaved trees, especially tropicals might benefit from a loose plastic tent and humidity device such as a wet sponge in a bowl under it.
 

king kong

Banned
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Holy smokes! Are we talking about lead and zinc? Interesting geography. My wife would love it there. She loves rocks and minerals. Good luck with your move! You are a better man than I, I like a little adventure but this looks like a BIG adventure. Are you allowed to have a pet elephant in your new place?
 

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Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
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Charlotte area, North Carolina
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About 10 years ago I moved from Chicago in the middle of winter to Southern California. My trees went from full dormancy to 3 days in a moving truck to 60 degree sunny weather. While in the truck most of them were in cardboard boxes with no other protection.

The only trees that seemed badly affected were my maples. All my conifers - junipers, pines, etc, made the move without a hitch. The maples did not like being brought out of dormancy early, and I lost one of my largest maples that pushed weak buds, then slowly withered and died.

I don't think A/C for a few hours will harm them unless they are really tiny (mame). Even then, A/C is perhaps 65 degrees at the coldest, and that should not be cold enough to make an impact.
 

Attila Soos

Omono
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I moved about 100 trees from Vancouver, Canada, to Southern California it was early Spring. The two Hemlocks died within a year (no big surprise there), but everything else is doing great, after 10 years. The trees came with Canada Post (the Canadian mail), so who knows how many temperature changes they went through? They were still fine. A day or two of change doesn't really affect a tree.
 

GerhardG

Mame
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Rosh Pinah, Namibia
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9b
Thanks....

Hi Everybody

Thanks, I cannot and will not entrust my trees to the moving company.......but I'm going to miss them...
As things stand now I'll do the 1800km round trip to collect them end of March.

King Kong - I know about the Zinc, nothing else. IT guy, not a miner:D
I wish I had a wife like yours, or any kinda wife - would make things easier!:D
Fortunately I have a fly fishing habit I can tickle since I'm 20km's from the Orange river.

I'll make wire/plastic domes where I can, thanks for putting my mind at ease....

"I moved about 100 trees from Vancouver, Canada, to Southern California"
Attila.......hat's off to you and anybody that's done that.
I'm still fighting my way back from a retrenchment in 2002 and I've done a lot of moving, I would not have gone full steam into bonsai had I thought for one moment the moving was not done yet.
I've had to get rid of so much, and the will to rebuild is lacking.....
 

irene_b

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I look at a move with excitement for the new chance to see another part of my world.
Today is a gift called "present" and should be viewed as such.
Irene
 

GerhardG

Mame
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Rosh Pinah, Namibia
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Here in Hell

Hi

Glad to report that the few trees I could take survived the trip, and seem to like the new environment.
I've been told that the soil is low in iron but otherwise very fertile, since the trees are potted I have to assume the water, direct from the Orange river, is causing my trees to grow wild.
The gardens in this little town clearly shows how fertile it is, incredible rugged and dry landscape. I love the mountains.
Being 80km from the coast we get mist at night and it cools down from 40C to actually being chilly - until 10:30am.....
Last night was the exception, no cool down, so we're expecting 50C or rain (very unlikely).....

There are plants with HUGE bonsai potential, succulants of course, but this is a conservancy so I'll have to find out what is legal.

Sad to see the bonsai wars are ongoing......

Regards,
Gerhard
 

Beng

Omono
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How did you all move from other states with your bonsai to California with there strict import laws? I am considering a move back there. Although I love the seasons we don't have there, I moved here from there several years ago.

Last time I started over when I moved out there bonsai wise. Now I have many trees and i'm not willing to start over or leave them with family to kill on the east coast. I know they don't usually operate the plant checks driving into Los Angeles but what if they did on the day I happened to drive in. Is there a way to bring them back in without having to worry about things like that?
 

HumbleTrees

Yamadori
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CHRobinson is the cheapest if have a lot. Crate them on a pallet/pallets, then tell them your shipping household goods.
 

lordy

Omono
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Is it possible that a 5 year old thread about someone moving is now obsolete?
 

Beng

Omono
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The plant checks were there 5 years ago as I actually moved from NY to LA before that. At that time I gave away, sold, and stored a number of trees at my families in Virginia. Came back out to NY for work 2 years ago and was able to bring my trees with me coming this way. If I ever have to do it again I'd like to know how people have arranged for it if its even possible. I have a feeling its not.
 

Emrys

Mame
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Ben

After you train me you can just leave them at my house under my care. You would always be welcome to visit them of course.
 
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