My Troubled Boxwood

[sikadelic]

A little backstory on this guy: I picked it up last year and repotted it into a bonsai pot right away. I had planned to work on filling in the branches as they were quite bare. It was rebounding well from the removal of several dead/unwanted branches until I had to leave for a 3 month training event in TX. I left it in the care of a friend with no experience keeping anything alive. I went over my watering plan with him, however, he didn't stick to it and my tree was in terrible shape when I returned.

I repotted it this year to get it out of a poor mix I used and noticed the roots were not in the best condition. Oil Dri was one of my components (which I will never use again) and it has mucked the pot up pretty bad. I moved it to a better mix and hoped for the best this year. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure it is experiencing a slow death.

I had a few new green shoots this year but they would fade to a dull yellow after a week or two. Any input?

 

[fourteener]

I'm gonna guess that the roots gave you their last bit of energy and tried to make something happen. Plants have a limited amount of energy and all of the situations you described drained that. A plant will try to live to the bitter end, but when the batteries run out...that's all it has. Sorry. You can keep trying and see, but it's probably so weak the end is near or here.

 

[Poink88]

Sorry to say that this seem to be dying if not dead already.

 

[edprocoat]

I'd hang on to it until fall, it might make some good firewood !

ed

 

[sikadelic]

I'll continue to care for it, but I was/am pretty sure it's toast. Thanks guys.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Looks dead. Hopefully their placement around the AC unit is temporary.

I'll never forget early on, visiting a bonsai acquaintance who was spending plenty on trees. His benches were 1x6 boards, resting on cinder blocks on the right, and resting on the AC unit on the left. The left-most tree was the nicest, fattest piggy imported azalea I'd seen at the time, and the left side was absolutely toasted from the constant warm air blowing. I was dumbfounded.

 

[M. Frary]

Didn't notice the air conditioner till you brought it up. Put a kings ville near mine last year and about killed it before I realized what I had done. A lot of it's leaves were turning yellow and falling off. Like an elm in fall. This was June last year. It was only there about 2 weeks. After I moved it it recovered because I think I caught it in time.

 

[Poink88]

Looks dead. Hopefully their placement around the AC unit is temporary.

I'll never forget early on, visiting a bonsai acquaintance who was spending plenty on trees. His benches were 1x6 boards, resting on cinder blocks on the right, and resting on the AC unit on the left. The left-most tree was the nicest, fattest piggy imported azalea I'd seen at the time, and the left side was absolutely toasted from the constant warm air blowing. I was dumbfounded.

Didn't notice the air conditioner till you brought it up. Put a kings ville near mine last year and about killed it before I realized what I had done. A lot of it's leaves were turning yellow and falling off. Like an elm in fall. This was June last year. It was only there about 2 weeks. After I moved it it recovered because I think I caught it in time.

I hope one of you guys create a separate thread about this very important piece of information some may benefit from. I know I did (THANK YOU) and just realized what caused the death of one of my azalea (thankfully just a house plant and not slated for bonsai). The one that replaced it's spot (a Korean Hornbeam moved there 2 months ago but leafless) got relocated yesterday as soon as I read these. I hope it is not too late since it hasn't leafed yet. Either a late bloomer or dead.

 

[sikadelic]

Thanks for the heads up about the AC unit. I didn't think that would have an effect on them too much as most of the air it blew out was cool. I took your advice though and moved my trees just to be sure as soon as I read the comments.