RIP - trees that didn't survive my ignorance

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I want to devote a thread to my trees that didn't made it under my care. Not only it does provide me to give them a proper virtual funeral, but it gives me the time to think what i've done wrong to deserve this. Some others might pick things up i didn't see or thought about.

Trees that are excluded from the list:
  • freshly dug trees (some just don't make it)
  • experiments (how to rescue a dried out rootless taxus for example)
  • airlayers after separation
  • cuttings
  • young undeveloped ignored material.
Trees that will make the list:
  • Trees that are a few years under care and have some promise.
 
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#2
Quercus Suber
Bought in 2010 and repotted in a bigger container with some free draining mix and a lot of large grade pebbles in the bottom of the pot.
201006 (2).JPG
July 2010, partial defoliation
201006.JPG
2011 july
201107.JPG
2011 after this photo i went to the workshop i think it was september. The master told me, go outside and water your tree it is dead, try to save it. I went outside, watered the tree, brought it inside and i said: "the tree is green". Look at the vertical lines on the branches, they are dry. Lets hope we save something. A month later the tree was less green.
2011 fall.JPG
2012 Hoping a new spring would bring new foliage.
2012.JPG
Besides the branches at the base there is nothing. I still have the tree, it is still in the same container and i didn't dare to repot it i think. i do water it sometimes and think what i would do with it. It is technically not dead, but the dreams are gone.
 
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# 3
Pinus thunbergii Technically not a real victim of me, but one i couldn't save.
Tried to rescue this little guy.
First photo is from 2010 happy with the previous owner.
20105.JPG
2015 After purchasing it, it was in a sorry state. I did a (too aggressive) repot and styling. And that was the end of it.
2015.JPG
Don't mess with weak trees.
 
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#4
Taxus baccata
I digged up 200 Taxus +-14 years old from cuttings from a land that needed to be cleared for making a hedge around my house in 2008. I selected some of the better stock for a bonsai future and placed them in the ground.
2010
2010.JPG
2012 first styling
2012.JPG
2016 third styling, weak tree, but hey, its a taxus what can happen?
2016.JPG
2016 a lot of wiring. No backbudding, i should have understood the hint.
2016 after.JPG
2017 came and it got a bit pale in spring, but no real growth, no buds forming. Placed it in the shadow but with the first hot days in may or June it turned brown.
2017 winter.jpg
Take home message: don't style weak trees. Water enough in winter. This one might have dried out to much in the greenhouse.
 
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#5
Pinus thunbergii over rock
One other that doesn't really meets the criteria but it was alive when i got it so...
Pictures of previous owner:
2008
20081.jpg
2012 pale, the owner searched help on a forum.
20123.JPG
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Here my wannabe rescue starts
2015 at aquisition
2015 spring.JPG
2015 Only buds on the tips, nothing growing in the interior.
2015 growth.JPG
2015 did a repot under guidance. Big pot, good drainage, no roots on the right side and a bunch of dry ones at the left. Master says:" where do you find green pines without roots these days...". So i treated it as a big cutting. Careful watering during 2015. It stayed green. Careful watering in 2016, some shy growth and in fall some backbudding. Being optimistic i started 2017 with some fertilization and a bit more watering. Some shoots started to elongate and i was thinking whaw... But then one branche got pale. Alarm bells went off. Placed it in semi shade. Backed of watering. Growth stopped and the first sunshine took life away from this one...
2017.jpg
rock.jpg
Overwatering in spring or to dry in the greenhouse? This little fellow didn't got a fair chance... but they take a while to die.
 
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My list ends with 5 trees lost in a little more than 11 years. A few hopeless rescues but i just payed the price of the pots so it is a lesson well learned. It hurts to give some trees away but i hope i don't make the same mistakes twice.
 

Anthony

Imperial Masterpiece
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Dirk,

sometimes the trees from China are dead when they reach the Netherlands.

We had 3 Sageretia t, make down to here easily and then die in a year or two.
All of the cuttings took and most are still alive.[93 ]
Same goes for those Chinese elms.[ 93 and 96 ]

Fortunately, the roots of the elms survived and now thrive.

The last thus far was an old Fukien tea, the Chinese messed with heartwood
and eventually, it just rotted out. That tree has no stage of age for durable
heartwood.
Good Day
Anthony
 
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When taking care of plants would be easy, the fun and appreciation of good bonsai would be less.
 
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