Sekka Hinoki trouble

Japonicus

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Embarrassed to picture this, but we all get into issues now and then.
I am open with my troubles and show the not so good side of honest mistakes
even if it's fatal.
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^ This was my purchase mid October this year. I was informed this hinoki had been repotted 2 weeks prior.
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This is now as of the last month of struggles. I tried to protect from the winds, but one day we got an unexpected windy day
and it had already looked pitiful before that, so not the wind really. The cold no doubt was the issue after talking to International Bonsai
and even got a moment on the tele with @William N. Valavanis through my limited research of Seka or sekka.
There is so little info I don't even find the climate or cold hardiness of this cultivar, but I'm betting zone 5 but that's a guess.
That is why I did not protect from the 1st few frosts, and now the crown appears to be all but decimated :eek:.
There's still some green in the crown, but it's a... h i n o k I, so no back budding.

The lady at international bonsai.com said it entirely is not my fault given a tree potted 2 weeks prior
but I was comfortable enough with my own care that it didn't phase me making the purchase.
She also said to bring the tree indoors for the rest of the dormant season, which in my hands is sure death.

The owner where I got this seka, said not to prune the dead tips of the branches...DEAD TIPS (a clue) (but all the seka they had looked like that or worse)
and wait till Springtime when new growth was starting and just crumble the old away. It was still too intact to do so then and still is.
I do not like pruning going into Winter, so stay the course and hope for the best in regards to pruning.

I did just bring this into our sun room where I had it for the harder frosts and windy days,
but the ambient temperature out there is mirrored to the outdoors often.
Right now it's 37º F. near the ground under the sunroom and 41.5º in the sun room at the days end (maximum differential).

My thoughts were to heal the pot into the ground and mulch heavily. Compared to my indoor capabilities I think
that is my best alternative, and will provide more light, but less wind protection.
A shame with such a nice nebari. My 1st pre-bonsai purchase in years.
 

BunjaeKorea

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I really don't understand why this was repotted in October. That should have been a first warning sign.
Hinoki are from an Ocean/Marine Climate so they dislike very harsh winter weather including frosts.

The room temp you mentioned is roughly the winter climate for Oceanic Climates so it should be fine. I recommend you let it be and keep the soil moist but not too wet.

I think it unfortunate that you were put through this but I greatly suspect that the tree suffered a lot more than it normally would due to the repot.
Weak tree + bad climate = dead/dying
Plus that cultivar is a dwarf type which is more sensitive.

All the best for this poor thing in the future. Keep us updated
 

Japonicus

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I really don't understand why this was repotted in October. That should have been a first warning sign.
Hinoki are from an Ocean/Marine Climate so they dislike very harsh winter weather including frosts.

The room temp you mentioned is roughly the winter climate for Oceanic Climates so it should be fine. I recommend you let it be and keep the soil moist but not too wet.

I think it unfortunate that you were put through this but I greatly suspect that the tree suffered a lot more than it normally would due to the repot.
Weak tree + bad climate = dead/dying
Plus that cultivar is a dwarf type which is more sensitive.

All the best for this poor thing in the future. Keep us updated
Good evening BunjaeKorea! Thanks for the reply. Most Hinoki I look up tolerate zone 5 if established
but this cultivar, as you mention is dwarf. I should have babied it more than I did.
The climate it's in now is of course late Autumn, and 0º F or -18º C. will surely be visited this Winter.
We had -18º F or -28º C. 2 years ago. My other hinokis (Lynns Golden) and landscape varieties locally
did fine.
 

BunjaeKorea

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Good evening BunjaeKorea! Thanks for the reply. Most Hinoki I look up tolerate zone 5 if established
but this cultivar, as you mention is dwarf. I should have babied it more than I did.
The climate it's in now is of course late Autumn, and 0º F or -18º C. will surely be visited this Winter.
We had -18º F or -28º C. 2 years ago. My other hinokis (Lynns Golden) and landscape varieties locally
did fine.
Other varieties are much tougher than these guys. Hinoki has a pretty wide range and sometimes grows at high elevations. When I collect yamadori in Jeju Island they are pretty frozen. I think this cultivar was either developed in southern Japan in milder weather or else in green houses.
I know they are left outside in winter in Jeju and Busan but they have more rainy winters and no hard freezes. We never leave these outside in Seoul.
Seriously hope it kicks back but they tend to be unforgiving
 

penumbra

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I agree about re potting for a hinoki in Oct out of season. My experience with hinoki is it resents re potting and root pruning and should be done early spring. I have around a dozen of them now waiting for a spring repot. More ever, a plant like this should never even be moved two weeks after potting, much less sold and relocated.
 

Japonicus

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@penumbra and @LanceMac10 this seems to be the echoing consensus beginning with
International Bonsai on the tele. I was awestruck by the nebari and felt confident enough
with my aftercare that I never even gave the late potting a second thought. Expensive lesson learned.
I suppose PCB having the greenhouses they do and tropicals, and Coastal Redwoods (temperate) that
environment was not an issue for them to pot it up this late. I have to say their seka looked poor but was assured
that it was normal for them when I mentioned the ones with more die back than this one had at time of purchase
and Steve even showed me how he would crumble the decay come Spring. I received no cautions, but I have to
take some blame for going ahead with the purchase out of ignorance...blissfully? No but I do have to lie in the bed I made.
I might complain it's uncomfortable though. Steve knew I was cautious about temperature, and is why I passed on
Coastal Redwood and another tree that needed Winter protection that I had inquired about.
I forget the tiny leaved tree ATM but was one I inquired about that I saw at the Monastery. I think it was an elm
with particularly tight small foliage, but forget the cultivar. I politely said no, sorry, I cannot provide that kind
of Winter protection. I'll get a couple from William this Spring hopefully.
 

Japonicus

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Don't beat yourself up over it, we have all been there. Lesson learned.
Ya know, I really don't think it's going to die, I'd be surprised,
but it will be critically handicapped with a killer nebari.
Most of my trees have lousy nebari, and is why I purchased this one.
I can only add that my dwarf Hinoki (variety unknown) stays out all year in our Ohio winters with no issues.
Good luck with it.
Most are zone 5, just don't repot or prune going into Winter when the maple leaves are turning.
You should provide wind protection though.

There are very very few threads on here about Seka or Sekka, so I had to start one to start a pile.
Hopefully more and more folks will get into them, and be able to provide more information.
 

Japonicus

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One big quirk that stands out to me like a sore thumb is the blue tag.
Is it not updated? Why repot and prune 2020? Very queer, but the lady that
repotted it herself, said 2 weeks prior she repotted it and quibbled about the price
Steve was selling it for at the pre-repotting session price. Well not quibbled really, just
reiterating the amount of work put into it. He still sold it to me at the pre-potting price
the other ones had on them. I forgot her name, but does that surprise you? LOL old head injuries.
 

BunjaeKorea

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I have had another look at the original pics. Cypress tends to die from the inside out due to shading.
The dead tips tell me that this tree was already not particularly a happy chappy.
Repot and prune 2020 makes me suspect that the new owner would do so, the tree obviously already dying would then certainly die, the new owner would then blame themselves.
 

Japonicus

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These are close friends of @Adair M and have the wherewithalll to properly care for such an endeavor.
Surely Adair has seen the remaining Seka and has an idea. I would like to get his input.
I normally would have passed on the entire group of Seka but when I learned they were hinoki
there, I was drawn in, All the subjects had a lot of die off on the tips and looked sickly to me.

I cannot remember if I sprayed it with insecticidal soap or not. Doubt it then.
 

Adair M

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These are close friends of @Adair M and have the wherewithalll to properly care for such an endeavor.
Surely Adair has seen the remaining Seka and has an idea. I would like to get his input.
I normally would have passed on the entire group of Seka but when I learned they were hinoki
there, I was drawn in, All the subjects had a lot of die off on the tips and looked sickly to me.

I cannot remember if I sprayed it with insecticidal soap or not. Doubt it then.
I haven’t seen the hinoki at Plant City, or if I did, I didn’t pay any attention to them. They will repot things completely out of season sometimes.

Steve and Sandy are friends, and I teach classes there, but they run the place... let’s just say that they don’t always manage their trees in the same manner as I would.
 

Japonicus

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I haven’t seen the hinoki at Plant City, or if I did, I didn’t pay any attention to them. They will repot things completely out of season sometimes.

Steve and Sandy are friends, and I teach classes there, but they run the place... let’s just say that they don’t always manage their trees in the same manner as I would.
Do they ship their plants that are in nursery cans at all?
 

Japonicus

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I haven’t seen the hinoki at Plant City,
Facing the left side of the greenhouse where the JBP in 1g cans are up on the table/shelf (outdoors)
they (seka) were to the right of those mid October. I would love to get and should have got an Itoigawa.
I'm sure the one I was eyeballing would be long gone by now.
 

Vance Wood

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I can only add that my dwarf Hinoki (variety unknown) stays out all year in our Ohio winters with no issues.
Good luck with it.
The only person I know who has delt with this species is Bjorn Bjornholm in Nashville Tennesee. You might want to look him up and call him. I do not think it would do well indoors which seems to be the direction some arew suggesting. I know of no conifer that will do well indoors without extreme clever conditions being fulfilled.
 

Japonicus

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The only person I know who has delt with this species is Bjorn Bjornholm in Nashville Tennesee. You might want to look him up and call him. I do not think it would do well indoors which seems to be the direction some arew suggesting. I know of no conifer that will do well indoors without extreme clever conditions being fulfilled.
Hiya Vance!
Nashville aye? Here I thought he was in England.
You're right about indoors, and I suck at indoor bonsai too. Like a Hoover!!
Looked at a juniper bonsai, top rocks glued into pot at Lowes this evening.
Got an African violet instead. Those I can do well with :)
Didn't need another procumbens...I don't think.
 
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