Two salvaged old boxwoods from my yard

[gionk]

Funny how One can go from not having a particular affinity for certain trees, to suddenly having them in ones collection.. Doing some landscaping work this weekend to accommodate a garden space required the removal of a few overgrown & fugly bushes. I managed to save Them from the chipper, literally.. the gf was gung ho to clear the space! I'm pretty sure these two are boxwoods, and the others were ugly and worthless material..
I neglected to get pics before starting work.. Lets just say they were out of control...

Stumpy #1


Stumpy #2

 

[gionk]

I was rather aggressive and pressed for time, but managed to get em cleaned up and in pots.
Getting them out of the ground was surprisingly easy.. There were some large roots, but thankfully a good mass of feeder roots very close to the base. In the process of hosing them down(which may or may not have been wise), a lot of the color was removed from the bark the bark actually looks a lot like the roots now.. I'm pretty sure the gray color will return with time.. I left as many leaves/buds as I saw fit, and am pretty confident they will survive.. Time will tell, and I am not going to be heart broken if they die. Wasn't really searching for boxwoods to begin with!

Here they are, in their pots.. The pots are all I could come up with, and would have preferred larger ones..
On the left we have stumpy #1, stumpy #2 on the right

 

[gionk]

Here are the leaves. Any ideas what type of boxwood?

 

[jk_lewis]

Looks like B. mycrophylla. The larger one on the right has a LOT of potential.

 

[Poink88]

Nice save. I like them both.

 

[october]

Awesome finds. As jkl said. That one on the right looks to have great potential. What's great now is while they rest for the next couple of years, you have plenty of time to contemplate style choices.

Rob

 

[gionk]

so its been about two weeks.. though the trees aren't dead, they did have some random leaves die and so far I see no new growth. Dario or anyone know how long before I should start seeing something? i've kept them in the shade and hopefully watered properly.

 

[Poink88]

Some plants take a while to take off and depends on the general health to begin with and how much fine roots you got. I have a few that took just a few days, some couple of months before giving me new growth.

Just give it full sun, water WHEN needed and let it be. Good luck!

 

[Poink88]

BTW, you might eventually (in 2 years maybe) have to try to separate some of these...the trunks are really showing great age (muscles) and you should capitalize on that feature. The left "stump" is wonderful and compact. I can see a very nice future for that one...together or separated.

 

[gionk]

really? full sun? these grew on the north side of the house forever with only shade. i read somewhere that they like shade. sun wont be an issue?

 

[Poink88]

really? full sun? these grew on the north side of the house forever with only shade. i read somewhere that they like shade. sun wont be an issue?

They thrive best under some afternoon shade (here in TX) BUT all my collected boxwood are in full TX sun. After they show some shoots, I slowly give them shade. I have yet to lose a boxwood (and I collected a lot of it). Sink or swim? LOL

I'll share my thoughts (why) on this... with barely any leaves (with lots of leaves I will adjust this), there is not much to protect and the tree can use as much photosynthesis it can get at this stage. Even with compromised roots, it should be able to sustain the water demand of the minimal leaves. I also believe that the green under the bark of the younger branches (and I am afraid I may be flagged for this) to do some sort of photosynthesis. The roots can use the heat as well....so I put them in full sun. Just the reasoning of an old crazy man...take it or leave it.

***Just to clarify...this is for boxwood but I may use same technique for some trees.

 

[gionk]

these things appear to be dying. im wondering if the full sun ive been giving them is why

 

[october]

these things appear to be dying. im wondering if the full sun ive been giving them is why

Doubtful.. Please post some pictures and maybe some details..fertilizers, watering etc..

Trees usually do not show signs or die right away. If your trees are suffering, it is probably due to the collecting.

Rob

 

[gionk]

I had them in the shade for a few weeks after collection, and they stayed green. a few leaves here and there died off, but mostly no change. no new growth yet. when poink suggested sun, I put them in a sunny spot.
I didn't water them a ton until then, but the sun was causing the soil to dry faster. I figured they didn't need a ton of water all along because of so few leaves. seemed logical, and I never let them dry out completely. I also mist them daily. I will mention, that I noticed a huge infestation of scale upon collection. I did put some systemic in the soil and safer on the leaves early on. the only time anything changed is once I put them in the sun. its been a gradual decline ever since. the leaves are all just turning brown slowly. ill try to get pics later..
no fertilizer btw.

 

[october]

Scale will kill the trees if they are still on there. You need to kill 2-3 generations of them before they are gone and they tend to come back. Pesonally and this is just my opinion. I would not have used a systemic. I have no scientific proof. However, Systemic is taken up by the roots and distributed through the tree. Generally, we avoid things to do with roots after collecting. No fertilizers, no disturbances etc. Perhaps, the systemic was not taken up properly because the roots were not functioning at their normal rate because it was collected. The systemic may not have worked.

Also, trees can stay green for a while even when they are sick or dead. This is especially true about conifers. However, boxwood, could probably still show delayed signs of things. If your trees were collected a month ago. It is very possible it is showing negative signs now from the collecting. Some trees, when they are about to die, push out one last flush of growth. So even if your trees are growing quite a bit and green, that does not mean it is going to survive. Thats why they say you cannot consider a collection successful until 1-2 years after collecting.

If it is not a collecting issue. It could be a misjudgement of water. Like you said, the tree requiring more water becasue it is in the sun. Perhaps it dried out a time or 2.

Rob

 

[Poink88]

these things appear to be dying. im wondering if the full sun ive been giving them is why

I honestly don't know but doubt it. I am in Austin, TX and none of my collected boxwood died after collection and treated this way.

These six trees http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?11133-Latest-boxwood-score collected on May are all in full sun from day 1 are all thriving. I water mine almost every day (every 2 days at most-when I am out of town).

 

[Poink88]

I will mention, that I noticed a huge infestation of scale upon collection.

It is possible that you have a weak tree to begin with...and the trauma of collection pushed it to it's limits. Wilting and brown leaves is definitely bad sign...I've never seen those on mine.

I am also not sure how much roots you kept since the pots you used seems much smaller than the root ball shown on the bare rooted pics.

 

[gionk]

stumpy 1 & stumpy 2 = dead.
ill stick with what I know... lol (maples, junipers, and ficus)

 

[coh]

I'm coming to this party late, but I'd have to say I consider the advice to put a newly collected tree in full sun after only 2 weeks highly questionable. Maybe if it's a dormant deciduous tree, but something in leaf? Sounds too risky to me, especially if the plant was in full shade in the ground.

Ultimately it was probably the combination of stress from the collection process, too much sun too soon, and the scale that did them in.

I dug up a yew from our foundation a few springs ago. Didn't get much in the way of fine roots so I put it in shade. After a couple of weeks it was still green so I figured I'd move it to a spot that got morning sun. Within a few days almost all of the older needles turned brown. I've managed to nurse it back to some degree of health but I still wonder if it would be in better shape today if I'd just kept it in the shade a while longer.

Chris

 

[Poink88]

Sorry to hear that esp since those are nice looking plants. I hope you do not give up on boxwood totally. They are very hardy in my experience and very surprised with yours.