danrhodes1987

I have rescued a broad leaf bonsai from a friend that had almost dried out to near distinction (I felt sorry for it), now I have been told that the best way to bring a completely dried out bonsai back to life is:

1. Remove the rest of the dried leaves (a few were yellowy green)
2. immerse the pot in a bowl of clean tepid water for 5 - 10 mins
3. Remove pot from water and train with one side higher than the other
4. Pleace the tree in a polythene bag and seal the bag up, making sure that none of the branches are touching the sides.
5. Do not feed the tree until new growth starts, the remove from bag and care for very well.

Am I right in what I am doing?

Dan

treebeard55

Dan, whether the tree will recover depends to a great degree on the species: some trees will recover from such a drastic drying, given the chance, while others will not.

But what you're doing should give it good supportive care. I would only add two things:
-- place it in bright indirect light once it's bagged;
-- be patient; recovery may take a couple of months, as happened once with a myrtle I had.

__________________
Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

centaura

You sound like you're doing everything right - just keep the bag out of direct sun, otherwise it will turn into a steam oven and will finish the job of killing the tree. Do you know what species it is? There are some that will not come back from such a drastic drying out (serissa and sweet plum come to mind), but others that will.

-Centaura

danrhodes1987

Hi,

im not sure what species it is. I dont have any pictures apart from one of it in the bag on my room side.

http://www.saveitwith.us/storage/IMG...90923-1730.jpg

Aparently before it dried out it used to grow like wild fire
The branches used to grow to 7 - 8 inches long within a few weeks?

The nearest I can find in my book that looks like it is a Japanese
Gray Bark Elm, Zelkova Serrata? This is just going on the leaves that it dropped?

http://www.saveitwith.us/storage/IMG...90923-1745.jpg

Really getting worried now that it may be dead! Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Dan

centaura

It is more probably a chinese elm - they are much more common than true zlecova's, but are often mis-labeled zelcova. You won't know for certain until it leafs out - since their main difference is that zelcova leaves are narrower, have a more pointed tip and more pronounced serration along the edges of the leaves. This is one of the hardier trees - and if you got to it soon enough then it might come back. Look at the branches very carefully - if they are smooth, then they might be okay. If they are wrinkled at all - those branches are dead. Many folks ask you to scratch the surface of the bark to see if its green underneath. This is somewhat helpful - though there are some cambiums that remain green even when dead, so this is not a fool-proof way to check for life. But if the branches have wrinkled up to the point that its visible on the surface, then the cambiums have dried out and that branch is dead.

-Centaura