dshepard

I have a White Birch Tree Im a Very enthusiatic Bonsai collector. this perticular Birch was naturaly stunted whit a 2.5 in trunk base growing from within a rock with barly any root along side a river and no leaves it was taken late last fall. I put the tree with no roots in some promix soil. watterd it. then basically let it freez in the garage all winter. It did have buds all over it. I brough the tree inside and placed aside a window about a month ago.along with putting in a new mixture of sphangum moss scotts premium soil and hoffmans bonsai soil. a few buds brok and leaf has started to amerge. today i walked in the room to find. theres about ten that have split and about another 5 that have opend into wonderfull bright green leaves.. i dont dare to even pull the tree to check if roots are developing. however im asuming they must if the buds are opening. How long do should i wait to check the status on the roots?? How long before i attempt to feed it. and transplant it to a more suitable pot?? And is this a very harty tree. or a miracle. lol please let me know

JLDoggett

When you say it had no roots, can we assume you mean it had some tight roots at the base of the trunk?

As for it putting out leaves: the buds contain nutriantsand can produce leaves as long as they are able to get water. Cuttings taken in the fall often leaf-out in the spring but never develope roots. The leaves wither and die in a few weeks if no roots are present.

Either way, I would leave it alone for at least a year to recover. If it is alive, it will be trying to grow new roots and "checking" them can damage the tender new ones, possibly killing the tree. I collected 2 paper birches last fall. They are planted in my garden and will remain in the ground for the next few years as I work on the trunks. Each year I will use a sharp spade to cut the roots (one side the first year, the other the second, varying it from year to year) this will cause the tree to develope a tighter root-ball over the years as the trunk and upper tree is shaped.

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dshepard

If you you where looking at some deer antlers that where saved at as a trophy. The part where the antler's where atached to th scull. the very bottom of them.. thats what the base of the collected white birch looked like.

When i put it in a pot i planted it deeper to hopefully allow more roots to begin. There seems to be more leaf growth even from last night..

JLDoggett

I know the illiteration you mentioned. Please do not check for new roots on your tree, is any of those root nodes put out new roots they will be very tender and easily broken. Let it be until next fall at the very least.

__________________
"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and wrong....because sometime in your life you will have been all of these"

And I further resolve to click on an ad, each time I visit, to help support the site and to be welcoming to lurking guests when you join! After all, you're already here.

gelfling

I just obtained a white birch myself. They like conditions very moist I was told. Hence the spot you found it. I would wait a bit longer before you begin to feed and when you do start with a rather diluted solution. On thing you can do now is add humic acid to your soil. I got a huge tub of the stuff from amazon for 9.99. It's going to help your tree absorb any nutrients. One last thing that can be done now is the addition of Mycorrhiza Inoculant to your soil. Any good bonsai store will have it and it's all over the place online. All trees benefit from this stuff but Birch in particular take to the stuff. If new buds are continuing to pop the humic acid and the inoculant will help what little roots you have grow and in two week when you do fertalize the tree will suck the nutrients right up.