Anyone here with Arbutus species?

[Cruiser]

After a camping trip among old growth Pacific madrones I was inspired to pick up some strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo compact). I’ve heard madrones are not bonsai friendly. Strawberry trees look similar and I hear they’re more forgiving.

Unfortunately there does not seem to be much information about them being used as a bonsai subject in America. Mostly what I’m finding is general guidelines.
I’m looking for more detailed information, like Vance Woods writings on Mugos.

Anyway, if someone out there has tips, thoughts, or musings on this genus that they’d like to share, I’d appreciate it.

I’ve included pics of some of the old madrones I saw and the two trees I picked up.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I had Arbutus marina in landscape in SoCal and it did well with minimal care. Salt and wind tolerant, stays relatively small without much maintenance required, pretty blooms and fruit.

Otherwise, I did not try to work with it for bonsai... but I might have given enough time. Pretty tree. It's my daughter's favorite

 

[Drewski]

I did some googling about using arbutus for bonsai several months ago. According to what I found they don’t handle root disturbance very well. So, repotting maybe a big challenge.

 

[cishepard]

I have a collection of photos and posts mostly about manzanita, but also some arbutus and kinnickinnick.

Re: Arbutus:

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/pacific-madrone-experiment-1.40335/#post-683023

Possibly Arbutus:

 

[Cruiser]

I have a collection of photos and posts mostly about manzanita, but also some arbutus and kinnickinnick.

Re: Arbutus:

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/pacific-madrone-experiment-1.40335/#post-683023

Possibly Arbutus:
View attachment 393950
View attachment 393951View attachment 393952

Beautiful trees! Thanks for the link!

 

[Shibui]

I grow Arbutus canariensis and A. unedo. Both handle root pruning an trunk chop well so I was surprised when people consider the american species difficult.
The 2 species above are pretty slow to thicken and difficult to get good ramification which may be another reason why thy are not as popular as other species.

 

[Cruiser]

I grow Arbutus canariensis and A. unedo. Both handle root pruning an trunk chop well so I was surprised when people consider the american species difficult.
The 2 species above are pretty slow to thicken and difficult to get good ramification which may be another reason why thy are not as popular as other species.

Thanks! It sounds like I should get mine into the ground to thicken.

 

[cwilhelm]

I live in the Seattle area and love all the Pacific madrone in our area. They are grand, beautiful trees.

I have not tried growing them as bonsai, but if you live in the Puget Sound region, know that a large number of our madrone are infected with foliar blight. I've seen a lot of trees in my neighborhood deteriorate and die in the past few years. I'm not sure if it has the capacity to jump Arbutus species, but you may have to be a bit vigilant. Sounds fungal in nature: https://ppo.puyallup.wsu.edu/madrone/about/diseases/foliar-blight/

 

[Cruiser]

Th

I live in the Seattle area and love all the Pacific madrone in our area. They are grand, beautiful trees.

I have not tried growing them as bonsai, but if you live in the Puget Sound region, know that a large number of our madrone are infected with foliar blight. I've seen a lot of trees in my neighborhood deteriorate and die in the past few years. I'm not sure if it has the capacity to jump Arbutus species, but you may have to be a bit vigilant. Sounds fungal in nature: https://ppo.puyallup.wsu.edu/madrone/about/diseases/foliar-blight/

Thanks for the tip. I’m up in the Skagit area and the blight seems to be here as well.
I’ve heard Arbutus ‘marina’ is resistant to the fungal issues that plague the madrones. Not sure about unedo.
If you haven’t been yet, and want to see some not-so-average madrones, check out Skagit Island.

 

[Alcam]

I live on Vancouver Island and the arbutus tree is one my favourite, along with giant sequoia and garry oak. The typical arbutus you see in nature is, in fact, basically impossible to bonsai, due to it's incredibly sensitive roots and highly specific soil demands; however, the strawberry tree you speak of is amazing for bonsai! It's low maintenance, can handle lots of pruning and root work, etc. I picked one up at a local nursery a few months ago. I'll post a picture of it sometime soon when I'm home. I highly recommend

 

[Alcam]

It's got a long way to go, but not bad for a nursery find

 

[Cruiser]

View attachment 404001

It's got a long way to go, but not bad for a nursery find

Nice. Have you tried the fruit yet?

 

[Alcam]

Nice. Have you tried the fruit yet?

I haven't yet, no. It's not ripe enough, but I'm patiently waiting!

 

[Cruiser]

I haven't yet, no. It's not ripe enough, but I'm patiently waiting!

The fruit is so neat looking and different from the usual stuff at the store. I’m curious to hear what other people think of it.
I tried it for the first time just recently. In my experience, Pliny was right, just one was enough. It was very bland despite the deep red and orange colors. Still glad I got to try it tho…

 

[Alcam]

Ahh

The fruit is so neat looking and different from the usual stuff at the store. I’m curious to hear what other people think of it.
I tried it for the first time just recently. In my experience, Pliny was right, just one was enough. It was very bland despite the deep red and orange colors. Still glad I got to try it tho…

Ahh, yes, I've read that they're not exactly tasty lil things

 

[Cruiser]

To add to the knowledge in this thread….

Apparently strawberry trees handle hedging well. I saw a bunch of large specimens in downtown Seattle today. Some trunks were 12+ inches.

 

[choufleur]

View attachment 404001

It's got a long way to go, but not bad for a nursery find

Hi Alcam; how is your arbutus unedo doing a few months later in the new small pot? I have a few of these that I transferred from nursery to container planting (quite large pots). A couple months later they dropped a lot of leaves, but seem to be slowly recovering. It would be great to see people on here with successful bonsai

 

[choufleur]

Th

Thanks for the tip. I’m up in the Skagit area and the blight seems to be here as well.
I’ve heard Arbutus ‘marina’ is resistant to the fungal issues that plague the madrones. Not sure about unedo.
If you haven’t been yet, and want to see some not-so-average madrones, check out Skagit Island.

I have one marina and two unedo. One season I did get a fungal spread on both unedos (I’m doing preventative spraying after winters now). The marina was placed between the unedos with branches and leaves overlapping and didn’t appear to suffer any infection.

 

[Alcam]

Hi Alcam; how is your arbutus unedo doing a few months later in the new small pot? I have a few of these that I transferred from nursery to container planting (quite large pots). A couple months later they dropped a lot of leaves, but seem to be slowly recovering. It would be great to see people on here with successful bonsai

Funny you shall ask and offer your experience. The picture I posted was one when it was basically slip potted into the bonsai pot (cut off half of its root system but left it in its nursery soil). It was thriving. I repotted it this year, since it was doing so well, into really good bonsai soil and it lost a lot of leaves and some smaller branches appear to habe died. It has definitely taken a big hit, but I think it'll fully recover. I took the kill-it-or-make-it-a-bonsai approach, so I went pretty hard on its root system. Thankfully, I think it wants to be a bonsai

 

[choufleur]

Funny you shall ask and offer your experience. The picture I posted was one when it was basically slip potted into the bonsai pot (cut off half of its root system but left it in its nursery soil). It was thriving. I repotted it this year, since it was doing so well, into really good bonsai soil and it lost a lot of leaves and some smaller branches appear to habe died. It has definitely taken a big hit, but I think it'll fully recover. I took the kill-it-or-make-it-a-bonsai approach, so I went pretty hard on its root system. Thankfully, I think it wants to be a bonsai

Happy to hear it lives! I had a lot of dieback recently in my large potted arbutus so I had an arborist look at them. He said arbutus in is a lot more susceptible to dieback from even mildly freezing temps and cold wind even in large pots and he suspects the leaf loss wasn’t from repotting but from freezing temps and hot drafts (expected I guess but all my other zone 8-9 bonsai survived the freezing temps this year, the arbutus did not). We had -8C temps a couple days this year. He recommended I keep them against a wall out of the wind in the winter but rotate them to avoid fungal infections, but warned they may still die due to the heat drafts near the wall. I’m still keen on growing them even if this species doesn’t seem to thrive well in potted zone 8-9 balcony gardens. On the ground, we have a few arbutus shrubs growing well with no visible cold damage