Chinese Elm and Black Spot

[_#1_]

Note taken!

Can I do the same with azalea after flowers are spent in a couple weeks? I have no experience with azaleas at all. About 2 months ago when I noticed my "encore" azalea pushing new growth I barerooted and chopped it to a stump with now leaves and placed next to north facing wall. I didn't try the tent thing for humidity but is pleasantly surprised it's pushing buds! I believe the mix was equal parts 1/4" lava, pumice, and "milehigh" DE.

Looking hopeful so far

 

[Rodrigo]

That is the exact process that created the problem in the first place. Short term relief for long term pain. In the end the compacted soil must be removed, it will only get worse. The objective is different from gardening the rootball needs to be developed for a Bonsai in a pot. Killing off the core of the rootball does not accomplish that.

Yeah that's why I hadn't slip potted it yet, that's what I was trying to avoid. But I also wasn't sure if I can repot it now since it's already not doing too well. I'm glad I didn't!

Mine? I'd stop with all the sprays. Root prune hard, bareroot and rinse crap soil out. Good soil in an appropriately sized container. Hell, I might even defoliate and stick it in the shade for a couple weeks.

Probably overwatering....most of the problems you run into just starting out are directly related to watering habits.

No slip potting, it's like putting a dirty bandage on a cut!! No benefits!

Yeah I think that's what I'm going to do this weekend then. Why would or wouldn't you defoliate it right after I repot it and put it in the shade?

I think it is just over watering though like you said. What's weird is that I've held back on watering for a few days now and it's still wet below the surface in full sun so I can only imagine how soaked it was when I was watering more often.

 

[Rodrigo]

Well I repotted the elm last weekend and @bonsainut you were right, all I found under the top soil was a mass of dead and rotting roots.

First I defoliated it. By the way, do you normally cut or pull leaves off when defoiling?


Then I used a chopstick to take the soil off before cutting anything at all. Dead roots were fallkng out the whole time. After all of the soil was washed off, I started removing the rotting roots. I would pull even the thickest ones slightly and they would just fall apart. The whole mass where the trunk widens is mostly dead and rotting:

I tried cutting little by little until I saw live wood but it just kept going higher and higher until I was worried that the few live roots there were would have to be cut off too.

I removed as much as I could and repotted into Akadama, lava, and pumice and then a top layer of sphagnum and is currently in the shade. Next repot, I would go back and remove the rest of the rotted wood when there are more roots to cut back to. Honestly I don't know if it's going to survive with the few roots it has left it had to be done. We'll see!

I also got the potting angle a bit off when I wired the tree in. It should be tilted to the left more to make more of a rounded/flat-ish canopy but I'll fix that next time also.