How do your temperate climate bonsai cope with that heat?

[Clicio]

Well, at least here in the tropics summer is the rainy season, so 110f is not so unbearable, and...
We are used to it.
But up north, I guess things get out of control pretty fast , specifically if the weather is dry.
So...
Maples?
JWPines?
What are you bonsai enthusiasts doing to save your bonsai from death?

 

[Clicio]

Well, at least here in the tropics summer is the rainy season, so 110f is not so unbearable, and...
We are used to it.
But up north, I guess things get out of control pretty fast , specifically if the weather is dry.
So...
Maples?
JWPines?
What are you bonsai enthusiasts doing to save your bonsai from death?

View attachment 499490

Bump.
Since nobody has answered yet, it seems there are two possibilities:

1 - It was a stupid question as everybody knows the obvious answer.

2 - It was a stupid question as nobody knows the answer to this yet unknowable issue.

 

[Apex37]

I don’t have an answer because these trees seem to die in my climate no matter how I try to care for them. I’m sure with a perfect set up, it’s doable. I just haven’t figured that out yet. I’ve found a few cultivars that handle the heat better than others, but as a whole, JM, and other’s similar, are just not very sustainable in my backyard. YMMV

 

[Clicio]

I don’t have an answer because these trees seem to die in my climate no matter how I try to care for them.

I guess Texas couldn't be worse than Brazil, but I can be wrong here.
Have you tried to make contact with the local fellows doing bonsai?

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Mine start looking pretty beat up in TN around this time of year. No growth at the moment and contrary to what you’d think, the pots stay fairly wet. It’s like they go into a dormancy. The question is whether they will pop back out of it and put a little growth in in September/October or if they will go straight to defoliating for winter. We shall see!

 

[Paradox]

The northeast of the U.S. has been spared the heat that the south and west have been having. We haven't has more than 3 days above 90 where I live so not even one official heat wave all summer thankfully. Last year we had several.

 

[eugenev2]

Well, at least here in the tropics summer is the rainy season, so 110f is not so unbearable, and...
We are used to it.
But up north, I guess things get out of control pretty fast , specifically if the weather is dry.
So...
Maples?
JWPines?
What are you bonsai enthusiasts doing to save your bonsai from death?

View attachment 499490

Japanese white pines don't do so well here, not enough dormancy period and the heat just kill them. There are some that keep them alive tho with freezer setups, but for me that's too much of a investment. Some japanese maples can survive here, just need some decent shade netting and up the watering

 

[Damart81]

I guess Texas couldn't be worse than Brazil, but I can be wrong here.
Have you tried to make contact with the local fellows doing bonsai?

My JM in Tx has been struggling hard, just put it under a 50% shade net instead of a 30% per your comment about it. But the Brazilian rain tree has been thriving

 

[Eckhoffw]

Mine start looking pretty beat up in TN around this time of year. No growth at the moment and contrary to what you’d think, the pots stay fairly wet. It’s like they go into a dormancy. The question is whether they will pop back out of it and put a little growth in in September/October or if they will go straight to defoliating for winter. We shall see!

I notice the same thing this time of year.
Plants slow way down, and pots stay moist even though they have free draining soil.
That said, it has been very humid.
I want to cool them down and provide new air into the soil, so I keep watering them.
This may be the wrong thing to do.

Even here in Minnesota, I believe shade cloth or natural shade is a must for many species in the summer.

 

[AlainK]

They suffer.

If like me you're retired and can water them when needed, they're about all right.

But I have mainly maples, and year after year it's getting harder and harder to maitain them in a healthy condition.

No rain for days, weeks (or almost, there was a very short episode of heavy rain and wind), and it was 35°C today. Fortunately, rain storms coming ahead, but if the wind is too strong, branches will break.

Went to an "Ilex arboretum" two-3 weeks ago. there was a sign saying it was closed before they had to clean all the branches that were damaged by the storm.

I saw the fires in Canada, in Greece... Wow!

I saw on TV a climate-denier, only interested in money, a crook that tried to steal the elections, using all his money to escape from what he deserves : jail.

This happens in countries where the notion of Democracy is confiscated by a few, those who have the money and can manipulate the majority of idiots that will vote for them.

Need examples ?...

 

[BrianBay9]

I've been surprised how well my boxwoods have held up. My first year with 40+ days at 100+ F (40+ C). Low humidity. The expected species do well - olives, native California oaks, junipers. I expected the boxwoods to suffer. They've stopped growing but seem fine.

 

[namnhi]

I'll let the pictures do the talking

 

[Apex37]

I'll let the pictures do the talking
View attachment 504661View attachment 504662View attachment 504663

About what mine look like. I’ve decided, until I move, no more sensitive deciduous. I’m actually surprised. My Beni Chidori has been pushing new growth and it hasn’t been getting burnt yet. It’s actually the only JM pushing new growth and hasn’t been as affected by summer.

 

[Sagebrush]

I've been surprised how well my boxwoods have held up. My first year with 40+ days at 100+ F (40+ C). Low humidity. The expected species do well - olives, native California oaks, junipers. I expected the boxwoods to suffer. They've stopped growing but seem fine.

I lost a nursery olive and one boxwood. The other box purchased at same time has been good. Not great but good. I think next yr with nursery plants I will get them out of black nursery pots and into well draining soil first thing. Junipers in the right soil seem to take the heat in stride

 

[BrianBay9]

I lost a nursery olive and one boxwood. The other box purchased at same time has been good. Not great but good. I think next yr with nursery plants I will get them out of black nursery pots and into well draining soil first thing. Junipers in the right soil seem to take the heat in stride

Yeah my boxwoods are in bonsai soil and ceramic pots.

 

[Tums]

The northeast of the U.S. has been spared the heat that the south and west have been having. We haven't has more than 3 days above 90 where I live so not even one official heat wave all summer thankfully. Last year we had several.

Yeah, if it were to get that hot up here, I think I'd try burying the pots in the shade to keep the roots as cool as possible. Maybe I'd even just bring them inside for a few days. Hard to imagine that what I'd do if it were long-term because triple digits are a serious rarity here. Apparently the all-time record high in Boston was 104 and that was over a century ago.

I can only sort-of identify with how southerners feel because I'm also interested in alpine flowers and rhododendrons, for which even our summers are considered excessive.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Up here in the mountains of Western North Carolina our temperatures are relatively mild—we haven’t gotten above 85 F this summer and then only yesterday. However my J. maples look like crap by midsummer anyway and this year was worse due to a heavy infestation of powdery mildew. This summer I got tired of them looking so ragged so I recently defoliated all of them and they are starting to regrow their leaves. Of course all my trees in the landscape look great. At this point I am kind of hoping the darned things will just give up and die and I can give up growing J. maples as bonsai!

 

[namnhi]

Up here in the mountains of Western North Carolina our temperatures are relatively mild—we haven’t gotten above 85 F this summer and then only yesterday. However my J. maples look like crap by midsummer anyway and this year was worse due to a heavy infestation of powdery mildew. This summer I got tired of them looking so ragged so I recently defoliated all of them and they are starting to regrow their leaves. Of course all my trees in the landscape look great. At this point I am kind of hoping the darned things will just give up and die and I can give up growing J. maples as bonsai!

Happily accept 100 here.

 

[Paradox]

Yeah, if it were to get that hot up here, I think I'd try burying the pots in the shade to keep the roots as cool as possible. Maybe I'd even just bring them inside for a few days. Hard to imagine that what I'd do if it were long-term because triple digits are a serious rarity here. Apparently the all-time record high in Boston was 104 and that was over a century ago.

I can only sort-of identify with how southerners feel because I'm also interested in alpine flowers and rhododendrons, for which even our summers are considered excessive.

If it got that hot here, I would be moving north.
I hate the heat and there is no way I would be able to deal with that

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Happily accept 100 here. View attachment 504728

My dighter and her husband just moved to Weatherford TX last year and shes’s ready to move back to NC already. She and her husband are going to drive up to Utah for a couple of weeks just to get a break from the heat.