Tree Troubleshooting and Detective Work

[Tidal Bonsai]

Hello Nuts!

I had a setback on my Amur maple that I wanted to share with the members of the group. It was a really interesting puzzle, that I hope will help members troubleshoot their own trees.

I thought I had regained vigor in my tree, but I had always noticed that the lower right side was weaker than the rest of the tree. I let that area grow to regain strength last growing season.


Since it seemed to be stronger, I gave the tree some wire in the fall. After winter dormancy tragedy struck!!! One of the apex branches died off over winter, the secondary trunk apex died, and most of the lowest right branch died.


Here are the conflicting clues I had to troubleshoot this:

1. Usually when there is a problem at the apex of a tree it is usually related to the sheen (the root area under the trunk).

2. I just repotted this tree last year, so I knew it wasn’t a drainage or soil issue.

3. I repotted the tree twice, so I knew there wasn’t field soil left in the rootball.

4. Since most of the tree was fine with the wiring, it wasn’t it wasn’t a problem with my wiring technique or winter care.

5. I found some discolored bark on the back side of the tree right underneath the dying lowest branch.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

When I got it out of the pot, I found a mat of healthy roots… all good there


When I investigated the discolored bark, I found a dead section where roots didn’t grow.


After looking at the underside of the tree, everything looked fine… until I poked the bottom with my chopstick…


There was a two inch deep rotten section directly under the weaker lower right trunk. This may have been from age, but I believe there was dieback at some point in this trees life after a heavy root removal under the trunk that caused the hole and the shari.


I fixed the issue by filling the hole with two part epoxy. Finally it was slipped into a grow box to get it back on track!


After all of this troubleshooting. I now know the reason for all of these issues! Don’t rush repotting, be receptive to what the trees are telling you, and use every setback as a learning opportunity!!!

 

[The Warm Canuck]

In my brief experience, I find Amurs extremely unpredictable. I lost the entire half of a healthy tree last year. I'm just going to work with the dead wood with this species moving forward.

 

[bonsaibandit]

Thank you for sharing, very informative! It’s always helpful to see what causes problems and how to resolve them. Great looking tree otherwise! I hope it recovers well this season

 

[Colorado]

Sorry to hear that!

Did you over winter the tree outside? It is pretty well documented that die back can happen if you wire in the fall and then expose the tree to really cold temperatures.

Also, I’ve seen it mentioned that Amur can be kind of notorious for dropping branches for no particular reason.

 

[NaoTK]

Did you excise all the punky wood before sealing? I have found the rot will travel up the trunk and cause all sorts of issues.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

In my brief experience, I find Amurs extremely unpredictable. I lost the entire half of a healthy tree last year. I'm just going to work with the dead wood with this species moving forward.

I know you have been asking about them, and I am documenting what I have been seeing the past few years. I haven’t given up hope yet, because this tree has been taking well to most of my techniques so far (grafting, partial deflation, energy balancing, etc). I am optimistic that the work I did yesterday will set it up for future success. If not, I am out of ideas, haha!

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Sorry to hear that!

Did you over winter the tree outside? It is pretty well documented that die back can happen if you wire in the fall and then expose the tree to really cold temperatures.

Also, I’ve seen it mentioned that Amur can be kind of notorious for dropping branches for no particular reason.

That was the first thing that came to mind, but I don’t think that was the issue for two reasons:

1. I stored it in a shed with a space heater over the winter.
2. 80-90 percent of the branches I wired had no issue at all and are pushing spring growth.

I am not giving up hope yet. I always heard the same about birch and @MACH5 has an amazing specimen in his garden!

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Did you excise all the punky wood before sealing? I have found the rot will travel up the trunk and cause all sorts of issues.

Yes sir! That’s what I am hoping to avoid!!!

 

[rockm]

That was the first thing that came to mind, but I don’t think that was the issue for two reasons:

1. I stored it in a shed with a space heater over the winter.
2. 80-90 percent of the branches I wired had no issue at all and are pushing spring growth.

I am not giving up hope yet. I always heard the same about birch and @MACH5 has an amazing specimen in his garden!

Amur gets dieback. It’s not as stable a bonsai subject as trident or Japanese maple. Most all bonsai Amur have some kind of punk wood or dead parts.

Fwiw. A space heater in a shed is not the best thing for this species. It’s native to Amur which is basically Siberia. It is an extremely winter hardy species. I leave mine out on the Bench with no protection for the winter.

 

[Cenovak]

I've even had a professional work on a large Amur maple and it had a whole trunk die back. No idea why. I'm going to incorporate the deadwood in the design.

 

[Paradox]

What a shame it died back
It was a nice tree
Hope you can get it to recover and redevelop it