Heavy rain kills my trees

Hi all,

This is my first post in this forum. I am not sure if this is the right thread. Thanks for the help in advance.

For the last 3 years the weather changed a lot and started to rain almost 10 months per year. Due to this fact i have been using very very fast draining mix and almost no organic. Still i am loosing many of my trees every year. The ones that manage to survive, suffer branch die backs. I am definetly sure that root rot is not an issue for most of my trees but fungus.

My question is do any of you know any solution, feed, medicine etc that i can increase their survival rate. Please note that my neighbours do not let me build anything including tent let alone green house. Also please give the name of ingredients instead of brand names as i can not fing those brands in my country.

All comments are welcome.

Regards

Hi Eaglion

Take all the side-windows out of your greenhouse...I did this, now I have a place for the trees, if it rains more days.
Spray your trees with this " TONUS V ", and the roots will soon be better, and grow again. Keep the soil faerly dry.
You can buy it here www. nordic-bonsai.dk

Kind regards Yvonne

Thanks Yvonne,


It may be my English. I do not have a greenhouse at all. I checked that Tonus V you mentioned. From what i can understand from google translate it is a multivitamin mineral solution from vegetables and organic materials. Similart to sea weed products i think. I am feeding them frequently with see weed but it does not suffice.

Do you know any antifungal name? I used one that works on rose powdery mildew but it did not worked for bonsais.

Regards,
Eaglion

Eaglion wrote:Thanks Yvonne,


It may be my English. I do not have a greenhouse at all. I checked that Tonus V you mentioned. From what i can understand from google translate it is a multivitamin mineral solution from vegetables and organic materials. Similart to sea weed products i think. I am feeding them frequently with see weed but it does not suffice.

Do you know any antifungal name? I used one that works on rose powdery mildew but it did not worked for bonsais.

Regards,
Eaglion

try PREVICUR from Bayer

Thanks Stavros,

I think we have Previcur here. I will try.

Regards,
Eaglion

Chlorothalonil and mancozeb are very good as fungal protectants (most are only protectants and not fungus killer) They are also a bit nasty to humans.
If the fungus issues do not settle in a year or so it would be a good idea to move to species that are not affected.

After the very long over 10 year drought broke in Australia Fungus ran rampant. From ground trees as well as my collection I see it is slowly improving but I still wonder if some deciduous species can be grown as normal again.

Look for trees that are not affected as much and maybe concentrate your collection to them. Continually using bad chemicals and being worried that your trees will be attacked is no fun.

Remember that the more stressed a tree is the more the fungus can hinder. What you may be able to get away with when the fungus is not around may now kill the tree.

Have you tryed tilting the pots or semi covering the soil, so the rain cannot actually get into the pot. I have found in most cases of fungal attacks if you deprive it from what it needs they subside. So if you can deminishe the amount of moisture and increase the air flow it will help. I would also go to a nonorganic mix and maybe increase the particle size. I have the same problems here with excessive rain fall I live in zone 8b/9a along with the heat/ fungal issues are constant.

Hope this helps
Mitch

Dear Bret,

I will check if we have either of chlorothalonil and mancozeb here. I have two sons of 20 m/o and 38 m/o and indeed hate using any chemicals. On the other hand i had to spent more time on trees than them. Using chemical will not only save my trees but my time that i can spent with kids.

It is hard to find trees around where i leave . And you are right. It is not fun to loose them after 10 years of work. I do not have courrage to throw away the suspected ones. I reorganized my garden that except the ones in ground, all my trees are now under full sun. Also "not so healthly looking ones are seating on an other bench far from the healthy looking ones. I am planning to keep them this way until the rainy days go away and hot summer sun become effective. By this way at least i can let the trees dry a bit in the day time.

Dear Mitch,

I am definetly sure that the drainage is not an issue. Even the trees in basket pots suffers. On the other hand, when it starts to rain it does not stop for weeks that constant moist may be a problem for the roots too. I always suspect the leaves. What kind of material do you suggest for covering the pots. Rootball sheets can not stand the rain much let it in and i am not sure about nylon sheeting it my turn things worse.

Thanks for the comments.

Regards,
Eaglion

Eaglion
You may be able to place your trees against a building, wall ,fence or larger trees to shield it from some rain. I have placed some pots on small pieces of carpet that hangs down lower on one side, this help In making a siphon to help drain you pots. The only problem I had doing this is the carpet gets a unpleasent algae build up and must be cleaned. Another thing you can do is make sure there is ample room under the pots. If the pots are on a flat surface it slows down water from escaping.

Mitch