Long term Prunus survival problems.

I see it's been almost two years since I have been around here.I have been too busy.My bad.

I have had real problems in keeping every cherry,plum,peach,and apricot I have tried as a bonsai alive for more than a few years.They do real well,the first few years,then anywhere from year three on,they just lose vigor,and give up the ghost.Usually one branch or section of the tree at a time.The longest I have ever been able to keep one alive,is this Nanking Cherry,I have had as a bonsai for nine years now,that is dying in the same old way.I have a pear that I have had since 1999,and an apple I have had since 2000,that are very happy as bonsai,but there seems to be something about prunus trees.I have had both fruiting and flowering trees that die like this,collected,nursery grown,and seed grown.The ones from seed always die in the third year.I found a copy of the old Tuttle bonsai books from the 50s.Buried in the species guide is a note about how,despite their popularity prunus do not do well as bonsai.I have not seen this in any other book.

Has anybody else had this problem?

hi,
we were chatting about this the other evening as a friend was looking to source a very old imported flowering cherry or plum sp. A huge percentage of the trees we knew about have declined or even died over the years. Most have lost the key mature branches and are now just poor examples. This i think is due to the amount of diseases these trees attract - they really are very suceptable to just about every plant disease a deciduous tree can get !. I know to keep one healthy you need to be following a strict and constant spraying regime with products that protect against and kill off everything.

I think it is the combination of constant attack from disease and a species that is not extremely strong in the confines of a pot that leads to their steady decline once a bonsai-ist gets hold of them.

cheers Marcus

AND, I'm not at all sure that Albuquerque's environment is suited to potted Prunus species. I think they prefer a bit more moisture in the air.

I think annual repotting is important to the health of prunus mume. That, and very heavy feeding, with a quick drain soil, and lots of water.

JimLewis wrote:AND, I'm not at all sure that Albuquerque's environment is suited to potted Prunus species. I think they prefer a bit more moisture in the air.

This is more than likely one of the main problems.

The only way I have sucessfully kept them alive for more than a handful of years is to put then in to a deep over size pot or growing container for normal growth and cram them in to a bonsai pot for display then back in to the growing container.