I just joined this forum to post a similar posting, so I'll add something here in hopes of a response. I have two olive tree bonsais that I have had since late last fall. Recently I've been leaving them outside, watering them every couple days by doing a 20-30 minute soak in a tray of water. In the last few days the leaves have rolled up tight and are feeling very dry, though not browning and not completely brittle. Does anyone have a suggestion for bringing them back? I've brought them inside. I'm not sure if I've underwatered or overwatered or baked them in our michigan heatwave. I've also been giving them a soak every 10-14 days in a water bath with seaweed/fish fertilizer (1tsp/5cups). The last thing I'd mention is that recently some sprouts have started forming in the base of one of my trees. It's weird. I don't know if a bird planted something or if these seeds were accidentally put into the soil when someone potted these bonsai. I'm including a link to pictures of my sad olive bonsai trees. Here is a link that might be useful: Rex's Dying Bonsai

Elms are 'northern hardy deciduous' trees, look that up as part of care. All trees classified this way need a dormant period (north American winter season) or they will die. They need to loose the leaves and get very cold, even freeze, for a number of months to survive, just like the big ones in the ground. What you have done is shocked it (depending on where it was kept when you bought it) and it will take a while to recover from that. The really bad news is; allowing it to re-leaf now, in your area, will be very bad for the tree. It should be storing energy for the winter instead of using it's reserves to put out new leaves. Of course don't feel bad, 99.9% of the posts in here are 'Help I just bought my first banzi tree and it's dying!!!! Please help meeeee!!! The last thing you want to do at this point is stress the tree any more, I will offer a time proven suggestion. When all else fails find a large evergreen shrub in your yard -- or-- on the side of your house with southern exposure and stick it back in the ground. Pot and all then mulch it in just above the level of the pot -- ignore it for about a year and see what happens. Bob

Hi, willows are 'native' trees, which means cold hardy, which means right now they're going dormant for winter and can't be 'done' anything with til spring. And they do have to live outdoors for life - as does anything that normally lives outside in the U.S., except for southern Florida, maybe places in the SW, etc... tropicals. Plus they're probably not the best plant to start off with in bonsai (did you see a picture of a beautiful willow bonsai somewhere :-)? On one hand, you say you'll do the homework, but on the other you're asking how to do a bonsai... which is a big, big subject - taking into account all the horticulture involved for (potentially) hundreds of different trees, soil components, climates, wintering tips, humidity tricks, etc. etc. Your best bet would be to find a local club, as they're terrific places to learn, where you can see first hand how to do things. Your next best would be books (not just one because each will have its own viewpoints, overlapping info. or not. Suggest you look at amazon.com's bonsai bk section under "Used" and find relatively recent ones by Colin Lewis, Herb Gustafson, Harry Tomlinson, Deb Koreshoff, and Paul Lesniewicz (who specializes in tropicals for indoor growing). A really good, basic guide to almost everything bonsai (including how to choose your first tree) is www.evergreengardenworks.com/articles (mostly for 'outdoor' trees), and www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html which is really great for tropicals (particularly ficus - figs - which are available all over in many varieties). What you shouldn't do is buy first, cry later (they won't wait while you learn!). and especially don't buy 'bonsai' from big box stores, Wal-Mart, HD, etc. til you've done a lot of learning - that's because half are dead on the shelf but don't show it for wks (mostly junipers - which cannot be grown indoors contrary to what clerks and one-size-fits-all care tags say!), often also come with problems like spider mites, and all are planted in soggy peat based potting soil with no grit for absolutely necessary fast drainage - a huge aspect of growing bonsai is soil mixes and how to water properly. They also come with pebbles glued to the soil that then must be pried off and discarded, and do not try to grow moss on anything as it competes for water with the trees (and the tree usually loses). You'll find you're much better off to use either (for indoors) house plants from anywhere if they're suitable for bonsai and your home - you'll likely need to get special lighting or, for outdoors, 3-5 yr old inexpensive nursery trees - better established, healthier and less expensive than store-bought, plus you get to DIY, which is what's so satisfying. Good luck and do at least read both those websites 'cover to cover' before anything else!

When you are working with a heavy clay or poorly draining soil, you have to be very careful about amending any plantings.........amended planting holes in clay soils act like buckets. They hold moisture in with all that rich amended soil and the clay prevents fast drainage and you end up with a bucket sized hole of wet muck that leads to root rots. Unless you can amend that entire planting area - not just the planting hole - you are better off to dig a very wide but quite shallow planting hole and plant high....so that the top of the root ball is above grade. You still want the vine itself deep so you mound good soil up to the appropriate level, creating a small berm. Or you can create a raised bed in that area if that is easier. While the coloring on your vine is somewhat pale, it looks quite healthy otherwise.