Bonsai

Madrone Tree

Sam

Apr 11, 2024 • 4 min read

This tree was harvested from Bellingham, WA on 9/24/2023. Since then, it has been kept in a 11in pot with about 8in deep of soil. These trees have complex mycorrhizal relationships so all of the soil in the pot was taken from around the tree. I also collected some moss on wood nearby to help retain some moisture and replicate the environment I found the tree in.

The goal of this experiment is to observe the tree and learn how it likes to grow. I hope to eventually bonsai one of these trees but that will be quite a ways down the road.

Notes

- Woodbrook Nursery in Gig Harbor, WA carries madrone trees

7/28/2024 - Well it's not looking good. Honestly I think the tree died late June and just took a while to show it. I know some trees like Junipers will die and take a while for the leaves to actually change and turn brown. I will definitely try again in the future and put some more effort into the setup for the summer months. I think it needed more shade and cooler temperatures.

7/11/2024 - These past few days have been incredibly hot with temperatures getting up into the 90s every day and likely much hotter on my balcony due to the mirrors. I have been looking at the tree daily and it has appeared fine until today where the leaves were extremely dry, curled up, and brittle to the touch which is a major concern. So I watered it until there was water was coming out of the drainage holes at the bottom. I am really hoping that the tree can survive this extreme weather :/

Just out of curiosity, I checked the historical weather data for Bellingham (where I harvested this tree from) and over these past few days it has been about 10F colder there than in Seattle. Not that I can do much about that but it is concerning.

6/6/2024 - I gave the tree a bit of water today as the leaves were starting to curl up a bit.
EDIT: this seems to have been a good idea as the leaves uncurled and it looked healthier.

4/18/2024 - today I misted the moss a bit as some of it had turned more yellow and dried out.

4/11/2024 - Tree is growing a lot now, has almost doubled the number of leaves it had. It's been a real joy to see all of this new growth and it gives me some hope that this tree will survive.