I am carefully venturing into the world of bonsai and I picked up this Operculicarya Pachypus and now the roots are drying or shriveled 😭🫣 see pic 2. I live in Palm Springs where it is a desert climate and I have been leaving it outside with indirect sunlight where it can get up to 110 degrees. Alternatively i could put it inside but it would be about 72 and no filtered sunlight. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. (I was watering only 1x every 10 days.)
by designerti
4 Comments
Is it squishy at the bottom? Have you watered it? What’s the substrate like under the gravel? Can’t really tell with your provided picture. Try moving some substrate to see the roots better.
I don’t have a pachypus, but I have a decaryi and I water it about every other day, outside in full sun in Temecula and it’s doing great.
Edit: just saw watered once in 10 days. I would go with thirsty AF.
I’m in Orange County, CA and I’ve been watering my caudex plants every three days outside because of the recent heat wave.
With bonsai, the soil is a lot less and restricted to a tiny pot, so water evaporates much quicker. Plus, the roots have nowhere to look for more water.
If the caudex is hard and wrinkly, it’s thirsty.
If the caudex is soft and wrinkly, it’s root rot.
I recommend taking it to a shadier area, and if it’s hitting over 100 outside; bring it inside close to a window.
If you have several plants, maybe buy a small fan from Amazon and put it on a timer. Have it run during the day to give it air circulation. I know PS pretty well, and the afternoon heat is brutal with barely any breeze.
Hope that helps!
They are pretty resilient plants sometimes when they are recently raised up like that they will shrivel a bit and you might lose one branch of the root. Just can happen when it’s raised up and nothing to worry about. I’m in Tucson that’s similar heat and probably colder in the winter and I just water twice a week when above 100 and once a week when below 100 and keep them under a mesquite with pm shade but could likely take more sun than they are getting. I keep them outside all year and have been low 20s with frost cloth with zero damage and I don’t protect high 20s
Needs more water than that. They are trees, trees need sufficient water to not desiccate