i lose one or two plants a year (out of about 100).....even though most of
my stuff is in growing pots, and i can miss watering for a day or two without a
major problem. My plants do get diseases, but they almost always die because
of too much water, or too little....the latest was related to me painting my
back shed, so many plants got moved, and one got 'lost' behind the others,
misssed a several days of watering, and is very brown....it will likely come
back, but it will take months....i hit the road with friends for a week every
august, and despite having 'knowledgeable' friends cover for me, i virtually
always return to find one or two brown specimens....also my dog is now nearly
blind (and has been deaf for a year)....i have to check out what he has
knocked over on a daily basis....he has been far too good all these years, and
will be indulged for the duration. i have lost a rare maple to verticillium
wilt....my goshiki kotohime cuttings (even 2-3 yrs later), and a couple of other
cultivars will suddenly go south, usu in the spring, even though most of the
other maples right next to them are totally healthy.....i also persist in
trying certain plants that maybe shouldn't be bonsai, just because of their
look....eg leptospermum.....maybe there should be a leptospermum fund for widows
and orphans in my area......m

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I loose about 3-5 plants a year to squirrels havng parties on my bonsai shelves and requiring more room than the plants allow, so they periodically throw them off the shelves or dig them up. I can swear to the fact the 4 out of 5 squirrels perfer akadama soil for digging. I have about 300 trees and I am a mad propigator, which means I have a lot of pre-bonsai material, and that is where I have the majority of my losses.

I did get fed up with the squirrels this year and covered many of them with an orange netting left over from making a halloween costume. This seems to work, but the weeds grow throught netting and make it difficult to pull them out. Looks weird, but it works.

Kits



****
"Expectations are resentments under construction."

Anne Lamott

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In a message dated 8/15/2005 11:53:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

Overwatering tends to be the most likely cause of death early on is what
I've generally found, but what tends to be the cause 10 or 15 years down the
road?

I lose a few per year some that I actually paid money for. Probably
from overwatering, but also to disease and repotting/pruning too severely or at
the wrong time of year.

Billy on the Florida Space Coast

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Kitsune Miko wrote:
I loose about 3-5 plants a year to squirrels

snip


I did get fed up with the squirrels this year and covered
many of them with an orange netting left over from
making a halloween costume.


BIG :-)

I've never tried that. How did you get them to sit still
for the fitting?

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - People,
when Columbus discovered this country, it was plum full of
nuts and berries. And I'm right here to tell you (that) the
berries are just about all gone. -- Uncle Dave Macon, musician

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Robert Seele

On Aug 16, 2005, at 6:59 AM, Jim Lewis wrote:

Kitsune Miko wrote:

I loose about 3-5 plants a year to squirrels


snip


I did get fed up with the squirrels this year and covered
many of them with an orange netting left over from
making a halloween costume.



BIG :-)

I've never tried that. How did you get them to sit still for the
fitting?


Dark Beer BIG :-)

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - People, when
Columbus discovered this country, it was plum full of nuts and
berries. And I'm right here to tell you (that) the berries are
just about all gone. -- Uncle Dave Macon, musician

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**********

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--

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+++++



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I'm not a "sage", but as a plant pathologist, I have to be a bit
sensitive about how many plants I lose. Certainly 2-3 a year, mostly
because I recklessly try to keep things needing warmer USDA zones, and
they freeze. But I also lose things to sheer stupidity, such as by not
putting potensai in big enough pots and having them dry out.

Nina