After the Storm

 Nov. 23, 2025

Today dawned to a cloudless sky, clear blue & no wind..precious sun shines on the patio, after a week of record-setting rain & cold temps (for southern Cal) , the plants & I are looking forward to drying-out & warming-up.

Fact: average rainfall for November, going back 30 years, is a little less that 1 inch; the 2 storm systems we encountered last week dumped 2-5 inches on the region. Our local rainfall ranged from 2.4 - 4 inches, depending on location.

I reported on the Japanese Maple Issue , which was a pre-existing condition, but probably made worse by the extended cold/wet. Yesterday, while moving plants into what sun we had, I discovered a leaf exhibiting the same black splotches, on my Fremont Cottonwood; a native California tree. Also, my Madagascar Dragon looked like a wet-dog when I moved him into the sun; hopefully he will snap out of the "blah's" as he dries out.

Besides these, I'm also worried about the 2 new trees which were potted just hours before the rain began (see Unpacking 2 New Trees). Thankfully, the rest of the "little trees" seem to have come through in good shape & most are showing visible growth, probably due to the clean, fresh rainwater..after being raised on municipal tap water, the rain was like the difference between instant coffee & a fresh-brewed espresso.

Japanese Maple Issue

Nov. 19, 2025 - 

Over the last day or so, I noticed that my Japanese Maple was looking disheveled, but figured it was due to the storm & that JM's don't like being wet & cold. Upon closer inspection, I saw that some of the leaves had discolored tips..in fact, the tips were turning a blue-black color, as you can see in this enlarged photo (left)

I began researching possible causes for this discoloration & learned that it indicates a circulatory problem, possibly root restriction or damage to the roots. Either way, this changes my plan & probably overall strategy for this tree.

Nov. 20, 2025 - Regardless of my long-standing plan to wait until winter & dormancy, it will be necessary to de-pot this plant, today if possible, & take a good, hard look at the roots & the root system for signs of rot, infestation, or constriction due to overgrown or potbound root growth. If there is rot, I will remove the affected portions or treat them if it is an infestation or some sort. Now I have no choice..I'm going to have to re-pot him as a consequence..

I will post updates to this item as the day progresses. 

(to be continued)

 He came out of his nursery pot fairly easily, due to still being semi-saturated from the last few days of rain. This plant was NOT root bound..no circling roots, no feeder roots reaching for the surface. But I wanted to get a better look at the roots than just what I could see,so I began removing the compacted soil mix, in order to get a better look at the roots ball & to see if I could see anything amiss with the potting mix that it had been growing. 

Managed to remove about 50% of the soil..very wet, but not muddy.. what I saw now were the rest of the root ball, & the feeder roots. The mature roots looked normal, but the feeder root growth was all on one side, with a large gap on the opposite side of the root ball.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that perhaps when this plant was potted, a large air space went undetected & created a perfect spot for fungal growth..dark, humid, presence of oxygen.. Since I was going to re-pot, I went ahead & pruned the straggly roots so they were even & re-potted.

Now it's just a "wait & see" as to whether or not this tree can recover, given a fresh start in well-draining potting soil. Additionally, I am foliar-feeding the affected leaves to help them heal the damage done by the fungal infection.

You can monitor the Japanese Maple's progress as time goes on by "clicking" on Japanese Maple on the right-hand side of the front Page

Unpacking 2 New Trees

Nov 18, 2025

Received a shipment, yesterday, of what I hope will be 2 new members of our tree collection, or rather, 2 seedlings..a Pacific Crabapple & a Flowering Dogwood. Ordered via the Internet, direct from the breeder, shipped/delivered via USPS, these specimens arrived in a cardboard tube

First job is unpacking the trees from their shipping tube, carefully & extracting the packaged seedlings. 

This is the Pacific Crabapple(left) & has a plastic envelope protecting the juvenile roots & root "plug" which retains the shape of the propagation tray it came out of.

Next step is to give the seedlings a good drink of water..I let them soak overnight.

During the soak, some of the loose soil washed away & revealed that both of these seedlings had healthy, white roots..the Crabapple is the larger of the 2 & will fit into a standard training pot that I use for almost all of my trees when they first arrive.

The Dogwood is smaller & fit nicely into a previously used pot. Now I will "water them in" & keep a close eye on them for the next few days. This is the most critical stage of their lives when they are vulnerable & have not developed any defenses against disease or insects that prey on young plants.

If they live, I will start a dedicated History page for each & post it to the list, so that you will be able to see each plants progression as they grow into mature "little trees in little pots".

Weather Widget Down?

 Yes, we know that the Weather Widget isn't working this morning..according to Google, the problem is with Cloudflare that provides services for many corporations, websites & API's like the Weather Widget. You can read more about the outage here: article -"Cloudflare Outage..." The widget will start working again as soon as Cloudflare fixes the problem at its end.

Nevermind..it's fixed!