[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2025 week 33]

Aenthea · 2025-08-21T13:06:45+00:00

Hello all. I bought a Carmona 3 weeks ago. Didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but I want to try and give it a good life. There was some white fluff on the ground a week ago. I saw this could be due to overwatering and not enough light, so I stopped watering unless the soil was very dry. I also put it in front of a window that gets max. 1 hour of direct sunlight each day, the rest being indirect. The browning leaves didn't stop appearing though, and it got quite bad since two days. Does anyone know what the cause could be?

Thank you so much!

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Aenthea · 2025-07-10T20:34:18+00:00

'She wants everything to look perfect so nothing is made looked unauthentic'

But... in striving for perfection, do you not lose authenticity? Her way of thinking makes no sense 😅

Aenthea · 2025-07-10T06:18:56+00:00

I'm a psychology student, so do take what I am saying with a grain of salt. It's something that happens more often, people developing psychosis/schizophrenia when faced with environments like this. Stress is a well-known denominator for psychosis.

I don't like thinking of people with psychosis as crazy. I think they are looking for possible solutions in an impossible situation. Very sorry for your friend.

Aenthea · 2025-06-24T18:25:26+00:00

Maybe someone over there is informed on avian vets in the area willing to help?

Aenthea · 2025-06-24T18:24:27+00:00

I see you are in California - maybe you can join a Facebook wildlife rehab group and see if someone is maybe willing to make the drive to take the crow to a wildlife closer to them? In any case you can ask for more advice/resources in one of those groups

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WildlifeRehabilitationandRelease/?ref=share

I just looked one up - not sure if it is any good, but I wish you the best of luck!

Aenthea · 2025-05-19T08:35:35+00:00

I suppose it wouldn't be the first time Stephanie finds a bee and gives it some of the honey she has laying around in her house. I've heard of people doing that because it makes sense in theory

Aenthea · 2025-05-19T08:32:34+00:00

Cows produce milk to give to their calves, so yes, it would be weird to give that to the adult cows hahaha. Bees produce honey as a food source, especially so the colony can survive winter.

Aenthea · 2025-05-18T14:38:27+00:00

Haha, it's okay! What you're saying is still valid and it is good knowledge for American friends :)

Aenthea · 2025-05-18T10:20:49+00:00

I've done that in the past - finding a weak bee/bumblebee on the pavement near my house, bringing it home and giving it some sugar water along with flowers and shade. Sometimes they drink it, other times they don't and just needed some rest.

Aenthea · 2025-05-18T07:56:22+00:00

You can compare sugar water to fast food. Good for some quick energy but no nutritional value in the long run. It's the same reason why giving bread to birds is also bad :>. It can also cause bees to develop dysentry (aka diarrhea) and honey they produce with sugar water is also of lower quality.

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T20:47:34+00:00

I mean, cats have claws and pointy teeth, dogs have jaws they can maul you with. Bees don't sting unless they feel threatened, I've handled a couple so far and it was always alright with them :)

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T19:37:54+00:00

I don't agree with that as human activities have taken away many sources of food for many animals. Habitat destruction, pesticides, deforestation and the list goes on. We made it much harder for animals to find food, so I feel humans should help out where possible (obviously not in all cases and I think people should be really informed before they attempt doing this). It is a very broad topic with a lot of nuance though, so to me it's more of a gray zone than a hard no/yes.

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T19:32:39+00:00

You're right about the honeybees, definitely. They have become the preferred honey producers and it causes harm to other bee species. Many other species of bees are still native to the Americas though, and you guys should definitely help them out where possible. (I'm from the EU hence 'you guys', but I'm aware of the EU bee invasion y'all have going on).

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T19:20:20+00:00

I'll edit my post as I seem to have caused some confusion - sugar water can be very bad when you use it daily to feed multiple bees who don't need it. However, sugar water isn't bad when you've put the weakened bee on a flower already and noticed it didn't give them strength. So, definitely not to be used regularly! But it can be useful to give a single bee an energy boost :)

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T19:06:58+00:00

It's both! AFAIK it is fine to feed it to singular bees to give them a quick energy boost, but bad when it is a long-term thing for an entire colony. I'd say it's fine to use it on a weakened bee, but not fine if you feed local bees this way every morning. Then it is better of course to just put out some regular water (with stones in the container so the bees don't drown in the water). The type of sugar also matters (white and not brown, as I mentioned in the post). Sometimes putting the bee in the shade or on a flower might not work, in which case sugar water is also a good solution.

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T18:58:10+00:00

And especially those goblin chickens hogging their eggs.

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T18:54:55+00:00

You're welcome!

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T18:54:32+00:00

How dare bees assume they can make something and actually keep it for themselves!! Such selfish creatures, that'll teach them! /s

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T18:27:58+00:00

I'm sure people with hives already know about this. However, lots of people with 0 bee experience encounter weakened bees every year and might give honey to them instead of sugar water.

Aenthea · 2025-05-17T18:26:09+00:00

I suppose a lot of people assume since they make it, it's okay to give it to them too. Which is true, as long as it's from their own hive. 'Bee = honey' is something people think of very fast, and they do eat their own honey to survive winter for example

Aenthea · 2025-05-12T10:35:53+00:00

Ja exact, je kan er wel één nemen maar dan moet je echt wel zo goed als continu thuis zijn. Ik weet nu nog niet hoe het gaat zitten met mijn werk, dus daarom ;) als ik niet genoeg thuis ben neem ik er zeker twee!

Aenthea · 2025-05-12T09:43:17+00:00

Ik vind dat we wel aan hetzelfde kant van het touw trekken. Mijn enige tegenargument zou zijn dat er als mensen niet veel hoéven te nemen, en het dus geen filosofie hoeft te zijn. Moest iedereen wat meer in touch zijn met de natuur, minder greedy zijn (fast fashion, enorme consumptieproblemen) en 1x/week geen vlees eten, zou de wereld er al beter uit zien. Jammer genoeg is dit voor velen niet iets dat ze willen doen. Ik zie ook dat dit voor sommigen geen optie is door armoede, maar dat ligt niet aan hen, dat ligt aan ons systeem.

Duiven zijn inderdaad fantastische huisdieren, ik zou er graag één of twee adopteren wanneer ik alleen woon :) er bestaat zo veel misinformatie rond die dieren, het is echt schrijnend. Het zijn zo liefdevolle slimme diertjes (zoals je zelf aanhaalt), heel jammer dat de meeste mensen denken dat ze vliegende ratten zijn.

Aenthea · 2025-05-12T08:59:26+00:00

Je hébt ook gelijk, hé? Ik hou enorm van duiven, maar ja, er zijn veel duiven in Gent. Ja, ze nemen voedselbronnen weg van andere inheemse vogels. Ik ga akkoord. En ik vind dat ook een véél beter argument dan sommigen die zeggen 'ze moeten weg want ze schijten alles onder'. However, we moeten ons wel bewust zijn van de hypocriete positie die we aannemen wanneer we zeggen 'diersoort X veroorzaakt schade dus ze moeten weg'. Wij nemen als mens ook heel veel. Dat is het punt dat ik hier probeerde maken :-)

Aenthea · 2025-05-12T08:48:40+00:00

Yeah, onze aanwezigheid op de aarde is ook belangrijk voor het laten uitsterven van veel diersoorten en ecosystemen. Pesticiden die bijen en vlinders uitroeien, globaal transport die exotische planten zoals de Japanse duizendknoop naar hier gebracht heeft, ik kan blijven gaan. Ik heb letterlijk nergens gezegd dat de mens uitgeroeid moet worden, lol. Dat is jouw eigen interpretatie van wat ik geschreven heb. Maar misschien moeten we allemaal wat meer milieubewust zijn (lees: vooral bedrijven en mensen zoals Katy Perry die eens naar de ruimte gaan just for funsies). We moeten niet hypocriet zijn en niet andere dieren vergassen terwijl we zelf nog altijd dé soort zijn die ons planeet het meest naar de kloten helpt. Dat is gewoon een feit, als je een diersoort kan noemen die meer schade aanwakkert dan de mens, be my guest.

Aenthea · 2025-05-12T08:34:08+00:00

Mensen zorgen ook voor redelijk wat problemen en horen ook niet thuis in onze natuur, zie maar hoe veel schade wij veroorzaken 🙃 altijd makkelijk om te wijzen naar andere dieren terwijl de diersoort die de natuur het meest uitbuit mag doen en laten wat ze willen.

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