Mulberry Progression

Mulberry Progression

2010 Of the then front. this is after I massively cut back the roots. The squirrels dug into this like little feinds. and since I forgot to drill holes into the little box it was filled with water most of the fall. My dad put it into another pot for the winter and it survived.

2011 Front view. The leaves are very small so far this year. I'm really hoping they stay this size.

Back view

Close up of the trunk. The little branches are now twice their size.

Top veiw

This is sorta a side view...

This is an insane plant. it is cold hardy and grows very, very fast. Training wires will leave marks in a weeks time or less. How ever I think they grow out almost as fast because I could not find the marks when I looked. Both a good and bad plant for a beginer I think.

Since I thought this had dies last winter... I have no idea how I want it to go right now. XD

Giant Sequoya Progression

Giant Sequoya Progression

Winter 2008 I think. This was taken shortly after I first purchased/potted it. It was thinner then a pencil.

2009 I was so happy that a new branch had started. It grew very little this year.

 2011

 Scarring from cutting a branch over the winter.

 More scarring. I was trying to avoid revers taper by removing the branch.

I don't think it worked. Also the trunk is so thin here because it grew flat from the rocks. The rocks are there to keep the squirls from digging in it's pot.

Right now the trunk is about three times thicker then it was when I first bought it. I have pinched the branches back but this is a very aggressive growing tree. The tap root is still intact because I want this to grow as large as possible before I cut it. But because I have to move it inside for the winter I will be using the 'escaping root' growing method.

Summer Bonsai Care

Summer seems to finally be here and now is the time to start moving all your bonsai outside.

So, everyone keeps telling you to put your bonsai & other trees outside. The reason is that the plants just grow better outside. You will have to watch them a little bit so that You can get used to them being out there.

Things to watch out for:
- Too much sunlight. Indoor plants can get sun-burnt.
- Too much water. You still have to watch out for this.
- Not little water. You can't just trust that it will rain when ever the plants need it.
- Squires, chipmunks, deer or other animals that might think your plants are toys.
- Small children. Sometimes they just want to help. Make sure they know when they can and can't help.
- Over feeding/fertilizing. This can burn the roots and cause a tree to grow really long and thin branches.

This is probably when you will be most tempted to over work your trees. You can cause a tree to burn itself out from having to keep re-growing leafs and branches. Some types of trees handle this better then others, but it's still not a good thing to do.

Also, watch out for wind storms. If you can't strap down your smaller trees then you will want to take them inside for a bit. Unless you would rather risk the tree blowing away or the pot getting smashed from falling off the work bench.

Happy working and don't forget the sunblock.

Ficus update

So... I forgot the stupid thing in a glass of water and it grew roots.

I had meant to put it in rooting hormone and starter soil... and I totally forgot about it. but this seems to have don it good and it is now in a pot of bonsai soil. so i don't know how much to water it nor when i should let it start to dry up. It is now hit or miss time again!

I also did an early re-potting of the larger ficus because I suspected the root were dead. It turned out that most of them were. Fortunately there looked to be a few living roots. At the end of an insanely long larger root that is. I had to coil it in the bottom of the pot. If I can't get more roots growing up higher then I will probably make this into a root over rock bonsai.

This is such a love hate hobby.

Willow Tree Bonsai

Or willow tree cuttings... Right now I have cuttings.

My dad went fishing and he brought them back. My mom had a fit but she got over it... kinda.

With a lot of luck they will grow roots and I can stick them into pots and everyone will be happy.

With luck that is.

Spring Bonsai Care

 Basic advice? Watch your watering, check for swelling or blooming buds and start planing how you are going to wire last years growth and what you might want to do with this years new growth potential.

So, this will be my second spring with trees in the works. This does not necessarily bode well for the trees.

I have gone through them and removed some of the obviously dead branches. I also trimmed back my mulberry bush a little. I also cut back the grapevine.I checked everything for swelling buds and they seem to be ready to put out leafs.

I had a good amount of frost damage. By keeping things in my Florida room I had hopped to avoid this, but because of the "freeze, thaw and oh look it's below zero again" weather we had I am not surprised. What did surprise me was how many things I didn't get to prepare that survived.

The junipers I'm not too sure about because they can be dead/dieing and not show it. Two look purple so they are the ones i think might have died. the third is a different variety and looks like it is alive. so it's a toss up with them.

I have a few seedlings that look like they survived the winter. Some are the last ones I have of one plant variety.... I might try looking in Lowes for another one because they look nice and grow fast. but I don't want to spend a lot, or any, money.

Ficus pt2

So the little ficus that I was afraid of loosing... is doing better-ish. I say ish because I am not sure if it will continue to do so.

In my mad dash to try and save the tree I cut it back. Trimmed the hell out of the leafs and stuck it in water until I could get the supplies to root it. Cue a visit from my sister, family stuff and work stress... And it was still in the glass of water.

Upon checking it last night it has some roots starting to grow.

All of the new roots are on only one side of the tree. Which I'm not worried about. I just want the thing to live. I am going to wait until the roots actually look like roots before I put it into real soil. No it won't be the right soil. Yes, I'm a sinner.

So, providing it lives I at least know I can root branches I trim and maybe sell the babies later on.

Bum Bum Bum Another One Bites the Dust

It is not suposed to look like this. I'm checking with my favorite bonsai forum to look for advice. :-(

My Stupid Beech Bonsai

And it really is stupid. We had on day last week of 50 degree weather and The tree opened up the a few buds. Then we were back down to 22 degrees and the newly opened buds look bad.

The good news is I know it survived the winter.
The bad news is the tree is stupid.

Over all this shouldn't do anything harmful to the tree. Beeches are very strong growers and it should bounce back. I was constantly cutting back new growth that was longer then what I was looking for. Plus I defoliated the hell out of it and it was still growing fine.

If I was smart I would try and make this into a large bonsai. However I attempting to make this into a small to medium sized bonsai in the root over rock style.

I think If I happen to find another beech that I can easily pull out of the ground then I will try for a large bonsai. But for now I wait for spring.

What is a Pre-Bonsai

What is a pre-bonsai? (or prebonsai or pre bonsai. However you want to spell it.)

A pre-bonsai is a tree that you are working on and trying to turn into a bonsai. They can be the ugliest of ugly duckling of trees or almost a bonsai but not quite. It is a stage that most tree's are in when you are working on them. This stage can and does take years.

But! It is very different then the growing stage. Potential bonsai (potensai) are found/bought and then grown for god knows how long to get a good trunk going. When the trunk is as big as they are looking for it is chopped down to a certian point and then left to grow again. This is repeated a few times to form taper. (Kinda like making a pyrimad) and this step can take very long. When you feel that you have gotten the taper & main branches your are looking for then you have entered the pre-bonsai phase.

Determining when your bonsai is no longer a pre-bonsai is very hard to know for a beginner. Bonsai are usually the 'finished product'. Since the goal is to keep them alive and growing this stage generally consists of upkeep more then training and styling. Comparatively. So if you are just doing minor touch ups then you have a bonsai!

If you are stuck your best bet would be to head over to a bonsai forum and get some advice. Take a picture of the front, back, looking down on it, trunk & how the tree is growing into the soil (aka nabari). Then figure out what you are trying to ask. If you also have progression shots of your tree add 1-3 to your post for reference. Either make your post in the newbi section or a section dedicated to bonsai progression.

I recomend going to The BonsaiSite Forums because they have a lot of knowlege to share. Be warrned that they can be a little snooty if you ask the wrong thing.

Bonsai Soil Substitute

So i found out about a bonsai soil substitute that can be used that I never thought about.

With all the hype about using 'non-organic' soil's you would think that anything could be used. Especially when some sites recommend a very specific kind of kitty little that is not found in the USA. However, once you really get into reading posts on forums & message boards you find that there is a little organin stuff mixed in.

I will tell you that the people on the forums & message boards think top soil is one of the bigger sins you can commit when getting into the art of bonsai. Just making sure you know this little tidbit.

So! The substitute that I found out about is none other then cactus soil. There are organic and inorganic variaties avalable. Personaly Unlees you want your bonsai to get all scraggly I would not recomend the Mirical-Grow cactus soil. But tomato tamato.














Considering I have only one place locally that I can get real bonsai soil at and it is $7 for a tinny little bag, I am totally going to be using cactus soil. Especially with the 'pre-bonsai' that I am starting. I have no intention of blowing a ton of cash on this hobby.

Spiky Palm Type Plant & Suff

"I really do not know what it is called. so far it is doing ok here in the office... the one of the pair started doing very bad. most of it's frond/leafs died so I trimmed it way back. Then I found the top had mold growing on the new bits so I cut that out.

Today I found that the middle was squishy and looked rotted so I chopped it. With luck it's will grow back new tips. I also put the top part in water to grow roots. then I can stick it in the pot with the living one.

Also my vine-thing might have died... and my spider plant is doing good. So far... "

I wrote that back in January. Let's just say that the palm-thingy I chopped was not the same kind as what my parent have and I think it's dead. Also the larger of the little vine things definatly looks dead.

on the plus side, the spider plant is fine and the other little vine thing seems to be growing buds. which makes me happy.

I have added a few more plants, 2 poinsettias and some leafy things. they are so far still doing good. I need to water everything before I leave for the weekend.

Bonsai Tools

So, I am starting to realise that I need to get the right tools to take care of my bonsai. And while I would love something like these:

















Because right now I am just really needing the concave and knob cutters. I do dream of getting the larger sets but right now my kill/live ratio is telling me not to spend too much before I can keep the trees alive for a few years. I can't wait to see what survived this winter.

New Ficus Bonsai

This one is not dinky in the least. And that alone makes me very happy. It was also a very good deal so i think it might have been miss marked. But once I have more space I'll pick up some more to make up for it.

So! The enw one is pretty big. But the roots are so pot bound it's sad. there is one huge root that is wrapped around the whole inner edge of the pot. So when it finally warms up around here I'll have to either re-pot it or seriously trim back the roots. I hope the smaller tree isn't as bad.

Other then that It is loosely styled as a broom. While it looks nice right now, it has a lot of flaws. So I'm going to have to see how fast it grows to figure out how long to leave training wires on it. I might skip wire wrapping the branches for now and just start out with guy-wires. I think it's current training put has enugh of an edge that I can hook the wires to it.

Ficus Bonsai

I got one last weekend. It is very dinky. It will be a very long time before I can style it. I also am going to try and remove a knob from it's side that is causing reverse taper.

The seedling I also got is very dinky also. This one could turn out very interesting in 20 or so years.

Unfortunately neither are labeled very well. I am also committing the sin of sins in the bonsai world and keeping them in my room. I am afraid that I will over/under water them. I will have to try and keep a better watch of them. So far it looks like they are doing good.