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.