I won a Large Ficus Bonsai in a raffle

I have a small idea what I want to do to it...

It's not a lot... but in three weeks I'm going to defoliate it and then I can plan better. :3


Also... this is a good compareson shot...

It's a beast.

I have no idea where I am going to keep this thing in the winter.

Purple Gem Rhododendron Bonsai Experimentation

Because experimentation sounds better then 'brutalizing with no idea where to start'.

So, I picked up these little guys to experiment with. At $3 a pop from the post bloom rack I thought it could be fun to practice working on my re-poting techniques. Unfortunately the chipmunk apocalypse happened (everything was eaten or dug into) and everything was moved into the florida room until the end of the war. I also found that I have no more available pots and my in ground choice is is right at the chipmunks door stop.



I held off on doing anything and now they look like this because I got brave with a pair of nippers.

I hope they will back bud. i would like to make them as compact as possible or encourage them into something that looks like a bonsai. Their trunks are far too small to be a real bonsai. Aside from the fact that one looks like it lost a fight with a chainsaw... And if you ignore the paperclips pretending to be guide wires... they are kinda cute.

 

I have no idea what the root structure looks like. I plan to repot them next year into the same pots but better soil.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Weird Vine & Gourd

So I 'saved' a weird vine at work a few weeks ago and no it has thrown out roots. So far they seem to just be on one side of the plant. I think they are starting to show on the other but I won't hold my breath. I am going to keep it small. with luck more branches will pop out this spring/summer. that would be very nice


Now.. the gourd... is dead.

And by dead I mean almost rotten to the point of my nose running away. I think tonight I'll hit a craft store and get the right powder to dry it out. the only problem I foresee is cleaning them out so nothing rots again.

Oi...

So, at my parents house we have several burning bushes. They are very nice and one had a smaller bush that was about 3 feet talk when I noticed it over the summer. I heard they back bud wonderfully. Even on old wood.

Imagine my surprise when I wander over to talk to my dad so he doesn't cut it. Only to see the guilty look and lo! It has been chopped in half. I think he forgot it was there when he was trimming the bigger bush. Which is fine since now it will be easier to dig up and handle. If only we could have one more good weekend to work out side prior to snow fall.

I don't want to style it as a broom but the trunk is strait as a pencil. Maybe after I get it out of the ground something will jump out at me?

Wild Grape as Bonsai pt2

I tried popping onto Google for trimming advice. A lot of what I found was for killing wild grape vines and people saying that they were invasive. This boggles me to no end because they are a natrual species.

Oi.

So I'm getting around in the same circle. I don't want it to louse its shape. I also don't want it to try putting out fruit before I really know what I'm doing. What I want it to do is put out a few more suckers lower down the mail trunk to bulk it up. But what I want is not necessarily what will happen.

Mystery fungus

Don't you just love these sot of things?

The mystery fungus was bright orange and created lots of little points on the underside of one of my poplars. Said poplar is now residing in the trash waiting for garbage day. My dad insisted on tossing it, I was pretty pissed but agreed.

I'll just skip over the giant argument of were the poplar got infected and if it would come back if the sapling was defoliated.

Fortunately we have a lot of poplars in the yard so even thought I lost a whole growing season on one plant, I can still not loose the time I spent working on it. That knowledge doesn't make me any happier though. :-(

Fall Bonsai Care pt2

My new and improved list of things I need to do just got longer and shorter at the same time.

1) Watering.
I seriously have to adjust how I water my plants. I thought I had lessened my watering enugh untill I picked up my Cotoneaster and spilled a ton of water about. Because it's tray is attached to it's temp pot I had to tip it to drain the built up water. This is what I get for not useing the chopstick method for watering.

The chopstick method is to take a cheep take-out chopstick and stick it in the soil of your pot. Some people say to go for the root ball and others say the edge. Right now I place it in between the root ball and the edge of the pot. This works very well for real bonsai soil.

2) Move bonsai to a new location or more protected location.
This makes sense to me just because I have frozen a pot and watched it slowly brake apart during the winter. my dad has put pots in the ground to prevent the roots of the plant from dieing. But due to my inability to keep things alive I found I have mostly saplings. I'm still not sure were I'm going to put with my Cotoneaster yet.

3) Plant saplings outside to encorage growth.
I have a nice spot on the side of the house. Almost everything I have is going to be planted there. I have marble tiles in the basement that I am going to put under them so I don't have to dig deep when they are ready to be truly worked on.

The whole 'put it in the ground and forget it' advice shtick is heavily thrown in your face if you are brand new or not sure when you should start to gently guide your plants. I have seen people post such a response on some forums and nothing else or seem to get hostile. If you have been in this situation then just play with your tree in a pot. you will get a feel for it and know when to stick it in the ground. :3

4) Protecting the plants in the ground.
At my house we have bunnies, moles and chipmunks that will eat anything they can reach during the winter. My dad has some finer chicken wire that they should not be able to get through so I am going to make a good sized cover from it. Tall enough to protect the tops after I stick the thing as deep as I can the the little buggers can't dig in to get them.

Beyond the four things I have listed I'm not sure what else I can do. I wish I could stick things in my basement because it's cold enough to let them go dormant, but I just don't know.

Fall Bonsai Care

I started moving some of my non-blizzard tolerant plants into the Florida room. It's basically a porch closed off with sliding glass doors so it isn't temperature controlled. But it does offer a bit of protection until i can set something up inside.

Yes, I'm committing the cardinal sin of bonsai. Keeping the plant inside!

My hope is to clear out my shelves in the garage again.  It worked last year for the maple and juniper. I think I'll sneak them into my dads boat so they get a little more protection. This is far from the perfect situation, but I still live at home and my mom doesn't like plants inside.

Which doesn't stop me from taking them inside any how.

Fortunately the Sequoya will be safe in the kitchen along with my lavender. With the orchids and other things that haven't died on me yet. I have a few poplars that I am going to put in the ground. They are far too small for anything right now. with luck the rabbits and moles won't eat them.

Grapevine Bonsai

I-er don't have on per say. What I do have is a ill kept grapevine in a pot. It is very scraggly if you peek at it past the leafs that it put out this summer.

See, in the beginning I did surf around looking at what few I could find on the internet. At around $65 a pop I decided that I would try and cultivate my own. Silly me believed that it wouldn't be all that hard.

My first problem was locating a Grapevine that I could dig up. Second to that was finding the roots to dig up. Ad to that one that was legal to did up because I did not want to spend money on permits and the such. Fortunately my boss suggested digging up ones that were growing in our court yard that was being dug up. I ended up getting several plants from there. A mulberry, several mystery plants and one itty bitty twig of a grapevine with a smattering of roots. Since it had roots growing in two sections I had to stick it into a deep pot, which isn't much use for a bonsai's shallow pot.

So my next brilliant idea was to root cuttings.

Out of about a dozen different cuttings only one survived. A few died right off the back. The one that lived didn't have a visible root for around 3 months. That lone root is now growing feeder roots like it was going out of style. As soon as there are enough roots I'm sticking it into a pot. Right now the roots are at the base of the cutting and would be very shallow. Sadly it's a very twiggy looking cutting.

As of right now I am on the side of Grapevines not making very cheep nor very good bonsai. Maybe in a few years I'll look back and change my mind.