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.

Black Fungus Gnats and Orchids

My family and I have been having some trouble with some little gnats. We never gave it much thought other then thinking that they were fruit flies because they showed up in the summer when we had fruit and veggies out.

Well apparently they originated from my orchids. specifically one that had very very bad drainage. Bad to the point of being full of water even thought there was a hole in the pot. One night I happened to re-decorate my room and had moved all the pot up but this one because I wanted to put it in a bigger pot.

Now, a little info on this gnat. Apparently they eat the roots of orchids and live in decaying plant matter. They can quickly spread to other orchids and plants that you have.  The larva are clear or white-ish and hide in day light and they hatch in three or so weeks. Because they damage the roots orchids can drop their blooms and possibly die if it gets really bad.

This is important because the pot I now held in my hands was heavy from all the water and hundreds of the little suckers were squiggling around in front of my nose. I am not good with bug. I find them insanely interesting but if they surprise me I will scream and freak out like a little girl. So while I did not throw the pot across the room I did flip out a bit and was swearing like a sailor.

This Particular orchid had bee doing very well but all of it's buds had died that week. I had just assumed that re-potting it would fix it. Because there wee so many bugs in it and the roots looked so bad I decided to toss it. It was a clearance plant that I got for maybe $3 bucks so no big loss.

Worried about my other cheap orchids I searched online for what the bugs were and how to kill them. I didn't want to deal with hunter bugs, poison or glue traps and fortunately someone said that you could wash the roots off and re-pot them. Which is what I ended up doing.

I took all my surviving orchids, including the ones in bloom, and took them out of their pots and washed the roots with warm-ish water. NO SOAP!! then i cleaned the pots out with near boiling water and still no soap. I then filled the pots half way with non-biodegradable packing peanuts and sphagnum moss. This keeps the pots insanely dry so I have to play around with the watering.

We haven't had a gnat since.

Now, I manhandle my orchids a lot. This does not make them happy. two of the ones in bloom dropped their flowers because I know i smacked the blooms on the cabinets while working and not because of the root trimming. The cheap orchids that I got happen to be a hardy variety. The beginner variety as it happens to be.

Regardless, unless you have an orchid that dies at the thought of being unhappy, I highly recommend washing roots and getting new potting mix to get rid of the black fungus gnats.

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.

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.

English Ivy

I totally killed my English Ivy.

I was hopping that it dropped it's leafs due to the winter and not because of me. The internet said that it was supposed to be evergreen so that answered that. Apperntly they like to dry out a little and I kinda over watered it.

After the new years I'll try taking in one of the little pots with baby succulents in it. I have no idea what type they are but they seem to be hardy little things. I managed to grow the babes from planting their leafs. So there is hope.

I also got an orchid for a gift from one of my bosses. It is doing well. So far. It is tiny and cute and still has flowers. Here's hopping.

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?