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bollig posted:It does help. One thing I've heard, for fungi is to pour cooled chamomile tea on it. The Cypress is outside, poor little fella. I can't tell if it's water hardness or fungus at this point. Time will tell. That's for the response. Yes, actually. So long as they aren't fusing together as they grow or are part of the same root system, you can separate them and have them be two separate trees. Ficus in general are pretty resilient like that, and Ficus Benjamina more so.
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Feb 3, 2013 19:01
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Mr. Soop posted:Yes, actually. So long as they aren't fusing together as they grow or are part of the same root system, you can separate them and have them be two separate trees. Ficus in general are pretty resilient like that, and Ficus Benjamina more so. Cool thanks. I'm going to repot it in the next couple weeks. If they are different plants then the 'it' will become a 'they'.
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Feb 4, 2013 22:09
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unprofessional posted:I believe this is Porticularia afra, not a Crassola that people are often talking about when they say "jade plant." Good example of why common names suck. Good news is P. afra actually makes a better bonsai tree in my opinion. It makes a very nice formal display when properly trained. Unprofessional is absolutely correct! It is a Portulacaria afra, and it grows in a much different shape than a Crassula. In the wild Portulacaria afra will grow long, thin branches, while Crassulas will usually develop have short branches on a fat stem. I goofed because I didn't know if Dwarf Jade grew the same habit as a normal Jade plant does, but whoops, wrong species. Continuing to go on what Unprofessional said, they can be very pretty plants, if not slow growing. I personally have the variegated version of Portulacaria afra called Rainbow Bush.  Please take a look at this image. It's a photo of one of those Portulacaria's in bloom. The steam, and leaves look like good bonsai material alone, but the flowers are the cherry on top! Although you have to do some sort of technique to do achieve those flowers...
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Feb 4, 2013 23:00
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Any advice for starting from seed? I threw a bunch of apple seeds in a pot a while ago, and now they're all sprouting.
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Feb 11, 2013 03:17
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The Door Frame posted:Avocado trees are a pain in the dick unless you're really careful with them. My dad is used to run the green house at the local high school and has the greenest thumb of any person I've ever seen and he's only been able to get 2 to grow into actual trees from the seed over the course of a decade And there it has sat, for two months now, no growth whatsoever since the day I pinched the leaves. I'm sure it's dead, but I've potted it just in case there's a miracle a'brewin'.
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Feb 11, 2013 22:16
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Well as I always say, there's no harm in trying! Not like you're risking anything by trying to grow it still. I have a euonymus alatus that I thought had succumbed completely to fire blight (the leaves turned completely crinkled and became dead) or some other similar plant disease last summer. I was lazy and left it in the pot and sprayed it down along with my other plants. Amazingly enough, 2 weeks later the new growth had sprouted out from the base. In other words, never give up! Trust your instincts! 
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Feb 15, 2013 06:23
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So, I picked up this one from Homedepot My original plan was to go to the local bonsai shop and get one, but for $35 (with pot and all), I couldn't resist. It's approx 40cm tall. Now with the little reading I've done, I think I need to: - Fairly aggressively prune it down - Re-pot it in a shallow pot, with a proper soil mix. (The perlite is only a shallow top layer). I haven't looked at the root yet, but as the pot is fairly deep, I suspect I also have to cut down the roots a lot. I suppose that prune and re-potting at the same time is a bad idea, so which one should I do first?
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Feb 17, 2013 20:21
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jackpot posted:Goddamn avocado plants. I took a pit and did it just like they taught me in elementary school - toothpicks, water, etc, and after months of thinking it was going to rot to pieces, it sprouted - like crazy. Went from nothing to six inches high within a few weeks, big leaves growing out the top of it. Then I did what all the instruction sites tell you to do - I pinched off the top leaves, to encourage it to grow more before potting it. Well, I ignored my flatmate's pleas to throw mine out and as of last week there has been root growth! There's a little one just poking out of the bottom. I'm excited to see if it keeps growing or just gets all stubborn or dies or whatever. We shall see. Also, and I know this isn't a bonsai but a houseplant, I just realised it's been about 3 months since I dragged home a huge piece of yucca I found on the street and shoved it in a bucket of dirt. All but the top leaves are dead and I've no idea if it's grown a root or what. Top leaves have some browning at the end, but they haven't browned anything like as fast as the lower ones all did so I'm holding onto some hope here. I'm poor, I can only afford free houseplants or ones grown from garbage.
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Feb 17, 2013 22:24
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madlilnerd posted:Well, I ignored my flatmate's pleas to throw mine out and as of last week there has been root growth! There's a little one just poking out of the bottom. I'm excited to see if it keeps growing or just gets all stubborn or dies or whatever. We shall see. A couple of years (more like 15  ) ago I did the same thing. Toothpicks, root growth, shoved it in a pot. Now admittedly I didn't care for it at all, save some water now and then, but I guess I should warn you that what I ended up with wasn't very 'bonsai' at all. When it was about 1ft high it started growing fast as gently caress, before turning into a gangly mess in my not-very-sunny goonroom. The leaves were huge, something like 10 inches long. I kept it like that for 5 years or so, before it had to go. All in all a cool experiment, but not something I'd drag in front of sensei.
Astrolite fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Feb 17, 2013 |
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Feb 17, 2013 22:56
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ImplicitAssembler posted:I suppose that prune and re-potting at the same time is a bad idea, so which one should I do first? Either one would be fine to do first. Pruning in order to start building the shape of it that you want, repotting it to help aid the growth of the tree and reestablish the root system for it to be an actual bonsai. Personally speaking, I would repot first (being that Spring is approaching soon, the tree will bounce back quickly) then wait a couple weeks to prune some. But as I always say, that's just me.
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Feb 18, 2013 05:30
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Mr. Soop posted:Either one would be fine to do first. Pruning in order to start building the shape of it that you want, repotting it to help aid the growth of the tree and reestablish the root system for it to be an actual bonsai. It'll be a few weeks before I get the new pot (My wife is a potter,so I 'ordered' one), so I think I'll do the pruning first. Thanks for the help.
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Feb 18, 2013 06:12
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So it's still february and my chinese elm, japanse and trident maples are already budding new leaves. We had a 3-4 day period of spring-like weather. Should I be fertilizing at this point?
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Feb 19, 2013 19:52
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Yup, feel free to. If they're already pushing new buds it means the tree is awake. The fertilizer will help it hit the ground running.
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Feb 19, 2013 22:41
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Last summer my grandmother and I pulled up a maple seedling from one of her garden beds and I put it in a pot to see if it'd take. It did pretty well over the summer, a few big leaves and a few inches of woody growth. It's spent the winter inside with my father's menagerie of unkillable aloe plants (they just keep multiplying). Looking at it the other day, I noticed some powdery white stuff in the soil around its base.  What could this be and will it follow my little tree forever when it comes time to re-pot in the spring?The soil it's in currently is a mixture of crappy red clay from where we dug it up and whatever potting soil mix my father had on the porch. I will be replacing the current mix with something more suitable when I repot. I'll also hopefully be putting it in a giant teacup planter. Tiny tree, giant teacup.
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Feb 20, 2013 08:00
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Got pics? I had some pots that had that, it ended up just being spirit umbrellas. Later I repotted and the whole body of soil was full of nodes and strands of the stuff. E- this: 
SniperWoreConverse fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Feb 20, 2013 |
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Feb 20, 2013 15:21
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Bit of good news and bad news on my end... My ficus contorta I've been training for about a year for the upcoming bonsai show in April at the local Japanese gardens contracted root rot and died.  Never leave your mother in charge of a bonsai while you're away for 4 days; she'll decide it needs a bunch of water and the tree won't do so well.In the good news though, I bought another one to replace it and I'm going to the Huntington Gardens for a bonsai festival tomorrow! They have a rotating collection of bonsai, exhibiting pieces by renowned bonsai artists like John Naka! I'll be sure to take a good amount of pics for the thread.  As for the white stuff, it could be mold, fungus, or far less likely but possibly, beneficial micorriza. Either way, it shouldn't follow it around forever if it's not micorriza, as if you use more traditional bonsai soil it probably won't be able to grow.
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Feb 23, 2013 09:11
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Make sure you visit their desert garden - it might be the best desert garden in the world. It'll make you love cacti/succulents. Also: those mushrooms are harmless. They come up a lot in potting mixes using soil from outdoors; we had them all the time at the zoo I work at, without any wood in them.
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Feb 23, 2013 13:40
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After poring over the thread for the past couple days, I've got a couple questions for y'all! I've been toying with bonsai for a couple years now, but haven't ever given it a serious commitment. Hopefully I can buckle down and get some stuff started! Here are some of my hopefuls:   Acer macrophyllum that volunteered itself about eight years ago which I've been thoroughly unsuccessful at killing (not for lack of effort). Over the years I've grown more fond of it, and want to try my hand at turning it into a bonsai. Eventually I want to bring it down to about 1/3 of its current height. What's the rule of thumb for how often you should prune away a third of the plant? Is it once a year or every other year or-? I'd also like to try doing some deadwood sticking out the top of it; what's the safest way to kill a portion? Just stripping the bark off?   Crassula ovata and C. ovata var. 'Gollum.' The Gollum has a decent start but the plain ovata needs some work. I grew it from a cutting back in 2004, and while I love it to pieces I don't really know where to go with it. I know I'd like the trunk larger and fuller foliage, but beyond that I haven't the foggiest. Should I work on trunk girth or filling out the foliage first? How would I go about achieving girth?  My woefully light-starved P. afra, grown from cuttings (on my windowsill in gloomy OR, stolen from a plant in AZ). I'm going to try to get one of them to branch out and then go from there. Finally, a rubber tree:  I've had this guy for a long time and have never had any success with getting it to branch out (I realize the pot is laughably microscopic). Has anyone had success bonsai-ing one of these? I'm not particularly attached to it, so at worst I kill it, it will have been a good learning experience, and I have one less plant to worry about. v  vI also have what I believe are Prunus mume and Chaenomeles japonica. P. mume seems fairly common in bonsai but does C. japonica lend itself to the art at all? Thank you folks for all the wonderful information and inspiration! I'm super stoked to have stumbled upon this thread. 
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Feb 24, 2013 05:44
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Your normal C. ovata needs chopped. I'd remove the secondary bottom shoot, and then chop it right above where it starts to branch. It needs more sun, too - it's etiolated. Your gollum doesn't look too bad. Time is the only thing that'll give them girth. I find the mostrose versions are harder to manipulate, but they end up making a better presentation on their own in the long run. Your Ficus elastica you can cut about a foot/foot-and-a-half tall, to make branch. Then, every time it leafs out, pinch the buds to create more branching. These are really easy trees to work with, and take a lot of abuse. When you repot, you can saw off all but the top two inches of roots, and it won't miss a beat. Be very careful when pruning Ficus; it has an extremely caustic sap that'll ruin your day.
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Feb 24, 2013 12:40
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Rad, thank you! We just moved from a windowless dungeon-house (which my plants have been languishing in for ~3 years, ugh) into one with that awesome West-facing picture window; most of my houseplants haven't had the chance to acclimate to it but some of my cacti are starting to pigment up again, so I'm hoping it's just a matter of time now. Will forcing energy into getting it to leaf out slow the trunk growth? My instincts tell me yes, but I really have no idea. Also, thanks for the info on the F. elastica! I picked it up at the grocery ages ago and the only thing the tag read was "houseplants clean your air!" I was pretty confident that wasn't the proper name for it. I think this one'll be my first project. 
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Feb 24, 2013 18:18
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Cutting off foliage will slow trunk growth a bit, but even as it puts energy into new leaves, you'll notice the trunk will still continue to grow. To make your stuff really happy, make sure you turn them every week, as they'll grow towards the sun, then put them outside in the summer. If you let your jade stay out until it starts to get close to freezing, you'll get a nice bloom near Christmas time. Most of those "air cleaner" plants are either ficus, philodendron, or dracenea. Nearly all take well to lot of hard pruning.
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Feb 25, 2013 02:59
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Tamgerine posted:Hello! This is my beloved little tree Greg. I present what may be the sad end of the story of wee Greg. Tamgerine is my wife and had to deploy so she flew Greg into my care during her pre-deployment leave. Greg went from a warm, humid terrarium habitat to the cold, dry climate of Nebraska winters. He initially lost half his leaves after we found out that I wasn't watering him enough to reach his deep roots. She trimmed the dead leaves off which seemed to trigger the loss of the rest of the leaves. He looked like this a couple weeks ago, the leaves have since dried up and fallen off.  I'm still watering him every other day with enough water and minute amounts of bonsai food to drain out the bottom. Is Greg just in winter hibernation or has the change in climate shocked him into an early grave?
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Mar 5, 2013 18:04
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Looks like rot. You're not gonna like hearing this, but it's from too much water/moist-soil mix. The number one thing you need to do is repot into a mix with very few organics. Your mix is retaining far too much moisture - you could probably cut it in more than half with perlite. Do that, repot, and start cutting back wood until you get past the soft rotted part, get it in some good sun, and hope it buds. Also, when there's no leaves on the tree, it's using almost no water, so you can keep it very dry - maybe a drink a week.
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Mar 5, 2013 18:15
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What sort of soil mixture am I looking at? Sandy? Clay?
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Mar 5, 2013 18:20
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Sandy, always go sandy when you want non-bonsai soil that will hold as little water as possible. Poor Greg. He looks long gone by now, just like my Ficus looked when it died from overwatering... Pinch the lower trunk of the tree with your finger tips. If it feels kind of mushy in any way, it's done. Another test you can do is to scratch off some of the trunk bark with your fingernail. If it comes off and there's brown underneath, it's dead. If it's green, then there's still a glimmer of hope, but only if it's far down the trunk near the base of the tree.
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Mar 6, 2013 05:58
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Actually, if you use sand, you want it to be a very small portion of your mix. The problem with sand is it compacts and doesn't allow air-flow, which again, invites rot. If you're willing to do a little work and get the ingredients, this is a fantastic bonsai/potting mix. Like I said, though, if you're lazy/can't find good ingredients, just cut a bagged cacti-mix mix in half with perlite. You want to make it so you basically can't overwater.
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Mar 6, 2013 14:56
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So I have finally decided to get into Bonsai. I have been looking into it for years and today my had was forced. The local plant place where I get my gardening supplies has announced that it is going out of business. As such I picked up a 10 year old Japanese Red Maple bonsai for 75% off. I have a place picked out for it where it will get indirect sunlight so that it won't burn, and I live in Pennsylvania so I am in a 6a/6b area with plenty of humidity since they do not like dry weather. Anyway, it is in a very squat "ornate" pot that doesn't look like it will work very well for keeping it alive so I am thinking that I need to transplant it. What sort of pot would you guys recommend for it? Height wise it is about 1.5 feet tall. Also, what sort of soil & fertilizer would work well for it if I don't want to go out and buy the expensive stuff right away. I was thinking of using a mix of compost dirt, and sphagnum peat moss for the base, and using bone meal as the fertilizer as this is what my mom uses for her flower gardens. I just don't know if this will also work for a bonsai tree though. Edit: The pot that it came in is a small, round ceramic pot with two holes in the bottom for draining and it sits on 4 little feet. The drainage holes have a mesh screen in it. By the way, I have deer around me. Would my plant be at risk for them eating it? jadebullet fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Apr 7, 2013 |
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Apr 7, 2013 03:32
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jadebullet posted:Anyway, it is in a very squat "ornate" pot that doesn't look like it will work very well for keeping it alive so I am thinking that I need to transplant it. What sort of pot would you guys recommend for it? Height wise it is about 1.5 feet tall. Also, what sort of soil & fertilizer would work well for it if I don't want to go out and buy the expensive stuff right away. I was thinking of using a mix of compost dirt, and sphagnum peat moss for the base, and using bone meal as the fertilizer as this is what my mom uses for her flower gardens. I just don't know if this will also work for a bonsai tree though. The pot shape depends entirely upon what style of bonsai it is. Although seeing as how it's a larger tree, you'll need a bigger pot. The bone meal fertilizer should work just fine, and in terms of soil, what you have right now will do just fine until you can get yourself some real bonsai soil. I do advise you get some real stuff soon though. For wondering about deer going around and potentially eating any plants you might have, I suggest checking out this page rating Deer Resistant Plants provided by Rutgers University. (Japanese Maple got a B grade; Seldom Severely Damaged). http://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance/ Hope that helps!
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Apr 7, 2013 04:34
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jadebullet posted:"ornate" pot that doesn't look like it will work very well for keeping it alive so I am thinking that I need to transplant it. What sort of pot would you guys recommend for it? Height wise it is about 1.5 feet tall. Also, what sort of soil & fertilizer would work well for it if I don't want to go out and buy the expensive stuff right away. I was thinking of using a mix of compost dirt, and sphagnum peat moss for the base, and using bone meal as the fertilizer as this is what my mom uses for her flower gardens. I just don't know if this will also work for a bonsai tree though. Has it leafed out? I don't recommend re-potting a maple if it has. I like cactus mix as a low cost soil more than compost and moss, which hold to much water.
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Apr 7, 2013 13:13
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By leafed out do you mean does it have leaves? If so then yes it has some leaves as well as buds. Should I wait until the fall when it drops to do any repotting?
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Apr 7, 2013 16:03
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That is what I mean by leafed out. Here is a good article with pictures and specifics: http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/BasicsWhen%20to%20Repot%20your%20Bonsai.htm I think fall re-potting would be preferable to now especially if you plan on protecting the roots from freezing in the winter. The only reason to re-pot now was if you thought the tree's health was in serious trouble, like if it was very root bound. Another option is to defoliate and re-pot but that is usually a technique for trees that are in good health and have their branches already well developed.
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Apr 7, 2013 16:52
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I figure I should probably show you guys a few pictures of the tree just so that I can get a better gauge of its health and if the pot is an adequate one for now. Don't worry, the tree will be going outside today. I just have it on the shelf for now because I got home with it late last night.  The leaves are a little limp. Is this an indication of a problem or is it just that it needs water?  
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Apr 7, 2013 17:46
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I have a hard time believing that's a ten year tree. Half that growth is last year's growth. What sort of soil is it in? You want something that drains extremely well - the number one way people kill their potted plants is too much moisture on the roots, which causes rot within the mix.
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Apr 7, 2013 19:29
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The soil feels sandy like dirt mixed with sand. Lots of root penetration as well.
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Apr 7, 2013 20:33
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It's not unusual for maple leaves to look wilty until they harden off. If it was my tree I would wait for it to finish leafing out and a bit after the leaves had hardened off cut back to one or two pairs of leaves for more back budding on the trunk and fertilize once a week with a balanced fertilizer. You want to grow some thicker branches lower on the trunk. It's kind of hard to say how the roots look at this point. It looks like the tree is wired in so it would probably be a bit tricky to lift it up a bit and look to see if there are healthy looking feeder roots in the root ball.
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Apr 8, 2013 07:44
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At the very least it seems healthy. You have lots of leaves coming out of dormancy, along with a bunch of buds ready to go. I agree with unprofessional though, this is a pretty young tree. Probably 3 years old at most. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You're actually in a pretty prime position to determine the style of the tree at this age, or at least pretty close to it.
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Apr 8, 2013 08:29
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That's a relief. Style wise I would love to try for something similar to the Trident maple in the op. When you say cut back to one to two pairs of leaves you mean pinch off some of the leaves until there are only about 4 remaining correct? And only leaves not branches. As for a balanced fertilizer what do you reccommend. I tend to use bonemeal for most of my plants around here but that is because I have lovely soil and i am not sure how balanced it is. Thanks for the help BTW.
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Apr 8, 2013 12:04
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I like Osmocote as a nice slow release fert that won't burn. When you repot, I would just make sure 50-75% of your mix is inorganics (perlite is good choice) for excellent drainage - the bagged mixes in big box stores are terrible. You want it so you can water nearly every single day in the summer and not worry about overwatering. Avoid sand, as it compacts and doesn't allow for good root oxygenation in pots. Your tree looks nice. Play around with it to get what you want; don't try just going by concrete steps you read in a book. My first step would be to cut back and then focus on pinching to create lots and lots of branching. This will get your leaf size down, trunk size up, and give you a good starting point.
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Apr 8, 2013 12:13
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So just to confirm, I should: 1: cut it back as well as pinch off the larger leaves to promote smaller leaves and thicker trunk growth. 2: pick up some of that fertilizer and begin feeding it once a week. 3: water it every other day until summer than go to daily. 4: pay attention to drainage when watering to make sure the current soil drains properly. 5: depot in fall after the leaves drop and use 50-75% inorganic material. Have I missed anything? A few more questions from me. When you say cut it back do you mean branch cutting as well as leaf pinching or just leaf pinching? To fertilize I just put some on top of the soil then water correct? Also when should I do this cutback? With a maple I know that I shouldn't have direct sunlight on it all day or else it will burn. I am thinking of having it on my porch but that location will get direct sun in the morning. Would direct sun in the morning followed by being shaded the rest of the day be a problem?
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Apr 8, 2013 13:53
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With a slow release fert, you need only fertilize once a year or so, after spring growth is well established. As you progress, you can research more specific fertilizers. You can top coat fertilizers, but they'll best be used if incorporated into your growing medium (might not be good option for you at this point, in that pot). Re: Pinching - see how there's so much branch growth between leaves? When you prune your tree back, shoots will appear. Let the first set of leaves stay on, then pinch the growth that emerges right after them. This will cause the tree to branch into two shoots from behind your pinched spot. Let these two branches make a leaf or two each, then pinch the new growth that continues out from them, creating four branches. Continue to repeat this process, creating tiny leaves and tons and tons of branching. This will create a dense, full canopy. Trees that are well done show this best in the wintertime, actually. See here.
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Apr 8, 2013 15:11
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