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Hubis posted:So does anyone mess around with blending their own soils? For various reasons I've been looking into this, and it seems like "pine bark fines" are basically just regular pine bark mulch screened through a coarse filter. Is this right? I use mainly zero-organic mixes but yeah, most people I know buy separate components, sift, and then mix in the proportions they want. Personally, I'm a "chuck approximate amounts of each in the empty pot and stir with hands" type but I think it saves you money and gives you more control over percentages. For example, most of my conifers are 1-1-1 lava-pumice-akadama but the yew gets 2-1 akadama and pumice. Since I just have 3 bags doing that is trivial. The 1-1-1 mentioned is the standard around here but it's going to depend on your local climate. I'd also toss out any of the "superfine" junk you mentioned, at least with akadama dust it tends to clog up drainage holes and can compact in the soil and make roots have a hard time getting air. If you're sifting for a specific size you need to remove the too-large and the too-small pieces.
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May 15, 2019 20:11
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fuzzy_logic posted:"chuck approximate amounts of each in the empty pot and stir with hands" type It’s an underappreciated method.
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May 19, 2019 02:45
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This winter I am occupying myself with organising materials for a Series of root over rock grows this summer. My research is finding it relatively straightforward but just time consuming I saw some resin busts of famous statues for sale and I figure a small cast bhudda figure won't be hard to find. I really want to find a small (5-10cm ) statue of Helios so I can have some A E S T H E T I C bonsai. My mother is gifting me some Lavender which might be fun to try this with I'm going to go small because I am an impatient child.
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May 19, 2019 23:46
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My Amur's so loving cute, look at these teensy red leaves. I wanna pinch its nonexistant cheeks
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May 20, 2019 03:22
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I don't really know what I am doing and this stuff is all solidly tree-in-pot territory, but I've got some pics of my "yard-madori" efforts so   This is the volunteer maple I mentioned earlier. She was pretty drat sad looking after I repotted him (I probably waited until too late into the season) and I was not convince she'd make it, but the leaves are finally regaining their "turgidity" (  ) now that it's had some time in the shade. I think I'd like for it to get a fair bit taller (as the leaves are fairly large) so I may just let it bush out for a while and lop of one of the main branches at the split or try and do a split trunk deal with it. Not sure. I like the angle it's got going on, but I don't quite have a good intuition for what would make an interesting bonsai shape quite yet.Now that it's established in a proper depth pot with better soil I'm going to let it grow out this year and then next year either leave it alone, put it in a larger grow box to bulk up, or transfer to an oval pot of some sort (now that I know a bit more about bonsai aesthetics). It has some kind of leaf spot issue (which it and like everything around here had last spring as well). I hit it with some copper fungicide about a week ago, I should probably do a follow-up this week as well.   Here's the thing that I *think* is Japanese Andromeda (pieres japonica). It was really sad looking when I dug it out, lots of dead wood and a just a few leaves at what is now the split of that top trunk. Now it seems to be really freaking happy which is encouraging as I have another even larger one in the yard that is also in need of rescue. I feel like he's got some real mojo (I love the little shoots off of that snapped trunk on the bottom) but I'm not exactly sure where to go with him. Unlike the maple this probably would respond to wiring well for shaping but I am not sure what direction to push it. One thought would be to separate out the top groups to form two terraced layers (bending them back in over and around the stump) and then the lower shoots to form a little bottom layer as well. Alternatively I could lean into the angle and try and do a cascade with it, although the large trunk is getting kind of woody already so I am not sure how aggressive I could curve it down over the edge. Either way I probably won't prune back the foliage too much (I don't think?) just because I want the branches to thicken up and match the scale of the stump better. I tried to clean up the flat pruning cuts of the deadwood I did a while back. I just carve them and curved them out a bit to make them look weathered, but if anyone has suggestions on how to do this better please let me know. I've seen some people use dremel tools to do more aggressive carving, which I could do if I can figure out how I want to reshape it.  Is this a Juniper? I dug it out of a corner. It had very little in the way of roots except for a what appeared to be a massive underground branch connecting to some long-gone mother plant. trimmed it enough to fit into this pot and filled it with a mix of gritty potting soil. I want to say that was about a month ago. I could probably repot it now (in a better soil mix as well informed by what I now know) but I'm not sure if I *should* just because I don't want to stress it out any further. On the other hand, I shouldn't need to do much/any root pruning laterally (although it has a lot of depth I may need to chop down). This I think I definitely would do a cascade with, after choping down some of the stumps at the bottom. I need to study a bit more on what to keep and what to prune to make it look right, though.
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May 21, 2019 17:08
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fuzzy_logic posted:I use mainly zero-organic mixes but yeah, most people I know buy separate components, sift, and then mix in the proportions they want. Personally, I'm a "chuck approximate amounts of each in the empty pot and stir with hands" type but I think it saves you money and gives you more control over percentages. For example, most of my conifers are 1-1-1 lava-pumice-akadama but the yew gets 2-1 akadama and pumice. Since I just have 3 bags doing that is trivial. The 1-1-1 mentioned is the standard around here but it's going to depend on your local climate. I'd also toss out any of the "superfine" junk you mentioned, at least with akadama dust it tends to clog up drainage holes and can compact in the soil and make roots have a hard time getting air. If you're sifting for a specific size you need to remove the too-large and the too-small pieces. Thanks, this is really helpful. From what I've read, the bark vines is mostly there to provide bulk as a cost savings -- decent water retention and large enough particle size to maintain structure. Meanwhile I see videos from Peter Chan talking about using what appears to be basically just potting soil for a lot of things. I gather that the "100% inorganic" approach is maybe a bit more new-school? I can see the merits based on what I've read (better toot growth, zero concern about overwatering since all the moisture water is retained internally to the granules rather than in the macro-pores, etc). Do you think this applies to things that are newly dug up from the field/cut down to fit into a pot (versus repotting an established tree)? I can see it making perfect sense for something with an established root system you're just cleaning up, wheras some of the stuff I've been pulling up I find I have to cut away a lot of the existing root mass and have been worried about it not being able to pull in enough moisture through the anemic system that remains, so I've been leaning towards something that holds onto a lot more. I guess even in that case I could just use a grittier soil and water more often until the roots re-establish...?
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May 21, 2019 17:27
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For recently harvested yamadori conifers you don't even want proper bonsai soil, just pure pumice. This is the fastest draining possible medium. It won't promote much foliar growth, but it allows for a ton of all important root growth, which is what gets those roots breaking out of the field soil poo poo.
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May 22, 2019 03:27
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Crocoduck posted:For recently harvested yamadori conifers you don't even want proper bonsai soil, just pure pumice. This is the fastest draining possible medium. It won't promote much foliar growth, but it allows for a ton of all important root growth, which is what gets those roots breaking out of the field soil poo poo. Noted thanks
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May 22, 2019 04:35
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Crocoduck posted:For recently harvested yamadori conifers you don't even want proper bonsai soil, just pure pumice. This is the fastest draining possible medium. It won't promote much foliar growth, but it allows for a ton of all important root growth, which is what gets those roots breaking out of the field soil poo poo. Ok cool, maybe I'll pull it out and repot it then -- I actually have a bunch of pumice. Is this a time where rooting hormone would be appropriate? I have a bottle of CloneX I've been using trying to propogate things. I'm still trying to get a feel for what drives root growth and healthy development versus stress. I get that free-draining soil is ideal in that it lets you wet existing roots and then pull fresh oxygen down to the roots so you don't get any die off, and that water retention components helps keep the root area humid so they can absorb moisture for a little longer before drying out. But from what I know about air pruning it seems like too much air (?) Will cause roots to die back? Is it just a matter of hitting the right level of humidity on a species-by-species basis? Meanwhile from what I understand about air layering it seems like nutrients moving down from the foliage through the cambium will also fuel new growth. If there isn't much foliage up top, I assume the tree is using it's internal energy reserves to push roots looking for moisture. since the foliage needs moisture to photosynthesize I guess I want to provide just enough to keep the foliage doing it's thing without so much that it pushes energy into top growth? I noticed you didn't mention fertilizer. I assume I just drop it into the pumice unfertilized, but is this something where phosphorus would be beneficial? Or is fertilizing going to drive top growth (and thus stress out the anemic root system)? Likewise, would seaweed extract be appropriate here? Sorry for the million questions, I realize they may no have concise/consistent answers. This has all been fun already because it's really pushed my knowledge/intuition about plant lifecycles.
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May 22, 2019 15:10
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Hubis posted:Ok cool, maybe I'll pull it out and repot it then -- I actually have a bunch of pumice. Is this a time where rooting hormone would be appropriate? I have a bottle of CloneX I've been using trying to propogate things. What species is it and how long has it been in the organic soil? If it's any sort of conifer, I'd say doing it gently would be your best bet, but honestly I don't know. With regard to rooting hormone, I've heard different things but I think that since you're just getting regular roots to elongate, and not inducing the formation of completely new roots from a cutting or air layer, the hormone is unnecessary. quote:I'm still trying to get a feel for what drives root growth and healthy development versus stress. I get that free-draining soil is ideal in that it lets you wet existing roots and then pull fresh oxygen down to the roots so you don't get any die off, and that water retention components helps keep the root area humid so they can absorb moisture for a little longer before drying out. But from what I know about air pruning it seems like too much air (?) Will cause roots to die back? Is it just a matter of hitting the right level of humidity on a species-by-species basis? When I see air pruning it's usually mentioned in conjunction with colander growing - this is when roots are actually emerging from the container, not when they're simply getting air. All roots need air, but conifers in particular like to dry out a bit. Drying out completely will kill new roots. Even when you're talking about inorganic components like pumice, there's water trapped in between the individual granules, and in the granules themselves. quote:Meanwhile from what I understand about air layering it seems like nutrients moving down from the foliage through the cambium will also fuel new growth. If there isn't much foliage up top, I assume the tree is using it's internal energy reserves to push roots looking for moisture. since the foliage needs moisture to photosynthesize I guess I want to provide just enough to keep the foliage doing it's thing without so much that it pushes energy into top growth? I water all my guys normally, same as I do the other trees in the garden. quote:I noticed you didn't mention fertilizer. I assume I just drop it into the pumice unfertilized, but is this something where phosphorus would be beneficial? Or is fertilizing going to drive top growth (and thus stress out the anemic root system)? Likewise, would seaweed extract be appropriate here? Drop it into the pumice unfertilized, be sure to wire it REALLY tight, then fertilize the goddamn bejeezus out of it when it starts to grow. Seaweed extract as I understand it is never inappropriate - I spray it on my trees foliage and water with it all through the growing season to each and every tree. quote:Sorry for the million questions, I realize they may no have concise/consistent answers. This has all been fun already because it's really pushed my knowledge/intuition about plant lifecycles. It's cool man, I'm sorry that I'm not 100% on everything, it's pushing my knowledge to  What I can say is what I do and what I've learned from some notable teachers, but I may have misinterpreted things or confused them.
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May 22, 2019 21:36
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I appreciate the info sharing as well.. for instance seaweed extract? Never heard of it
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May 24, 2019 14:54
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For sure, it's my go to fertilizer , really easy to dose and it last ages for the price Deffo get some
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May 24, 2019 23:54
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Jestery posted:For sure, it's my go to fertilizer , really easy to dose and it last ages for the price It's not a fertilizer and can't serve as one. It's more of a micronutrient supplier with phytohormones and minerals. You can't use it to replace a good fertilizer, but it can be a supplement for one. My fertilizer schedule is a loving shitton of green dream, biogold, sumo cakes, imported Japanese fertilizer of some sort that I don't even know the loving name of, tamari cakes, blood meal, bone meal, blah, blah, blah and fish emulsion every once in a while. In junipers that weren't repotted this year I have 6" extensions. poo poo works.
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May 25, 2019 06:28
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:I appreciate the info sharing as well.. for instance seaweed extract? Never heard of it One of the best sources of 'how to grow plants' is potheads. Those guys have pushed their plants to their physiological maximum and with a bit of tweaking you can use their techniques on bonsai.
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May 25, 2019 06:29
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Crocoduck posted:It's not a fertilizer and can't serve as one. It's more of a micronutrient supplier with phytohormones and minerals. You can't use it to replace a good fertilizer, but it can be a supplement for one. I trust your knowledge about it more than mine for sure, I have a general fertilizer I chuck on once a month or so and 2-3 times a week I use a watered down mix of seaweed extract and that is about as far as I go with it. I'm wary of over fertilizing I purchased an azealia and repotted it over a rock for poos and funnies. It is in a transparent pot and I like that I'll be able to monitor its root progress somewhat
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May 25, 2019 06:40
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Jestery posted:I trust your knowledge about it more than mine for sure, I have a general fertilizer I chuck on once a month or so and 2-3 times a week I use a watered down mix of seaweed extract and that is about as far as I go with it. I'm wary of over fertilizing Haha, well, I'm still bumbling through. General fertilizer every 2-3 weeks is good. Watered seaweed is fine, spraying it on the foliage of junipers, pines, spruces and other conifers is good too. Overfertilizing is mostly a problem of soil components - if you have lovely muddy soil the poo poo plants need start to accumulate and pull the water out of the plant cells. This is really bad. But with modern bonsai soil that's fast draining it doesn't allow the salts and poo poo to accumulate so the plants take what they need and let the rest flow out the bottom.
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May 25, 2019 06:45
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Playing with a privet - hard to control rot on these guys, super important to minwax and lime sulphur.
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May 26, 2019 23:06
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Crocoduck posted:Playing with a privet - hard to control rot on these guys, super important to minwax and lime sulphur. Is this a crocoduck joke or is it me or is the picture blurry for everyone
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May 26, 2019 23:21
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The scrub turkey pruning has prompted new growth all over so , small mercys I guess   Got three nice new growth tips and just a whole lot more dotted around the tree. I might need to do a wire to keep the leaves nice and spread out to make the most of the winter light we have here
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May 26, 2019 23:30
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Is this a crocoduck joke or is it me or is the picture blurry for everyone It's very blurry
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May 26, 2019 23:48
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I dunno what the gently caress is going on, it looks ok for me, then it doesn't, then it does. How bout now?
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May 27, 2019 01:46
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Crocoduck posted:I dunno what the gently caress is going on, it looks ok for me, then it doesn't, then it does. Much better, what is minwaxing? Also might I suggest glasses
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May 27, 2019 01:53
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Minwax is a wood hardener (hurr hurr) for antique furniture. You can use it to help preserve deadwood features in bonsai, but it's not going to actually restore any wood that's started to rot. Now I see it as a weird blurry mess, but the second picture is alright. I don't know? I smell toast.
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May 27, 2019 01:56
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Crocoduck posted:Minwax is a wood hardener (hurr hurr) for antique furniture. You can use it to help preserve deadwood features in bonsai, but it's not going to actually restore any wood that's started to rot. That makes sense, I would love to have something with a bit of deadwood sometime
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May 27, 2019 02:05
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That looks really nice. I had a bonsai once and I killed it because I suck. I am going to lurk this thread for a few years and maybe some knowledge will rub off.
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May 27, 2019 18:09
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Internet Explorer posted:That looks really nice. I had a bonsai once and I killed it because I suck. I am going to lurk this thread for a few years and maybe some knowledge will rub off. Buy stuff and keep it alive is a good second step, specifically not things being sold as bonsai. No need to go crazy with trimming or wiring or tools or pots.
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May 27, 2019 18:13
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Internet Explorer posted:That looks really nice. I had a bonsai once and I killed it because I suck. I am going to lurk this thread for a few years and maybe some knowledge will rub off. Best way is to fail repeatedly and figure out what works for you. Now is a great time to get involved. Buy a pair of cheap shears, a pair of wire cutters, some wire, and maybe three or four nursery trees and get to work.
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May 27, 2019 19:41
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Buy stuff and keep it alive is a good second step, specifically not things being sold as bonsai. No need to go crazy with trimming or wiring or tools or pots. Like that Lily pilly I'm currently growing on the pot, The plant was 5 bucks, and everything else was like another 10. Cheap hobby depending on how far you want to go
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May 27, 2019 21:29
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Jestery posted:Cheap hobby depending on how far you want to go 
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May 27, 2019 21:47
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I dug a volunteer elm tree up and stuck it in a big pot last year, and I just pruned it real hard a few weeks ago and it's budding out like crazy. There's also a bunch more year-old elms in the garden that I'm watching and thinning out in the hopes I might get something interesting out of them.
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May 27, 2019 21:47
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Well that's a cool clip, what is it from
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May 27, 2019 22:26
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Internet Explorer posted:That looks really nice. I had a bonsai once and I killed it because I suck. I am going to lurk this thread for a few years and maybe some knowledge will rub off. What a waste of time that'd be; think of all the trees you could kill in 3 years!
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May 27, 2019 22:34
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I've discovered a few bigleaf maple saplings in my garden, they're about a foot tall now with lots of buds on their trunks. Is it too late to transplant them into a container? I've been thinking of taking a crack at a bunch of native species but I have no idea what I'm doing.
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May 27, 2019 22:41
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fuzzy_logic posted:What a waste of time that'd be; think of all the trees you could kill in 3 years! Ha! Thanks for the words of encouragement. I've been trying to do some basic gardening and house plants. Maybe some day.
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May 28, 2019 06:08
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Bi-la kaifa posted:I've discovered a few bigleaf maple saplings in my garden, they're about a foot tall now with lots of buds on their trunks. Is it too late to transplant them into a container? I've been thinking of taking a crack at a bunch of native species but I have no idea what I'm doing. 'Sup maple-avalache buddy! - So from my (modest but focused) reading and (almost non-existent) experience, big-leaf / native maples are probably going to look best as larger bonsai due to their... err... big leaves. Not huge, but probably in the 18-36" total height range. Smaller sizes are going to struggle with having the leaves and trunk/branches look balanced. - Meanwhile, trees are (assuming good conditions) definitely going to grow best in terms of adding size in native soil. - The best time to transplant native deciduous trees is probably the early spring or late fall. If you do it too close to the summer heat it will get dried out before it has a chance to build a good root system. - On the other hand, saplings are incredibly energetic and resilient, and so you can be a lot more aggressive with them than larger trees. So, based on all that, my suggestion (again, super limited expertise) would be, in order from most to least preferred: 1) If they are in an out of the way location, let them grow in-place for a year or two, pretty much unmanaged 2) If there somewhere not in the way but where you don't want a rogue seedling, let them grow through the summer and collect them in October/November 3) If you'd rather remove them immediately, dig them up gently and put them into a reasonably sized pot. Let them grow for a year or two, then try to move them to a training pot. 4) If you have a ton of seedlings and not a lot of space for pots, just pack them all into a few big pots and go through next spring to separate them based on how they grow. 5) If you feel adventurous, you could try to carefully bare-root one or two now and put them straight in bonsai soil so you're growing straight from the start If you're like me you've probably got more sprouts than you know what to do with, so you could probably do some combination of all 5 and just see how they turn out and still have plenty to spare that will end up being weeded into the trash. e: I've been doing a bunch of reading / youtube watching, and one of the sources I gravitated to was Peter Chan (just because he does such an amazing job of explaining sophisticated concepts while also making things seem not too terribly intimidating). One of his videos that really made me feel like I could do Bonsai myself and inspired me to take the plunge was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvh0r0Yf59I This shows how they grow them out in the field, the size / shapes they're looking for when they decide to pot and shape them, and the kinds of decisions he is making as he goes from raw material to bonsai in training. He goes through a ton of trees in like two 30-minute videos, and it was really illuminating for me in terms of mindset. It doesn't necessarily apply directly to what you're trying to do, but will maybe give you a good framework. This is another good one, showing how to work specifically small tree starts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7IHeDU-JjY Hubis fucked around with this message at 16:26 on May 28, 2019 |
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May 28, 2019 16:15
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Hubis posted:'Sup maple-avalache buddy! Holy poo poo! That's a lot of info. I watched those videos and I was shocked at how fast he handled everything. gently caress you, roots! Get in this tiny rear end container! I'm taking stock of all the saplings and I think there's enough to give every method a shot. I'll dig up some Douglas firs too for good measure. I don't know how I'm gonna get this soil into something that's potable. It's pretty much just clay here. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Thanks for all the help!
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May 28, 2019 22:24
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Bi-la kaifa posted:Holy poo poo! That's a lot of info. I watched those videos and I was shocked at how fast he handled everything. gently caress you, roots! Get in this tiny rear end container! Right?! Oh one thing I mis-stated above: when I said the trees would bulk up best "in native soil", what I really meant was that they'd bulk up best while in the ground. From what I've read (and someone who knows more PLEASE correct or confirm if you can) you can kind of think of it like this: 1) You build trunk/structure with dense foliage collecting sunlight and feeding it to the tree 2) You need a healthy root base to support substantial foliage 3) All else being equal, a tree in the ground will have a wider/better root system than one in a pot and so can support more vigorous foliage So your roots are there to support the foliage, and the foliage is there to help thicken the trunk and the main branches. Once you get it to where you want structurally you can start removing the "support" or "sacrificial" branches that were just there to support more foliage and direct energy into the trunk. From there you just figure out how much foliage you need to support and how big of a root base (and pot) that will require. Bi-la kaifa posted:I'm taking stock of all the saplings and I think there's enough to give every method a shot. I'll dig up some Douglas firs too for good measure. I don't know how I'm gonna get this soil into something that's potable. It's pretty much just clay here. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Thanks for all the help! You can dig them up and pot them, either breaking up the dirt at the edge and cleaning it out more once the tree acclimates to a pot or just trying to bare-root it directly. I'm not certain what the best strategy is -- on the one hand you don't want to be too abusive all at once, but on the other hand it's been my experience so far that seedlings are going to adapt pretty well to survive so maybe now is the best time? One of the benefits of Maple-pocalypse is that there's more than enough stock to experiment on. Here's some more good videos: This one is another twist, making Bonsai from basic garden center stock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyk2f4HRfqE And I just remembered this one, which is probably most relevant to you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgy6kDKdTe0 This one in particular made me a lot more confident with bare-rooting and repotting One thing I like about Nigel Saunders' videos is hearing him think out loud same things I do when I look at a tree: "Is this too big? Probably, but I'm not sure I want to cut it. Hmm, yikes, ok here we go... *snip*" It's a nice counterpoint to Chan's apparent effortlessness, and yet also shows that there are some decisions which are important/certainly best practice, but also a lot that are just up to style and aesthetics so not to sweat it too much. Hubis fucked around with this message at 02:52 on May 29, 2019 |
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May 29, 2019 02:42
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Peter Chan is a good source. Nigel Saunders is not. Guy really annoys me on a personal level, lol. Yeah Hubis, you mostly got it right. Letting trees grow in the ground you can get feet of growth per year, but this doesn't promote the ramification that you want in a finished bonsai. This is a pretty good article , with the caveat that a lot of times, when you let conifers run there won't be any foliage left near the trunk; that's when grafting comes in.
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May 29, 2019 03:02
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Crocoduck posted:Peter Chan is a good source. Nigel Saunders is not. Guy really annoys me on a personal level, lol. How do you feel about grafted bonsai? Is it totally acceptable as long as it heals well and you can't tell? I'm always curious about how people actually in the bonsai game feel about grafts
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May 29, 2019 03:09
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I personally feel like bonsai is more a state of mind than an ideal , I enjoy the journey and the personality of the plants more than what they become. Ergo grafts are cool in my book
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May 29, 2019 04:39
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