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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. Get a dwarf Hawaiian umbrella tree. It won’t teach you bonsai techniques, but it’s cheap, it grows fast, it looks nice, it can be kept indoors, and it’s quite forgiving of mistreatment. Crocoduck posted: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. “Hydroponics” shops have all the best supplies. Apparently, growing marijuana in hundred‐litre pots is a thing. Platystemon fucked around with this message at 05:21 on May 29, 2019 |
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May 29, 2019 05:19
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Harry Potter on Ice posted: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 Really depends on the tree. A lot of the Japanese maple you see out there in garden centers are grafted with the root stock, and these hardly ever look passable. Cheap JWP are often grafted to JBP root stock and these can sometimes look good after a long period of time. Grafted 'ginseng' ficus always look awful. But grafting is a really important tool in your bonsai kit. Most varieties of American juniper have inferior foliage to itoigawa or kishu and look 5000x better if you change out the foliage. I've got grafts going on a half dozen san jose, a couple rockys, etc. Occasionally given how variable RMJ foliage can be you'll get one that looks halfway decent. For less dramatic interventions, grafting can allow you to put a branch right where you want it, and you can't beat that.
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May 29, 2019 05:46
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Platystemon posted:Get a dwarf Hawaiian umbrella tree. Cool, will check one out. Thanks for the tip!
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May 29, 2019 06:31
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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. LOL this does not surprise me. It's hard to differentiate between "he makes it look so easy" and "he's doing it wrong" when you don't know enough to tell the difference. One thing that jumped out at me from watching that video again: I've since read that totally bare-rooting when reporting and/or pruning as aggressively as he does there is kind of frowned upon by others. Do you think he's too aggressive there, or is it a matter of being something he can get away with because it's such a young/undeveloped tree? Another one I've been enjoying (no link because I'm on my phone at the moment) is "Appalachian Bonsai", mostly because he's working pretty much exclusively with salvaged trees. On the one hand a lot of his videos have pretty good explanations of what he's doing and he has some good technical details I haven't seen elsewhere (like actually comparing water retention between different soil components and how well each holds up to freeze-thaw cycles). On the other hand, all his trees are still in the "development" stage and none of them really look like "bonsai" so much as "interesting stumps he has revived". I suppose that type of material is going to take years (if not a decade) to grow branches properly proportional to the massive trunks, but I also it might just be a stylistic difference encouraged in part by using native species? On that, one thing I have really enjoyed about Peter Chan's videos (and subsequently the couple books I have read) is how he is clearly an undeniable master of traditional bonsai, and yet also super open-minded (and in fact encouraged) by some nontraditional developments. I remember reading him talk about how Bonsai has exploded into regional styles, and how you have European and North American schools informed both by local species, environments, and aesthetic traditions and how he treats them as just as valid as the Chinese and Japanese schools. That's another moment that really made me realize how much depth there was in the hobby and how it's really a living and growing art rather than simply a tote appropriation of eastern aesthetics. He seems to enjoy showing people how to make lovely little toy bonsai as much as his massive maples. I think the complete lack of snobbishness is part of what let's him make everything seem approachable -- he is just a dude who very clearly loves little trees in pots, and it's infectious. Also he reminds me of my grandfather 
Hubis fucked around with this message at 14:36 on May 29, 2019 |
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May 29, 2019 14:27
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Hubis posted:LOL this does not surprise me. I made my mind up when I saw Saunders making GBS threads on the efforts of a bunch of Kimura's apprentices on youtube. And by apprentices I mean famous bonsai artists in their own right, like Taiga Urushibata and Marco Invernizzi. That coupled with his faux iconoclasticism and unwillingness to evolve in his techniques make me not respect him as a person. quote:It's hard to differentiate between "he makes it look so easy" and "he's doing it wrong" when you don't know enough to tell the difference. One thing that jumped out at me from watching that video again: I've since read that totally bare-rooting when reporting and/or pruning as aggressively as he does there is kind of frowned upon by others. Do you think he's too aggressive there, or is it a matter of being something he can get away with because it's such a young/undeveloped tree? Peter Chan did that? poo poo man. I mean, there's a time and a place for everything. If you look at the ebihara technique, bare rooting and hard chops are something you can do with young, vigorous material. Check out this video from Peter Warren. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szc_kXuhPoY Now, you try this same poo poo on a conifer that's a few centuries old and you just have a dead tree. quote:Another one I've been enjoying (no link because I'm on my phone at the moment) is "Appalachian Bonsai", mostly because he's working pretty much exclusively with salvaged trees. On the one hand a lot of his videos have pretty good explanations of what he's doing and he has some good technical details I haven't seen elsewhere (like actually comparing water retention between different soil components and how well each holds up to freeze-thaw cycles). On the other hand, all his trees are still in the "development" stage and none of them really look like "bonsai" so much as "interesting stumps he has revived". I suppose that type of material is going to take years (if not a decade) to grow branches properly proportional to the massive trunks, but I also it might just be a stylistic difference encouraged in part by using native species? I haven't seen his stuff. Development stage is fine, but I see a lot of beginners and beginner youtubers just collecting without really filtering or directing their attentions towards future plans. Looks like he's got a few trees that aren't so bad, but he's kind of an advanced beginner if you know what I mean. For sure watch his stuff if you enjoy the videos, but be critical about adopting any techniques would be my advice. quote:On that, one thing I have really enjoyed about Peter Chan's videos (and subsequently the couple books I have read) is how he is clearly an undeniable master of traditional bonsai, and yet also super open-minded (and in fact encouraged) by some nontraditional developments. I remember reading him talk about how Bonsai has exploded into regional styles, and how you have European and North American schools informed both by local species, environments, and aesthetic traditions and how he treats them as just as valid as the Chinese and Japanese schools. That's another moment that really made me realize how much depth there was in the hobby and how it's really a living and growing art rather than simply a tote appropriation of eastern aesthetics. Yeah, we're really at some of a golden age for bonsai.
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May 29, 2019 21:52
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fuzzy_logic fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Mar 4, 2023 |
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May 29, 2019 23:41
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Walter's a friend and he really helped me out in my early effort in bonsai, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I think Walter was instrumental in breaking European bonsai away from just copying Japanese aesthetics, and his techniques for collection of bonsai and what soil to use were groundbreaking at the time, but at this point common knowledge. Some of his techniques such as the much vaunted 'hedge clipping' are out and out disastrous when applied to solid bonsai. His trees though are innovative and beautiful to behold. Still, I stopped taking lessons with him when I realized that I was doing the same thing time after time, not really gaining in knowledge, and my trees weren't looking better. He's getting older. At this point I doubt he's going after the Noelander's trophy anytime, he seems more happy selling trees he buys from out west and teaching beginners not to be afraid of working on trees. I think going to a lesson or two with him is a very good exercise, but quite a number of people seem to get trapped in a 'cult of Walter' and don't keep an open mind to other voices. Compared to Nigel Saunders though, at least Walter walks the walk and knows a good tree from a poor tree.
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May 30, 2019 01:45
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Crocoduck posted:Really depends on the tree. A lot of the Japanese maple you see out there in garden centers are grafted with the root stock, and these hardly ever look passable. Cheap JWP are often grafted to JBP root stock and these can sometimes look good after a long period of time. Grafted 'ginseng' ficus always look awful. Oh my god my minds blown again for remembering the last time you explained grafting juniper foliage. That is so cool to me. That all makes sense to me, thanks. I've turned down buying some trees with lovely grafts that I figure would just get worse. Also cross posting from the weed thread
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May 30, 2019 02:40
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Lol those are japanese maples.
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May 30, 2019 03:09
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Oh my god my minds blown again for remembering the last time you explained grafting juniper foliage. That is so cool to me. That all makes sense to me, thanks. I've turned down buying some trees with lovely grafts that I figure would just get worse. Many of them will get worse, but there are some that don't look bad. Here's one of mine that's a grafted california juniper. 
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May 30, 2019 03:45
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I could sit and stare at those for a long time if they were in my backyard Crocoduck posted:Lol those are japanese maples.  I wanted to believe
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May 30, 2019 04:42
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Behold another adventure into wiring with Jestery Before  After  I'm mainly concerned with spreading out the foliage so as to collect as much sun and prevent overlap with water contact
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May 30, 2019 07:46
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Jestery your wiring literally makes my chest tighten and physically hurt. I'm dewiring a spruce I wired a year and a half ago and man, even seeing the mistakes I made and their consequences is enough to make me really appreciate learning to wire reasonably well. Watch some Mauro videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-6Le4n-uRI&t=15s and buy some real wire: superflybonsai.com Your tree will thank you.
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May 30, 2019 14:59
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Crocoduck posted:Jestery your wiring literally makes my chest tighten and physically hurt. I'm dewiring a spruce I wired a year and a half ago and man, even seeing the mistakes I made and their consequences is enough to make me really appreciate learning to wire reasonably well. Thanks for this (and the videos you shared earlier). Wiring was kind of the next big thing I was putting off. I took the plunge and went through and wired the juniper and pieris (though not the maple). I managed to snap one of the branches on the pieris, but it was fortunately the one I could most afford to lose (more on this later). The first wire was the hardest, and pretty much as I went I got more and more of a feel for it, picking out the right branches to pair and which directions i should be wrapping each. Going from a secondary branch to anchor/trunk to other secondary branch still feels a little weird (lining up the wire with the anchor without overlapping them is still a bit off for me) as is wiring the finer foliage on the plants, but it feels like something that I just need to do a ton of to get right. Some Q's: 1) Is there any harm in using a (slightly?) too large wire for a branch? Obviously too small won't hold the bend, but I tried to eyeball it using the techniques in the video and I *feel* (based on how the bends were/weren't holding) like I was consistently about one size/0.5mm too small. Is there any harm in just "rounding up", aside from cost? 2) I tried to maintain a consistent 45' angle and spacing, but I think I ended up creeping into too shallow of an angle/too wide of a stride as I went up the branch. I think I just need to practice more to get a good feel for it. 3) If you have a long primary branch that slowly tapers as secondary branches come off, how long do you carry up the thick "primary" wire? I've been winding it up along the primary branch until it becomes a bit silly, then running the secondary wraps alongside it. Is this ok, or should I just anchor it 2-3 wraps past the secondary branch and treat it like its own secondary as well? In related news, I realized I'd spent a ton on mica pots and fancy soil components, but literally nothing since I was just salvaging my garbage landscaping. Since I thought it might be nice to not have absolute trash to work with I grabbed some junipers and an azalea for like $12 each at Home Depot and went to town. I got a J. Chinensis, a J. Squamata (With some nice blue needles), and an "Autumn Rose" Azalea. After some pretty heavy and potentially nerve-wracking cutting (watching those peter chan videos made me feel a lot more confident in just leaving a ton of foliage on the floor) I ended up with this:  How'd I do? The azalea I ended up cutting too hard I think, but I'm not sure exactly what shape I wanted with it so I think I'm going to just let it grow for a while and look at it again next spring.
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Jun 7, 2019 15:32
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I’ve been interested in Bonsai for a while so I went to a nursery near by and decided to buy a couple. After purchasing I realized I’m a little out of my depth but I’m not trying to be intimidated, but not knowing that much has exposed a bit of my ignorance. So I’m curious if you can tell me what kind of bonsai these are. They look like Junipers to me but I may be off. Another thing I’m confused on is if and when I should repot and if there’s any helpful articles I can read about that. That being said I’ve loved just going out and watering them. I’m hoping to buy a few more as I get more into it as well.  
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Jun 8, 2019 00:37
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"there appears to be some sort of forcefield, how do I remove it?"
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Jun 8, 2019 07:39
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Hubis posted:Thanks for this (and the videos you shared earlier). Wiring was kind of the next big thing I was putting off. I took the plunge and went through and wired the juniper and pieris (though not the maple). I managed to snap one of the branches on the pieris, but it was fortunately the one I could most afford to lose (more on this later). The first wire was the hardest, and pretty much as I went I got more and more of a feel for it, picking out the right branches to pair and which directions i should be wrapping each. Going from a secondary branch to anchor/trunk to other secondary branch still feels a little weird (lining up the wire with the anchor without overlapping them is still a bit off for me) as is wiring the finer foliage on the plants, but it feels like something that I just need to do a ton of to get right. Some Q's: Wiring is difficult, don't worry. It's also really, really worth it. Practice lots. My fiancee has caught me doing it in my sleep. :P quote:1) Is there any harm in using a (slightly?) too large wire for a branch? Obviously too small won't hold the bend, but I tried to eyeball it using the techniques in the video and I *feel* (based on how the bends were/weren't holding) like I was consistently about one size/0.5mm too small. Is there any harm in just "rounding up", aside from cost? Yeah, larger wire cuts in a bit too quickly and can snap the branch - part of wiring is using the resistance of the branch to coil the wire around it and if the wire is too large it's just going to snap the twig. quote:2) I tried to maintain a consistent 45' angle and spacing, but I think I ended up creeping into too shallow of an angle/too wide of a stride as I went up the branch. I think I just need to practice more to get a good feel for it. It's more a guideline than a hard and fast rule anyway. quote:3) If you have a long primary branch that slowly tapers as secondary branches come off, how long do you carry up the thick "primary" wire? I've been winding it up along the primary branch until it becomes a bit silly, then running the secondary wraps alongside it. Is this ok, or should I just anchor it 2-3 wraps past the secondary branch and treat it like its own secondary as well? Carry it up until it becomes too large for the branch and then do a turn or two along the next 'node.' Then use a smaller gauge to join the primary branch to a secondary, looping very slightly over the end of the first wire... I'll draw some pictures. In related news, I realized I'd spent a ton on mica pots and fancy soil components, but literally nothing since I was just salvaging my garbage landscaping. Since I thought it might be nice to not have absolute trash to work with I grabbed some junipers and an azalea for like $12 each at Home Depot and went to town. I got a J. Chinensis, a J. Squamata (With some nice blue needles), and an "Autumn Rose" Azalea. quote:After some pretty heavy and potentially nerve-wracking cutting (watching those peter chan videos made me feel a lot more confident in just leaving a ton of foliage on the floor) I ended up with this: Good for getting started! The time to prune azalea is right after flowering, that's right around now for me. I'd go ahead and butcher it.
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Jun 10, 2019 20:41
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How can I propagate my Azelea?
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Jun 10, 2019 22:54
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:How can I propagate my Azelea? Cuttings? I dunno, I'm not good at propagation. I'm trying an air layer next week to remove the bottom section of a Japanese maple and I'm scared out of my fuckin mind.
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Jun 11, 2019 00:30
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Crocoduck posted:Cuttings? I dunno, I'm not good at propagation. I'm trying an air layer next week to remove the bottom section of a Japanese maple and I'm scared out of my fuckin mind. drat good luck! Share the pics. I like plants that you can pop off and put on soil and get more plants like succulents haha, cuttings were what I've read though
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Jun 11, 2019 00:46
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Ok so some plant/wiring pics. Here's the pieris japonica (?) (This is the first time I've tried wiring, so it's pretty rough):  I'm actually a little disappointed with this guy. I felt like the buds coming off the broken branch were pretty cool so I was envisioning a kind of sokan "father-and-son" style, but it didn't really pan out like I had hoped. Having read up a bit more, while some cool Pieris bonsai do exist a lot of people feel like they are unsuitable due to the leaf size/growth behavior and general brittleness of the branches. You can actually see I snapped the branch in the top left, which fortunately I was considering pruning anyways. It doesn't look it, but there is a fair amount of bend going on here, bringing it forward and bending that left side branch down and to the front to create some depth. My goals here were: 1) create some interest with the two side shoots on the right 2) bring the main truck into a bit of a more upright position (it was really leaning back over the rear of the pot) 3) create a vague "triangle" profile However, the more I look at it the less I really like the result and the more I think it might be better as a smaller tree. I was reading that Pieris respond well to "hard pruning" so I'm considering maybe snipping the two secondary branches off of the left trunk a couple inches past where they split and hoping that they bud back in a way that is a bit more suitable. Second tree: some kind of needle juniper (?) that I dug up from under some bushes:  I had a lot of difficulty figuring out what i wanted to do with this. Originally I was thinking I'd do a semi-cascade with it, but as I played with it I decided a windswept look would work better and play with some of the existing damage on the tree. I think I managed a better job with the wiring here, though I was still getting a feel for it. I am in general a lot more happy with how this thing came out. The more I look at it the more I like it, I think. I'm a little concerned about its health as I've noticed some of the needles turning brown. I may have damaged them while wiring, but I'm a bit concerned that it's already dead and is finally giving up the ghost. It seems like it had adjusted quite happily to being in the new pot and was showing some new growth before I wired it, but maybe I jumped the gun. It's in a mix of pumice and coarse pine bark (about 2:1) and I've been watering the pot and foliage once a day. The spot it is in has good view of the sky but only gets dappled light at most during the day, which I thought would be best given that its root system is still kind of nonexistent. Tree three: Juniperus Chinensis "Old Gold" from the discount pile at the garden center:   I feel like I was starting to "get" the wiring this time around (ignore that weird wire around the base of the trunk, it's just a scrap I had there for some dumb reason -- despite how it looks I did NOT girdle the tree all the way around with the wire). I mostly just aimed for branch separation and establishing a good "triangle" shape from multiple angles so it has good depth. I'm not sure if I should have wired further down the fine foliage or not, but that seemed fiddly and with potential to do more harm than good at this point so I just left it. When I potted it I put down a bed of pumice and then worked in some more pumice to fill the gaps, but there's a good chunk of nursery soil in the middle -- I only stripped the outer third or so. I figured if it stayed healthy this year I could go in and do more aggressive root work at some later point. I'm pretty happy with it overall. I am not sure what my long term plans for it are -- maybe keep the right side compact and develop the left into a larger/taller S-shape? Not pictured: the Azalea and Juniperus Procumbens. I'm going to move them into some large net pots as "grow boxes" and see if I can get them established. Also, this guy kept trying to climb my feet while I was watering/taking pictures.  He comes out and says hi every time I am out to check on the plants now. Hubis fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Jun 13, 2019 |
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Jun 13, 2019 02:52
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Hubis posted:Ok so some plant/wiring pics. Looks fine to me 
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Jun 13, 2019 04:46
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There are some minor errors with the wiring, but it looks like you did really good for your first time. Now go wire more things, poo poo grab some fallen tree branches and just practice. That needle juniper or whatever it is will die. Try misting it like a bajillion times a day and hit it once a week with kelp extract. But poo poo man, it's still going to probably crap out on you. The bunny is awesome. Crocoduck fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Jun 13, 2019 |
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Jun 13, 2019 19:19
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Crocoduck posted:There are some minor errors with the wiring, but it looks like you did really good for your first time. Now go wire more things, poo poo grab some fallen tree branches and just practice.  Yeah, once I got into a groove it felt really gratifying. I may do a garden center run and pick up another $30-50 worth of plants to practice on. Any other suggestions for things I might find as common nursery stock? BTW: I was watching this in the background while typing this post and this is EXACTLY the problem I kept running into: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-paxAolqQ8&t=1067s Crocoduck posted:That needle juniper or whatever it is will die. Try misting it like a bajillion times a day and hit it once a week with kelp extract. But poo poo man, it's still going to probably crap out on you. Yeah. That's ok, that's part of the beauty of working with yard garbage I guess. Still, kind of sad because I feel like I actually found a cool "story" for the form. Oh well, I... err... needed that pot for something else anyways. It seemed like it was doing fine forever, but as far as I can gather conifers can be "dead" way before they show it. Did I stress it out too much by wiring? I'd seen people say not to do two "operations" (repotting, wiring, defoliation/pruning) to a plant at the same time, but it seemed like it had been pretty happy in there for a month or so and I figured it would do no harm. I guess it's good to have those kinds of hard lessons (best practices, and also p a i t e n c e ) early rather than later. Bonsai is really chuffing against my manic/hyper-focus tendencies (which is probably why it's good for me). Since my grim prognosis has been confirmed I I might try the thing PC keeps advocating for "sick" trees and repot it in pure sphagnum moss to see what happens. It may be too far gone, but who knows. Crocoduck posted:The bunny is awesome. He's one of three:  They dug a burrow in one of the whiskey barrels I have my hops planted in. Thus I've named them Saaz, Fuggles, and Nugget. e: Oh poo poo, I have a giant overgrown willow tree in my yard that I am constantly pruning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ8T-t7ikq8 Hubis fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Jun 13, 2019 |
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Jun 13, 2019 20:22
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My fig is coming along really nicely It's coming along very well and has a whole bunch of growth tips  I can't wait to have to trim him myself , the turkey trim was scary and annoying but it's nice to know how much growth can be encouraged by a trim That wiggly bit on the top left is starting to get a bit big/long and I might take the growth tip off to stunt it.
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Jun 14, 2019 02:12
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My friend gave me this tree and I've been sitting with it and think I've come up with a design for it. I'm going to treat it as a raft/clump with separate 'mini trees' kind of like a Todd Schlafer/Ryan Neil deal. Let's see how it goes.
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Jun 14, 2019 22:03
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Crocoduck posted:My friend gave me this tree and I've been sitting with it and think I've come up with a design for it. How do you differentiate (via design I mean) between a raft and a multi-trunk or group planting? Do you just try and actually highlight the fact that it's a "raft" (i.e. the horizontal mother trunk)?
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Jun 17, 2019 02:44
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Hubis posted:How do you differentiate (via design I mean) between a raft and a multi-trunk or group planting? Do you just try and actually highlight the fact that it's a "raft" (i.e. the horizontal mother trunk)? I think they're pretty nearly the same process, you're just building lots of little mini trees rather than one big honkin tree.
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Jun 17, 2019 16:12
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Crocoduck posted:I think they're pretty nearly the same process, you're just building lots of little mini trees rather than one big honkin tree. "Let's bonsai!:just building lots of little mini trees rather than one big honkin tree."
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Jun 17, 2019 21:38
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  These loving turkeys just see me gardening and want a bite
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Jun 18, 2019 07:57
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Jestery posted:
This is the funniest drat thing
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Jun 18, 2019 12:01
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It was like "Oh you are gardening, lemme come help/eat fig" 
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Jun 18, 2019 12:17
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Jestery posted:It was like He hath tasted latex, and once one hath known that forbidden pleasure none other can sate
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Jun 18, 2019 13:43
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I've been having kind of a bad bonsai month folks, and only recently started coming out of a deep funk. One of my grafted Cali junipers started to decline because of a mistake in shipping (the tree got tilted, leaving an air pocket underneath its root ball). After a repot it looked like the tree was going to crash. I've been hitting it with mist four or five times a day, kelp extract once a week and I can genuinely say that I see some refreshed green now. It might be too soon to call it, but I think it might survive this whole mess.
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Jun 18, 2019 20:18
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Crocoduck posted:I've been having kind of a bad bonsai month folks, and only recently started coming out of a deep funk. One of my grafted Cali junipers started to decline because of a mistake in shipping (the tree got tilted, leaving an air pocket underneath its root ball). After a repot it looked like the tree was going to crash. I've been hitting it with mist four or five times a day, kelp extract once a week and I can genuinely say that I see some refreshed green now. It might be too soon to call it, but I think it might survive this whole mess. God I can't imagine dealing with the second-guessing and stress of working on trees I actually *cared* about.  Glad to hear it might be bouncing back!On that tip, I shook away the loose soil around that dying needle juniper and packed it with spaghnum moss around the tree and then enough pumice to fill the rest of the pot. There was actually a little bit of root growth, but honestly not a ton -- it looks more like trying to get a cutting to root than a tree. I mixed some SuperThrive with water in a spray bottle (as I understood this was good for stressed/shocked trees?) and have been misting it pretty regularly. I don't expect it to live at this point, but it will be an interesting experiment.
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Jun 19, 2019 04:49
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Crocoduck posted:I've been having kind of a bad bonsai month folks, and only recently started coming out of a deep funk. One of my grafted Cali junipers started to decline because of a mistake in shipping (the tree got tilted, leaving an air pocket underneath its root ball). After a repot it looked like the tree was going to crash. I've been hitting it with mist four or five times a day, kelp extract once a week and I can genuinely say that I see some refreshed green now. It might be too soon to call it, but I think it might survive this whole mess. We had an abrupt heat wave here and I'm still stressing because the aftereffects are still showing up. Weirdly the deciduous seem to have weathered it better than the conifers, which is the opposite of what I expected, but maybe I was babying the leafy ones as a result.
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Jun 19, 2019 04:56
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Hubis posted:God I can't imagine dealing with the second-guessing and stress of working on trees I actually *cared* about. Yeah man, it's a problem. It definitely weighs down on me. Today it looks greener than ever. I was talking with Mauro Stemberger and Juan Andrade extensively about it and I'm just lucky I could rely on their expertise. For future reference, I would not do anything to a juniper's roots if it's stressed. Mist it with freshwater frequently, as often as possible. Kelp extract once a week is OK, but superthrive is snake oil. All of the studies I've read about it say no effect was witnessed. fuzzy_logic posted:We had an abrupt heat wave here and I'm still stressing because the aftereffects are still showing up. Weirdly the deciduous seem to have weathered it better than the conifers, which is the opposite of what I expected, but maybe I was babying the leafy ones as a result. It might be that you're babying them, it might be that you're not watering your conifers enough. The only ones that like to be treated like cacti in my experience are JWP. Hinoki, shimpaku, j procumbens and JBP all like a lot of water with dry periods in between. I'm worried about the dry heat, I'll be babying my stressed out guys a lot.
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Jun 20, 2019 21:44
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Crocoduck posted:Yeah man, it's a problem. It definitely weighs down on me. Today it looks greener than ever. I was talking with Mauro Stemberger and Juan Andrade extensively about it and I'm just lucky I could rely on their expertise. Good to know about the SuperThrive. I kind of suspected as much (if it really worked as well as people said I figure I'd hear about it everywhere). And yeah, weirdly in my mind I've always imagined conifers (as trees) being super hearty and able to thrive, maybe because I grew up in a coastal region where they'd take in sandy soil with salty air when nothing else would. The things are just everywhere. My experience with bonsai so far has been the opposite (although the only deciduous tree I've been dealing with has been a 3 yo maple sapling, so there's going to be some inherent forgiveness there as well). I repotted my nursery finds (the juniperus procumbens 'Blue Point', the azalea, some pine that I should have written down because I've already forgotten it, and an arborvitae) being careful to just loosen the soil enough to spread out the roots and try not to disturb the root balls too much. I mostly just removed whatever fell away when loosely brushing the roots with my fingers. I put them all in wide clay pots with the Bonsai Jack 2:2:1 organic mix. I *think* they're fine, but discovering how conifers delicate conifers can be is really stressing me I know those all like full sun, but I'm going to keep them in an "Open Sky / No Direct Sun" location for probably 2 weeks to make sure I don't stress them out any further, then try to resist the urge to mess with them beyond that. Maybe I'll try wiring them come mid summer (which I hear is the time to wire things)? Crocoduck posted:It might be that you're babying them, it might be that you're not watering your conifers enough. The only ones that like to be treated like cacti in my experience are JWP. Hinoki, shimpaku, j procumbens and JBP all like a lot of water with dry periods in between. I'm worried about the dry heat, I'll be babying my stressed out guys a lot. so aside from evaporation/water, is raw heat a concern for any species? I know cool season grasses will experience root dieback when soil temperatures get above 75'F or so, but I don't know how broadly this applies. Where I'm located summers are hot and humid with peak summer temps staying at 90-95'F, so I can keep things watered but I am wondering if I should worry about the pots/soil/roots heating up?
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Jun 20, 2019 22:11
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Hubis posted:Good to know about the SuperThrive. I kind of suspected as much (if it really worked as well as people said I figure I'd hear about it everywhere). They're tough plants it's just that when they start to decline the problem has usually existed for a while and they just can't keep up the charade anymore. Think about my juniper - had a problem months before the repot, but then you go in and play with them and they just crash. quote:I repotted my nursery finds (the juniperus procumbens 'Blue Point', the azalea, some pine that I should have written down because I've already forgotten it, and an arborvitae) being careful to just loosen the soil enough to spread out the roots and try not to disturb the root balls too much. I mostly just removed whatever fell away when loosely brushing the roots with my fingers. I put them all in wide clay pots with the Bonsai Jack 2:2:1 organic mix. I *think* they're fine, but discovering how conifers delicate conifers can be is really stressing me Did you wire them into the pot? quote:I know those all like full sun, but I'm going to keep them in an "Open Sky / No Direct Sun" location for probably 2 weeks to make sure I don't stress them out any further, then try to resist the urge to mess with them beyond that. Maybe I'll try wiring them come mid summer (which I hear is the time to wire things)? If you repotted this year, I might just leave them alone until next year. My new rule is I want shoots before I perform any operations. quote:so aside from evaporation/water, is raw heat a concern for any species? I know cool season grasses will experience root dieback when soil temperatures get above 75'F or so, but I don't know how broadly this applies. Where I'm located summers are hot and humid with peak summer temps staying at 90-95'F, so I can keep things watered but I am wondering if I should worry about the pots/soil/roots heating up? Not if you can water them sufficiently, with that said, in summer I'm watering 2-3x a day for some of my smaller shohin.
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Jun 21, 2019 19:08
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Hubis posted:so aside from evaporation/water, is raw heat a concern for any species? I know cool season grasses will experience root dieback when soil temperatures get above 75'F or so, but I don't know how broadly this applies. Where I'm located summers are hot and humid with peak summer temps staying at 90-95'F, so I can keep things watered but I am wondering if I should worry about the pots/soil/roots heating up? Some species like yew or elm have delicate roots that don't want to get hot. If they're in black nursery pots it's a good idea to cover the pots with aluminum foil or damp towels to prevent them from heating up, and getting them up off the patio tile or whatever they're on in case that heats up and transfers. I tend to soak the surrounding tile and any walls or fences to make sure heat's not radiating from the surroundings. Willow and bald cypress obviously want cool roots, I think redwood prefer it too but I treat my redwood like poo poo because it survives literally everything so I kinda ignored it. Yet another reason to use terra cotta and get things out of plastic nursery pots as quick as possible though.
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Jun 22, 2019 04:47
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