|
Double post because my garden is looking good
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2019 02:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 30, 2024 02:49 |
|
|
Jestery posted:Double post because my garden is looking good Nice set up, I like the shelves at the back. I have a greenhouse like that may well repurpose it for the same.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2019 10:23
|
|
|
I need to do a group-shot of the various things I have dug up and acquired over this summer, but as a general question: Now that we are dipping into fall here, with highs in the 50s to 60s and lows in the 40s, is there anything I should be doing differently to my plants right now? I've been watering every 2 days and adding fertilizer pellets every 3-4 weeks (low N for the deciduous, high-N for the evergreens), but it seems like the soil is staying wet for longer. Should I start transitioning into winter-mode? I've a mix of deciduous: - local maples - an a. palmatum seedling - a black oak seedling - What I think is a Locust seedling - What I think are birch seedlings (these things shot up like rockets and are probably 2-3' tall, with one absolute unit in the 4-5' range) - and a virginia creeper  Conifers: - various junipers - some pine seedlings (black pine and coast pine) - an arborvitae - and some cuttings from what I think is a Japanese Cedar that may have actually taken Other Everegreen: - Sky-Pencil Holly - A bunch of cuttings from an unidentified holly in my yard (beautiful foliage) that seem to be the only thing to propagate really well - Some kind of boxwood transplant - A bunch of Azaleas and a small-leafed rhododendron that I grabbed on a lark from the garden center because they seemed to have good structure Looking back at this and realizing I acquired all this in the past 4-6 months, it's become apparent how quickly this hobby can spiral...
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2019 14:09
|
|
|
Hubis posted:I need to do a group-shot of the various things I have dug up and acquired over this summer, but as a general question: Now that we are dipping into fall here, with highs in the 50s to 60s and lows in the 40s, is there anything I should be doing differently to my plants right now? I've been watering every 2 days and adding fertilizer pellets every 3-4 weeks (low N for the deciduous, high-N for the evergreens), but it seems like the soil is staying wet for longer. Should I start transitioning into winter-mode? I know the feeling but it seems to be self correcting to a point where you can't maintain them One of my goals is to Catalog all my plants and plans and use a app to keep track of all their watering cycles "Waterbot" is the perfect amount of complexity for a plant app
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2019 21:40
|
|
|
Hubis posted:I need to do a group-shot of the various things I have dug up and acquired over this summer, but as a general question: Now that we are dipping into fall here, with highs in the 50s to 60s and lows in the 40s, is there anything I should be doing differently to my plants right now? I've been watering every 2 days and adding fertilizer pellets every 3-4 weeks (low N for the deciduous, high-N for the evergreens), but it seems like the soil is staying wet for longer. Should I start transitioning into winter-mode? Most of those can stay outside, I'd check on the azaleas though. My olives are in for the winter already. It's better to check each plant daily or so and water as needed, rather than sticking robotically to a schedule. In winter they'll need less water usually but keep an eye on them. As for volume if you're going for large quantity for cheap then do you, but generally once you get started you want to start saving up for a few good specimens instead of filling your yard with more and more cheap crap. You want trees at different levels of development and that means saving up and shelling out for one or two developed pieces instead of 10-15 more nursery specimens. But that's just like, my opinion man (and the opinion of club members who lectured me at length on this point). From your pics it looks like you have a number of small undeveloped nursery specimens now so forgive me if I assumed wrong.
|
|
#
?
Oct 20, 2019 22:54
|
|
|
Hubis posted:I need to do a group-shot of the various things I have dug up and acquired over this summer, but as a general question: Now that we are dipping into fall here, with highs in the 50s to 60s and lows in the 40s, is there anything I should be doing differently to my plants right now? I've been watering every 2 days and adding fertilizer pellets every 3-4 weeks (low N for the deciduous, high-N for the evergreens), but it seems like the soil is staying wet for longer. Should I start transitioning into winter-mode? Where do you live again? If you're in VA, everything's fine. North of that I'd start considering protection schemes. I'd end fertilizer if you can't ensure that your trees will stay above freezing through the winter. If your deciduous are dropping their leaves it's also time to end fertilizer. Yes, the hobby is addictive. I just bought 25 trident maple saplings to start a forest next year. Combined with the 11 or so I already have it should be a nice project. Crocoduck fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Oct 21, 2019 |
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2019 00:11
|
|
|
Jestery posted:I know the feeling but it seems to be self correcting to a point where you can't maintain them That's the plan!  fuzzy_logic posted:Most of those can stay outside, I'd check on the azaleas though. My olives are in for the winter already. Crocoduck posted:Where do you live again? If you're in VA, everything's fine. North of that I'd start considering protection schemes. I'd end fertilizer if you can't ensure that your trees will stay above freezing through the winter. If your deciduous are dropping their leaves it's also time to end fertilizer. Yeah, Northern VA/DC area. Nominally zone 7a -- last winter we had extended periods in the upper 20's with some brief pushes into the teens. I expect they'd all be fine, but shallow pots/rocky soil is a new thing to me. One of my hopes with focusing on foraged saplings and landscape plants to start is that they would need much less babying to survive my local climate. I built a bench up along my fence so it gets sun but also has a wind block. I was thinking of building a simple frame over the bench and tossing some clear plastic over it as kind of a make-shift cold greenhouse. Would there be any benefit to that if the plants would otherwise be expected to survive the winter ok? Any risks (humidity build-up seems like the big one to me). fuzzy_logic posted:As for volume if you're going for large quantity for cheap then do you, but generally once you get started you want to start saving up for a few good specimens instead of filling your yard with more and more cheap crap. You want trees at different levels of development and that means saving up and shelling out for one or two developed pieces instead of 10-15 more nursery specimens. But that's just like, my opinion man (and the opinion of club members who lectured me at length on this point). From your pics it looks like you have a number of small undeveloped nursery specimens now so forgive me if I assumed wrong. No, totally in-bounds constructive criticism. I very much appreciate the wisdom (and outright necessity) of saving up and shelling out for either mature raw material or already developed pieces to maintain and refine, especially as the sheer time and environmental investment required to grow a sapling into usable stock has sunk in. Right now I've been acquiring a ton of "specimens" from my yard/garden center partially just to give me something to practice things like repotting, watering/fertilizing practices, and pruning/shaping/wiring on without too much stress (and also give me an opportunity to kind of learn the vocabulary of horticulture and shaping involved in Bonsai). I think that as my current crop thins out, I'll probably start saving for something more developed and eyeing some classes. Crocoduck posted:Yes, the hobby is addictive. I just bought 25 trident maple saplings to start a forest next year. Combined with the 11 or so I already have it should be a nice project. Wow, I bet that will be interesting. In my brief experience I don't think I've seen a lot of maple forest arrangements (although I've also gathered that group arrangements are a bit maligned/under-represented in online discussion at least).
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2019 17:09
|
|
|
Hubis posted:Yeah, Northern VA/DC area. Nominally zone 7a -- last winter we had extended periods in the upper 20's with some brief pushes into the teens. I expect they'd all be fine, but shallow pots/rocky soil is a new thing to me. One of my hopes with focusing on foraged saplings and landscape plants to start is that they would need much less babying to survive my local climate. You're in the same climate as me. Anything you worked on I would protect. My go to is a garage heated above 14F. 20s isn't so bad, but teens can be a problem. quote:Wow, I bet that will be interesting. In my brief experience I don't think I've seen a lot of maple forest arrangements (although I've also gathered that group arrangements are a bit maligned/under-represented in online discussion at least). There's a lot of maple forest arrangements actually, but yeah, they don't show up as much as the spectacular yamadori conifers; I think in part because it's hard to source a decent set of trees for the project, and deciduous work in general just takes a long time. Sergio Cuan has a couple palmatum forests that are just the peak of elegance.  Tridents are a vigorous species, it should look like poo poo for a while but after that it should get quite nice quickly. I might even jump in the ring and start making some bonsai videos  I got interviewed for a documentary on bonsai recently and thought the experience was pretty cool and not quite as anxiety provoking as I would have thought.
|
|
#
?
Oct 21, 2019 21:25
|
|
|
Crocoduck posted:You're in the same climate as me. Anything you worked on I would protect. My go to is a garage heated above 14F. 20s isn't so bad, but teens can be a problem. That picture really exemplifies a big "Ah Ha!" moment for me, which is realizing/understanding that deciduous bonsai are actually kind of at their best (for some varieties/styles at least) in the dead of winter rather than in full leaf, with all of that branch structure and ramification on full display. One fun thing about this hobby so far is how I've just started to look at landscape and wild trees differently and noticing things about how they've grown that I would have just ignored otherwise. Crocoduck posted:Tridents are a vigorous species, it should look like poo poo for a while but after that it should get quite nice quickly. I might even jump in the ring and start making some bonsai videos Look dude, if Nigel can do it then so can you.
|
|
#
?
Oct 22, 2019 01:50
|
|
|
I took the alfoil off my root over rock I figured it's time enough and there is some root matter over the brick into the soil I'm moistening with a fertilizer solution every day to keep things happy (I think)  L 
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2019 08:12
|
|
|
That looks interesting what does that set up do over a more traditional set up?
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2019 22:15
|
|
|
bessantj posted:That looks interesting what does that set up do over a more traditional set up? I say this with no authority But I'm sort of considering how this sort of thing might happen irl, roots find ground and nutrition, wind blows soil on an off roots above somewhat. I feel like the alfoil had been on there long enough, and the area it is in is quite moist and humid and cool so fingers crossed
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2019 23:20
|
|
|
Jestery posted:I say this with no authority Cool, wishing you good luck with it all. I think I've failed with my seeds. They've been in soil 26 days now and no germination to be seen.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2019 13:03
|
|
|
bessantj posted:I think I've failed with my seeds. They've been in soil 26 days now and no germination to be seen. These were the banana seeds? Don’t blame yourself. Bananas are the pandas of the plant kingdom.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2019 13:29
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:These were the banana seeds? Oh sorry, no. They were crab apple seeds. But I'm not sure where my mum got them from, the web address on the leaflet that came with them leads to a now dead website.
|
|
#
?
Oct 26, 2019 16:03
|
|
|
Jestery posted:I took the alfoil off my root over rock Looks good though, my Bonsai is SUPER neglected. Poor thing, it’s trying to die. Maybe I should tend to it more...
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2019 08:30
|
|
|
 for reference 🥵
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2019 08:35
|
|
|
Looks like it needs a drink!
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2019 10:15
|
|
|
bessantj posted:Looks like it needs a drink! See you would think so but it’s had a good drink already, temperamental plant. Or I’m just terrible at keeping Bonsais 👀
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2019 10:57
|
|
|
Aule posted:See you would think so but it’s had a good drink already, temperamental plant. Or I’m just terrible at keeping Bonsais 👀 Maybe it is trying to teach you a lesson for the neglect. I've given up with my crab apple seeds they aren't going to germinate. I'm going to get some more and try again maybe next year.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2019 11:13
|
|
|
bessantj posted:Maybe it is trying to teach you a lesson for the neglect. I've given up with my crab apple seeds they aren't going to germinate. I'm going to get some more and try again maybe next year. I have 32 other plants to care for, sometimes I forget 
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2019 11:28
|
|
|
Dat soil :[
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2019 05:10
|
|
|
Gang tag contest! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3903115
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2019 18:48
|
|
|
Bonzo Bozos.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2019 19:15
|
|
|
Banzai bonsai
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 02:15
|
|
|
Bonsai Buddies Use that smug purple spymonkey in the tag. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2019 02:49
|
|
|
 I have strung up my fig with some lights and baubels It's looking a little cute Other wise I have been continuing with it very well, having to kill a few growth tips on the upper branches so that there is more growth on the lower branches. It's definitely hit a size that I am happy with, so controlling height is just necessary , it doesn't make feel any better
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2019 11:53
|
|
|
That looks pretty good.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2019 12:12
|
|
|
*sweeps dust off of thread* Let's Bonsai! Now that things have settled in for the winter, I figured I'd grab some photos of my pre-bonsai collections (along with some plans for care). I've taken to heart the advice of buying more plants whenever I want to bonsai something rather than over-working the ones I already have, so I have quite the stable of starts and garden center stock I've accumulated thus far. There's a lot of "not-quite-bonsai" stuff (as well as pure seedlings) but I am throwing them in here with my thoughts on what I want to do with them and/or questions I have on how to proceed. Not pictured: the "in memorium" section of all the plants that didn't survive. Some were "yard-madori" that were always going to be touch-and-go, others are starts or garden center plants that seemed like they were doing fine until they suddenly went belly-up. v  vMy general strategy going forward is to figure what I want my final size for each plant to be based on what I know about both grow habits and leaf size and from there figure out either where I want my first branch to be (and begin pruning to direct growth accordingly) or decide if it just needs to grow/bulk up more first. I've got a lot of "pre-bonsai" stuff here that's going to be in this latter category. Bonsai (?) Local volunteer maple (4 years old)   Last spring he came out of a neglected pot and was root-pruned and put into this pot with bonsai soil. Not a lot of goo roots at the time, and it was looking really wilted for a while and I thought I'd lose it but it came back really strong. You can probably tell where the original soil line was about an inch up the thick bottom trunk, an where I exposed more of the body and pruned off some large upper roots. I pruned off the split trunk on the right -- it was going up pretty much vertically and while I might have been able to prune it higher up and cultivate a branch off of it, I decided it was too low for a first branch so I decided YOLO and just cut it. The problem is that I think its current crop of developed branches are a too high. I'm hoping I can get it to bud a new branch somewhere halfway up the trunk. We'll see how it goes, I guess. My plan is to repot it in about a month into the larger pot pictured, as it's my understanding that maples do well with a little over-potting. I'm not sure if I should do a full root combing and repotting, or just leave them undisturbed and "slip-pot" it as-is. I'm also not sure if I should keep the lean it currently has, or try and re-angle it to be more vertical. This plant also had a big problem with what I think was maple tar spot (not surprising given it's native and I have a lot of other maples in the area as well). Any advice on how to best mitigate that this spring would be welcome. Chinese Juniper (Garden center purchase, Unknown age)   I removed the wiring here. I'm pretty happy with how it's shaping up, although I'm not quite positive what I want the final form to look like. I might prune off the upper branch of that right-hand main branch so I have a single, low branch. I think I need some inspiration for final shape, so I may just leave it alone for now. I'll probably repot it into the next size larger pot in a month, and do some root pruning. I did pretty minimal root manipulation going from the garden pot to its current home, but now that it's clearly healthy I think it can take it. Otherwise, I think it just needs to fill out some foliage and bulk up from my pruning away all the internal branches to expose the structure. I think it'll probably stay in that next-larger sized pot -- it seems good for this style plant. Pre-Bonsai Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd') (Garden Center)  My ultimate hope is to do a sort of formal upright with him. I did some initial pruning to expose some of the structure -- mostly for my own benefit. I think the trunk needs to thicken up a fair bit more, so I stopped short of any final shaping and put him in this large clay pot. Ultimately, I'd like for him to be about this total size or slightly larger. I'll prune off the lower branches near the base and try and find a first branch somewhere about a third up the trunk. I think I'll give him another year in this pot, or possibly two before doing that however. I might prune some of the upper growth a bit to redirect energy towards the lower branches. I'm not sure what the best practices for pruning thuja are. Blue-Point Juniper (Garden Center, unknown age)  Got this the same time as my other juniper, but I wasn't as sure of the shape so I left it with a lot more foliage. It looks beautiful but I'm not quite sure where I want to go with it shape-wise so I figured I'd just let it grow out more in a clay pot. Maybe I could lose the branch on the right, tilt it, and start working on a cascade? Sky-Pencil Holly (Yard-madori)  Dug this up from next to a mother plant last spring. It's loving the gravely soil and net pot, and I'm already starting to see roots to the sides. The plant has really upright growth, so it's going to need a lot of wiring to get good shape. I'll probably repot it into a larger net-pot in a month, and leave its foliage untouched this spring to build up more taper on the trunk. Next year I'll look at its progress and see if a natural shape jumps out at me, and then look at doing some wiring. Pre-Bonsai Garden Center stock Stuff that I picked up in the fall and lightly shaped, but haven't done much else to yet. Rhodadendron (Garden Center)  I think this has some nice structure already -- I might start cutting branches where it currently is and go for some kind of swept look. This is labeled as a Rhododendron and not azalea, but it seems like it has rather small leaves so hopefully it's still viable as a bonsai. Azalea (Garden Center)  Excited to have something that will flower for me, but I'm honestly not quite sure what to do with the big mass of branches all coming out of one point there. I'm fine with letting this guy develop more, but it seems like I should try and direct some growth a bit by removing some of those branches, otherwise I'm going to end up with a big bushy knot there. I'm kind of not sure where to even begin. I guess I will repot this before the spring, and then maybe do a pruning in late spring after it flowers? Azalea (Garden Center)  Similar problems as the other one. I see a few more substantial branches in there, so maybe I just need to cut everything else back and try and encourage growth off of them to start establishing structure. Boxwood (Green Mountain)  This guy seemed like he had a good looking trunk structure, and as leafy as he is I thought he might look good as a small, slightly-swept bonsai. same bushiness problem as above, but I think I've got a better vision of what to do here. It's just a question of whether I do any major shaping now or wait a bit. Starts and Seedlings Volunteer Maple (< 1 year old)  I might not have captured it well here, but this guy has some seriously nice trunk motion already. He was growing in a grow-bag of potting soil with a bunch of other volunteers initially, but I moved him to that net pot in about September and root growth seems to have exploded -- there are already some healthy looking roots shooting out the bottom. He definitely just needs to bulk up more, but I am not sure if I should do the "chop-and-regrow" technique this season or give him another year of unrestrained growth first before doing any actual growth direction. I'm definitely not going to do any repotting this spring, either way -- I figure I can let him go until I start seeing roots pushing out the sides, at the least. Undetermined Deciduous, possibly Birch? (< 1 year old)  Absolute unit. Seriously, this guy grew to about this size in a shared 1gal grow-bag, so I figured I'd move him to this 3-gal one just to give him some space. He's got oval/teardrop shaped leaves with sawtooth edges, and I *think* he's offspring of the birch tree I have nearby but I'm not really sure. Either way, given his obvious genetic propensity for massive growth, I'm tempted to do a "cut-and-regrow" starting this year. I'm not going to mess with his roots any, but I think I'd like to do a formal upright with him but I am not sure if that is compatible with chopping the trunk (since the former aims for a straight trunk-line and the latter inherently induces motion). Either way I think I want the first branch about 1/4 to 1/3 the way up his current height. Undetermined Deciduous, possibly Birch? (< 1 year old)  Same species as the above -- about half as big. I decided to repot this one in coarse soil and just for fun I twisted it around a stake to promote some motion. This one is kind of a throw-away, so I'll probably aggressively chop-and-grow and see how it responds. Unknown Deciduous Volunteer -- Locust? (< 1 year old)  Doesn't look like much here, but he had some beautiful long compound leaves in the summer. I think it might be some kind of Locust tree, but I'm not sure. I've heard locust trees don't really scale down well to bonsai, and compound leaves aren't that great either, but I guess I'll let him go and see how he shapes up this year. Chinese Wisteria (Root Cutting)  I had no luck with any of the wood green/young cuttings I did from the mature-but-decrepit chinese wisteria that lurks beneath my back yard, but this guy grew from a 1" chunk of root that I had actually discarded and only accidentally discovered growing quite happily half-buried in mulch about 2 months later. I pruned him back a lot last summer to make sure his top-growth didn't outpace his roots, but I think this summer I'll just let him grow out unchecked and see if a shape starts to emerge. I'm already noticing other daughter plants popping up around the old rotted wisteria trunk ( :shep: ) so I probably have an endless supply of fairly gorgeous purple-flowered wisteria to play around with in the coming years. Acer Palmatum (< 1 year old)  Not much to say. I got it as a seedling last summer, and it looks like it's survived so far, so I'm going to let it grow this year and see what it does with its branches. I'll probably end up slip-potting it into a large net basket next spring if not this spring. California Black Oak (< 1 year old)  Same batch of seedlings. It browned and dropped a bunch of leaves mid-summer and I thought for sure it was dead but it sprang back so it's doing alright. I'll let this bulk up for a year or two before doing anything to it. Shore Pine (< 1 year old)  Same seedling pack. Not much to say, we'll see how it develops. Japanese Black Pine (< 1 year old)  Same seedling pack. Not much to say, we'll see how it develops. Virginia Creeper (Collected)  I've heard of people doing bonsai with these, so when I found one choking out some bushes I figured I'd throw it in a pot and see what it did. It's pretty darn healthy and is doing some funky stuff with its trunk, but I am not quite sure what to do with it in the long run. I think it needs a few more years of growth and aggressive pruning to develop some kind of coherent structure while I look for inspiration on how on earth to shape it. Some kind of Holly (young wood cuttings)  I propagated a thing! Of all the cutting propagations I tried, these seemed like the only ones that worked (and they took off consistently well). For my medium I used a mix of: - 2 parts sifted pine bark mulch - 1 part coarse vermiculite - 1 part Turface MVP This spring I'll look at their roots and pot them in a proper grow medium, and start fertilizing them (as they've only been receiving water while I was trying to get roots to start). I'm excited about these, as the parent trees have some beautiful foliage that I think would work great as a bonsai. I actually need to prune the trees more anyways, so given the success here I may try some air-layering. Something! I don't know! (Air-Layered)  I air-layered something! This is along my fence and the neighbor who just bought the house next door had an arborist kind of brutalize the parts over the fence, so I figured I'd try my hand at air-layering just to see if it worked (as I was otherwise going to lop it off anyways). It had some decent root growth this fall when I took the wrapping off, so I severed it and planted it in a mix of pumice and fresh sphagnum moss. We'll see how it goes in the spring, I guess. It's got big, oval-shaped waxy leaves with reddish new growth. I have no idea what it is but it seems to love back-budding and growing into itself so I figure maybe it will back-bud and I will actually be able to develop some branch structure off if it. --------- *phew* and those are my trees! There's also a ton of little maple seedlings I have scattered in random pots, so maybe I'll harvest some of those and play with deciduous group plantings next year. Hubis fucked around with this message at 09:03 on Jan 4, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2020 19:45
|
|
|
Oh, and here's some photogenic bonsai photos from the dusting of snow we got a month ago! 
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2020 19:50
|
|
|
Root over brick continues very well   I don't have significant root growth over all of the brick as I would have liked but that's plants I guess Jestery fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Jan 6, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2020 23:54
|
|
|
^^ Those both look really great. I like the snow you have on yours Hubis. That tree is looking strong Jestery.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2020 00:19
|
|
|
Well, now that I've got trees back on my mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9tpICaVbDI I know my obsession with garden center bargain trees is probably a waste of time, but drat if he doesn't make it look *easy*. At the very least, I'm going to get a lot of practice wiring. One thing I notice in that video is that he doesn't seem to give a drat about alternating sides, bar branches, etc -- or rather he's internalized all of that as just a way of achieving a desired aesthetic, and he is so practiced he can aim for the aesthetic itself and not worry about following external rules. I definitely think learning some style rules has been very helpful for me, but I've got a few trees where I am really puzzled as to how to approach implementing these seemingly rigid rules about branch intervals, proportions, etc. and he gives me confidence that trying to work the tree I've got rather than robotically implementing a set of protocols is the right way to go. bessantj posted:^^ Those both look really great. I like the snow you have on yours Hubis. That tree is looking strong Jestery. So I kind of figure I will get bored with a majority of my little starts/they won't develop how I hope. At least learning *why* a tree doesn't work will be a process of coming to understand what *is* important in a candidate. I'm going to keep working on the Thuja I got even though I think in retrospect it probably has fundamentally uninteresting or undesirable growth habits. I've read it's a bit of an genus apparently. However, from the sound of things it does respond really well to fertilizer and root space, so I should at least be able to get it to back-bud easily and hopefully get some kind of shape I like? Also, it sounds like what I want to do is actually wire as much of the green scale/fine foliage as I can like branches, as they will harden off as the tree develops? I'm a bit at a loss for how to go about pruning fanning foliage like that, but I guess that's part of learning. The Azaleas I am pretty excited about -- it'll be fun to have something flowering. They are "Encore" azaleas, which from what I've seen are going to be inferior to satsuki (larger leaves, less ramification) but that people have produced perfectly serviceable results and that they're fine for beginners if you're not looking to create competition-worthy plants. I'm a bit unsure about how to proceed, though. 1) Full repotting in coarse medium, leave them generally unpuned this season. (How much should I try and comb out the roots?) 2) Prune them back for structure, but try not to mess with the roots (slip-potting into larger pots full of similar nursery-style potting mix)? 3) Both at the same time? Also, if I do repotting and pruning, do I do it before or after flowering? I've heard that waiting after flowering is generally a good time for azaleas as that's when they push their new growth, but also that flowering is a big energy drain and that doing anything too harsh to an azalea that has flowered is a big risk. Do I repot now, then prune after flowering? Repot now AND prune to prevent flowering? This guy makes me think I can cut things back pretty HARD, but I am guessing it is very timing sensitive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQCYRlkcEb0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oatAnGO0ZSo Anyways, probably a lot more updates in the coming months. I've got to work up the gumption to go out and chop all those seedlings in half :/ I think after this year I'll have enough confidence to pick up some established bonsai. I managed to find a grower via my local garden center who is not too far away ( http://www.meehansminiatures.com/shop/ ) so I may take a day-trip up there. Last time I was at the garden center there was a gorgeous Dwarf Pomegranate that really caught my eye. For some reason I am a bit timid about indoor bonsai, but that might be a birthday present to myself. As far as outdoors, I think I really want to find a Cottoneaster, a Dawn Redwood, and some kind of dark japanese maple. e: Oh, speaking of Thuja, I did pick up a 3gal Thuja Standishii (Japanese Thuja, "Thuja Green Giant") for like $10 from Home Depot the other day, as they were getting rid of all their trees for half-price. He's got a gorgeous, thick trunk so I couldn't resist but I'm not sure if the growth habits actually lend themselves well to bonsai. Any thoughts? Hubis fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Jan 8, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2020 18:15
|
|
|
You've gone into it much more than I have. I'm a beginner myself and have been unemployed for a while meaning the trees I have are all I was going to have so I've been worried about them dying but with employment on the horizon I feel more emboldened to try new things. I do have Peter Chan's Bonsai Bible and have thought about visiting his centre. I have an Azalea and it's a very young couple of twigs at the moment so I'm hoping I can use it to practice on.
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2020 19:28
|
|
|
Here's your regular Peter Chan repost from me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ZwL6-3tPE This one is worth reposting because when I was at Home Depot the other day they had a TON of "Christmas Plants - 50% off". A lot of Thuja, Alberta Spruce, and various Junipers. Some quick googling indicated to me that the Spruces were generally not suited for Bonsai so I didn't bite (I did pick up a thuja and juniper I may post pictures of later) but sure enough that's the first thing he goes for. Worth a watch and a trip to the store if you want to spend $5-15 on a tree and just see what you can find underneath. I feel like one of those weirdos at the convenience store checking the expiration date on every single carton of milk, except instead I'm examining every landscape shrub digging in and looking for "trunks".
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2020 21:19
|
|
|
After a harrowing , rushed transplant and prune a Patens Rubica is coming back from the brink A hardy shrub that fruits apperently https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamelia_patens
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2020 11:09
|
|
|
Jestery posted:After a harrowing , rushed transplant and prune a Patens Rubica is coming back from the brink Any sign of life after a hard prune is always a good look to me! I just turned a bunch of the plants into the previous pictures into stumps/sticks (or shorter sticks, at least).
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2020 18:30
|
|
|
Just took a workshop with Danny Coffey, a graduate of Aichi-en's apprenticeship program. There's occasionally things I have to be shown a few times before it really sinks in, but I think this time hit it. I've watched Todd Schlafer, Juan Andrade (another Aichi-en dude), and now Coffey bend long, thick branches up to create new trunks and I think it makes sense to me in an intuitive way now. I can see the tree if that makes any sense. I'll post some pictures of before and after on a fancy spruce I'm working soon. Edit: sidenote - I like the new 'newbie' avatar a lot.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2020 01:47
|
|
|
repotted and tidied up my fat child. Pot is Sam Miller. same tree last Feb for comparison:  I bring my trees in the kitchen sometimes ok? fuzzy_logic fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Jan 27, 2020 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2020 21:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 30, 2024 02:49 |
|
|
It looks very nice both with and without leaves.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2020 21:40
|
|