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e: This post shamefully edited a week later as I've come to the obvious conclusion that my poor bonsai is dead and I just need to move on.  Think I'll look at getting a trident maple when spring rolls around, as at least it would be able to survive the winter where I live! kedo fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 2, 2014 23:06
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Mr. Soop posted:No shame in losing a plant. It's part of the learning process so long as you know what to do the next time around. Yup. Lesson learned: don't leave tropical plants out in freezing temperatures! I'm planning on grabbing a maple of some sort once things start blooming and getting their leaves... I was worried that without leaves I couldn't really judge a tree's health or looks. Probably going to ask the lady at my local nursery for a recommendation for a tree that would be good in my region (DC), but I was leaning towards a trident because they can withstand colder winters. Also they're purty. 
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Apr 7, 2014 14:48
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Question about ground cover for my new bonsai which I have yet to kill! I have a trident maple growing in the deciduous soil the nursery recommended. It's a pretty coarse mixture with wood chips and such in it. I tried transplanting some moss to get a little ground cover going (mostly for looks), but I think my balcony might get too much direct sun, or the moss isn't happy with the soil, or I did a terrible job of transplanting it. Short version is the moss is dead. Are there any other sorts of grass-like things I could plant to get some nice greenery going? Wheatgrass is easy to grow... would it steal too much water from the tree?
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Jun 30, 2014 17:20
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Minenfeld! posted:I don't mind outdoor bonsai. I'm just worried about protecting the tree through Connecticut winters. I've been thinking about trying to get a cutting from some of the local pine trees. Or perhaps a maple. So I'm a little worried about this too. Is there anything you can do to protect the tree... I don't know, wrap it in a warm blankey or something on especially cold nights? Someone (who admittedly probably doesn't know much about bonsai) got me thinking about this today saying things like, "But in that shallow bowl its roots are going to freeze!" I'm don't want my little baby maple to die in its pot. Will taking it inside on especially cold evenings mess it up? I am the worst plant owner.
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Sep 16, 2014 01:51
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Crocoduck posted:Yes, taking it inside will make it force growth early, and then what are you going to do when there are spring snows and delicate new shoots? You'll be hosed that's what. Protect it from the wind in a shelter like a shed or a cold frame or a garage. Bury the pot in mulch, then bury that in snow. Thanks, I'll give as much of this as I can on my tiny balcony a shot!
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Sep 16, 2014 04:16
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A question from a novice bonsai enthusiast. What's the best way to encourage my trident maple's trunk to thicken up? It's still a very young tree (maybe about two years) and doesn't have a whole lot of girth. I repotted it last spring and at the time it didn't have much of a root system going being so young. I've watched a few videos and read a some blogs where people have talked about letting trees grow in the ground with fairly aggressive pruning over the course of a few years, but I don't have this option as I live in an apartment with a small balcony. Would replanting it in a huge pot work? Or should I just leave it alone in its little bonsai pot for a few more years and see how it does? My goal is to have it look something like the image below in terms of thickness, it's already about that tall if not a little taller.  If I do end up putting it in a larger pot, should I just let it go hog wild for a few years before pruning, or should I make sure it doesn't get any taller than the max height I'm looking for?
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Dec 22, 2014 21:18
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Thanks much! I'll try stepping up in pot size slowly.
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Dec 22, 2014 23:47
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Illudere posted:I'd recommend a shallow grow box or anderson flat. It keeps the roots spreading out and seems to dry out better while still giving the tree room to grow. That said I've heard people say it doesn't matter much what you grow it in ( https://bonsaial.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/ground-versus-box/ ). Does your patio get lots of sunlight? Cool, I'll look into those. I assume I can grab one at my nearby nursery? My balcony gets a good amount of direct sunlight about six to seven hours a day. So quite a bit, but not a full 12 hours or anything.
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Dec 24, 2014 18:53
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Thanks all for the replies. Hopefully I won't be in a place that only has a balcony for much longer (I need a yard!), but until then I'll look into an Anderson flat to see what I can manage.
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Jan 23, 2015 17:22
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Others will likely know better, but yellow tips to leaves usually indicates overwatering. Brown crispy tips, underwatering. e: Based on my admittedly novice analysis of your tree's leaves, it looks like you might have under and then overwatered it. I'm guessing 35° in Australia is really hot and dry(?), so you might need to water a little more frequently with a little less water. I'm in Virginia in the US which is super hot and humid in the summer, but I still have to water daily to keep my little maple happy. kedo fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Feb 16, 2015 |
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Feb 16, 2015 22:13
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A question: when trimming a bonsai's roots, how careful do I need to be with damaging the taproot? I have a couple of oak seedlings I germinated from acorns over the winter and was blown away at how massive their taproots were before they even started sprouting aboveground. Do I need to be extra careful with it or anything when I eventually trim the roots, or should it be trimmed just like all the rest? I ask because the root is way, way bigger than the roots from other trees I've worked with before and it kind of blew my mind.  Pictured above, one of my three acorns that refused to sprout in the fridge. Figuring it was a dud, I tossed it outside in a pot and forgot about it for about three weeks. Found it again when I was planting other things in pots and found it strange that I couldn't tug it out of the soil. Dug it up, saw this,  'd and put it in a new home.
kedo fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Apr 13, 2015 |
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Apr 13, 2015 16:49
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When do trident maples go into leaf? Most of the trees in my region are already in leaf, including many maples. Do bonsais leaf slower than normal trees? My little guy has a few buds that look like they'll open eventually, but they're either moving incredibly slowly or not at all. There were a few cold nights (mid 20s to 30f or so) after I pulled him out of cold storage so I'm wondering if his roots got damaged? kedo fucked around with this message at 17:55 on May 2, 2015 |
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May 2, 2015 17:52
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Crocoduck posted:Mine are fully leafed out already. I don't know what region you live in, it might be totally normal for you. One quick test is to find a twig and scrape the bark with the edge of your nail. If you expose green cambium the tree is still alive and you have nothing to worry about. Brown wood and it is most likely dead. I did the scratch test and found green so that's good news! I'm in DC (zone 7a I believe). Assuming the tree is fine I'm still curious why it's taking so much longer to leaf than other trees in the area... Guessing being in a small pot makes it more susceptible to low temperatures? Anyhow I'll just be glad if it survives, I don't want to kill another bonsai!
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May 3, 2015 03:02
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Crocoduck posted:Frost protection is all about 1) protecting the roots and 2) protecting the branches from wind. A styrofoam box would be great, especially if you can sink it into some leaf litter or the soil itself. I'm curious about wintering again because I'm pretty sure my maple is either in the process of slowly dying, or is just super unhappy in general. I had three perennials out on my balcony over the winter (the maple, a grape vine and a blueberry plant), and none of them are doing very well. The maple is in a small bonsai pot that I put in an old wine crate and buried in mulch over the winter. The trunk and branches were still in the open air, however, which is concerning to me considering point 2 above.  It's had these little buds for about a month now, but they refuse to open. I'm hoping they will eventually, but it feels kind of late in the season. I now have three oaks and another maple that have germinated and am worried I'm going to lose them all come winter. I live in a highrise so I don't have the ability to put them in a garage or anything like that. Would styrofoam boxes with a bunch of organic crap be better than what I did last year? e: And if so a follow-up question, where would one obtain said styrofoam boxes? kedo fucked around with this message at 00:19 on May 19, 2015 |
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May 19, 2015 00:17
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I have a lemon seedling that I'm going to move into a bigger pot pretty soon, am I correct in assuming a deciduous potting blend would be fine? I've done a bit of Googling around and have a couple of recipes that I could use, but I don't really have the space to store excess soil/rocks/etc.
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Jun 10, 2015 23:27
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Is that a wisteria?
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May 4, 2016 16:51
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Crocoduck posted:It's an azalea so you can't let it dry out. I'd just keep it in a shady spot and see if it back buds. Brittle branches are, in general, dead branches. Well poo poo, I'm in exactly the same situation with my azalea. I was hoping it would just lose a few leaves, but it's pretty unhappy at the moment. :\
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Jun 21, 2016 17:34
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Crocoduck posted:What soil do you have it on? How much sun? Where do you live climate zone wise? Mist, mist, mist. HB101 is pretty fuckin awesome. Keep in shade, if you are using proper soil cover in sphagnum moss, water frequently, I'm watering twie a day. No fertilizer. Debud all flower buds next year. I'm not sure about the soil. It's my girlfriend's tree and it was a gift, so it's in the soil it came in. It was previously getting about half a day's worth of sun, but I moved it into the shade when I noticed the leaves were starting to become crispy. I'm keeping its soil constantly most and will look into getting some sphagnum moss. Thanks! A question about another tree: my trident maple is losing leaves at the very tips of its branches. It has plenty of other leaves and does not appear to be in any immediate peril, but I'm curious what the problem might be. It's not overwatered and the only other issue I've had with it is some minor leaf scorching after especially hot weeks.  Any ideas? The leaves sprout, grow for 2-4 days, darken and wilt and eventually fall off. It's only happening for new growth at the end of branches. The white stuff on the leaves is just dust... there's a bunch of construction happening on my block and it's impossible to keep them clean.
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Jun 23, 2016 22:43
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Super cool. The wires reminded me: how early do you guys start training your trees? I germinated a couple of lemons about two years ago and they're about a foot to a foot and a half tall. One has a few branches, the other is just a trunk with lots of leaves. Both are still almost entirely green with only the bottom most inch or two of the trunk starting to get woody. I've assumed that's too early to start training them. Is that true?
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Jun 29, 2016 19:21
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Sure, here they are.  The tall one on the right is Señor Limón, he doesn't have any branches as of yet, but he's had strong, continual growth and is generally very healthy looking. The shorter one on the left is Maria, who has always been a little weird but has several branches. I originally germinated four seeds, two of which did not sprout and two of which did. Maria decided the best thing to do was to send her first shoot back into the seed, and only with some quick surgery did she eventually sprout properly. Her leaves are all a little crinkled looking, but she seems to be doing okay.  Señor Limón's trunk. It's not very thick, probably a little less than 1 cm in diameter. My current plan is to repot them in a year so they can keep growing wider/taller, but they seem to be doing fine for the time being in the pots they're in. Out of the two, I think Maria probably needs some training as all of her branches are jumbled together and she's starting to lean in her pot. I'm not sure how/why I'd train Señor Limón, as he's just a straight shoot. Is there anything I can do to encourage branch growth? e: Oh duh, I missed this part: Amperor posted:You could consider removing the new growth at the apex (pinching the new leaves, or pruning to a bit further down) to encourage branching further down so they're not just sticks. I could pinch off the top of Señor, but he's tall and skinny enough that I'm not sure I'd want branches that far up the trunk? Would it make sense to make a trunk cut in a year or two once he's had a chance to thicken up a bit? I want to make sure both of them are eventually sturdy enough to support some fruit. e2: Bonus baby pictures: kedo fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Jul 1, 2016 |
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Jul 1, 2016 18:32
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Hello bonsai thread. I have a few questions about two of my trees. The first is a trident maple (image below). I bought it a few years ago from a local nursery, but I think I made the mistake of putting it in a tiny pot too quickly. Thus it has a very narrow trunk for its height. I'm planning on repotting it into a much larger pot come spring to encourage some trunk growth. Questions: 1) It's about 23" tall with a 0.25" trunk. When I repot it should I do any pruning? My gut instinct is to let it do whatever it wants for the next few years before I give it a big chop. 2) It had a hard time with the hot, dry summer. I think this is in part due to its soil being a deciduous bonsai mix which is fairly loose and gravelly. I think it didn't retain almost any water and dried out too much between waterings. I'm thinking that when I repot it I'll put it in some regular potting soil. Thoughts?  The second tree is a volunteer mulberry. It appeared in an unused pot last spring and has been growing like gangbusters ever since. It's about 68" tall with a 0.75" trunk. I think I'd ultimately like to keep it a little bigger with maybe a 3" trunk / 30"+ tall, but I'm running out of vertical growing space on my balcony. I'm planning on doing some substantial pruning around Christmas, probably taking it down to about 22". Questions: 1) Does this make sense? Also, I've never done that massive of a pruning before – anything in particular I should be aware of? Should I use cut paste, for example? Do I need to be careful to leave some buds, or can I be pretty aggressive? 2) Its trunk splits near the base, and the two trunks after the split are just barely smaller than the main trunk. There's not a whole lot of taper. I'm wondering if I should trim these or leave them be. Any opinions? 
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Nov 19, 2016 22:02
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Thanks for the suggestions! I've actually been reading through a lot of the articles on bonsai4me.com which is why I decided I needed to make some changes.
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Nov 27, 2016 18:44
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Question, what happens when you take a tree that has been bonsaied and you plant it in the ground permanently? Will it eventually grow into a normal looking tree, or will it always remain at least a bit short?
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Feb 23, 2017 23:55
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What can I do to prevent squirrels from digging in my bonsai pots? Shooting them is out of the question.
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Jun 18, 2017 22:41
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I'm unfamiliar with the term "family ring," and a quick and lazy google search turns up no results. What is that referring to?
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Aug 23, 2017 15:01
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Whoa, that's really cool! I wonder if I can get a redwood to grow in VA... I've been looking for some sort of conifer for awhile, and redwoods certainly are beautiful.
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Aug 25, 2017 14:35
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I think I'll give it a shot. It looks like they're hardy down to zone 7 which I'm in. This year I finally have some enclosed but unheated space in the form of a detached garage, so I have a good place to overwinter my maple and a possible future redwood.
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Sep 1, 2017 13:56
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Welp, my redwood seeds came in! At least I think they're redwood seeds.  I'd like this/these tree(s) to live outside eventually. Am I correct in assuming it'd be a bad idea to germinate them now since we're moving into winter? My gut says to wait until spring.
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Sep 30, 2017 00:24
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Theoretically California Giant Redwood, sequoiadendron gigantea.
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Oct 2, 2017 14:57
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The latter. There's a little bit of training you can do while the saplings are young, but really you need a year or two's worth of growth before it'll be big enough that you can actually do anything meaningful with it. Stick it in a big ol' pot and wait until its trunk gets nearly as thick as you want it (maybe 2-4 years), and then start futzing with it. The larger the pot, the less you'll restrict its growth and the sooner you'll have something to work with. In the mean time you might want to pick up a cheap tree or two from a local nursery to learn with.
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Mar 5, 2018 23:59
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Get a bonsai soil mix from a store, or you can also look up guides for mixing your own depending on the tree. For citrus they tend to be fast draining. However tbh I’ve had my lemon in a big pot of plain old potting soil for a few years, watering it deeply about once per week indoors and it’s happy as a clam. Its sister plant only needs it every two. Outdoors in the hot sun they need daily waterings. Learning the quantity of water takes a bit of time with each tree, just stick your finger in deep to test it until you get a feel. That being said don’t put it in a huge pot if it’s still a tiny baby. Wait until it is maybe a solid six to eight inches imo.
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Mar 6, 2018 01:00
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Yeah, definitely let that sucker grow for awhile. Mine is on year 3.5 or so and it’s main trunk is only now maybe 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Who knew trees grow so slow? 
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Mar 7, 2018 00:25
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lemonslol posted:I was recently given a maple grown from a seedling. It's probably three feet tall. It's in my yard now in a five gallon bucket with soil. It gets a lot of sun. I wanted to thicken up the trunk and then chop it. How do I avoid loving this up? Water it deeply every few of days when the top inch or so of soil starts to dry out (don't let it dry out completely). Water it more frequently in really hot or dry weather. Make sure the bucket has holes in the bottom to allow it to drain. If you live somewhere with a cold winter, protect its roots as it sleeps – put it in an unheated garage or cover the bucket with mulch or dried leaves. Water sparingly during the winter, but still water it. Give it a shot of fertilizer every once in awhile, but not every time you water. Phosphorous heavy fertilizer in the fall, balanced fertilizer in the spring and summer. That's about it!
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Jul 11, 2018 13:11
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Probably not if you're trying to thicken the trunk. You especially don't want to repot it after summer – you want to avoid messing with the roots between late summer and late winter because that's where all the tree's energy is stored during the cold months. Depending on how thick the trunk is and how thick you're shooting for, you probably won't need to repot it for several years. When you do, repot it in the early spring as it starts to bud.Harry Potter on Ice posted:Put it in the ground for a few years This is really the best advice.
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Jul 11, 2018 17:21
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My guess is under watering. In a natural environment, olive trees can live in dry places with dry soil because they send roots deep underground to find water. In a bonsai pot that’s not possible, so you need to water it consistently. If anything, you can let the soil dry out a bit between waterings, but it should probably never be 100% dry. Trees drop their leaves when they lack water because water evaporates from leaves, and so the tree tries to protect what little water it has in the trunk and roots by pulling water out of the leaves and ditching them. If your tree is forming new leaves, it’s still alive which means you probably started watering it again just in time. If the curled leaves are REALLY dry and come off easily when you touch them, they won’t come back to life and you can safely remove them. The tree should form new leaves given time and proper watering.
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Oct 12, 2018 11:03
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I don’t have a similar tree so I don’t know, but time will tell. If it has new leaves that’s a good sign.
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Oct 12, 2018 20:39
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You could always do an indoor bonsai, there are plenty of species that do well without ever going outside. Otherwise if you’re thinking about species that need to overwinter I’ve heard of folks buying a spare used fridge and setting it to a warmish (by fridge standards) setting and overwintering trees in there. In terms of them getting stolen - do you have a second story window you could somehow attach a pot/box to? Rooftop?
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Jan 3, 2019 05:56
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I have a pair of shears similar to those and I use them for probably 95% of the trimming I do. They're fantastic.
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Mar 4, 2020 19:16
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When's a good time for me to defoliate/do some pruning on my trident maple? I've let it do its own thing for the past several years because I was trying to thicken up its trunk, but I think it's time for me to improve its canopy a bit. It's just about fully in leaf, should I give it a bit of springtime to store up some energy before I do anything?
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May 11, 2020 22:28
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Awesome, thanks you two, I appreciate the info! I'm in the process of migrating a couple dozen websites from server A to B for work so I have a lot of downtime, and that article (and website, for that matter) is much appreciated reading material. A followup question: most of my maple's branches still have green shoots at the end of the branches, but there are plenty of leaves growing in spots that aren't connected to green shoots. Could I theoretically defoliate the non-green stem leaves, and leave those on the green stems? Or would it be better to play it safe and wait until everything is hardened off?
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May 13, 2020 20:34
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