About Bonsai

Mr GreenJeans · Jul 4, 2005

sm0kateer - thanks for the great links! Both sites have great info! :yes:

Yes, extreme stress can keep the leaves small on second leaf out, lots of sunlight also helps, as does small root mass and little food. I feel lucky that I can find plants with genetically small leaf size, one less thing to deal with.

gmt - depends on the plant. Some can root on hard wood, some can't. If you grabbed one that was hard wood, try taking a new softer sprout off one of the branches and give it a try. How did you try to root it - usually the glass of water trick works pretty well. PS, I've killed a lot of my little green friends over the years, you're in good company!

Yes, bonsai is very different than 420 - I hardly have to fert the bonsai and you have first hand evidence of how I mis-ferted my girls :yoinks:

, but I don't think one is harder than the other, just different.

bartender187 · Jul 4, 2005

Mr G.- Im just giving respect where props is needed. Great thread

Im goin to try outdoors first. im goin to take a picture of this tree i have in mind, it should be great candidate for rootin a cutting... (lol her sister tree came to life that way... i just broke off a branch and threw it on the ground, and a few months later she became a tree)

thanks again Mr. G and ill be back to post a pic of the tree im considering.

Mr GreenJeans · Jul 4, 2005

bartender - thank you very much! Yes - looking forward to a pic of the tree, always interested in seeing new specimens! :wave:

:friends:

Harry Gypsna · Jul 4, 2005

Great thread... there is a guy around here who runs a buisness selling bonsai fromb his home, he has turned his garden into a "Showroom" of sorts, its wonderful.

Mr GreenJeans · Jul 4, 2005

Hi Harry!

Thanks for stoppin in to visit! Would love to do something like that eventually, maybe in my dotage :yoinks:

I always get a feeling like I'm in some kind of midget fairyland when I see leetle trees...

Mr GreenJeans · Feb 18, 2006

Sorry it's been so long on an update to this thread, haven't been able to work the bonsai since the summer. I've started some much needed transplanting, pics below. These are post root pruning / repotting pictures. Rootballs pruned about 30% off the bottom and the only remaining root mass is what isn't covered by stones. Compared to what we do with our other plants, bonsai can take a pretty severe root pruning as long as it's done during dormancy. Now for the show.

Satsuki Azalea - this year we've had so many warm / cold cycles this poor plant got confused. Not an all at once bloom like last year....

The big myrtle - she got really root bound by last fall, water would take a long time to penetrate the soil. Probably will overgrow herself a bit early in the season, but that's why I have Fiskars!!!!

The large pine - now this one was a suprise, more rootbound than I thought. About one inch thick wound spiral roots along sides and bottom!

The cedar grouping. This one was asking for a bit more soil, didn't want to size up the pot, so I didn't take much off the bottom of the rootball, and set her up higher to allow for about an inch extra soil depth in the pot.

Finally a corkbark elm I picked up at a sale summer 04 - first transplant since then. I'm expecting this one to really pop when it wakes up, will make for an interesting top to trim in the fall.

Enjoy!

sonoma · Feb 18, 2006

Cool thread.......very fitting on this site in my opinion......nice pics... :woohoo:

Mr GreenJeans · Feb 18, 2006

Thanks much sonoma! Glad you like..... :wave:

GotTheBlues · Feb 18, 2006

I heard that it takes 7-8 months to clone a branch from tree, to make a bonsai. I dont know if this is accurate since they were probably using peat moss pellets and i will be using a bubble cloner.

But cani just make a clone from a tree to get a bonsai? And will a bubble cloner work?
And does anyone know which trees will clone. cause i read earlier that maple didnt i think.

Mr GreenJeans · Feb 18, 2006

Hiya GotTheBlues!

Thanks for stopping by. Good questions! Vegetative cloning methods / success depends on the plant. Soft wood sub-tropical plants usually root ok from cuttings in just a glass of water, and 2-3 weeks is all it takes. Others may require rooting the branch on the tree ( air layering ) - some folks like to do this anyway so they can start with a nice thick branch as a new trunk - air layering can take 7-8 months or sometimes more. Maples and roses are notoriously difficult to root and usually are propagated by grafting cuttings to different root stock. Sometime check out the Japanese maples in a local nursery - I bet you will find a thickened graft site on each one.

Although there's some info on what plants root easily, most of my fun has come from trying different techniques with plant material I already have around or discover when out on walks.

Anyway - a bubbler should do fine if the plant can be rooted from cuttings - give it a whirl!

As far as getting a bonsai from any tree - well yes but will it be what you want? Eg if you succeed in rooting a birch cutting, but the tree you took it from has 6 inch long birch leaves, the plant is going to look very strange being barely as tall as it's leaves are long :yoinks:

Better to pick a specimen that naturally has smaller leaves. If you bonsai an outdoor plant, don't bring it inside all year - it needs to be outdoors during the winter if you have cold winters.

With so much plant variety from place to place, it's tough to guess what trees / plants grow well in your area - what kind of plants were you thinking of using?

I've had good luck rooting or airlayering myrtles, birches, and chinese snow rose. Roses I propagate by letting the root base get massive and then cut in quarters and plant.

If you get interested in indoor bonsai, this is a very good book that you might have in your local library, if not it's still in print:
Indoor Bonsai by Paul Lesniewicz ( ISBN: 0713717009 )

GMT · Feb 21, 2006

Can't wait to try this again this year, I left it too late last year, but spring is nearly here, so I'll be out looking for likely candidates soon.

Guest · Feb 21, 2006

gonna be giving a go at bonsai this spring also. Awesome thread, awesome pics. awesome info.....

Ive been checking out ebay and they have thousands of differant types of bonsais...You think that it would be a good idea to practice a bit on those first...

and when taking cutting can I pretty much make anything into a bonsai?

Mr GreenJeans · Feb 21, 2006

Hiya GMT

Great - let me know what you find! It can be a fun hunt!

Hiya JayRoach :wave:

Thanks for stopping by and asking! You don't need to buy bonsai on ebay! You can find great specimens locally either free for cuttings or at regular plant nurseries. Just get something that has reasonably small leaves - say 1" long or smaller. A very popular inexpensive shrub that makes great bonsai is micro boxwood - they have teeny tiny leaves, some as small as 1/4 inch.

Will you be keeping them indoors or outdoors? That makes a difference. If you plan on keeping it indoors you need to get something sub-tropical. If you get a temperate zone plant you might need to winter it outside or in your garage so it can go dormant.

Anything can be bonsai, but small trees look funny with mambo huge leaves, which is why I look for varieties with small leaves. I'd grab a few cuttings of whatever plants you find in your neighborhood that fit the leaf size and give it a go. I'd practice on these until you get a feel for it. No need to spenda moolah on learning, nature will provide.

:wave:

Guest · Feb 21, 2006

thanks alot for the response...

I was goin to say screw ebay anway...just wanted to know whether it was good practice, but It would be a even better to do it all yourself from the start.

I planned on having some indoors and out...Its winter here, so can I still take cuttings? I should wait til spring shouldnt I..I feel like a retard asking but hey..im new at this.

sorry if its been stated..but what the hell do I take a cuttin off,, just a branch or what?

this it totally foriegn to me.. similar to grass on some levels but very differant on other aspects. I have some juniper bonsais that Ive had for years but were prerooted and all that. Id love to do some myself and watch it come to life ...slowly , very slowly.

and I think i might have some juniper in the yard...but I think i tore it all up cuz that stuff grows like weeds all over the damn place.

Then I can be cool like Mr. Miyagi ...jk

Mr GreenJeans · Feb 22, 2006

Thanks for asking questions JayRoach!

Yup, you should wait until the plants have some leaf on them in the spring before you take cuttings. Most plants root easier on softer wood, so fresh spring growth would be the best, clip it where the stem just starts to get firmer.

I've never taken a juniper cutting, but I think it would be easier to track back a branch right to the soil and dig it up with a bit of root, trim it back a bit and plant it, waiting for it to take off before you start shaping it. Junipers usually should winter outside though, if they go mroe than a year without a winter dormant period they can get sickly.

Let me know what you find! :wave:

m.steelers · Feb 22, 2006

Mr GJ - Hey how are you?

I love this thread, and am definitely starting on some dwarf boxwoods that I am digging up out of a flower bed in the springtime. I'm going to replace them with something else so I thought they would be good to practice on.

I was looking over some books and dont some people take a full size bush plant and whack it back really hard? Rather than takinga fresh cutting I mean. I was going to try both methods.

PS - I LOVE that Azalea you did. Man I want that right next to my hot tub that would look great. Excellent job on that one bro. I hope I can put one of those together, that is my goal. thanks for the inspiration.

Peace - M

Mr GreenJeans · Feb 23, 2006

Hiya m.steelers - doin great over here - how's by you?

Definitely, if you're digging up boxwood, use 'em, they are great bonsai material.

Yes, you can also take a field specimen and cut it back. That way you can start with a nice fat trunk, and if you shoose the cuts right you won't see them through the foliage and branching in a couple years. You should be able to root cuttings on the boxwood, you will get lots of cutting specimens when you hack back the plant you choose.

Thanks for the props on the azalea! You can find these in nurseries in the spring around here, they're called satsuki azalea. Get them in a bonsai store and you'll pay double. They can be a bit finicky but when you get a tough healthy specimen they'll last a long time. I've had that one 10+ years.

I'm sure you'll grow yourself some beautiful specimens, sure would look nice next to your hottub!!! :wave:

Mr GreenJeans · Feb 26, 2006

Here are 2 examples of field specimens I picked up in the last year. Over time as branches fill in and debarked areas darken it will be harder to tell they had a hard trim.

I'll put up some comparison pics once they start leafing out well. :wave:

Big Eggy · Mar 14, 2006

Here's mine:

snowwhite left ------ lifesaver right

snowwhite

lifesaver

ak48

Mr GreenJeans · Mar 15, 2006

Big Eggy - thanks for posting, those are textbook perfect 420 bonsai. Sweet job you've done there bro!

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