anyone like bonsai ????

[johnbaz]

i've been doing them for about 10/11 years now, i attend a club once a month, the skill and knowlege there is amazing..
i8 have loads of trees but most are potensai (have the potential to become bonsai)and some are just twigs in pots

here are a few...

juniper...


another juniper...


japanese white pine (it had just been radically pruned and has now much more foliage)


japanese maple (acer palmatum 'seigen')


another jap' maple (acer palmatum 'deshojo')


a recently re-styled larch bursting bud in spring last year...


are there any other miyagis' out there??



john

[Trooper2]

I appreciate them, I had a Norwegian Grandmother who was a member of a Bonsia club. I also like the decoration and black laquered stands etc, that go with them. Been a while since I've seen a red Japanese Maple as a Bonsia, Yours look great, especially the first one. I gave a full sized one to my mother as a Mother's Day present around 10 years ago and she has moved it to 2 new homes, it was growing strong and looking beautiful when I saw it a few months ago.

Keep it up, you may inspire me to give it a go.

Edited by Trooper2 on Saturday 4th July 02:52

[dugt]

whats the stuff that looks like wire around the trees, whats it for? to keep them small?

ive got two "trees" growing in water on the window sill, (there only 8 inches tall) and i was undecided if i wouldhave a go at keeping them small, planting them in a pot, or planting in the garden

any tips?

doug

[johnbaz]

dugt said:

whats the stuff that looks like wire around the trees, whats it for? to keep them small?

ive got two "trees" growing in water on the window sill, (there only 8 inches tall) and i was undecided if i wouldhave a go at keeping them small, planting them in a pot, or planting in the garden

any tips?

doug

hi doug

the aluminium wire is to shape the tree, to make the branches/trunk grow in the direction that you want them to...
most trees will be fine after six or twelve months but they must be checked every three months to ensure that the wire doesn't bite in due to the tree increasing in girth.

larch tends to resist shaping in this way as it stays rubbery for years, you can wire it every three months for years and as soon as you take off the wire, it springs back to it's original shape...

the best way to shape larch is to use the clip and grow method, this is called penching rather than bonsai, it's chinese in origin and actually pre-dates bonsai (bonsai being the japanese method)
with penching, you decide in which direction you want a branch to grow then clip it just after a but that is pointing in that direction, because the sap flow has been stopped, that bud will break dormancy and take over as a new leader, then let it grow on, eventually when there is a good amount of growth on the branch, you clip farther on again, after a bud that is pointing in the direction that you want it to grow (usually pointing in the other direction for a zig-zag branch)
you just keep doing this until the branch is the desired length, also the branch will be thicker at the trunk tapering down to a fine tip..
all that is left to do then is pinchy out the growing tips to increase ramification (foliage mass as well!)
they're kept small by keeping a compact rootball, the long taproots are removed this encourages the finer feeder roots which are the most important part of the tree, it it doesn't have these then it's future is bleak

if (depending on your trees) you decide to plant your trees in pots, the best type of compost is a gritty, open type that, when watered, the water soaks in instantly, this is so that oxygen can circulate and the roots aren't sat in waterlogged conditions as if the roots are kept too wet they will rot, if no roots then the tree will die...


john

[Gingerbread Man]

I'm a Bonsai man...well one Bonsai tree.

It's a Serissa (Tree of a Thousand Stars).

[Alice Cupra]

Personally, I quite like these.....



http://www.crashbonsai.com/aboutus.html

[Gingerbread Man]

I quite liked the idea of them. Easy to get to UK?

[ShadownINja]

That's nice.