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Many Jap maples burn in the summer here in michigan, so sounds like what you're doing is working. The alternative would be to build a lathe house for it, which is where our local botanical garden keeps their bonsai collection.
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Sep 10, 2013 18:29
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Thanks for the reply, I'll look into building something similar to help next summer.
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Sep 12, 2013 15:38
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I'm surprised that the shade wasn't cutting it for you. A shade-cloth setup might work as well, as it'll let a healthy amount of sunlight through without frying them.
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Sep 12, 2013 21:26
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Stupid noob question: When's the best time to trim the roots on your trees? I have a couple trident maples that I started from seed a couple years ago, and they're nicely established now, but I'd be willing to bet they're quite root bound as I haven't touched the roots or potting mixture since I planted them. How much root can I safely remove without harming the tree's health?
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Sep 13, 2013 02:12
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Mr. Soop posted:I'm surprised that the shade wasn't cutting it for you. A shade-cloth setup might work as well, as it'll let a healthy amount of sunlight through without frying them. Yea, all was well until the last 3 weeks of 90F+ weather, the little guy just couldn't take it. I think the shade cloth is the way I'm going to go with this as I already wanted to enclose that area in a sheer material for some privacy.
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Sep 13, 2013 04:59
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theAsteroidBlues posted:Yea, all was well until the last 3 weeks of 90F+ weather, the little guy just couldn't take it. I think the shade cloth is the way I'm going to go with this as I already wanted to enclose that area in a sheer material for some privacy. I'm in Texas with a japanese maple, so I share your pain. I keep mine underneath an umbrella and I use a product called pro-tekt through the year as both a foliar spray and a fertilizer. http://www.amazon.com/Dyna-Gro-Pro-tekt-Tek-032-Silicon-Supplement/dp/B000E1VZHC All the folks keeping maples around here swear by it.
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Sep 14, 2013 22:48
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Very interesting, I'll definitely give that pro-tekt a go and see if it helps. Thanks again for all the great ideas everyone.
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Sep 15, 2013 05:36
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So I picked up these 2 dudes tonight for $2 each after reading on and off about bonsai for a good while but I still have no idea where to start now. One is a Malpighia Coccigera and the other a Serissa Japonica. I assume they are much too small to pot in a bonsai pot? Should I just move them up to a larger standard pot and let them grow? Probably my biggest concern is indoor vs outdoor? I see people say that all bonsai must live outside as they are meant to but I see the Serissa referred to commonly as an indoor bonsai. I'm in Virginia, so 20-30F in the winter.  
streetlamp fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Sep 20, 2013 |
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Sep 20, 2013 02:36
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streetlamp posted:So I picked up these 2 dudes tonight for $2 each after reading on and off about bonsai for a good while but I still have no idea where to start now. I keep my tropicals outside until the temperature drops to 50F. Then they come inside. I'd pot these in something big, though not too deep. Nice and wide and shallow. Maybe even put them in the ground if you can get some protection over them.
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Sep 22, 2013 00:06
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So I just bought a dwarf banksia. This should be a nice challenge before stepping up to Eucalypts
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Sep 22, 2013 10:13
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Has anyone had any experience with manzanita bonsai? I wanted to try for a local species and heard they were easy - I've bought a few full-size bushes from garden stores, ones with thick trunks, and after making sure they were healthy and stable tried for the aggressive initial prune-back, but not one has survived it. Is there just a certain amount of attrition that happens or is there something to the prune-down step that I'm missing? I'm being impatient and trying to skip the initial "grow from seed, wait five years" steps.
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Sep 27, 2013 06:08
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I've been experimenting with a Manzanita bonsai in a 1 gallon pot, and the only pruning I've done has been leaf pruning and minor cuts at most. Been very gentle with it in other words. That being said, I'm still pretty much completely unsure as to how to proceed with it. It's less of a project and more of an experiment.
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Oct 1, 2013 07:48
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Here is a couple of things I worked on this summer. The first is a juniper which I was happy with at first but I got some help with it and I realized just how much further it has to go. It is coming a long nicely now though. Did some wiring and foliage plucking. You need to wire branches into place to maximize the foliage growing out and up while minimizing the foliage growing down. Remove the foliage growing down and then pinch the tops of the foliage to encourage the pad to fill out. The foliage at the top will need to grow out into a proper apex over time. Next is a Mugo pine that I like despite major trunk problems. I'm growing out the top to try and thicken up the trunk. 
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Oct 3, 2013 13:37
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Those are both REALLY beautiful. I can see what you mean about the Mugo, but that's a problem that will fix itself over time. Major props on the Juniper. Looks absolutely superb. 
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Oct 3, 2013 22:49
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So one of the difficulties in keeping a thread like this active during the fall and winter comes from the fact that there isn't much going on with our trees right now. That being said, I don't live in a colder area where I get snow. But I'm sure some of you guys do. Any tips anybody might be willing to share on protecting them from frost, snow, and very low temperatures?
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Nov 20, 2013 23:09
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Mr. Soop posted:So one of the difficulties in keeping a thread like this active during the fall and winter comes from the fact that there isn't much going on with our trees right now. I've got a chili plant which I'm hoping to keep alive over the winter indoors, hopefully even grow it a little as it's quite small for its pot.
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Nov 21, 2013 00:37
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Mr. Soop posted:So one of the difficulties in keeping a thread like this active during the fall and winter comes from the fact that there isn't much going on with our trees right now. Speak for yourself. I have a trident maple and a Japansese maple that both lost their leaves sometime around August and have since resprouted this month. Weather around here has been typical fall/early winter too. My trees give no shits about what season it is.
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Nov 22, 2013 19:05
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I picked up an adenium to play around with during the winter hours. Nice to have something bonsai-ish for the office.
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Nov 22, 2013 20:25
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Well my Eucalyptus are in their pots. This should be interesting to see how it goes, considering the line of thought on Bonsai of Eucalyptus is "You do it when you've bonsai'd every other species in existence and want a challenge"
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Nov 24, 2013 00:32
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Mr. Soop posted:So one of the difficulties in keeping a thread like this active during the fall and winter comes from the fact that there isn't much going on with our trees right now. Well, I have bonsai that aren't cold-hardy so they absolutely have to come indoors (in my case I have a ficus and a natal plum). They struggle during the winter even inside, to be sure. Temps near windows get mighty cold in the winter - I've found using a nice and warm plant lamp keeps them going through the darkest winter months. I think it's really the lack of sunlight that makes them hurt more than the colder temperatures. As long as temps are above 65 and there's no cold draft though, they will drop quite a few leaves but will make it fine until spring. A plant light helps them bounce back in spring a bit sooner though.
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Nov 25, 2013 07:13
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I've never been a big fan of tropicals but I've found myself taking care of quite a few. They grow like weeds in the warm weather in my greenhouse and then die slowly inside during the winter. The plant lights help but they can only do so much.  The greenhouse has a heater so it doesn't get to cold in there. I started with the attitude that everything needs to stay outside but I think most of that is advice from milder coastal climates that aren't so dry and windy and now I'm leaning more towards babying every thing. I really try to keep my stuff out of the harsh winter winds, even the stuff that does stay outside. Small branches love to die back and if I am planning on using them it's really inconvenient.  Cold frames are great. Seemed to work very well for my maples last winter.   These guys are still outside but I might put some of them in the greenhouse for January and February.   Stuff planted in grow beds just stays put. 
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Nov 28, 2013 10:57
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That's one heck of a nice setup right there. The cold frame for your maples is a real nice touch. Both my maples finally went to sleep, one turning red and losing leaves about 3 weeks before the other just dropped green leaves and went to sleep. Weird. Everything else is frost-tolerant which is the biggest worry where I live, although there may be snow for the first time since 1998 within the next 24 hours. Junipers might not like any snow, and I'm not sure how my Redwood will feel about it, but Black Pines give no fucks.  I recently went to the coast and saw some atrocious bonsai for sale. I've gone to that particular gardening store for years and have been looking every time I visit to see if the quality of bonsai improves. It hasn't. I'll start writing an article soon (provided busy holiday activities don't set me back) about how NOT to make and sell bonsai. It was really sad.
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Dec 7, 2013 04:34
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This is a sapling I dug up from the yard, I think it's a Chinese elm? It'll take a few years before I can really do anything with it, but if I can keep it alive that long it should be a good specimen. On that note, it's been about a month or two since the transplant, and it has seemed mostly healthy, but the leaves are starting to dessicate and turn yellow as you can see in the photo. Does this look like normal deciduous shedding or am I a plant murderer? Another transplant, I've had it for about a year now. A local botanist called it a "Blue Star Juniper," and it turns a pretty blue/silver color if left outside. It's pretty hardy, and I've pinched it back significantly, as well as rotating it about 90 degrees upward when I repotted it last week. I'm also going to have to gradually reduce the soil height to get it potted properly, as I initially had it in a deeper flower pot.  Both are kept indoors, which may be the wrong decision for the species, but I got into the hobby for indoor bonsai.
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Dec 15, 2013 19:55
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Those aren't going to survive for very long indoors.
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Dec 16, 2013 00:28
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I'm pretty new to this, picking up a bonsai for my student room a month or two back. Had no problems so far, but I have to leave it for a few weeks over winterval. I know that's too long without water so sought a solution, and at a garden centre was given a strip of porous fabric and was told to put one end in the bottom of the tree's dish and the other in a container of water. Seemed to make sense to me and they said it would just suck up what it needed. Fortunately I tried it before leaving, and I just found the dish overflowing with water. I've emptied it out now, but now I don't know what I should do. Did I set it up wrong? Edit: here's how I had it: http://i.imgur.com/W5tKuFM.jpg BizarroAzrael fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Dec 16, 2013 |
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Dec 16, 2013 01:22
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Had you just watered the plant? That system works on the premise that "water seeks it's own level." So it should only drop the water level in the water container unless the plant pot is really wet. As far as your reservoir drying up, that's likely just evaporation. Since the water is delivered through the rag, your reservoir can be a closed container to mitigate that.
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Dec 16, 2013 02:15
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Holy poo poo! My eucalyptus are all growing! Thats not meant to happen according to the internet!
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Dec 17, 2013 11:04
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Eucalypts basically grow all year round, they don't really have a dormant period like most trees.
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Dec 17, 2013 11:22
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Vaginaface posted:This is a sapling I dug up from the yard, I think it's a Chinese elm? It'll take a few years before I can really do anything with it, but if I can keep it alive that long it should be a good specimen. On that note, it's been about a month or two since the transplant, and it has seemed mostly healthy, but the leaves are starting to dessicate and turn yellow as you can see in the photo. Does this look like normal deciduous shedding or am I a plant murderer? 'Blue Star' is a very blue cultivar of Juniperus squamata, and yours doesn't have the right color/leaf pattern to me. I think it's more likely a Juniperus communis, which requires a dormancy period. How you accomplish that is up to you, but 70 degrees indoors year round will end in a sick/dying tree.
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Dec 17, 2013 13:40
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Any thoughts on why my "bonsai" Crassula sarcocaulis and C. ovata's lowest leaves are turning yellow and then shriveling? About the plants: - Indoors - Within 8 inches of a west-facing window (though the amount of light has decreased now that we're into winter) - Watering: The C. sarcocaulis is a mame bonsai in a pot that's maybe 1" in diameter, and I give it a light watering once a week. The C. ovata only gets water once a month or so. Basically I wait until I see hints of puckering in the leaves, then I water. - Soil: a mix of 1/3 lava rock, 1/3 organic succulent potting soil, and 1/3 horticultural grit. - Fertilizer: small amount of liquid cactus fertilizer during the summer, have stopped for the winter - Water: Distilled H2O I don't think it's root rot since the stems and uppermost leaves look fine (plus my watering schedule is conservative). What on earth else could it be? My other C. ovata 'hobbit' and bonsai Calandrinia spectabilis are not having the same problems. I'll post a picture of the leaves later this week.
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Dec 18, 2013 08:53
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unprofessional posted:It's probably not true Ulmus parvifolia, as the leaves don't look long/oblong enough, but man is it hard to get a true ID on elms. Okay, so I threw my plants outside today, hopefully it cools down a bit for at least six weeks. I'm in a zone 5 area where the outside temperature in the day is probably 30-40 degrees around now. Any tips on how often I water them? it's a super dry area anyway, but will they dry out faster outside?
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Dec 20, 2013 00:01
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A human heart posted:Eucalypts basically grow all year round, they don't really have a dormant period like most trees. Jamming one of these  Into a 6" pot isn't meant to work out as well as it is!
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Dec 22, 2013 05:13
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Hi again, thread. I am growing 6 japanese black pine seedlings from a little 'grow your own bonsai' kit. They survived their first root cutting and transplantation. Seemed to be ok over the summer (Although, I have no metric to base that on. They stayed green. That's a good thing, right?), but now the needles are beginning to brown at the bottom of each plant, while the top needles seem to be doing ok. It's winter, I'm in Chicago, they are sitting in a southern exposure window. I took a picture, but it's horribly over exposed. Because of course. Essentially I've done nothing more for these guys than water them every couple of days and put them in fujiyama soil. Is this browning pretty typical for a wintering seedling, or are they doomed? For what it's worth, if they are dying, they are doing it slowly. They have looked pretty much like they do in the photo for a little under a month.
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Dec 31, 2013 07:19
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Pinus thunbergiana needs a cold dormancy period. Best thing you can do is put them outside on the south side of your house or in an unheated garage.
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Dec 31, 2013 16:10
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I haven't had much luck with Japanese black pine. They've lost needles quickly and haven't grown much in girth. Here is a couple of photos of what mine look like right now, and I think they are probably alive.  
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Dec 31, 2013 22:55
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unprofessional posted:Pinus thunbergiana needs a cold dormancy period. Best thing you can do is put them outside on the south side of your house or in an unheated garage.
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Jan 1, 2014 00:05
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Do you have a decent amount of snow? If you can bury them under a foot or so of snow, it'll insulate them at a good temperature. I know a witch's broom collector in Europe who collects brooms as he finds them in winter, buries them until early spring, then grafts 'em up.
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Jan 1, 2014 01:05
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unprofessional posted:Do you have a decent amount of snow? If you can bury them under a foot or so of snow, it'll insulate them at a good temperature. I know a witch's broom collector in Europe who collects brooms as he finds them in winter, buries them until early spring, then grafts 'em up.
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Jan 1, 2014 02:45
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Sounds perfect. It'll still need the occasional watering even in dormancy.
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Jan 1, 2014 14:51
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I think this question goes here. During the holidays this year, a lot of stalls were selling small potted "lemon cypress", which is a cultivar of the local Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa), as a sort of mini Christmas tree for apartments and cubicles. The one I have is about a foot tall, trunk is a quarter-inch diameter, pot is about 3.5 inch diameter. I'm getting concerned because I didn't realize this was a full-size tree, I assumed it was a dwarf or something. It's a small cultivar, but grows to around 5 feet under normal conditions. My concern right now is that the lady told me if I left it in this pot it would "stay small" but it has become extremely potbound and I'm worried about its health. I'm in zone 8b so in theory if I went and planted it on a hillside or something it might just grow into a normal tree. Should I move it to a bigger pot and let it get bigger, or is there some bonsai method I can use to keep it healthy in this pot? eta: from perusing the thread it looks like it needs to move up a pot size. Is now a good time to do that? I've been watering it but it seems dormant. After repotting I'm used to withholding water for about 2 weeks to avoid stressing the plant - is this ok for a tree or will it die from drying out? fuzzy_logic fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 20:26
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