Let's Bonsai!

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Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

SaNChEzZ posted:

Yeah, that helps clear it up a bit. One more thing though, when it's growing in the ground, what happens if it gets tall, is your chance to bonsai it ruined? I understand that the trunk girth and strength are the main concerns, but what about height?

It's entirely subjective when it comes to what you want to do. If you want a small bonsai then you should prune tall shoots that come off of it occasionally in order to help repel upward growth. Bonsai come in so many sizes though that it's very difficult to say you've ruined any chance of something UNLESS you have a specific goal in mind, such as the 9 inch and under 'Shohin' style of bonsai for instance. Giving it a haircut is routine maintenance, but saying "This is 3 feet tall and I need it to be 1 foot tall!" is another endeavor entirely.

Sorry if that was a bit abstract, but that's because of the artistic aspect that goes along with height in particular.

# ¿ May 3, 2014 22:00

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 11:07

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

SaNChEzZ posted:

I've got it in the 1gal terracotta now, going to give it a couple months to establish before I do anything. Right now the trunk is about the size of a sharpie.

Fair enough. Those are some nice trees at that nursery, looks like. Congrats on your purchase.

# ¿ May 7, 2014 21:59

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

Illudere posted:

I'm not a pro by any means. Investing in workshops and good starting material is a great idea. I got off to a slow start buying lots of blah plants and regret it. Collecting is fun too but it's nice to just tag a long with experienced collectors your first couple of times.

Sound advice. And if you feel you don't have "good enough" material to bring to a workshop, you can always be an observer. Even if you see stuff you think you might never need to know, it may indeed come in handy someday.

In other news, :frogsiren:

I got that internship at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens! :frogsiren:

I am now a paid intern in the Temperate Asia & Dwarf Conifer areas for 1 year. Aww yeah. I'm going to be gardening badass. :smug:

(Sorry, had to brag on myself some. I sacrificed a lot to get to this point and fought hard to get it but that's a whole other story.)

# ¿ Jun 8, 2014 05:18

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

jadebullet posted:

I am still a beginner at this though so I do have some questions. I have read that I should work on the trunk first, then start shaping the branches and leaves later, once the trunk is established. The look that I am going for is a straight vertical trunk that ends in some nice full branches at the top. Anyway, upon inspecting the tree's shape I noticed that at the top of the current trunk there are 4 branches all meeting at the same junction, with the narrowest one being the one that continues vertically. Currently I have rotated the tree so that the leaves connected to the vertical branch will get the most sun as I want that branch to continue onward as the upper part of the trunk. I was wondering if you guys had any tips and tricks to help give that branch some priority in growth without potentially killing the tree.

You're doing the right thing by giving that particular side more sun. Only other way to really prioritize growth would be to prune bits off of other parts of the tree you think are doing well enough as is so that nutrients will be rerouted.

kedo posted:

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?

It's worth a shot, but most of the time moss is the go-to for groundcover. Kind of a pain in the butt for us folks in warmer climates, but a lot of grasses, ferns, and succulents that seem like they could be good groundcover simply can't cope with the watering associated with bonsai. They either drown or dry up. On the bright side, a bonsai never NEEDS to have groundcover to be an acceptable tree, so there's always that.

BizarroAzrael posted:

Talking of grass, something has sprouted in the pot next to my tree, should I do something about it? Its pretty quickly gotten taller than the tree.

Also, I want to check I'm doing the right thing, mine sprouts loads of little shoots that end in flowers, which pretty much die straight away, should I be picking those off?

Go ahead and pluck the grass. It's considered a weed that will suck nutrients and water from your soul. Should come out just fine with bonsai soil being so loose and all, but if you don't get the roots don't worry too much about it and just try again when it grows back. As for the flowers you mentioned, what kind of plant are you working with? A plant CAN flower itself to death, but it sounds like since they die so quickly that your plant isn't wasting too many nutrients on the flowers. If anything though, feel free to pick them off just so the plant stops directing nutrients there.

SaNChEzZ posted:

I think I'm going to try to train the top branch lower (there's really only one) and add some moss perhaps to clean it up even more. It looks super funny when it's bearing fruit because it's so small. According to mom it's about 5 years old.

If anything, fertilize the little guy. Seems like it'd be real cute when it fruits like you said it does. :3:

unprofessional posted:

Anybody know any posts online from somebody overwintering tropical pines indoors? I'm sure it can be done, but better to work with some info than go into it blind. I have a few ideas already that I think will work, but would love some extra advice/experience.

I don't have any articles off-hand, but the only easy solution I know of is to keep them in a garage or shed where snow/frost won't murder them, and to bring them out during the warmer parts of the day. But that's not always an accessible option, so if anyone has any tips for that I know both you and myself would be happy to have that knowledge.

EagerSleeper posted:

Hi, I'm crossposting from the Plants in General Thread, but I figured it might be relevant here even though it's underwater. Here's some bonspiration.

Pale Wind, Takayuki Fukada. Japan. 2013 IAPLC Gold Prize

More beautiful aquascapes here: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/01/the-incredible-underwater-art-of-aquascaping/

I actually tried out aquascaping back when I was with my last girlfriend. Had a nice microtank setup going with a Fluval Spec 5 gallon. Saw pictures like that and attempted to use Java Moss on some old wood, but never could get it to take. Still though, stuff like that is a great example of how the aesthetics of bonsai can be appreciated in other artistic mediums.

Mr. Soop fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Jul 22, 2014

# ¿ Jul 22, 2014 04:02

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

Crocoduck posted:

Honestly this will never be a good bonsai. Sorry. These little onion shaped ficus are mass produced and just don't have the qualities that will make for a good tree. There's a couple things you could do with it though; maybe take some cuttings and let them grow for a few years, allow them to thicken and get some girth on them. I dunno. Personally, I'd just learn how your tree behaves, how it grows, and in the meantime save up for a proper tree.

The leggy growth you're getting is most likely coming from a lack of light. Are you keeping it inside? Ficus truly like to be outside during the summer. Lots of water, lots of fertilizer, lots of sun.

I concur. Those big-root shaped ficus are popping up more these days, and unfortunately they don't make good bonsai at all. The cuttings you can make from could be very viable for a future tree, and it's also a plant you can practice pruning on.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2014 19:26

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

Strongylocentrotus posted:

Two "green" options using things found in your home:

1.) Ring of salt around the pot the maple is in. It's like a magic ward the slugs won't cross. Just make sure the salt doesn't contact any of the soil or the plant itself. The magic salt ring will work best if you have the pot sitting on something impermeable like concrete. If it's on grass or soil, the salt will change the soil chemistry and possibly damage any grass or plants. Another downside: you'll have to replace the salt whenever it rains.

2.) Beer. I'm not joking. You can make a beer trap for slugs by putting some swill in a shallow bowl or cup. They'll even go for the lovely brands. Google "slugs and beer" to see some trap design examples.

These are both relatively effective, cheap methods. And it's always better to do things like these methods rather than spray pesticides or put out poison traps.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2014 05:22

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

So thanks to my current job I'm coming into a few different pine species that are seedlings. :3:

Has anyone had any experience with Japanese Red Pines (Pinus densiflora) or the Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)? I know what can be done with the Japanese Red Pine but I've heard that it can be finicky, and I have no real idea about the Eastern White Pine in general.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2014 06:17

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

unprofessional posted:

Densiflora's an easy one to work with here in Michigan.

Strobus is a great species, but it's a 5-needle pine with very soft needles, and generally not preferred for bonsai. I would work with a cultivar originating from a witches broom. Another good cultivar choice would be 'Niagara Falls', which has a weeping habit, but supposedly back-buds (though I am skeptical about this claim and will be testing it come spring). I could send you some scions of 'Niagara Falls', if you're set up for grafting. Does strobus naturally make it through your climate? I would've thought it would need more cold hours than you could naturally provide.

I don't believe it's any particular cultivar; to my knowledge they were grown from wild-collected seeds. And I can't necessarily say that they'll grow well where I am in Oakland, although they do fine just across the bridge over in S.F. apparently. That being said I think they'd probably do alright here. I REALLY appreciate the offer for the scions and your advice, it's very kind of you. Sadly though I'm not at all set up for grafting operations. :smith:

Crocoduck posted:

Very happy with my little ficus.

One of my smaller trees, and also one of my first. I think I've been working on it for four or five years now? Time flies. Will defoliate and wire tip to tip next year.

HOLY SMOKES, this one is AMAZING! :aaaaa:

# ¿ Sep 15, 2014 22:52

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

Crocoduck posted:

Honestly man, I wouldn't bother with trying to rehab your trees, I'd buy some nice stock if you really want to learn bonsai.

Seconded. That one guy you have is just barely hanging in there, and it'd take too much work for too little effort to resurrect him.

Also, I am a grown-rear end man and I have to say that Miyazaki pot with Jiji on it is the most loving adorable thing. :kimchi:

# ¿ Sep 19, 2014 05:57

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

Crocoduck posted:

Quite a few, but it kind of depends on how much you want to spend. Wigert's bonsai nursery has a good selection of starter ficus, Brussel's bonsai has incredible imports (with incredible prices). My advice is shop around, email a few people. Most bonsai artists are not high tech enough to be listing every tree they have, but will give you a rundown of what they've got in stock if you tell them a price range and a style you're looking for.

This holds very true. I'm in the Bay Area in Cali, the hub for bonsai activity in the state, and that's pretty much the norm even here when it comes to shopping for bonsai.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2014 00:50

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

kedo posted:

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?

In your situation, repotting it in a larger pot would indeed encourage thickening of the trunk. Just be sure it's not a dramatically large pot, as it will drown in it. Take into account the size of the tree and the root system when selecting a pot for it.

For the most part, I say let it go hog wild with growth. The more branch growth you have, the faster it will bulk up. However, keeping upward growth in check more than other growth aspects will ensure that it's proportionate as time goes by.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2014 21:47

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

Crocoduck posted:

The late Peter Adams wrote pretty much the bible on maple bonsai. I'd look for his book online somewhere - I think it's out of print at this point.

I've seen that book around over the past few years, and yeah, it's really quite fantastic.

I should assemble a book post for the OP. Does anyone have any suggestions for reading material? I'm more than happy to include them in a future update.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2015 01:02

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

Crocoduck posted:

Repotted my big white pine. Now to carve the branches into jin.

drat if that ain't pretty sexy. :getin:

# ¿ May 18, 2015 19:02

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 11:07

Mr. Soop: Feb 18, 2011; Bonsai Guy

Crocoduck posted:

Without pictures, information about how you're keeping it and information about where you are in the world, there's not much that anyone can say. It could be some root damage and the plant is dying in parts, or it could be their yearly shed of the interior needles.

Here is a ficus I am working on and a proposed final design:

drat, look at that root structure. :staredog:

# ¿ Aug 31, 2015 06:11

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