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So I have finally decided to get into Bonsai. I have been looking into it for years and today my had was forced. The local plant place where I get my gardening supplies has announced that it is going out of business. As such I picked up a 10 year old Japanese Red Maple bonsai for 75% off. I have a place picked out for it where it will get indirect sunlight so that it won't burn, and I live in Pennsylvania so I am in a 6a/6b area with plenty of humidity since they do not like dry weather. Anyway, it is in a very squat "ornate" pot that doesn't look like it will work very well for keeping it alive so I am thinking that I need to transplant it. What sort of pot would you guys recommend for it? Height wise it is about 1.5 feet tall. Also, what sort of soil & fertilizer would work well for it if I don't want to go out and buy the expensive stuff right away. I was thinking of using a mix of compost dirt, and sphagnum peat moss for the base, and using bone meal as the fertilizer as this is what my mom uses for her flower gardens. I just don't know if this will also work for a bonsai tree though. Edit: The pot that it came in is a small, round ceramic pot with two holes in the bottom for draining and it sits on 4 little feet. The drainage holes have a mesh screen in it. By the way, I have deer around me. Would my plant be at risk for them eating it? jadebullet fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Apr 7, 2013 |
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Apr 7, 2013 03:32
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 23:10 |
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By leafed out do you mean does it have leaves? If so then yes it has some leaves as well as buds. Should I wait until the fall when it drops to do any repotting?
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Apr 7, 2013 16:03
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I figure I should probably show you guys a few pictures of the tree just so that I can get a better gauge of its health and if the pot is an adequate one for now. Don't worry, the tree will be going outside today. I just have it on the shelf for now because I got home with it late last night.  The leaves are a little limp. Is this an indication of a problem or is it just that it needs water?  
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Apr 7, 2013 17:46
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The soil feels sandy like dirt mixed with sand. Lots of root penetration as well.
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Apr 7, 2013 20:33
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That's a relief. Style wise I would love to try for something similar to the Trident maple in the op. When you say cut back to one to two pairs of leaves you mean pinch off some of the leaves until there are only about 4 remaining correct? And only leaves not branches. As for a balanced fertilizer what do you reccommend. I tend to use bonemeal for most of my plants around here but that is because I have lovely soil and i am not sure how balanced it is. Thanks for the help BTW.
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Apr 8, 2013 12:04
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So just to confirm, I should: 1: cut it back as well as pinch off the larger leaves to promote smaller leaves and thicker trunk growth. 2: pick up some of that fertilizer and begin feeding it once a week. 3: water it every other day until summer than go to daily. 4: pay attention to drainage when watering to make sure the current soil drains properly. 5: depot in fall after the leaves drop and use 50-75% inorganic material. Have I missed anything? A few more questions from me. When you say cut it back do you mean branch cutting as well as leaf pinching or just leaf pinching? To fertilize I just put some on top of the soil then water correct? Also when should I do this cutback? With a maple I know that I shouldn't have direct sunlight on it all day or else it will burn. I am thinking of having it on my porch but that location will get direct sun in the morning. Would direct sun in the morning followed by being shaded the rest of the day be a problem?
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Apr 8, 2013 13:53
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Thank you for posting that article Illudere. It is very helpful and it makes a very good point about potentially starving your tree if you cut off too much new growth. The only thing that struck me as odd about it was the guy complaining about the wound in the front trunk. I am just going to assume that it is because he shows his trees and that would be a negative towards the tree correct? I only ask because I personally liked that it had that old wound on there. Lots of real trees around me have similar wounds due to wind and other traumas during their lives so it just struck me as something interesting on the tree, and helped the effect of having a miniaturized tree. That being said, it wouldn't be something that I would want to do intentionally or anything like that. I just thought it was an interesting feature of the tree. Also thank you for the help as well unprofessional and Mr. Soop. I am getting a bunch of information and I am feeling confident that I can successfully raise this tree. In regards to the pot, how urgently do I need to get a new pot? Would I be able to hold off until it goes dormant in fall, or is it so small that it would potentially kill the tree if I wait that long? When I inspected the soil to answer the question about it I felt quite a bit of thin roots forming a thick web in the soil. The soil was also moist but not wet when I checked it. This was 1 day after I bought it and I wasn't sure when it was last watered at the store. I am not sure of the soil condition today since I am at school until later on in the day, but I will check it out when I get home. To elaborate on my question about lighting, the porch is on an eastern exposure and has a roof over top of it, but no walls on the north, east, and south sides. Too the east there are a wall of tall pine trees which will block direct sunlight until about 10am. I live in Pennsylvania for light angle and temperature purposes. Our summers tend to be a mix of very hot, humid days, warm humid overcast days, and storms. I have two questions about this location: 1) Would the somewhat direct sunlight in the morning be too much for the maple if I put it in that location during the summer months? 2) Would the tree get enough sunlight during the times when it is shaded by the porch roof and the house itself? (The building is 1 story so it doesn't create too much blockage of sunlight) I was thinking of putting it on the south eastern corner of the porch, just out of the direct light at noon but I am still worried about burning the tree, or starving it of light. @Korwen: Do you have any idea what the insects look like? Look closely at the leaves to see if you have aphids. Another sign of aphids would potentially be ants climbing around the tree in order to "milk" the aphids. Also, where is the damage to the leaves? Is it more towards the outside of the leaves, as if something were munching from the outside in, or is it spotted like something was just eating at random spots on the leaf? If it is mainly outside some sort of caterpillar might be the culprit. In that case just keep an eye out for the caterpillar and move him to some other plant. They tend to pupate quite quickly and are more interested in how much they eat rather than what they eat. Also, check the tops and bottoms of your leaves for egg sacs that might need to be scraped off. If it is more randomized and internal it could be a pest like aphids. I know ladybug larva is a huge natural predator of aphids so that is one option. Other predators of aphids are crab spiders, lacewing larva(aphid lions) various types of fly, and some wasps. It could also be other types of pests, but for the most part they have predators. Now, I am very new to the bonsai hobby so take my advice as you will regarding elimination since it is based on a traditional flower garden and not something designed strictly for long term ornamentation. I personally advise against insecticides, especially since you can focus your attention on a single plant and visual inspection won't take too much time. That and you don't want to have to deal with insecticide every time you touch the tree. The first step would be to identify what is eating your tree. Just take time throughout the day to do a quick visual inspection of the plant, probably less than a minute at a time. Caterpillars that are found can be picked off, and other pests can be researched and eliminated. You can also squish most pests by hand if you want. I still say just move caterpillars though. They are just hungry and very temporary so there is no real benefit to killing them, unlike aphids. If you do get something like aphids though, I recommend transplanting a few of them onto a non bonsai plant before killing the rest. This may sound counter intuitive, but by giving them somewhere else to live and colonize(as well as eat. Keep this in mind when picking the somewhat sacrificial plant) you should attract their natural predators. This is one of the reasons what I advise against insecticides, they are temporary solutions and sacrifice a long term benefit, for a short term gain. By using insecticides you not only kill the pest, but also have a chance of killing off predatory insects. Then when the pests eventually come back it doesn't necessarily mean that the predators will come back with them. (also the pests could start getting immune to the insecticides) It may take more work, and probably quite a bit of squishing depending on what your pest is, but in the long run you should end up having a nice ecosystem near the location of your bonsai that will contain enough predators to take care of whatever pests you miss. Plus, since it is a bonsai, taking the time to remove pests by hand shouldn't be too different from the normal care given to it. Just be glad that there aren't any boring pests to deal with. There is nothing worse than having to slice into your plant to remove a fat grub that is killing your plant and might soon infect your other plants like what you have to do if you grow irises. Also, some predators are attracted by certain plants so that could be useful in attracting them if you have a garden. Edit: Oh, if you have snails or slugs that are causing your problem, surround the outside of the pot with cornmeal for a little while. The slugs will eat it and it will expand in their stomach, killing them. Grasshoppers on the other hand will need quite a bit more work. Your best bet would be to make sure that your house is very bird friendly. jadebullet fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Apr 8, 2013 |
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Apr 8, 2013 18:47
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So I think I messed something up, hopefully not fatally. Two nights ago I set my maple outside on the porch. The next morning I checked on it at about 10 am and all of the leaves had shrivled up and the soft stems had begun to droop. I put it in the shade and since the soil felt relatively dry I gave it some water. It was about 66 degrees and sunny yesterday and there was a constant wind all day. The buds seemed to open by the end of the day but the existing leaves did not recover and are shrivked and dried out. I checked it this morning and it doesn't seem to have improved. The leaves are still wilted as well as the soft stems. I now have it in a shadier area and today is just as hot but overcast. Did the plant get sun scorched or did I inadvertantly mess something else up? Do you think that the tree will recover? This is the first time the tree has actually been outside in a long time most likely.
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Apr 10, 2013 14:20
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I live in Pennsylvania. Should I bring the tree in at night until it warms up more?
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Apr 10, 2013 16:27
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 23:10 |
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So I recently purchased a Trident Maple bonsai from Brussels Bonsai and it seems to be doing pretty well on my balcony which gets just enough sun in the morning and is shaded for the noon and afternoon sun. 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. As you can see the tree has some lower branches that will eventually get clipped once the trunk gets to how I want it.  And here is the junction that I am talking about. 
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Jun 28, 2014 21:55
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