Archive through February 06, 2007

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Author Message   Bonsaifan  Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 01:05 pm EST :    Okay I am so totally confused. It looks the same to me. I'm lost. ;) Could you explain what exactly I'm supposed to look for in the pics? Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 02:05 pm EST :    Well the first pic shows a part of the bush that I want for bonsai(the part above the white plastic) And in the pic below you see that part of ther bush in a pot after it has rooted. Inside the plastic is where the moss goes and eventually white roots form. Once formed you take off the wrapping, and cut the top part from the bottom half leaving you with a gnarly stump with roots. Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Bonsaifan  Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 02:15 pm EST :    Ok. Now I understand. So that's air layering. So that you can take an other wise plant and make it into a beautiful bonsai. Nifty. Now do the roots just grow out of the cuts and then you just cut it totally off right under those roots and then repot it? I also do remember Chang saying something about a way to make trees look older by doing some sort of cutting. I'll have to look it up when I find the stinkin' book. ;) Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 02:31 pm EST :    Yea basically thats it. What you do is just saw off the bit you want making sure you dont damage any roots as theyre incredibly fragile. I would cut about 2 inch below then clean it up later.(The part that you left behind on the shrub will later throw out masses of new shoots too, which can be used as cuttings!) I think what Chan is refering to is thickening anm established bonsai that has too thin a lower trunk,i.e not enough taper. You see, you want a nice thick part at the bottom tapering off to the rest of the trunk-just take a look at an old tree in the wild next time your out.Also good root flare is desirable. What he probably does is to tie wire tightly around the base of the trunk at or below soil level, which cuts into the tree as it grows forcing it to grow over the wire and so become thicker there. Another way is to cut the bark around the tree forcing new bark to be grown, again thickening the tree. And then theres the young sapling method, a fairly new idea actually! Basically you get a thin whippy sapling, take a ceramic tile or similar, drill a hole in the middle and then push the sapling thru the hole, the roots stopping it going through. You then plant the whole lot in the ground and over time the sapling will try to grow but the tile stops it, so what it does is produce new roots above the hole which also makes it thicker there. Ive never tried these methods and they should only be done on healthy established trees that are already bonsai.(I'd forget about it for now!) Some even recommend hitting the bark on an old tree low down which makes new bark to form thickening it there. Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 03:21 pm EST :    How exactly do cuttings work? Like I know the gist of it. But, I was wondering if you had any tips. Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 03:42 pm EST :    Well, its no different to taking cuttings from any other plant really. I just select a 6 inch long stem in late summer(hardwood) and plant it in compost, with a bit of rooting powder on the bottom of the cutting. With most shrubs you would trim the cutting so that you have a bud near the bottom(this is a nodal cutting) which supposedly helps it to root quicker, dont know if it does or not. You can also take cutings in early spring, these will be softwood cuttings( no bark formed on them) and these root quicker, often rooting in just water(I got a privet cutting started this way, its now in training!) But if you use hardwood cuttings of certain trees(notably fruit trees or flowering trees/shrubs) if the branch you took it from is mature then the plant once rooted will have some of the age from the tree and so will take less time to flower! A softwood cutting of such would take years to reach maturity. Conifers I've never tried but they do take longer, prefer more sand in the compost and possibly a bit of bottom heat. And forget taking cuttings from pines, it wont work, ever! You can only really grow pines from seed, and it takes ages, but they are fun! Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 03:43 pm EST :    BTW, theres a Bonsai site I'm on now with a member with the same name as you(BonsaiFan). I thought it was you at first until I noticed he's from England! ;) Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 03:50 pm EST :    No it's not me ;) or my alias. haha. I can't tell you how excited I am about getting started! YAHOO! Come on spring! Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 04:56 pm EST :    yea thats how i feel,come on spring! i always get itchy this time of year! Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Greth  Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 05:15 pm EST :    There's where I like our mild winters. We don't have an off season, just some days in winter and summer when it's too cold/wet or hot to be working in the garden. Otherwise there is always stuff to be done. New roots generally form where there is already potential active growing tissue - hence the idea of having a bud at the bottom. Straight bits of branch below the bud will not put out roots in many species, so will simply rot away on the cutting. Sometimes it helps to take a heel cutting, which is a small twig pulled off with a bit of the main branch remaining. I think this might work because it gives a greater area of the live green layer for roots to form from. I've taken cuttings from a number of different conifers for potential bonsai (or just more trees for our property, lol, even bonsai failures can find a home on 85 acres!) It's midsummer here, so cuttings grow like crazy if they get enough water - my best chance of getting conifer cuttings to take. Larry, what are your views on elderberry trees, sweet myrtle (Myrrhis odorata) and lemon verbena? These are things I have heaps of cuttings to play with already, being in the herb line. I suspect you are going to tell me elders are very prone to suckering.. Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 06:34 pm EST :    Ok I'm starting to get angry. I can't find my boooookk!! ;) Oh the things I could throw away if I had the heart to. But my problem is all the really 'great' and 'intelligent' ideas I come up with where to put things. Then I go, 'ummmm now where is that again'. lol. It's 13 degrees out. Brr. I hate the cold. It has been a mild winter up till recently. I just want it to leave. *sob* It's nice that you guys don't have an off season. That should help as far as money. Cause they can close some of them here for like 3 - 4 months. Just like people who do yard work are out of work for a while. But the heat. And on the other up side Micheal Reagan just visited there. ;) Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 - 06:50 pm EST :    So is this what your yard looks like, Greth? Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Greth  Posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - 06:57 am EST :    Bit more like this, sorry about poor photo quality. Mum and new bub are on the left, last years joey in the middle, big dadda on the right, he stands about 5'6" fully upright, and is not to be messed with... Wow was it really that green in winter? Its all dust and dry grass now! Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - 11:59 am EST :    Yeah it's supposed to snow for the next twelve hours at least and be an average of 20 degrees all day. yay..... What kind of weather are you having Greth? But the colds alright with me because I found my book!!! Yahoo! About stinkin time. I found it with a pile of books needing put on my book shelves. So now I'm able to suck up information. Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - 01:39 pm EST :    funny i was reading that book last night,check out the section on large Bonsai,there's a huge cherry tree he digs up. its just a shame most of the pics are black and white tho Treelover - County Durham,UK, Zone "8/9"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - 02:13 pm EST :    I know. He has so many colored pictures and yet I want more. ;) Yea I'm really enjoying reading through all this technical stuff and names and the way things work. I'm sooooo excited!!! The snow is really coming down now. Come on spring! Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Greth  Posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - 05:55 pm EST :    Jesse, here is the link to my discussion on roos from the Nature Forum: http://www.gardenbuddies.com/forum/messages/9763/1224833.html I'm sure Cooper (Steve) has posted some brush tail possum pics somewhere, can't find them easily tho. Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Greth  Posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - 08:27 pm EST :    Sudden brainwave, Jesse, more of a ripple really. Why not occupy your winter by winter sowing some fruit seeds, apple, plum, cherry, whatever, they all seem to make nice little flowering bonsais, and you can feast your time away collecting pips and seeds! (My family would get a range of weird pies as I collected different species) Occurred to me when I was cleaning the kitchen and had to wander out to the shadehouse to plant a cherry plum pip along the way. Having the kitchen 10 steps from my propagation/herb growing area is useful and leads to many interesting combination jobs... My MIL has this theory that I could keep floors cleaner by taking off shoes every time I come into the house. She doesn't realise that the way I operate I would spend 15 minutes every hour putting shoes on or off, I'm inside and out constantly! Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"   Bonsaifan  My Weather My Time Posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - 10:49 pm EST :    Rather neat but I'm confused about winter planting. Do you just mean you plant in your herb growing area or what? Bonsaifan - Indiana, Zone "?"   Greth  Posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - 11:36 pm EST :    Sowing seed in pots indoors to get it started early, then move outside once it is warm enough. Have a look at the Winter in the Garden forum for Winter sowing. Greth - South Australia, Zone "?"

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