| Author |
Message |
    
Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 06:47 pm EST : |   |
hi Greth,when repotting your Bonsai you should cover the drainage holes with fine mesh,i use the bags that oranges come in,and secure them with little loops of wire thru each hole. then put a layer of compost or grit in before siting the tree. then you just feed the soil around it like you would a regular plant and its recommended that you wire the tree into the pot to stop the wind rocking it.
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - 09:34 pm EST : | |
Okay kool. I haven't made it to a nursery yet. I can't believe it. Been trying to go for days. Greth you got post 100. Congratz!
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 05:55 am EST : | |
cool,100 posts,but where's the post counter,i don't see it!
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
|
Greth
| | Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 07:40 am EST : | |
Actually I think it was yours Jesse. I deliberately held off posting when I saw the counter hit 99! Was racing it with Mimi's '2007 Weather' thread in the Social Gallery, lol.
Just going from the post counter in the thread listing, Larry.
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
|
Karalyn
My Weather
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 09:50 am EST : | |
NIce olive tree and cute little girl!
Karalyn Idaho Zone 6 |
Karalyn
My Weather
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 10:08 am EST : | |
What about using a shefflera plant for a first bonsai project?
Karalyn Idaho Zone 6 |
Greth
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - 04:32 pm EST : | |
Ive taken off the lower branch on the olive, now waiting for the camera again so I can get some ideas on where to go from here. I think I know what I want to do, but will listen to input, lol.
I don't know shefflera. The big advantage of the olives is that they are free, fairly easy to find good little hopefuls!
I dug up a much larger olive. This was a weed I spent days trying to remove a couple of years ago, cut it back within an inch of its life, but it came back again. The result of course was a prepruned mass of little trunks. DH gently divided it with the axe (!), some of the pieces look quite promising.
I have some healthy young myrtles in my herb department which might be suitable, but will need to grow on much longer before I do anything with them.
The Bonsaitalk Forum has been very educational, they seem to be a nice mob and there are so many lovely examples and articles to look at.
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
|
Greth
| | Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 04:35 pm EST : | |
Yay, DH wants the camera himself this weekend, so he won't forget!
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 04:59 pm EST : | |
(puts away the stapler with a frown)
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 03:40 pm EST : | |
So I've got pots, shears, potting soil (for only $10), and a little $6 indoor White Serissa, and rooting hormone and I'm ready to do this thing right. lol. And I know know where I can buy additional stuff where I don't have to pay with my soul for the blasted shipping and handling. I'll post some pics on here in just a shake.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 03:52 pm EST : | |
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 03:53 pm EST : | |
YAY! I feel accomplished. So anyone got some ideas on what to do with this doodad?
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Friday, March 23, 2007 - 07:49 pm EST : | |
When I was at the greenhouse today I saw two remarkably beautiful bonsai trees. One was started in 1980 and it was really gorgeous. But the other one was huge and old and just looked totally perfect. Perfect enough to charge $1,200. I decided that might not be the best one for me to start off with so I go the little dude above. ;) Next, time I go I'll get some pics.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
Greth
| | Posted on Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 03:28 am EST : | |
I went to this nursery yesterday.
http://www.spiritofbonsai.com/
They reckon they have the widest range of pots in the world - 35 suppliers.
Prices range from $30 to $4000 for the plants, but I was just there to have a look (and to let hubby know where birthday presents come from)
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
|
Greth
| | Posted on Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 04:03 am EST : | |
He's gonna have to grow on for a bit to get a thicker trunk, so you got a while to think. Meanwhile keep looking for bigger things you can collect and chop back, seems like the cheap way to go. You probably got lots of local trees which seed themselves happily, just need to get lifted into pots. One big bonus, you won't be devastated if something dies!
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 01:46 pm EST : | |
Yea I'm lucky as far as cheap/free trees. Nothing like killing free plants. lol. So how big should his trunk be before I do some work on him? And what do I do to his little limbs in the mean time?
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Monday, March 26, 2007 - 11:02 am EST : | |
Yea Jesse, you need to let it grow for a few years, repotting as it grows like you would a regular houseplant, until that trunk thickens.I dont know how quick serissa grow but I do know theyre very fussy-mine died!
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
|
Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Monday, March 26, 2007 - 11:19 am EST : | |
Well, the thickness of the trunk all depends on the size of bonsai youre hoping for. Uusally its something 1/3 to 1/2 of the final height, so if you want a 12" tall bonsai the trunk should be betweem 4 and 6 inches in diameter, which is gonna take years and years to get from such a small plant. But if you want something smaller, say 6 inches tall then a trunk of 2 to 3 inches would be acceptable.
(This is a rough guideline you understand, but basically you look at a mature tree in the wild and you'll se what I mean)
Either way youre looking at betwem 3 and 5 years of growth before you can think of it being a bonsai.
So no need to worry about those limbs cos they wont probably feature in the 'final' styling.
If you want a quicker bonsai youre better off buying garden shrubs and trees that already have good thick trunks and chopping back. You may have some nice shrubs in your garden already!
You need to work from the feet upwards with bonsai, starting with the bits you cant see, the roots, hoping for a nice cartwheel-like spread. It can take years and years to get a really good bonsai, which is why theyre so expensive!
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, March 26, 2007 - 03:03 pm EST : | |
Okay I got the picture. So I can grow up this little dude into a nice one to kill. Yay. lol. I think I'm gonna go and buy a shrub like you were talking about. I've gone to the library and looked through all of their books (like 20 -30) and none of them compared to what I've learned from that Chan book. I had been planning on doing a lot of just tree collecting this year. So not a let down but I'm still excited.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, March 26, 2007 - 05:18 pm EST : | |
So. What are the "rules" of watering. Just whatever I find in my book or do you have special guidlines.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "?"
|
|
