| Author |
Message |
    
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 - 11:39 am EST : |   |
I've got about four acres of woods and all my property is surrounded by woods. And none of my neighbors would care. I also saw some weeping cherrys about 6 foot tall at a nursery for $40.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 - 11:42 am EST : | |
weeping cheries tend not to be too reliable for bonsai-the leaves tend to be to big and of course the weeping habit is lost once a cuting or air layer is made.
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
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Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 - 12:16 pm EST : | |
That stinks. So for my zone what do you think would be a good tree to try? One that wouldn't croak but would still be beautiful.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 - 01:39 pm EST : | |
I cant really say because Im not sure what native trees you have in your area. But basically any tree or shrub with smallish leaves would do.
No mountain ash about?
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
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Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 - 03:52 pm EST : | |
Hm.. Found a forum with a long list of trees one dude has in zone 6. Gonna look for those.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 - 08:30 pm EST : | |
And I need a run down on pots. Where can I get some good ones other than nurserys? Also is there a rule of thumb for type of pot to size of tree? Or style of tree? And is ceramic better than none?
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 - 08:32 pm EST : | |
Ok. One more question. lol. I have one of those little ugly blue baby swimming pools full of sand which has wheather for about 3-4 years. The sand is really fine and was used originally for mixing cement. Would that be a do or a don't?
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 08:53 am EST : | |
Forget bonsai pots for a few years, theyre for trees that have been trained and styled and look 'finished'(And can be very expensive!)
You just want to put them in deep and wide containers,like flower boxes etc.Not shaped like the normal flower pot tho, they need to be wider as you want spreading roots, not deep roots.
Kinda shaped like this:
[___]
rather than this:
\_/
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
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Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 10:00 am EST : | |
Its a dont!
It is too fine and just clumps together, hence its use for mixing concrete!
It'll be OK for cacti tho when mixed with cacti as these dont need so much water.
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
|
Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 11:18 am EST : | |
Okay that makes sense. Well thats helpful now I have a new mission. And as far as dirt would this stuff do?
Sorry for the fuzzy pics. ;)
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 06:27 pm EST : | |
Looks good to me. Is that wood chips in there,and is the white stuff perlite or grit? As long as its well draining its good-think cacti compost.
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
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Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 10:20 pm EST : | |
Yea its good draining. But I've actually left my little tree in the dirt he was 'born' in. He seems to like it. But yea, wood chips, and some sort of grity like stuff. Not really sure. Local nursery makes it and sells in 1 gallon bags. I think only like $2-$5.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Greth
| | Posted on Friday, April 20, 2007 - 06:16 pm EST : | |
Maybe get him into a shallow pot, so he doesn't grow down too far. I've been criticized on Bonsaitalk for leaving plants in 'ordinary' potting mix, but they are recently uprooted, so need good nursing just to survive before I can start training them to bonsai level.
My flowering ash has started producing some back buds. I havent shown pics since I cut it back severely and wired it horizontally to be a potential semi cascade. I rewired it just a few days ago, the last loop of wire was beginning to make a scar on the trunk.
I picked up another olive, don't know yet if this one will survive, but the base is huge, its gonna be a great tree if it can survive transplanting.Hopefully we will buy a digi camera sometime in May, then I can show you what I am doing more clearly.
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
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Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 12:33 am EST : | |
Bonsaitalk?
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Greth
| | Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 02:24 pm EST : | |
http://forum.bonsaitalk.com
I like this forum, the people are mostly good. Its fun to get into the chat room, you can actually discuss particular plants in live chat with some great experts. I post as Greth in there, Treelover visits too, as Larry. Just let people know you are a beginner, and they will help you out wherever they can. You can learn a lot very quickly.
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
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Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 11:21 am EST : | |
Yes I have had that thrown at me too, i just ignore them as compost is compost and as long as its well drained any will do for bonsai. I think they get a bit superior at times on there! But bonsai are bot magical plants neding special soil etc, theyre just trees or shrubs grown in shallow pots, and to be honest being in a shallow pot tends to make them better draining anyway-you'll soon see they dry out easily in the summer regardless what soil theyre in! There seems to be a problem with this site, I keep getting this when I try to reply:
INSERT INTO _log (firstfew,author,posthost,postip,postnum,postpage,postby,posttime,posttopic ) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?);
Yes+Greth+I+have+had+that-Treelover--82.23.188.143-10478357-1239838-treelov er:user-1177265672-4306 Table './gardenbuddies_com_-_database/_log' is marked as crashed and should be repaired
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
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Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 03:57 pm EST : | |
Odd.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Bonsaifan
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 03:57 pm EST : | |
Ok. Try and preview it first and then send it.
Bonsaifan
- Indiana,
Zone "6"
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Greth
| | Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 07:00 pm EST : | |
Dunno whats happening Treelover, Mary was reporting problems too on the Trivia site.
As to soil, I have to consider my own conditions. Humidity here is very low in summer, 5% is common. On a high bench with strong hot northerly winds all potplants dry very quickly, bonsai have a worse situation with a restricted root run. So they really need a bit of moisture retention in the soil, drainage will never ever be a problem! The willow will probably have to spend its summers sitting in a water bath, I already use one for newly planted cuttings.
I tend to steer clear of discussions on soil, its a subject lots of people get superstitious about. I've studied mineral nutrition and horticulture at post grad level, confident I wont make any really dumb decisions (like putting a willow into builder's sand!) Im trying out my ant grit/sieved potting mix recipe with one olive, see if I can get a good mat of fine roots happening there. The other trees are still recovering (or not, in a few cases) from transplanting, so they don't need any extra water stress.
Greth
- South Australia,
Zone "?"
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Treelover
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 07:48 pm EST : | |
Good idea about the willow-Ive heard that recommnded before.
As for soil, well I think its down to common sense, and I dont think yopu'll run into problems, sounds like you kno what youre doing :)
and as for the errors, well I got an explanation indirectly from Ej. The site crashed and he had to do some repair work.
Treelover
- County Durham,UK,
Zone "8/9"
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