Marin Homestead » Bonsai

Redwood Empire Bonsai Society (REBS) 2011 Annual Show

Steve — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:26:44 +0000

Redwood Empire Bonsai Society (REBS) 2011 Annual Show
I had the good fortune to be able to visit the annual REBS bonsai show this weekend (8/28/11) in Santa Rosa, CA. There were over 200 trees, a huge vendor area, and a consignment area. Great opportunity for studying some amazing trees, watching demos, and picking up starter material, pots, and supplies.

Here are pics of some of the trees.

Chinese Elm Pre-Bonsai

Steve — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 04:26:06 +0000

I collected this as a volunteer in our yard. We have two medium sized Chinese Elms that send up sprouts all over the place. I collected it in spring of 2010 and stabilized it in a pot for a year or so before I planted it in the ground on top of a tile to let it grow wild to fatten the trunk.

1/23/11 - winter time before I put in the ground

Japanese Maple Acer Palmatum Bonsai

Steve — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:04:03 +0000

I purchased this Acer Palmatum from Sunnyside Nursery in San Anselmo, CA in November of 2007. This maple is native to China and Japan. Its botanical name comes from its leaves, which have 5 or more deep lobes and vaguely resemble a human hand. I’m not sure of it’s age, but I imagine it’s around 5-10 years.

11/30/07 - Fresh from the nursery.
12/25/07 - First stage of styling.
2/18/08 - Leaves are just starting to open.
3/2/08 - Aphids attack! I sprayed them w/ soapy water we’ll see if they return.
3/24/08 - Finally got the aphids under control using a canned Orthanex spray. They did a lot of damage.
4/20/08 - Making a good recovery so far.
6/15/08 - Tons of new growth.
3/30/09 - Aphids came back this year – I was ready w/ Orthanex.
8/4/09 - Working on branches and scar healing.
2/8/10 - Need to wire this one still. Considering putting in the ground for more rapid growth. It has big leaves so it doesn’t get much love.
3/27/11. Planted on top of a tile in the ground to induce rapid trunk development and it seems to be liking it. I figure if I can get the trunk nice and fat it will fall into my good graces.

Japanese Maple Arakawa Bonsai

Steve — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:03:27 +0000

I purchased this Arakawa online from The Growing Grounds bonsai nursery who are located in North Carolina. It arrived here in a box on 12/17/07 and it was about 14 years old at that time. The Arakawa (translation ‘rough bark’) cultivar is known for its characteristic ‘cork’ bark which is my favorite aspect.

12/25/07
1/1/08 - Added some guy-wires to reposition the branches.
2/17/08 - Prepared a training pot for repotting with with a well draining soil mix.
Combed out and washed the organic soil from the root pad.
Done.
3/2/08 - Buds extending later than the other maples.
3/24/08
3/30/08 - Added a top layer of sphagnum to increase water retention.
4/20/08 - Huge amount of new growth in 20 days.
6/15/08 - Lot’s of new growth. Did some light training and pruning.
2/2/09 - Annual prune/style – working on thickening lower branches, and ramification.
3/30/09 - New spring growth.
8/4/09 - Lower branches growing wild.
10/25/09 - Showing some fall colors.
12/21/09 - Winter silhoutte – ready for styling.
2/8/10 - Wired branches this year. Starting to like the way it looks. Need to check roots for repotting. Time to find a good pot for it.
3/7/11 - Early spring. showing all four sides. The base of the trunk is wider from the side view.
1/23/1 - before wiring
3/19/11. repotted this year. I how it looks at this time of year when the leaves first come out. they are small and match the size of the tree. did a lot of wiring this year. having a hell of a time finding the pot I want online.
3/27/11. finally took a stab at taking some decent pictures. need more lighting tho.
This is the pot that I want for this tree. I am having a hard time finding it in the 16" size online - anybody want to sell me one?
Finally found this pot via special order from http://www.bonsaimonk.com it hasn't arrived yet, but i'm looking forward to repotting into it this winter!
12/24/11. We had a late warm spell and it got some new growth. I was worried it wouldn't go dormant but it seems to be now.

Cryptomeria Japonica Bonsai (Japanese Red Cedar)

Steve — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:02:58 +0000

I purchased this Cryptomeria Japonica (Bandai Sugi) from Lone Pine Gardens in Sebastapol, CA in May of 2007. It is over 20 years old and has a great trunk and bark that resembles that of a redwood.

Below is my photo journal of it’s progress.

Interesting facts: Cryptomeria Japonica is the only species in its genus, and Cryptomeria is one of only 10 genera in the ancient family, Taxodiaceae, which once shared the landscape with the dinosaurs. Other Taxodiceae include: Dawn Redwood, California Redwood, Giant Sequoia, and Bald Cypress. Although it’s common name is cedar, it is not actually part of the true cedar (Cedrus) family.

5/19/07 - 10 gallon starter material from Lone Pine nursery.
Just after bringing it home and setting it up w/ the watering system
5/27/07 - After taking off the bottom row of branches and wiring the remaining ones.
Where the trunk was chopped
6/3/07
6/10/07 - The apex needs revision since it lacks sufficient taper.
Virtual planning.
After initial branch removal.
7/22/07 - Grinded the unwanted stump away.
The Arbortech mini grinder made this a very easy job.
8/17/07 - Refined the foliage in an attempt to move it down the branches closer to the trunk.
3/30/08 - New spring growth. Decided not to repot this year.
4/20/08
6/15/08 - Lots of new growth.
1/25/09 - It has made a full recovery from the hard pruning last year, so now it is finally time to repot.
The rootball was very hard and dense so it should enjoy the new soil mix.
This plastic training pot is a visual improvement.
3/30/09 - Did some pruning. Need to do more.
6/14/09 - More styling and foliage refinement.
Starting to make some sense of the apex.
Having a hard time choosing a front. Resorting to process of elimination (ie. determine what is not the front).
Chose a leader, need to carve the trunk some more.
8/4/09 - Did a lot of training this summer. The apex is finally coming together.
10/25/09 - Decided on this for the front.
2/8/10 - Need to put a major downward bend in the big bottom branch. I'll have to wrap the branch first and use really thick wire.
3/27/11 - My first attempt at taking decent pictures of my trees. I need a bigger backdrop for this one, and more lighting.
I tried a couple different lighting angles.
This is the type of pot that I want for this tree. I know it is relatively common, but cant find one online for the life of me. Anybody want to sell me one?
I found this pot via special order from bonsaimonk.com - looking forward to repotting to it this winter!

Ficus Bonsai Trunk Fusing Experiment

Steve — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:02:26 +0000

This is an experiment that I began on 4/15/06 where my goal is to create a ficus bonsai tree that will appear to be very old, with an impressive tapered trunk, in a few short years. My experiment is inspired by Doug Philips who has been doing this with Maple trees for over a decade. I learned about his process on his website: dugzbonsai.com.

Below is a photo-documentary of my experience with this process thus far.

PHASE 1 - After gathering my materials during the preceding week, I sat down at 1:30pm on 4/15/2006 to begin my project.
The frame was made from flexible wire and coat hangers during the preceding week.
Ficus Benjamina seedlings in 6″ pots from home depot. I ended up having to get more of these when I ran out half-way through.
Separating dirt from roots with a chopstick.
Separating individual trees from root ball while trying to keep root damage to a minimum.
Seedlings separated by size.
First four attached to frame with plastic coated twist ties. I used about 70 feet from a 100 foot roll.
I decided to only remove branches and leaves that got in the way to minimize the trauma to the plants.
This part took a lot longer than I’d imagined.
I misted often with a spray bottle to keep the roots from drying out.
My fingers and back were sore the next day – I wished I’d had a workbench so I could stand up.
I found that I had to be careful not to break the roots as it grew heavier.
Finally closed the last gap at 2am.
Close-up of the trunk. The idea is that the tree will grow over the twist ties resultingin texture that will add character and age.
Close-up of the bottom – the hollow inside is mostly obscured by the roots.
Another close-up of the trunk after I planted it in the 16″ diameter pot at 2:30am. I put a few handfuls of soil inside the trunk cavity like stuffing a turkey so the roots would have some cover on the inside.
The next day.
A couple days after the initial operation, it was suggested to me that I defoliate the trees in order to induce dormancy. This will make it easier for the trees to recover since they will not transpire moisture through the leaves.
Defoliation has also made the apex visible which allowed me to finalize this area by isolating a single leader and making the rest of the trees exit at random points.
You can see the curvature in this shot. Assuming the trees survive this initial trauma, I’m hoping that the trunks will start to fuse within a year or so. Then I’ll start to focus on training and styling.
PHASE 2 - Well it turned out that separating all of the ficus seedlings from their intertwined root systems was not without consequence. I had about a 10% survival rate of the original trees. After a month or so, most of them had died. There may have been more I could have done to keep them alive – like encasing the whole thing in plastic to keep the humidity higher, and not defoliating them. Regardless, I’ve removed the dead ones and employed a new technique for their replacements. Instead of separating the trees into individuals I’m now leaving the bunch together and simply planting it next to the frame and then bending the trees over to tie them up. Thanks to my wife Tammy for suggesting this approach.
As you can see in these pics, the frame is mostly bare. To the right there is a bunch that has been planted next to the frame. Once it has had some time to stabilize, I’ll bend each tree over and tie it to the frame so that it looks like the section on the left. This technique has already proved to be much more reliable in terms of survival rate.
Here are a few more clusters that have been added and tied into place.
I built a mini-greenhouse for propagating the cuttings that I will use to fill in the rest of the gaps. Cuttings make the ideal source material for this type of project for these reasons: a.) they’re free, b.) they have a small root mass which makes it easier to plant them close together, and c.) they can have a large diameter if taken from a large source tree.
I used 2mm clear painters plastic and some flexible wire similar to coat hanger wire. Keeping the humidity high should increase the survival rate.
11/20/06 Update - Here is the current state of the project. Looks like a big bush.
Here is what the finished trunk looks like currently w/ the new approach of planting clusters instead of individual seedlings over the past couple of months.
Here is a close-up of an area that is starting to fuse. There are a few places that look like this. Once the fusing begins the growth becomes vigorous in that area. You can see that one of the twist ties is almost completely enveloped by the trunk. Sometimes the twist ties break from the pressure of the expanding trunks after the fusing begins. I’ve been cutting the wires and pulling them out once they’ve done their job. I figure it will heal faster that way rather than leaving it as an inclusion.
5/16/07 - Update As you can see, the bush has grown quite a bit in the past 6 months.
This is the same area as pictured directly above after 6 months of growth.
The base of what will be the trunk.
8/24/07 Update - Here are a few shots of the fusing progress.
It’s starting to look more like a single trunk now.
11/7/07 Update - More fusing progress.
12/18/07 Update - I built a pine growing box to repot it in a shallower container to begin training the root system, and give them a little more room to grow.
The roots had filled the previous container after one year.
I loosened half of the dirt out of the roots so that it would fit into its new home.
Repotting allowed a better view of the trunk. It felt very solid and unified.
I used a washing machine overflow tray and three 4′ x 12″ planks cut in half.
5/4/08 - Here are some shots of the fusing progress.
Pruned off the strongest shoots from the top to encourage more growth below.
3/30/09 - Repotted into smaller pot. Struggling to recover after cold winter outdoors.
8/4/09 - Making a strong comeback in the summer heat.
10/25/09 - Continuing to thrive in it’s new home. We’ll see how it tolerates the colder months. I’ll probably protect from frost w/ burlap this year.
12/21/09 - Frost got to it before I could protect it. About 70% of the leaves are now dead. We’ll see how it recovers. Must stay on top of this next year.
2/8/10 - Tragedy strikes. All these branches died all the way back. Probably going to loose a good portion of the trunk top as well.
3/26/11 - Sorry for the delayed update. It’s basically healthy again but most of the growth is coming from around the base. it’s hard to really get a good picture of how much of the trunk is dead, but it’s at least the top 25%.
Here is a closeup that shows the top of the trunk where it has died back, and the new shoots that are coming up through the remaining holes and gaps. It's visually confusing, even in person. I'm not really sure what to do with it other than try to keep it alive, and hope that it becomes vigorous and unified enough to finally choose branches and style. I'm keeping it with my wifes mango trees in the winter so they can huddle together in the makeshift greenhouse.

Phase 1 project data:

Source trees: nine 6″ pots @ $5 = $45 + one 15″ pot @ $30 + one 12″ pot @ $10 = $85 (I have about 20 small seedlings left over and would have used just bigger pots w/ bigger seedlings in retrospect)
Supplies: 16″ pot $7 + twist ties $4 + frame wire $4 = $15
Total materials cost approx = $100
Wire frame dimensions: 12″ high x 6.5″ base diameter x 20″ circumference
70 trees were used to cover the frame
Finished dimensions: 7.25″ diameter of base x 12″ height above soil to joined apex, 24″ total height w/ leader.

More knowledge to add to the pool:

Keeping the seedling clusters together is definately the way to go. Just shake out the dirt from the root ball to keep them compact when you plant it next to the frame.
The cuttings did have about a 70% rooting rate, but I found that seedlings grow and fuse much more quickly, so I ended up using them almost exclusively in the end.
I have all of the gaps filled in now so that it looks like it did at the end of phase 1, and fusing is progressing nicely. I’ll update w/ new photos soon.

Chikugo-En Bonsai Nursery

Steve — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 23:59:50 +0000

Chikugo-En Bonsai Nursery

Bonsai nursery located near Los Angeles, CA. This is from my visit in November of 2007. The owners are very pleasant, friendly and helpful. The tree selection is mostly conifer of excellent quality and priced as such. Highly recommended.
18110 S Western Ave
Gardena, CA 90248
Neighborhood: Harbor Gateway
(310) 323-4011

2008 San Francisco Bonsai Garden Show

Steve — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 23:59:03 +0000

2008 San Francisco Bonsai Garden Show

I attended the 2008 San Francisco Garden Show at the Cow Palace in Daly City, CA 3/15/08. This is just a sample of the 100+ trees. They had demonstrations going continuously and I saw one lucky attendant receive a nice boxwood tree for free just for participating.

Gravity Watering

Steve — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:55:03 +0000

I created this gravity based bucket drip system to water my bonsai trees when I didn’t have access to a dedicated water line. The pressure is very low, but I found that as long as the water reservoir is a couple feet higher than the drippers, the hydraulic head is sufficient.

Pros: saves water, saves time, good for rainwater trap system.

Cons: potential of failure due to clogged lines or dead batteries, have to monitor/refill water in reservoir, cost of components.

5/10/07 - 30 gallon reservoir.
I'm using a battery-powered Rain Drip timer that has very simple twist-knob controls.
1/4" plastic irrigation hose line.
About 10 Rain Drip in-line 1/2 gph drippers per tree (would be 5gph per tree at normal/garden hose water pressure).
3/2/08 - I switched to 1/4" soaker hose made bendable with a wire in the center for more even distribution. I poked holes in it to increase flow where needed.
Upgraded to a 45 gallon reservoir.
6/15/08 - Went back to the in-line drippers after discovering that the soaker hose tends to clog easily and does not provide a consistent drip. I went w/ two rings to provide even distribution and it seems to be working great so far.

Inspirational Bonsai

Steve — Tue, 06 May 2008 06:55:57 +0000

Here are some photo’s of bonsai trees that I find inspirational – none of these are mine.

A lot of these were created by a Austrian/German guy named Walter Pall.

European Larch
Japanese Maple
Bald Cypress
Walter Pall’s Collection
Japanese Maple
Japanese Maple
Bougainvilla
Japanese Cedar
Dwarf Scots Pine
English Oak
European Larch
Japanese Maple
Japanese Maple
Japanese Maple
Norway Spruce
Bald Cypress
Wind Swept Style
Cryptomeria Japonica
Cryptomeria Japonica
European Larch
Cryptomeria Japonica
Blue Atlas Cedar