Mountain Hemlock
I recently added a new tree to my collection – a mountain hemlock. I haven’t worked with the variety before so I have a lot of learning ahead of me.
Mountain hemlock – Tsuga mertensiana
My first goal for the tree is to develop a healthy root base. To do this, I will bare root half of the tree and introduce the exposed roots to bonsai soil. I start the repotting by searching for the surface roots.
Hemlock – out of the pot
I’m in luck – large surface roots are sitting just below the soil line. The roots aren’t perfect, but they are healthy and plentiful.
Surface roots
After locating the surface roots, I removed all of the soil from the front half of the rootball. As I worked, I found two large roots that had been cut and since healed over.
Root callus
To encourage new root development, I cut away the callus on one of the roots. I’ll do the same for the other root the next time I repot.
Callus removed
As there were no large roots, I was able to fit the tree into a large bonsai pot. Here’s how I prepared the wires.
Pot ready to go
The tree’s large surface roots made tying the tree into the pot a breeze. Here you can see I protected the root with an automotive belt – a chopstick kept the wire from sliding closer to the trunk.
Automotive belt protects the root
Seeing the tree in a bonsai pot made me excited about the tree’s future – especially the deadwood near the base of the trunk.
Hemlock – repotting complete
Although the deadwood here is somewhat unusual, the formation is not uncommon among hemlock bonsai.
Deadwood near the trunk
From what I can tell, hemlock bonsai is becoming more popular these days. I hope so – I think it’s an attractive variety. For more hemlock fun, check out Michael Hagedorn’s intriguingly titled post, “Mountain Hemlock on Levitated Nylon Board.“
A root over rock maple is born
I see some amazing trees in Bay Island Bonsai workshops. I also see some amazing projects. The root over rock Japanese maple planting below is clearly one of the latter.
Root over rock maple planting in training
Young maples were planted on a large stone a year or two ago. This year, the tree’s owner exposed the roots to make sure they were fusing to the rock. Some roots were trimmed, others were guided into channels in the stone. Blue plastic ties were added to hold the composition together. Once the last knot was tightened, the stone was buried in a large pot so the roots could continue to develop.
All tied up
Blocks and chopsticks keep the ties tight
It’s not much to look at, but time and the blue ties will help the roots fuse to the stone.
The trees could just have easily been planted in the ground. Keeping them in a pot, however, will make it easier to work on the roots during the next repotting. Apart from some minor pruning, the trunks and branches were left alone to encourage root development.
Fertilizer technique
A simple and tidy way to apply bonsai fertilizer? Tea bags.
I’ve seen a number of folks use tea bags to hold fertilizer, but I hadn’t tried the technique until this year. I typically pour mounds of cottonseed meal on the surface of the soil, but much of the fertilizer washes away, and the rest seems to seep into the soil and slow down drainage. Liquid fertilizer like fish emulsion is great – see “Bonsai Fertilizer” for details – but it requires following a schedule to make sure trees get enough food. Using tea bags keeps the fertilizer in place and is easy to clean up at the end of the season.
The technique is simple. Fill up a tea bag with your preferred fertilizer and pin it in place with a toothpick.
Tea bag
Tea bag with cottonseed meal (6-2-1)
All wrapped up
Tea bags can also help keep dango in place. I picked up a tin years ago, but don’t use it much as critters usually run off with the stuff the first night. I’m hoping the bags will curb this behavior.
Tin of dango
Two dango pellets
Dango bag
I sat around for an hour last weekend wrapping packets of dango and cottonseed meal. I threw them in a bucket and then walked around placing them on my trees.
Dango – ready to go
I used wooden toothpicks to hold the bags in place. Bamboo toothpicks are a great alternative as they don’t break down so fast.
Pinned in place
Pine with dango
I’m hoping the local critters don’t think of the bags as to-go containers. If they do, I don’t know what I’ll try next.
Preparing a young black pine for show
“Show trees are full trees,” Boon tells us. In need of a second tree to display with my root over rock trident maple, I searched my garden for full trees. I found one, but it was clear that not all full trees are show trees.
Japanese black pine
My optimistic side figured that some selective wiring and needle pulling could prepare the tree for show. After finishing this work, I found myself on the fence.
After selective wiring and needle plucking
Being on the fence, it turns out, didn’t fill the gap next to my trident maple – the tree was going in the show.
After repotting
A relatively new Yamaaki pot I found in Japan turned out to be a good fit for the pine. And although it’s not as developed as I’d like for a show tree, it’s not too far off. Later this year I’ll reduce the silhouette, especially on the left side, to get the branches in better sync with the trunk. If all goes well, I’ll show it again at Bay Island Bonsai’s 15th annual exhibit, “Made in the USA” – a bonsai exhibit featuring no imported trees.
If you missed Tuesday’s post, you can see the tree as displayed at the 2012 BIB exhibit.
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