• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

  • Blog
    • How-to Guides
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Bonsai
    • Books
    • Soil
    • Soil (wholesale)
    • Supplies
    • Tools
    • Video Consulting
    • Northern California Bonsai Resources
  • About
    • Workshops

Wiring and repotting crabapple seedlings

December 19, 2017 by Jonas Dupuich

Two years ago I started a number of crabapple from seed. They’re due for some wiring.

Two year-old crabapple seedlings

The variety, Malus sieboldii, or zumi, must like it cold because they have yet to lose more than a few leaves.

Zumi leaf

Before wiring, I removed the foliage.

After removing the leaves

One tip – I found that the leaves, including the petioles, come of much easier when pulling them backward, or toward the soil, instead of forward.

It’s also a good idea to remove young trees from the pot before wiring as the surface roots are often buried below the surface.

Crabapple seedling

As seen from below

The pot is an Anderson cross-bottom band pot. Cross-bottom bands do a good job of keeping the soil from remaining too wet with the main caveat being that it’s not convenient to remove a single plant from the flat until it’s rooted in. These plants rooted in just fine after one year.

Well rooted-in seedling

I dug down and discovered that the roots emerged from the trunk near the bottom of the pot.

After finding the base of the trunk

I applied some wire and replanted the seedlings in larger Anderson Bands.

After wiring

Seedlings planted in larger Anderson Bands

I planted the remaining seedlings in 4″ pots. Here’s one that was growing in straight kanuma.

Seedling in kanuma – the roots look great!

After planting in a 4″ pot with regular bonsai soil

The repotted trees were all planted in a mix of roughly 1 part each akadama, pumice and lava, though it appears that kanuma could be an acceptable alternative.

After repotting

I’ll let these grow freely until the wire starts cutting in, likely sometime next spring. After that, I’ll either re-wire or let the trunks continue to thicken without wire through the growing season.

Subscribe to Bonsai Tonight

New Posts Delivered Every Tuesday and Friday

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Filed Under: Bonsai Development Tagged With: Crabapple

Previous Post: « Refining a young exposed root black pine
Next Post: From landscape tree to bonsai part 5 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jef Porto-Carrero says

    December 19, 2017 at 6:25 am

    Nice wiring!
    So now (december) is a good time to repot seedlings?

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      December 19, 2017 at 9:29 am

      Thanks Jef! The best time to repot the seedlings is before they start growing in spring. I’m repotting now because these trees seem to grow all through winter where I live.

  2. Arke L says

    December 19, 2017 at 5:00 pm

    Who to care and decandle black pine with pictures

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      December 19, 2017 at 5:45 pm

      Hi Arke – here is some info on decandling black pine: https://bonsaitonight.com/2016/07/22/decandling-black-pine-bonsai-overview/

  3. Luigi says

    December 20, 2017 at 6:18 am

    hi Jonas,

    the bends you are applyong to the seedling make me think you are going to make shoin bonsai out of them, am I right?

    I started last year some seedlings of Pseudocydonia, but as i would like to make good size bonsai I applied very mild bend.

    Do you think I am doing right?

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      December 20, 2017 at 8:48 am

      Hi Luigi! Yes, I’m planning to make smaller trees. For bigger trees you can still make small bends for interest, but the main changes in direction will be farther apart. Also, when making mild bends, I try to make the angles sharp, and I try to add twists. Am looking forward to seeing your trees develop!

  4. Larry says

    December 21, 2017 at 11:33 pm

    Jonas, what time of year were these cuttings started? Is it best to take the cuttings when they are actively growing or dormant?

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      December 22, 2017 at 9:06 am

      Hi Larry! I started these from seed, likely planted in winter two years ago. The best time to start softwood cuttings is May or early June per Dirr and Heuser Jr.’s propagation manual with the exact timing depending on the variety.

Footer

Follow Bonsai Tonight

Subscribe

Instagram ● Facebook ● Twitter
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Shop
  • About

P.O. Box 6560, Alameda, CA 94501 · 510-915-2025 · jonas (at) bonsaitonight (dot) com

© Copyright 2009-2025 Bonsai Tonight · All rights reserved · Privacy · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish. Accept Decline Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT