Pines commonly produce three types of buds: terminal buds, needle buds and adventitious buds. Terminal buds, often referred to as apical buds when they appear at the top of the tree, are the buds located at the tips of branches. Terminal bud Large terminal bud flanked by two lateral or accessory buds Needle buds are […]
Bonsai Care
The bonsai care category includes topics like Watering, Fertilizing, Repotting and Bonsai Soil. You can also find information about the Pests commonly found on bonsai, and read Interviews with bonsai professionals.
Summer fertilizing
There are a number of good reasons to fertilize bonsai in summer: The tree is young and the goal is to thicken the trunk The tree requires nutrition to recover from – or prepare for – defoliation and decandling The growing season is short and waiting until fall to fertilize is too late As I have […]
Signs of overwatering black pine bonsai
About a month ago, I noticed some of my pines turning yellow near the base of the needles. Yellowing pine needles I rarely see this in my older pines, but it sometimes shows up in the younger trees in my garden. It’s a common sign that the trees are staying too wet between waterings. After […]
Can you see the signs? Identifying weak roots by checking the foliage
I acquired a number of field-grown shimpaku junipers earlier this year. Most are growing well. Healthy juniper The best signs of health, in this case, are the green color and the handful of elongating shoots at the ends of the upper branches. Vigorous shoot Here’s another healthy juniper that produced a lot of growth this […]
Removing wire from an old grafted Shimpaku
If you haven’t checked the wired trees in your garden to see if any wire is cutting in, now’s a good time to do so. I often wire a lot of trees over winter or in early spring and by this time of year a lot of the wires have started to cut in. This […]