Last week, Michael Hagedorn offered some great advice about watering recently repotted trees in spring: To sum up, only read the moisture level where there are roots to determine when to water. – from Spring Watering Tip I’ve found Michael’s suggestion useful for many of the trees in my garden this year. Cryptomeria Looking at […]
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.
Juan Andrade AMA
Last month, Juan Andrade responded to questions posed via Ask Me Anything (AMA) at Ask Bonsai Tonight. Jeremiah Lee was at Aichi-en studying with Junichiro Tanaka at the time and coordinated with Juan to make the AMA happen. Juan has been very generous with his time and has provided responses that shed light on his […]
Repotting black pine in nursery soil
Sometimes during repotting, I feel like I’ve passed a point of no return. The feeling struck when I was working on a black pine this past winter. After combing out the roots – there’s no going back The pine – see Friday’s “Cleaning up a black pine” for a look at the tree today – is […]
Stratifying pine seeds
If you’re looking to plant seeds this spring, now may be a good time to do it. Considering how warm this winter has been in Northern California, January may have been a good time to get started, but either way it’s not too late to start now – weather permitting. Many seeds benefit from scarification – […]
Feed me!
What’s wrong with this picture? Cork bark black pine The tree is growing, but there is no sign of fertilizer. With tea bags filled with cottonseed meal That’s better. The sooner I can start fertilizing, the stronger I can make the tree by decandling time. I enjoy seeing the male flowers on pine, despite the mess. […]




