There are a number of ways to remove old leaves from deciduous bonsai. Depending on the variety, branch age or density and how dry the leaves are, I’ll use a combination of fingers, tweezers and my whole hand. The first two examples below are from a Japanese beech. Beech leaves don’t always fall off on […]
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.
Encouraging grafted foliage
The grafts I made to some young black pines have now been in place for 10 months. If I continue to let the original foliage grow unchecked, the trees will have little reason to invest in the grafted branches. As I want to replace the original growth with these scions from a cork bark pine, […]
Tamping the soil into place
After wiring a bonsai into the pot and filling the pot with soil, I’ll usually give the whole a few gentle taps to make sure I did a good job with the chopsticks. A few gentle taps can quickly reveal faulty chopstick work as the soil will quickly settle in neglected areas. I usually tap […]
Setting the tree
When repotting bonsai, I try to keep roots exposed to air for as little time as possible. When I know what pot a tree will be planted in ahead of time, I’ll add wire and screen to the pot before I begin the rootwork. I knew I’d plant my sawara cypress into a terra cotta […]
Partially bare-rooting sawara cypress
When repotting coniferous bonsai growing in nursery soil – typically soil with a lot of organic material – I try to remove all of the soil from a portion of the rootball. How much old soil I remove or bare-root depends on how many roots I find and the overall health of the tree. In […]