Satsuki bonsai are commonly bare-rooted when they are dug from the field. These trees can have lots of fine roots under the trunk that can make repotting difficult. Bare root satsuki azalea ‘Hanabin’ Lots of roots under the trunk Simply setting the tree into a mound of soil can lead to air pockets in which […]
Bonsai Development
Bonsai Development posts form the heart of Bonsai Tonight. Learn about varieties like Black Pine, Shimpaku and Japanese Maple, techniques like Decandling and Grafting and Air Layering, and bonsai features like Deadwood.
Reducing primary branches on coast live oak
Last spring I brought home a few coast live oaks. I repotted them in early May and found that they responded well to the work (see “Repotting out of season“). Here’s what one of the trees looked like last week. Coast live oak I did, however, notice that most of the new growth was on […]
Refining cork oak – step two
I’m starting this series on cork oak with the second step – reducing branches that are too long or too straight. The first step is repotting the tree into bonsai soil and generating healthy roots. Last year I repotted this oak in a training pot after nearly bare-rooting it. The field soil supported few roots […]
Coast redwood – initial repot
I look forward to repotting some trees months ahead of repotting season. Sometimes it’s because the pot is falling apart or too small – other times I simply want to see the tree in a bonsai pot for the first time. All of the above applied to the coast redwood below. Coast redwood I picked […]
Repotting a collected Sierra juniper
For those who have worked with a lot of collected junipers, this post can be summed up with two photos. Sierra juniper before repotting- 31″ tall Sierra juniper after repotting I acquired this tree in the pot pictured at top so I assumed there were some important roots that emerged quite a ways from the […]