The technique comes from a crafty gentleman named Ebihara. It involves nails, chopsticks, plywood and a drill. Below are photos of the first steps in a slow process that can yield a truly impressive rootbase. Hats off to Jeff for giving it a try! Zelkova roots Nice, thin, root system – so far, so good […]
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.
Thinning a red pine forest
The best time to thin pine bonsai is between late fall and early spring. I didn’t get to the red pine forest below until early April this year. Because I was working on the tree late in the season, I kept the work simple. I cut back each branch to two shoots, removed old needles, […]
Cutback – Korean hornbeam
An important theme in bonsai: to develop or maintain a tree of a given size, we need healthy interior shoots. Without interior shoots, we have few options during cutback. Now that the sun is appearing with some regularity in Northern California – and some timidity as it’s still cool – bonsai are beginning to grow quickly. […]
Fall decandling – thinning new buds
My fall decandling project has been moving along slowly – as expected. After trimming spring growth last October, small buds appeared before the tree slowed down for winter. By March, the buds had begun growing again. Some of the more vigorous branches produced five or six new buds. To keep these areas in check, I […]
Cryptomeria from air layer
I started an air layer last May on a cryptomeria shoot. I saw a few roots peeking through the plastic after a couple of months, but I didn’t know how many more roots were hidden within the moss. Figuring that too many roots is preferable to too few roots, I decided to remove the layer […]