I’ve been using colanders and perforated pots like pond baskets for years to grow pines. They’re great for developing roots, they allow for frequent watering and they’re easy to find. What they aren’t great for are developing deciduous bonsai – at least, not without proper watering. Most deciduous trees want a lot of water. Colanders […]
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Larger pots make a big difference for young pines
I’ve been growing black pines for a long time. My approach has been pretty consistent the past few years and I can dependably produce trees that look like the following after 2½ years. 2½-year-old black pine This past year I made a small change to the process. Here’s the same 2½-year-old pine next to a […]
Repotting a field grown trident maple
Some of my favorite bonsai work is repotting trees for the first time. I never take for granted that new trees in the garden have healthy roots and perfect root-bases. Sometimes they do, but other times they don’t. Until I repot a tree, I don’t have a great idea about what condition the soil or […]
Developing a trident maple – before and after
Emphasis is often placed on how much we can remove from our trees. Today, I’ll flip that around to emphasize the importance of generating new foliage. Here’s a trident maple after reducing the trunk. Trident maple – June 2017 The idea is to encourage new shoots that in time will form the upper part of […]
Selecting branches to decandle
Two of my young pines are almost – but not quite – ready to be fully decandled. The tree below, for example, looks ready, though you might notice that the upper branches are a bit far away from the relatively small trunk. Japanese black pine – 13 years from seed The upper branches have extended […]