When repotting a bonsai for the first time, I begin by looking for the transition from trunk to roots. After finding this transition, I can then determine how much of the remaining rootball to keep. Options for reducing the rootball include carefully combing out the roots and reducing their length or simply cutting them, soil and […]
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Initial repotting
Repotting bonsai for the first time is not without an element of excitement. When the transition from trunk to roots is buried, it can take some work to find out what the nebari, or surface roots actually look like. And considering that the roots can be very important to the overall look and value of […]
More from Midori’s 52nd annual show
One of the highlights of visiting bonsai shows is getting a chance to see friends and talk to members about their trees. In the past few months I’ve learned about fungus attacking satsuki azaleas, discovered the botanical name of a tree I recently purchased and compared notes about how decandled pines are doing in different […]
Midori Bonsai Club’s 52 annual show
This past weekend the Midori Bonsai Club hosted their 52 annual show at the Northside Community Center in San Jose. Peter Tea provided the demonstration, working on a tall black pine, Jim Gremel, Jerry Braswell, Carman’s Nursery and others filled the vendors’ area, and after 23 years in business, Shibui Bonsai made their final appearance […]
Creating cork bark black pine – follow-up
Earlier this year I grafted a few cork bark scions onto 3-year old black pines (see “Creating cork bark black pine“). As the new shoots inside the grafting bags began to harden off, I opened the bags a big to prevent the foliage from rotting. A few weeks later I removed the tape shading the […]