I usually hold off on pruning deciduous bonsai past the first half of August. Not all trees can grow well enough late in the season to make it worth investing in new shoots before fall. That said, I’ve worked on deciduous trees fairly late in the season as some trees will keep their leaves through […]
Chojubai
Summer repotting dwarf flowering quince
Chojubai, a variety of dwarf flowering quince, is one of the few bonsai I can repot in summer. Repotting chojubai in early spring also works, but by repotting now I can get a jump on the upcoming repotting season. Chojubai can be repotted with or without defoliating first, but I prefer to defoliate as most […]
Onuma’s mini-bonsai growing techniques
A number of you wrote with questions about the techniques Kazuo Onuma uses to create his mini-bonsai last week. Here are some answers! Chojubai Onuma grows chojubai by starting young cuttings in round, plastic containers. After several years, he removes the containers and lets the soil – red lava in this case – fall away […]
Repotting young chojubai in summer
This past spring, as the deciduous bonsai in my garden began to leaf out, I noticed several dwarf flowering quince began to die back. Over the next two months, about half of these chojubai died. I found no evidence of insects or fungus, and a nearby lab couldn’t identify the culprit either. Our best guess […]
Repotting chojubai in fall
When do you repot your chojubai bonsai? They’re one of a handful of varieties that can be successfully repotted at different times of the year. I planted a chojubai in a small container last winter ahead of an exhibit, but didn’t get around to putting the tree back into a larger pot for the growing […]