by Zach Smith | Mar 5, 2016 | Care, Hornbeam, Potting, Pruning, Tools
Today it was time to perform a chore I’ve really been anticipating – and not in a good way. My very big American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana, has been in its training pot now for three years. Hornbeams root vigorously in a bonsai pot, so this chore could not wait another year.
In this first photo, I’ve removed the tree from its pot and placed it on the potting bench. The soil surface is covered with moss, and there are numerous weeds that also have to go.
The first step was removing the moss and plucking weeds. This step is also where you get to figure out how healthy your roots are. There are some very simple, telltale signs that tell you there are problems in the root zone. One is actually smell. If you have root rot, it’s going to stink. The roots will also be black and mushy to the touch, pulling away in nasty clumps. Healthy roots are usually a light, orangish-brown color (as the ones you see here are). If your soil is properly composed, they will appear as a fibrous network. They literally run all over the place! This is both good and bad. If your repotting goal is to straighten out roots, as it should be if you’re developing your nebari, much time will be spent teasing the roots out of the soil mass. If, on the other hand, you’re repotting to refresh your fibrous root system and give it room to renew its growth, your work is simpler.
Another thing you need to do when repotting your trees is to work on any defects of the surface roots. In the case of this tree, I have two that are regrowing from their original chops. This one has smaller sub-roots growing from either side of the chopped root. I made a cut into the end of this root years ago with my knob cutter, in order to begin the process of subdividing the root to make it look more natural. Today I need to continue this work.
This one, on the other side of the tree, needs more attention. Time to pull out the dremel and carving tools.
In a few minutes, I’ve carved a narrowing groove up the root. This helps to visually correct the abrupt appearance of the root chop. Over time, this wound I’ve made will start healing over. As it does, I’ll come back and carve down into the center more deeply. Eventually, this single root will appear to be a branching root with good taper.
Back on the other side, I’ve continued the process I just mentioned by carving higher up on the root and carving down through the center of the root near the end where it was originally chopped. The two sub-roots will continue to thicken, in time making a smooth appearance.
Time to reduce the root mass. Here’s the fast, easy way to begin this process. I highly recommend it for large trees.
Less than a minute later.
The bottom gets it, too. I need to cut half of the depth off the root mass.
Now we’re just about ready for our new pot. The permanent home for this tree, a nice Byron Myrick rectangle, is a bit smaller than the training pot. So it took some additional trimming to provide room for the necessary fresh soil all around the tree.
The end-result. An impressive, beautiful tree in a fine bonsai container. Notice the position of the tree, slightly to the right of center so that the movement takes the apex over the opposite side of the pot. It’s a little hard to see in the photo, but the tree is potted slightly to the rear of the pot. The depth of the pot matches the trunk thickness, 6″. And finally, the length of the pot is about two-thirds the eventual finished height of the tree. Proportion is essential to proper bonsai design.
One final note: in order to further improve the appearance of the surface root on the right side of the tree, I carved it down a bit to create just a little taper in the main part of the root. It’s a subtle change, but I think it does help.
What do you think of this tree? Leave me a comment below.
by Zach Smith | Mar 4, 2016 | Care
I collected this riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca, in February of 2015. This is a photo of the tree a few months later, after it had put on a first flush of growth. With plenty of new branches to choose from, the initial styling was not difficult.
Fast-forward another few months, and you can see this bonsai in the making is really doing its thing. Particularly impressive is the new leader, which performed ideally in its first growing season.
This tree will be coming out in the next week or so. There are a couple of development chores that need doing as a result: one, perform the angle cut in the apex where the original trunk chop was made; and two, smooth the tapering transition low in the trunk where the second, larger trunk was removed at the time of collecting.
And here it is, about 10 minutes later. I’ve turned the tree a bit, and I think this angle is actually preferable. Both tapering transitions now look very natural.
The next chore on my list is to shorten the new leader. I’m going to wait till the tree leafs out, so I can use the removed leader for cuttings. Ordinarily I’d perform this operation now, sealing the cut end of the leader to prevent drying out.
This tree is available at our Hawthorn Bonsai sale page. It can ship in about two weeks, once the first flush of growth is underway.
by Zach Smith | Mar 1, 2016 | Care, Hornbeam, Styling, Tools
Here’s my big American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana. Six years on, it’s developing into a unique and impressive bonsai. The trunk base is 6″ and it stands about 28″ tall (the apex needs to finish out).
You can probably see the two big problems with this tree: one, there’s a sizable hunk of wood where I originally took off a big side branch/secondary trunk; and two, the point where I chopped the trunk has an abrupt-looking transition into the apex. The solution? Carving time!
Here’s a closeup of the area where the big side branch had been removed. I’ve started to bite off chunks of wood with my trunk splitter and knob cutter. The idea, ultimately, is to make this area smaller and to look as if it was part of the natural development/life of the tree. Not, in other words, like a bonsai artist did something to it. The art of bonsai is largely illusion, as I’ve mentioned before. Our job is to make something look like something else – and something natural at that.
I’m getting closer to bringing the knob flush with the trunk. Now, it’s worth noting here that when I originally removed the big side branch that emerged from this point, I intentionally left the branch collar. The roots on this side of the tree were undoubtedly being fed by this branch, so to take it off flush at that time would have almost certainly resulted in the death of those roots. By leaving the collar, I left a route around the removed branch for sap to pass. I hoped for a bud under the removed branch, which I got, and I planned to wait for years to take off the excess wood. Often we get in a hurry to get to a certain result we can visualize. But as I tell my granddaughters, “Patience, grasshopper.”
The biting and fine carving are now done. Once the wood weathers, it’ll blend in better with the trunk color. I’ll also get some callus rolling over, though I doubt it will ever completely close. But I don’t think that will mar the appearance of the tree.
Now on to the second problem with the tree, namely the “shoulder” left over from where I first made the trunk chop. You can see the callus has rolled over nicely; however, I do need to do some carving to improve the appearance of this uro. But first thing’s first.
After a few minutes of judicious biting and carving with a knife, I’ve improved the taper of the tree. Should I have cut it more acutely? Perhaps, but I want to be careful not to make too dramatic a tapering in this area. I want to get more thickening at the base of the new apex, and I’ll see if the tree won’t give me a sacrifice shoot for that purpose this year. If I can add another 50% to the basal thickness of my new apex, the whole thing should blend together well. I’ll know in a couple of years. If it doesn’t work out, I can do some additional carving in the shoulder area.
As a final step, I put some cut seal on the living carved edges. This should protect them until they can heal.
This tree is ready for both a root-pruning and to be placed in its final bonsai pot. With a little luck, that should happen this coming weekend.
by Zach Smith | Feb 28, 2016 | Care, Flowering, Hawthorn, Potting, Styling
As spring gets cranked up and trees get more active, the pace of bonsai activities ramps up accordingly. Since the hawthorns seem to be waking up first, I decided to do some cleaning and planning for the coming season.
This Mayhaw, Crataegus aestivalus, has been in training for six years now. It’s the biggest hawthorn I’ve ever worked on, sporting a 4″ trunk base. It’s 29″ to the tip of the apex. The ramification is excellent, and should continue to improve this year. I have some work to do in the tapering transition where the original trunk chop was, but I can get that done in another couple of seasons.
Today I gave the trunk a good brushing with a wire brush. Mayhaws exfoliate their bark every two or three years, and it was time to get rid of the old stuff along with some mold. The tree looks much better as a result.
You may not have noticed in the first photo, but the lower left branch is actually a thread-graft. I began this graft in year two of training the tree, once I had a long-enough shoot to do the graft with. Since that time I’ve allowed the new branch to grow freely in order to thicken it up. This is how you get a thread-graft to take. What makes it work is the addition of layers of wood each growing season. Eventually, the new layers of wood no longer communicate with the base of the original shoot, instead sending nutrients down through the point where it connects to the trunk. Likewise, as the new layers of wood build successively, eventually the sapwood of the trunk where the thread-graft connects feeds the thread-grafted branch. While sap is likely still flowing through the original shoot, it’s no longer absolutely vital to the thread-grafted branch. It’s at this point that you can remove the original feeding shoot. A close view of my thread-graft has convinced me it can be removed now. I’m going to wait and do this once the new shoots begin pushing. I should know right away if I’ve waited long enough.
Here’s a back view of the tree. Pretty nice, eh?
Here’s a shot of my big riverflat hawthorn, Crataegus opaca. The trunk needed cleaning, but otherwise I’m just waiting for budburst which should come soon. This tree is in the refinement stage. I have to fill out the crown and work on the tapering transition some, and also do some work in the root zone. But all in all, I couldn’t be happier with it.
Finally, you may remember this new riverflat hawthorn I posted in January. I had cut the roots back so hard that some of you wondered if the tree could possibly survive on so little. Well, this trunk is exploding with buds now. So it looks like there wasn’t anything to worry about after all.
by Zach Smith | Feb 27, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting
Today officially closed the Winter 2016 collecting season. I needed a few more bald cypresses – it looks like being a banner year for interest in the species – and this time of year is right at the end of viability for collecting them. In fact, most of the ones I brought home had already budded out (same as last year, and all of those survived).
Here are most the trees I harvested today, still in their muck and roots from the swamp. I always run a hand down the trunk of each tree I consider, in order to gauge how good the basal flare is. For the most part, you have to collect trees with trunks at least 4″ in diameter to get a good buttressing root base. That proved to be the case today as well.
How about this for a buttressing root? This is going to make quite an impressive bonsai five to ten years down the road. Flat-top or conical shape? I don’t think it really matters; either way is going to look great.
Another nice flaring root base. I left a couple of branches on this tree since they had buds starting to open. That should help me gauge how well the tree is coming through the collecting process over the next few weeks.
This may be my favorite from today’s crop. I really like the base on this tree, and the movement of the trunk is terrific.
I should know in a few weeks if I was successful with these specimens. Fingers crossed.
Each of these has a trunk that’s 4″ 4″ above the soil surface, and each is about 24-25″ to the chop.
