A Few Rules For Slip-Potting

by | Sep 22, 2019 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting

Those of you who have been with us for a while know I love to slip-pot trees. Why? Well, I guess the biggest reason is I’m impatient to see a tree progress toward its best self. Another reason is that a lot of trees pass through my hands, and often it’s just time to go ahead and get a tree into a bonsai pot and move on to others. Slip-potting usually saves at least half a season in terms of getting a tree to a good showable state. So there you go.

With that said, however, there are some rules that have to be followed if you want to see your trees progress faster to your ultimate goal (meaning the slip-potting has a positive rather than negative outcome). Here are some I adhere to, in no particular order:

1. The tree must be healthy with good vigor. I know, this goes without saying but it never hurts to bear it in mind.

2. The tree either has to have a complete trunk line, or be vigorous enough so that you can complete your trunk line in a bonsai pot. Shallow pots slow growth, always.

3. You need good roots. Foliar vigor isn’t always reflected below the soil, and this is especially true for species that don’t grow roots quickly (such as hollies).

4. The pot your pre-bonsai is growing in should be very similar in size and configuration to the bonsai pot you intend it to go in. Which is another way of saying you want to avoid removing any roots, to the greatest extent you can.

5. Only slip-pot when there’s time in the growing season for the tree to recover from the move. Or, put another way, don’t slip-pot in winter. That leaves three whole other seasons, so you should be able to get your fill of slip-potting while it’s warm.

My first step was to do some light trimming. I pruned the lower branches pretty hard – they’ll push some more growth in the next four to six weeks, which I want. I also pruned the crown more or less to shape; again, light trimming.
Now let’s look at some numbers. First of all, this specimen has a 2.5″ trunk base and is 33″ tall. This is a good ratio for a flat-top BC, because they look best with tall slender trunks in the “tall tree” form. The 33″ height gives us the guidance we need for a suitable bonsai pot. You don’t want the pot to be longer (or, if a round, larger in diameter) than about 40% of the height. The diameter of the nursery pot is 13″. My bonsai pot needs to be that length or slightly longer. This is good, because I won’t have to cut any root to make the tree fit. The depth of the soil mass is about 3″. This too is good, because I want my bonsai pot to have a profile depth roughly similar to the diameter of the trunk at the base. This means I don’t have to cut any root off the bottom of the tree.
Here’s how the slip-potting turned out. I had a very nice Byron Myrick oval on hand. The length is 14″ (outside edge to outside edge), and it’s 11″ wide. I was able to easily fit the tree into this pot, meaning no significant disturbance to the roots. And finally, the pot is just over 3″ deep in profile, which was the depth of the soil mass. It was very easy to get the tree into this pot and fill in with bonsai soil. With four to six weeks left in the growing season, this tree should continue to thrive. I anticipate seeing some nice fall color, which should go well with the pot. Let me know what you think about today’s work.

Water-Elm Redux – Progress, Progress

by | Sep 14, 2019 | Care, Elms, Potting, Styling, Water Elm, Wiring

There’s no denying that fast development in our bonsai is a good thing. To be sure, time in training really brings a bonsai to a fullness of design. But getting the design established quickly is, in my view, very important. Some species lend themselves to this effort much better than others. Elms are in this category.

About a year ago I published this photo of a tree we had collected roughly a month earlier. Not surprisingly, it grew out with vigor and that allowed me to do the rough design.

In just over a year from initial design, this is the stage of development for this specimen. The branch structure is well-established, and you can probably tell it’s been pruned a couple of times this season.

The next phase of development for this bonsai is to continue refinement of the foliage pads. My technique over the years has been to shear to shape as the rough design develops. It’s only after that phase is completed that I zero in on specific sub-branching to finish the refinement. Of course, no bonsai is ever finished, but you do have distinctive periods where the tree is showable in its intended form.
Here’s another really great specimen that I potted earlier this year. While the pot is a terrific piece, I knew shortly after potting the tree that what I needed was a round container rather than an oval. But that could wait; I needed more root growth and strengthening first.
I just acquired this Ashley Keller round, and it certainly better suits the tree. I removed a little root when I moved the tree over, but it didn’t skip a beat.

The main chore I have right now is to continue developing the crown of the left-hand trunk. That will be completed during the 2020 growing season. I also obviously need to hard-prune that low right branch on the right trunk, which came with the tree when it was collected. But that too is a 2020 chore.
And another specimen, as it appeared back in April. While you can see the form taking shape, it frankly doesn’t yet look like much. The key at this point is to allow the branches to grow out and thicken, so they are in proper proportion with the trunk.
Five months later. Is this fast growth or what? This tree has been wired, pruned, unwired and pruned some more in a handful of months. I love it!
This one got a late start on its bonsai journey, with the initial styling and potting this June. Wonderful trunk taper, movement and character. Some nice branches to work with. And I think the Lary Howard round just makes this bonsai.

Not bad for three months’ growth, right? I’ve done some trimming and of course had to unwire most of the wire. It’s such a strong tree that when I went to lift it from the bench to photograph it, a pair of roots had escaped a tiedown hole and grown down through a bench slat. I’m talking eighth-inch roots!

So this one will get the same treatment as the others, little to minimal pruning going into fall, removal of the last bit of wire if called for, and then dormancy care. Next year should complete the design.

I’d love to hear what you think of these trees. I’m pretty proud of them.

Privet Work And Slip-Potting

by | Sep 7, 2019 | Care, Potting, Privet, Pruning, Styling
Privets seldom disappoint. This one has put on a lot of growth in just a couple of months, and I can tell by the strength of it that a slip-potting now shouldn’t cause any problem for it. But first, some design work.
Most bonsai design work is “grow and clip,” regardless of how you approach a tree. Wiring is certainly important for branch placement, but you’ll prune and pinch many more times than you’ll wire any tree. In this photo, you can see how much growth I’ve removed.
The final step before potting this tree is to bring in the profile. It’s often hard to make yourself cut a tree back as much as it needs to be, but over time you get better at making those decisions.
And that’s all it took! This privet is going to fill out in 2020, and should bloom for the first time in 2021. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Water-Elm Collecting 2019 #3

by | Aug 24, 2019 | Care, Collecting, Elms, Potting, Pruning, Water Elm
Today was probably the last of our Water-elm collecting trips for 2019. We once again got some nice material. Here are a handful of examples. I just love this raft-style specimen. Nice, tight trunks. I’ve already got a plan in mind for this one, so hopefully it survives collecting.
This one is a lovely, graceful upright specimen. The trunk has great taper and subtle movement, and the basal flare really adds to the character. The trunk is 2″ on this specimen, and it’s chopped at 19″.
Another raft. The root base is very cool on this specimen, and you can’t beat the variety of trunk sizes.
Here’s another single-trunk specimen we got today. Nice taper and movement. The base is a little smaller than the one above, 1.75″.
Last but not least. This is a pretty cool triple-trunk specimen. Chopped at about 10″ in height, I see a mini-forest about 14″ when finished. Let me know what you think.

Water-Elm Collecting 2019 #2

by | Aug 17, 2019 | Care, Collecting, Elms, Potting, Pruning, Water Elm
Our second Water-elm hunt of the season happened today. This is the biggest specimen that came home with us (trunk base over 3″). Here’s one view of the tree before it got re-chopped top and bottom.
I’m not sure which front is going to be best. What do you think?
I’ve been trying to find a nice raft-style specimen for a few years now. I think this is a good candidate.
And finally for today, this is a smaller specimen but isn’t the character just terrific. Not to mention that it’s going to be an exposed root bonsai once the buried roots are visible again. Let me know what you think of these.

Water-Elm Collecting 2019 #1

by | Aug 10, 2019 | Care, Collecting, Elms, Potting, Water Elm
Today began our Water-elm collecting season. Each of these trees you see has been under about 20 feet of water since winter. Now it’s time for their growing season, which will only last a few months. The short growing season is why these trees, though they may not have huge trunks, are actually pretty old. This planting is actually three separate trees that seem to go together well. I’m looking forward to working on this group a little later this year, and more so in 2020.
This is a nice twin trunk. I really like the left-hand trunk, and it’s going to be my model for building the right-hand trunk. This one has a 2.5″ base, and is only about 10″ to the taller chop. It should make quite a shohin specimen.
And now a tall-tree twin-trunk. This is going to be a great Water-elm bonsai, in just a couple of years.
This one is two separate trees, but they go together. ‘Nuff said.
And another tall-tree twin-trunk.
And last but not least for today, a single-trunk specimen. This one has great movement and taper. Let me know what you think of these specimens. If you haven’t tried Water-elm yet, you should seriously consider the species.