by Zach Smith | Dec 17, 2016 | Care, Collecting, Oaks, Potting, Pruning
It’s that time of year, time to start collecting next year’s crop of trees. Today I lifted this Water oak, Quercus nigra. When you venture out to collect your own trees, you’ll make decisions all the way from selecting suitable specimens to preparing them for potting (or if you prefer not to collect your own, here’s how it’s done).
We always start with the obvious: is this tree collectible? But what does that actually mean? First of all, the tree needs to be of a suitable size at its base. Depending on the size of your intended finished bonsai, this might be less than 1″ all the way up to 10″, give or take. This Water oak has a base of 2″, perfect for a medium size bonsai of about 16″ height. The next thing that happens, at the same time by the way, is sizing up the trunk itself. Does it have any taper? Any movement? Does it fork low enough so that you can cut to a tapering trunk line? Ideally, you will collect a tree that has a more or less complete tapering trunk line all the way to the start of the crown. With this specimen, I think I see just what will work.
Pop quiz time: if you were lifting this tree for development as a bonsai, where would you chop in the apex to create the best leader? The answer is below. In the field I will usually make this decision on the spot. If I can’t, then I preserve my options and make the decision later.
This is a good juncture in the lifting process, when you get to see what roots you have. In this case, I’ve hit the jackpot! Not only do I have a good fibrous root system right out of the box, I have more than one level of radial roots to choose from. It’s common to drop to the lowest set, provided you don’t end up with a reverse taper. That gives the biggest trunk base.
Here’s a case where I went with the upper level of radial roots. They just looked better to me, and I didn’t lose much in the way of basal trunk thickness. So I have a 2″ trunk base and great radial roots. What’s not to like?
I also made that critical cut into the apex of the tree. It’s given me great taper.
And now it’s potted up and ready to overwinter. As with most collected deciduous trees, I’m left with a trunk and that’s it. But seldom will you find a tree in the wild with a compact, complete branch structure that looks right. But that’s all right. When you start with a good, bare trunk, you have complete control over the design of your bonsai.
In 2017 I expect to make great strides in developing this tree. I’ll post updates next year.
by Zach Smith | Dec 4, 2016 | Blackgum, Care, Collecting, Dogwood, Potting
We’re “enjoying” our second rainy day in a row. As bad as this might sound, there is some positive to it. If I had to pick the ideal conditions for collecting trees during late fall/winter it would be cool but not cold temperatures and a light drizzle. With these conditions, I know any tree I collect is not going to be moving sap. This almost guarantees I won’t lose the tree from drying out through a chop point. I also know the root zone is going to be moist if not outright wet. The soil is easier to penetrate, and once the tree is lifted the roots are not going to dry out before I can water them. So the bottom line is, though I may not be as comfortable as I’d like the trees will be much more so during their transition from the ground to my benches.
Blackgum, aka Tupelo, aka Black Tupelo, aka Pepperidge (Nyssa sylvatica) is a primary tree that can reach heights up to 100 feet. It has a very broad range, from the Deep South all the way to Ontario, Canada. It features furrowed bark similar to Sweetgum, elliptical or oblong leaves that turn a fiery red even way down here, and blue-black berries. Blackgum belongs to the Dogwood family, Cornaceae.
I’ve been wanting to grow Blackgum for bonsai for many years. Though we do have the cousin Swamp Tupelo down here, they aren’t easy to collect. About four years ago I got hold of a handful of seedlings so I could try my hand at the species. I potted up one, which didn’t survive its first winter, and planted out the others in order to thicken them up. At this point in time, I have two left. So the challenge is pretty obvious.
Today I decided to push the envelope again, and lift one of these specimens. Why not? We learn by doing.
Here’s the tree after it was lifted and the roots washed. The growth has been excellent. The trunk base is 2.5″ just above the root crown, and I chopped it at 20″.
Now, there was no way to keep all that root base – the tree wouldn’t fit right in a bonsai pot – so I sawed away most of it.
And the final two steps: the tree is direct-potted into this unglazed Chuck Iker round; and I chopped the trunk back to make the tree about 16″ tall. I envision a final height of about 26″ or so, and the tree may actually end up being a formal upright specimen. Formal upright is possibly the most difficult style of bonsai to get right – so keep your fingers crossed for me.
Finally, I have no idea how well this is going to work. I haven’t worked with Blackgum before, though I’ve wanted to for years. I don’t know how well they take to pot culture. But I figure it’s worth a try, given the positive qualities of the species.
How about you? Have you ever grown Blackgum? I’d love to hear of any experiences out there.
by Zach Smith | Dec 3, 2016 | Boxwood, Care, Potting, Styling, Wiring
The winter rains are terrible and wonderful. We have to have them. But they seem to follow right on the heels of the nice fall colors – which we don’t get much of here but we do cherish what we get – putting a big damper on the landscape. Still, we always look for something to brighten the mood.
I made this Japanese boxwood, Buxus Japonica, from a slew of cuttings I rooted a couple of years ago. It’s nothing significant, just a starter bonsai, but they all have to start somewhere. Boxwood species have a lot going for them. They’re evergreen, which means you’ll have something green through the winter besides your junipers and pines. Sometimes they get a bronzy color when it gets really cold. This particular species of boxwood is hardy to Zone 6, which means unless you’re in the northern plains states they do just fine outdoors all winter long.
Boxwoods have other great qualities. They always seem to produce great nebari, plus they’ll bloom in a bonsai pot, though the flowers are pretty inconspicuous. Wiring is easy, and they take shaping well – though once the wood gets really stiff you won’t be bending it ever again!
This photo is from mid-October. While this isn’t the time you normally think of potting up anything, boxwoods don’t mind. And they’ll even put on some new growth at this time of year.
Here’s proof. As you can see, every branch I wired, plus the apex, has new buds opening. Not only does this mean the bonsai has come through its potting experience, next year I’ll get tremendous growth and the development will be rapid.
If you’re looking for a nice starter bonsai for Christmas, you can’t go wrong with a boxwood. This one is available at our Miscellaneous Bonsai page, with more to come next year. The pot is a great piece by Chuck Iker.
by Zach Smith | Oct 29, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Collecting, Potting, Pruning, Styling, Wiring
Last weekend we made a promising future Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) bonsai from a piece of material that did not come through the collecting process intact. I’m a big proponent of not wasting material, and the fact is a lot of great bonsai come from not-so-promising beginnings. Don’t forget, it’s quite common for a bonsai to make a very clear statement about the hardships of life. We see this most frequently in juniper and pine bonsai, where dead wood is prominently featured. In the wild, Bald cypresses are often seen with huge dead snags where their former crowns once stood proud.
Here’s another BC lemon from this past winter’s collecting efforts. Despite good post-lifting care and sealing the chop, it just didn’t bud all the way up the trunk. As they say, it happens sometimes. But that’s okay. I can definitely make some lemonade out of this tree.
Here’s another viewing angle for this specimen. At this point I’m not sure where the front is. But that’s okay. I don’t have to make that decision now, or even a final decision after the tree is potted. Once some time passes, I may want to turn it. For now, I’ll show both angles and then settle on a preliminary front.
Just so you can see how Bald cypress heals, take a look at this closeup. The callus is rolling from the point on the trunk where the living tissue held up through to the root zone, and onto the dead tissue. When I stripped off the bark, it readily shows. Pretty neat, eh?
And this is what can happen if you aren’t careful stripping off the bark on a specimen like this. Notice the nice white tissue beneath the bark; contrast it with the dead wood above. Is this a long-term problem? Not at all. If you’ll notice the round spot near the top on the right side of where I tore the living bark, that was actually another shoot. The tree is going to push a bud there, which means the living tissue near that spot on the trunk will keep on living and will produce callus this coming year. I don’t keep a shoot where the bud pushes, but I’ll let it grow a bit for a year or two in order to ensure I have live tissue all the way around the trunk of this tree.
Now I’ve wired the living shoot, which is my new leader. And I think you can see how this establishes the “dead snag-new tree” concept at its inception.
A view from the reverse angle. I can see both possibilities.
Now the snag has its preliminary carving and the new leader is shortened. This establishes the proportions I envision in the finished bonsai. I want the young tree part of this bonsai to be shorter than the snag, to make a statement of age and hardship. And though I’m going to let a new shoot run and lengthen in 2017 in order to thicken the entire young tree part of this design, I will reduce it back to within this silhouette as I complete the styling work.
I like this front for now, and here’s the bonsai-to-be in its training pot. It doesn’t look like much right now, but I can assure you this is going to be a very attractive bonsai in about three years.
The trunk base of this tree is 2.5″ and it’s 21″ to the tip of the snag.
What do you think? Is this good bonsai lemonade or not? Just leave a comment below.
by Zach Smith | Oct 15, 2016 | Care, Collecting, Elms, Potting
To answer the question first, I don’t know. If this Cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia) survives, then the answer will be yes but I won’t have any idea of what my success rate would be if I lifted a bunch of them at this time of year. That’s a question I’ll have to answer down the road. But I do want to show you one key pointer if you decide to do some elm collecting of your own.
First of all, here’s the victim – I mean subject – of today’s experiment. It’s a field-grown Cedar elm that’s been in the ground for four years. It started off as a pencil-thin seedling, and has now grown to a trunk girth of 1.5″; the height is about eight feet. This makes it ideal for a medium-size upright bonsai.
The lift was done per my usual technique, namely a cordless reciprocating saw. It took about four or five minutes to cut it free (we’ve having a mini-drought right now, so the ground is harder to penetrate and that slowed me down).
Here’s the specimen topped, lifted, root base roughly chopped with lopping shears, and washed. It’s got some nice roots.
Now, I left the tap root long intentionally, because elms possess a peculiar feature that works against the bonsai artist. In this next photo you’ll see exactly what I mean.
Notice how the bark in the root zone has peeled away perfectly from the sapwood? This happens at both ends of the tree, incidentally. And it means death for the tissue beneath, period. You have to avoid this problem or your wonderful new pre-bonsai elm is not going to turn out the way you want it to.
The answer is the saw. Every cutting tool you use, even when they’re very very sharp, tends to put force onto what you’re cutting. This torsion almost invariably causes the bark to separate from the sapwood, if only slightly. But any separation tends to cause some tissue death. By using the saw, you can either cut through root, trunk or branch completely and cleanly, or you can score around them and then make the cut. If you do score around, it’s still best to saw through.
And finally, the tree is potted into its nursery container. As I said, I don’t know yet if this tree will survive being lifted this time of year. I do know it has good roots, and I know it has food stored for winter already, so it’s just a matter of whether or not the tree decides to live.
Cedar elm is one of my best deciduous trees for the bonsai beginner – and everyone who loves elms should have one. I expect to have a good supply this coming year.
by Zach Smith | Oct 14, 2016 | Care, Elms, Potting, Styling, Tools, Water Elm
Many of you have followed the saga of my “Root around cypress knee” Water-elm. You may recall that earlier this year I reported that the knees were rotting away – an unavoidable situation. I went ahead and removed the last section a few months ago, adding in soil to fill the space. Then I left the tree alone.
2016 marks the fourth year of training for this bonsai. Water-elms are fast to train, easily reaching showable condition in three years. In the case of this broom-form specimen, year four has brought increased ramification and maturing of the branch structure. Here’s a shot of the tree, taken today.
This specimen tends to experience fall early, so a lot of the leaves are already off the tree. That provides a good opportunity to see “inside” the tree, which is essential when you’re ready to begin refining your bonsai.
In the case of broom-form bonsai that are created from trunk-chopped specimens, there comes a point where you have to make those transitions look right. To illustrate what I mean, take a look at this tree a couple of months after I collected it:
I always make a straight cut when trunk-chopping. This helps the tree produce buds where I want them – an angled cut sounds good, but you don’t always get a bud at the top of the angle-cut – which forces you to chop a second time.
Here’s one of those chops today. You can see that I carved it down in the past. That was the correct step at that particular time. Now I’m at the stage where I need to carve this down smooth, and I need to take steps to preserve the wood.
Here’s the other original leader; you can see the rough cut marks from my knob cutter. This also needs carving.
After carving the main leader. I used a cordless Dremel Multi-Pro® to do the work. Notice that the carved area is designed to shed water. This is very important. You don’t want any of the larger cuts on your bonsai to hold water, as this will promote rot.
Here are two other spots I carved, the secondary leader and a spot on the main leader where I had removed a larger branch. These cuts have been treated with PC Petrifier®, to seal them and prevent rot.
Next spring I’ll cut this tree back fairly hard, in order to begin creating the next level of ramification. By cutting back hard, I’ll be able to prevent the tree from growing out of scale. This is a common error made by many artists, namely, letting the tree grow out of its proportions. One cause of this is the natural reticence to do the hard pruning necessary as you’re building out the tree. Once you’ve done it a few times, however, it gets easier – and your trees are much better off for it.
Here are the tree’s stats, by the way: trunk diameter 2.5″ above the root crown; root spread 9″ from the front view; height 21″ from the soil; spread 16″. I’d estimate the age of the tree to be about 75 years. The pot is a custom rectangle by Bryon Myrick.
I plan to offer this tree for sale next year, after I’ve completed the first round of training in spring. If you’re interested send me an email and I’ll give you the details.
