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 | 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.
by Zach Smith | Feb 20, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Hawthorn, Potting, Yaupon
I’ve felt for some time now that spring would be coming early this year. Turns out I was right. I had bald cypresses budding a couple of weeks ago, which isn’t surprising for trees “remembering” where they came from south of here, but yesterday I noticed that most of my newly collected hawthorns are budding – including my parsley haws, which is very exciting.
Today was the first of two weekend collecting trips left for the 2016 winter season, the last being next week. The season has been shortened by at least two weeks if not more. But I have to say I’m not sorry to see spring getting here. Each year I like winter less and less.
A new bonsai friend who has some property was kind enough to let me collect some material today. I was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of nice yaupons, Ilex vomitoria. The one at left features three trunks that have really nicely interplay and movement. With a little luck, I should be able to build the branch structures of these trunks in a single growing season. The important thing is going to be to wire the new growth before it hardens off; yaupon branches get very stiff quickly and they’re arrow-straight, so if you don’t get some movement into them early in the game it’s not going to happen. Why not just use thick wire to bend them? Because the branches also snap easily.
This specimen has a 3″ trunk base, with the tallest trunk being 13″ to the chop. The pot is a nice Byron Myrick oval.
This yaupon is very cool. The two trunks hug each other so tightly that the smaller one is literally “embraced” by the larger one.
The trunk is 1.5″ in diameter at the base, and the taller one is 13.5″ to the chop. The pot is another Byron Myrick piece.
I’m really looking forward to styling this tree. Stay tuned for updates.
This was my prize of the day. I’ve never worked with American holly, Ilex opaca, before. Apart from the incredibly sharp spines on the leaves, which can easily deter you, most of the specimens I see don’t have a lot of trunk character. This one is just a show-stopper.
I have no idea whether or how well American holly backbuds, but I’m going to find out soon. Assuming it cooperates with a new leader and some branches, I should have a nice showable tree in three or four years.
The trunk base is 3″ above the root crown, and it’s chopped at 14″. It’s potted in a vintage Richard Robertson oval.
I’d love to hear what you think of these hollies. Leave me a comment below.
by Zach Smith | Feb 14, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting, Pruning, Styling, Wiring
Some of you may recall this bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, last reported on in February of 2015. I had previously potted it in this awesome Chuck Iker round, and it was time to do some serious styling. This was the result.
Then I encountered a problem during the 2015 growing season. For reasons unknown, the tree was stricken with chlorosis. In order to bring this condition under control, I removed the tree from its bonsai pot and put it into a large growing tub. Then I treated it with Ironite® and left it alone to grow for the remainder of the season.
The tree began budding a couple of weeks ago, so I knew I was going to have to get to work on it soon. Today was the day. As you can see, it really grew wild last year – mostly in the crown, of course, as the apical dominance of bald cypress is tough to overcome. My job, of course, is to get it back in control during 2016 and force the growth lower in the tree.
Here’s a closeup of my challenge. Notice all the strong growth going straight up. Also notice that my new leader is thickening very well, but needs to be simplified. There are way too many shoots in the apex of this tree.
Where do you begin working in your tree? From bottom to top, top to bottom or all over the place? I usually work my way from bottom to top, but the best advice I can give is to work from known to unsure to unknown. What I mean by this is, when you look at a tree with the intent of styling it to your design, some things you’ll be absolutely sure of, some things you’ll be unsure of and some things can be categorized as unknown – or put another way, “What the heck am I going to do about that?”
In this photo, I’ve done almost all of the trimming and shaping needed in the parts of the tree below the crown. In this case, I didn’t face any real unknowns. The apex, however, was a different story. I had a couple of good choices for where to take the leader, and after some deliberation finally settled on what I felt was the right one.
I could have brought the apex back toward an upright configuration, but in the end I felt that wouldn’t produce enough drama in the trunk line. In this case, continuing the leader toward the right-hand side gives me that extra something. I’m in hopes that as the tree develops, it’ll take on the appearance of a maturing bald cypress in transition from the more rounded broom-form toward the ultimate flattened top we often see.
If the tree grows well this year, meaning no further issues with chlorosis, I plan to put it back in the nice round shown above. This may need to wait till next year, however. When growing bonsai, the first consideration must always be the health of the tree.
Let me know what you think of this specimen.
by Zach Smith | Feb 7, 2016 | Bald Cypress, Care, Potting, Soil, Styling
When I’m searching for trees to collect, I always look for certain characteristics of the trunks in order to determine if they’re worth lifting. While there’s definitely a bonsai in each one I collect, I generally don’t visualize the finished bonsai in making that initial judgment. On yesterday’s hunt, I found a bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) specimen in which I immediately saw the completed bonsai.
These are two separate trees that decided to grow right up against one another. This isn’t all that uncommon, but in this case the trees had such a terrific interplay of movement for relatively small specimens that the image of companion flat-tops sprang into my mind. There was no way they weren’t coming home with me.
My biggest challenge in preparing this companion planting for a container was the fact that they were separate trees. To be sure, the roots were entertwined, but during the cleanup there was the distinct possibility that the two trees would come apart. My goal was to preserve their “companionship.”
I spent the time necessary to carefully clean up the root zone, which meant pulling out the incredible mass of weed roots that always gather around cypress trees in the swamp. And of course there’s the thick, gooey mud that goes along with them. But plenty of high pressure water and elbow grease did the trick.
There comes a point where it’s time to pot your bonsai. I frequently direct-pot trees, especially when I don’t need to do any trunk development. For this bonsai-in-the-making, all I’ve got to create is the branch structure (limited) and crowns. This is easily done in a restrictive container; bald cypress is powerfully apically dominant, so I’ll get robust growth right where I need it.
A few more comments on this specimen, which incidentally is potted in this very nice Byron Myrick oval. Notice that the depth of the pot, right at 3″, is just about equal to the thickness of the main trunk at soil level, which is 2.75″. It’s 13″ long. I anticipate the finished height for the main tree will be 28-30″. This makes the pot just under half the height of the bonsai in width, which helps give the impression of height in the specimen.
I planted some moss around the trees. In addition to looking good, it will help protect the surface roots that lie right under the soil surface. I need to be sure these remain moist, so they can sprout new feeders when spring gets here.
All in all, I think this is a very nice composition. What do you think?
