Styling An Apple Bonsai To Be

by | Jul 5, 2021 | Care, Crabapple, Most Recent, Pruning, Styling, Wiring

styling an apple bonsai to be

the bonsai files

Sneak Peek

I collected this rather stout apple from a bonsai friend’s property last year. Since then I’ve left it alone to grow out and gain strength. Now that some of the branches are almost too stiff to bend, it’s time to do an initial styling.

Styling an Apple Bonsai to be

I collected some trees from a bonsai friend’s property last year, including this apple (not a crabapple, a regular one; he didn’t know the variety). It’s a stout fellow, with a trunk that measures 5″ across at the soil. It’s chopped at 13″, so I’m thinking it should finish out at about 20″ when I’m done.

From February of last year until early July of this year, the tree has put on a nice bit of growth (it did take a while to get going last year). Some of the branches are almost too stiff to bend, so I can’t afford to delay styling the tree any longer.

I always start with some editing, working my way up from the bottom. That all-important first branch needs to be selected with care. I have a few candidates.

 

I found it and its counterpart in back of the tree, which will be my number two branch. Here they’re wired together and positioned. I also pruned away the superfluous branches near these two.

 

Now one of the left-hand side of the tree.

Two more branches are now wired and positioned. The shape of this future bonsai is emerging from the mass of branches I started with.

 

The last step was to prune the leader, in order to introduce some movement and taper. I’ll let this new leader run for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022 – there’s still a lot of work to do to build the tapering transition at the chop point.

Let me know what you think of this specimen. Isn’t that hollow at the base interesting? I’m sort of expecting to hear from the Keeblers about moving in.

Change Of Design For Spekboom

by | Jun 19, 2021 | Care, Jade, Most Recent, Pruning, Styling

change of design for spekboom

the bonsai files

Sneak Peek

Have you ever had a tree that was completely designed, and then the design just stopped working for you. That’s what happened to me with this Spekboom.

Change of Design for Spekboom

In September of 2020 I repotted this Spekboom (Portulacaria afra) into a large pot, as it had outgown its original container and I wanted to grow it into a large specimen. The style of the tree has been the so-called boom-form, from just about the beginning. It’s not a bad design. Unfortunately, over the past several months I found myself not liking it as much as I should.

I haven’t done anything to it since its repotting, so here we are in the middle of June of 2021 and the tree is in what I call the “Sideshow Bob” phase of growth typical of Spekboom when you don’t keep after it. I’ve been studying it and studying it for months, and I finally came to a decision – the design needed to change.

I started by removing that back fork in the trunk, which was carrying the lower levels of foliage in back of the tree. That sort of thing works for a broom-form tree, but not for an informal upright (my planned design).

Here I’ve edited more of the superfluous structural branching, seeking the lone trunk line I need for an informal upright specimen.

 

More trimming as I make the final decisions on where the trunk needs to go.

Found it! In this photo it’s easy to see where that trunk line was hiding all along.

 

Don’t forget my rule – always cut more than you think you need to cut. I may still have too much on that left-hand branch, but it’s got a good structure and I’m confident it’ll work once the tree pushes new buds where I want more branches (well, I’m counting on it, we’ll see).

Let me know what you think of this change. I personally like it a lot!

Bald Cypress Styling – Formal And Informal Upright

by | May 29, 2021 | Bald Cypress, Care, Most Recent, Pruning, Styling, Wiring

bald cypress styling – formal and informal upright

the bonsai files

Sneak Peek

It doesn’t matter if your Bald cypress bonsai is going to be a formal upright or an informal upright, certain “rules” apply to the design.

Bald Cypress Styling – Formal and Informal Upright

    I first showed you this formal upright Bald cypress bonsai-to-be back in April. The first step with this newly collected specimen, as I noted, was to edit the shoots in preparation for the initial styling.

    This work was done about a week after the photo above was taken. As you can see, it’s all about new tender shoots and getting them started in the right positions.

    Here is today’s update. There’s been plenty of growth in a month, and the leader thickened up enough that I had to unwire it.

    Now, it’s important at this point to consider some basic design principles which will apply to most of your bonsai. Here they are, in no particular order of importance:

    • the first quarter to third of the trunk, starting from the soil, is devoid of branches
    • branches are spaced farther apart in the lower part of the tree, getting closer together as you work your way up
    • you always want a good distribution of branches, which is why we all learn the “spiral staircase” concept of left branch-right branch-back branch or any combination thereof (we usually don’t start with a back branch, but I have from time to time)
    • branches are longer in the lower part of the tree than in the upper part, mimicking trees in nature and complying with horticultural principles

    Keep those principles in mind as we turn our attention to this client tree I worked on today. The growth you see is very typical of cypresses when you first tackle them.

     

    The basic editing is done. Notice how the tree has been worked in keeping with the principles noted above. First branch placement (the final position is the key), fewer branches in the lower part and more in the upper, good distribution of branches around the trunk, pyramidal form to mimic natural trees.

    The next vital chore on this specimen is to make the angle cut on the trunk. It was chopped straight across when collected, which is how it needs to be done, and now that I’ve selected my leader it’s time to get the tapering transition into the new apex under way. This part is done with a trunk splitter, the absolute best tool for the job.

     

    The rough result.

    I use knob cutters followed by hand-carving tools to smooth it out. Notice the “shelf” that I’ve left near the new leader. This is necessary because of the apical dominance of the tree, which will cause the callus beneath the leader to swell very rapidly and much more than at the bottom of the angle cut. If I carve this angle without the shelf, the callus is very likely to overswell and cause a reverse taper. I have seen this error too many times to count.

    By the way, this whole carved area must be sealed (which I did after the work was completed). BC sapwood is like a sponge, and the transported water goes right through the chop area – not good for the tree.

     

    And finally, the tree is wired and the branches positioned. Notice a couple of things about this initially styled BC:

    • the first branch on the tree emerges at the first bend in the trunk – a classic bonsai design principle because it looks right and complies with natural horticultural principles (notice the low point where the branch was pulled down; it is very near 1/3 what will be the final height of the tree)
    • the branches have been pulled downward; this helps to produce the illusion of height in this tree (along with the taper of the trunk, which is forced perspective)
    • the branches in the top of the tree have been trimmed very short; if left too long they will rob energy from the lower branches, so must be kept “cool”
    • the gentle curve of the trunk is continued into the new leader

    Let me know what you think of today’s work.

    Rebuilding A Live Oak Bonsai

    by | May 16, 2021 | Care, Most Recent, Oaks, Pruning, Styling, Wiring, ZPC

    rebuilding a live oak bonsai

    the bonsai files

    Sneak Peek

    Sometimes you have to start over with a bonsai. That has been the case with this old Live oak I was left by a bonsai friend who passed.

    Rebuilding a Live Oak Bonsai

    I’ve shown you this Live oak bonsai before. I received it as a bequest from a bonsai friend who passed away, and I have done my best to maintain it since. I knew there were some issues with the tree when I got it – for example, a couple of the branches had been cracked during training, sealed and allowed to heal. They did all right, but I was concerned that in time they might not survive.

    The question was settled for me a few winters ago. Live oaks won’t take serious cold weather, and we did have a couple of 17 degree nights that year. Couple that with a mistake I made, namely putting the tree in too shallow a bonsai pot (thereby putting the roots more at risk), and I almost lost the tree altogether. Here it is in 2018, after I had cut away the lower branches remaining on the tree. If you look closely, you can see two new shoots along the trunk. This Live oak wanted to live!

    Another issue with the original tree – certainly not something I couldn’t have lived with – is that it was taller than I would have liked had I designed it from the start. The obvious solution, now that circumstances had given me a choice, was to really chop the tree down.

    Here it is last November. I took it down to the lower of the two new shoots you can see in the photo above (it’s almost always better to chop lower, chop farther in to the trunk, prune more off, etc.). I knew that the lower I went with my new design, the better a design I would end up with.

    Isn’t this an amazing amount of growth for a tree that almost died!

     

    Here we are after the first major pruning of 2021. The photo speaks for itself.

    The above photo was from February of this year. Here’s the tree earlier today (I had aleady removed the wire I put on it back in April).

     

    The tree needed trimming, especially the new leader, so here it is after a nice pruning and a little wiring to get the branches to start sweeping downward (like a Live oak should).

    Looks good, but don’t forget the principle I noted above.

    “Prune back farther” is almost always best when you’re pruning your bonsai. We tend to be hesitant to remove most of the hard work our trees have done, but the best designs down the road tend to come from pruning harder in the present. I’ve seen more overgrown bonsai than I could begin to count (many of them my own). The illusion of the large, mature tree in nature is invariably hampered when the bonsai gets overgrown, but it is what they do when they’re growing in a healthy way. Your job, as the resident bonsai disciplinarian, is to reign them in with your pruning tools.

    This tree is going to regrow all of the mass of foliage I removed and then some, over the next however many weeks or months until I decide it’s time to take the next step. My goal for today was to continue working toward the classic Live oak form with this tree. It won’t ever be quite right, given the single leader, but I’m confident I can “adjust” the informal upright structure to make it a good representation.

    Let me know what you think.

     

    Flat-top Bald Cypress Bonsai – Starting A New Specimen

    by | Apr 30, 2021 | Bald Cypress, Care, Most Recent, Styling, Wiring

    flat-top bald cypress – how to get started

    the bonsai files

    Sneak Peek

    The flat-top Bald cypress bonsai is the fastest to create from scratch. That’s because you get to take advantage of the tree’s apical dominance.

    Flat-top Bald Cypress – How to Get Started

    I’m convinced that there are two distinctive main styles for Bald cypress bonsai, the classic pyramidal style and the so called “flat-top.” The flat-top style is nothing more than a representation of the older specimens you see in the swamps. Once a BC grows to its natural mature height limit (genetics and all that jazz), the lower branches mostly die off and what you’re left with is a gradually spreading crown that reaches its natural limits.

    I’m also convinced, though I’ll certainly get plenty of argument, that certain specimens lend themselves more to the flat-top style than others. For my money, the trunk height to trunk base ratio for the flat-top needs to be bigger to emphasize the height of the tree. It’s supposed to be a fully mature tree, after all, and they tend to get quite tall. Also, the pyramidal style bonsai can be grown from a tree with a nice fat trunk base and only end up at a 6 or 8 to 1 ratio of height to base. The pyramidal, or “Christmas tree” shape also produces the forced perspective that fools the brain into thinking the tree is very tall. This isn’t able to happen the same way with the flat-top, thus the need for a bigger base to height ratio. The tree on the right has a 2.5″ diameter trunk near the soil, and it’s chopped at 26″. So we start off with a height to base ratio of 10 to 1, and by the time the crown is developed we’ll be closer to 12 to 1. (Yes, I hear some of you thinking, that violates a bonsai rule! I suppose it does, but the tree needs to look right and this is how it’s done in my book.)

    So if you’re still humoring me, let’s get started with a fun rhyme: in bonsai, less is always more, until it’s not anymore. You’ll often find yourself confronted with trees that are just a mass of branches, foliage and confusion. A bonsai is a representation of a mature tree in nature, not an exact duplicate of one. So we want to boil down our trees to their essence, and that means getting rid of a lot of foliar mass the tree went to a lot of trouble to grow. But that’s okay, the tree won’t mind (with BC, they continue to push trunk buds for quite some time until you finally convince them you’re right).

    So here’s the first pass on editing down this BC to a more useable form. I was able to remove all of the lower branches that were trying to grow upward – I don’t need to fight those branches when I have some already growing horizontally.

    We also need to keep in mind as we shape our trees that just because we’re doing bonsai doesn’t mean we can ignore all of the natural rules of the road. What I mean in this case is shown in the photo – namely, that empty space on the right side of the trunk near what will be the new apex. When branches get shaded out in nature by those above it, they die. I have seen the same phenomenon in bonsai. I might be able to keep a branch below the crown of this one alive, but it just wouldn’t make sense for it to be there. So I removed all of them.

    Here’s the tree after all the high-falutin’ wiring I did to it. That’s right, one wire for two branches, a trim on the left side to “cool” that branch off and push the energy to the right, and a few turns for both. I’ll wait to wire the lower branches until they’re tougher and less likely to snap off – made easier by the fact that I don’t need to convince them to lie flat.

     

    The last chore for today is to carve down the trunk chop. I did this with my spherical knob cutters for the rough work, then I used a carving knife to smooth the whole area. This is especially important at the edges, where the callus is going to start swelling before you know it. I want it to roll smoothly over the chop, and eventually to not look like anything at all but a continuation of the trunk line.

    I’ll post updates on this tree as the work progresses. By next spring, I should be able to move it to a bonsai pot.

    Let me know what you think.

    Coming Attractions – American Elm And Live Oak

    by | Apr 17, 2021 | American Elm, Care, Elms, Most Recent, Oaks, Potting, Styling

    coming attractions – american elm and live oak

    the bonsai files

    Sneak Peek

    It’s very uncommon to see American elm and Live oak bonsai. There are reasons for the dearth of specimens. Here’s one of each I’ve started on the bonsai journey.

    Formal Upright Bald Cypress – Development 101

    It’s relatively easy to find American elm seedlings to harvest and grow on for bonsai. It’s not at all easy to find larger specimens in the wild to collect – at least that’s been my experience. While American elm is a very fine bonsai subject, you don’t see many of them. I frankly don’t know why this is, considering their qualities.

    Here’s a specimen I’ve been working on for a few years now, that I pulled up as a seedling and potted. It’s been trunk-chopped a couple of times to build movement and taper, and naturally it’s grown out vigorously each time. I like the way this one’s looking, so why not prune, style and pot it?

    These are easy to “take in” when it’s time to shorten the ranging branches that grow way out. Some quick snipping is all it takes.

     

    A little wiring helps get those branches in the right positions.

    I like the way this Lary Howard pot goes with the tree. Nice pot design, and since American elm will usually give a bright yellow fall color that will be something to look forward to considering the pot color.

     

    Live oak bonsai are as rare as hen’s teeth. I’m not sure if this is because they are very hard to lift from the wild successfully (when you can find them), or it takes some years to get a good design going. Regardless, who could resist the species as bonsai?

    As near as I can tell, the secret to successfully lifting Live oaks from the ground – and I’m working strictly from material I’ve been growing for 10 years from acorns – is to take them out of the ground about 10 to 14 days before they change leaves in spring. That means a March 1st collecting date for me. While I’ve had very poor luck lifting the species in late winter or summer, every specimen I’ve lifted on March 1st has lived. Here’s one of two I harvested this year. It’s going to make a classic Live oak style Live oak bonsai; here are the first steps.

    If you study Live oaks in nature, the older ones tend to look a lot like octopuses in their branching. The trunks are short and stout, and divide off into two, three, four, or more leaders. Those leaders then have branches that grow off of them and snake outward, often dropping down to the ground (and I mean on the ground). They make quite a show.

    You can see how I intend to make this tree into a classic Live oak. I have main leaders that point upward, and I have the beginnings of branches that emerge from those upright leaders but droop over. While I intend to keep the ends of those dropping branches pointed upward – toward the sun, for stronger growth – in time I plan to bring the outermost points as close to the soil surface as I can.

     

    Here’s a final shot of this one for today, showing the nice barky base and good flaring roots. I’ll let the tree grow out to get strong. By summer it’s going to be full of new growth. The chop point will stay as-is for this season, but next year I’ll get in there and carve it down so the rolling callus will close off the wound as the leaders thicken.

    Let me know what you think. Any Live oaks on your bench?