Although I'm disadvantaged by living in the Southern hemisphere, I'm hoping to enter the Reddit bonsai group's nursery stock contest this year. The challenge - transform an untrained nursery tree/shrub into a bonsai by 22 September.
I've started my search for suitable material but I fear I've been overambitious with my first purchase, so the hunt continues. But I won't be writing about my chosen tree (if I find the right one) until after the contest is over. That wouldn't be fair.
Instead I've challenged myself to see what I can do with my own untrained trees over the next six months. For the purposes of this challenge I'll limit myself to trees I've propagated - cuttings, air layers and "weedlings" (trees that I've rescued after they took root uninvited in the pots inhabited by my established trees). Sadly I'm forced to rule out my Trident Maple weedlings and other deciduous material as they will soon be going to sleep for the winter. If this challenge proves successful I might try using some of them for a summer challenge.
Entry to the Reddit contest only closes on 21 June, allowing entrants time to experiment with any number of trees before committing to the one they feel is most promising. I may choose to follow the same path with my challenge or, if things go well, I may continue with more than one. Time will tell.
I just hope that at least one tree will perform adequately given the constraints I've imposed upon myself. It would be embarrassing if this experiment proves to be a total failure.
For now I need to get out among my trees and search for some suitable material. I'll be introducing the candidates soon.
Friday, 30 March 2018
Friday, 23 March 2018
New Ideas for an Old Olive Tree
When Rob Kempinski did the initial styling on one of my olive trees in late 2013 his plan for its future was to create a tree with short, tight pads of foliage. It never even crossed my mind to question his design at the time. But as the tree developed I've always felt something wasn't quite right.
It was only after I wrote my first post about it, however, that I started to see a different way forward. It all started with an illustration I received from one of my Reddit readers, -music_maker-:
He envisaged a much fuller tree, an idea which really excited me. There was only one problem - two dimensional photos tend to misrepresent trees and as a result he'd put a branch on top of a small jin. I figured his design would need a little tweaking but I was up for the challenge.
With my new plan in mind I allowed the branches to grow, doing only minimal pruning to get rid of misdirected growth, shortening the bottom branch once it had fattened up, and getting rid of the new buds that continue to sprout all over the trunk. But the top remained unchanged.
The next breakthrough came in July 2017 when Kathy Steyn did a demonstration on a much bigger olive at our club. I took my tree along to that meeting for a critique and Kathy also felt that the tree needed a live apex. At the time she suggested I allow a bud coming off one of the back branches to grow and I kept that one for a while. Fortunately the tree produced a better bud coming straight off the trunk, enabling me to remove the poorly positioned one.
My new leader is now growing strongly and I'm really looking forward to the day that I can shorten it and start developing a proper apex. This photo was taken a few days ago:
I'm still not too happy with the cluster of branches high up on the main trunk though. They seem rather cluttered and poorly arranged to me and perhaps in time one or two will have to go. Photos from all four sides may give a clearer idea of the true situation:
And while rotating the tree to get these photos, I started to wonder whether I've been working with the right front. The current one was chosen by a senior member of my bonsai club and is slightly different from Rob Kempinski's original front.
I find myself drawn to this option:
Some will argue that it has less movement than the current front and that the base appears narrower from that side, but I'm not too happy with the appearance of the wide gap between the main trunk and the big jin when viewed from the current front. I find my attention pulled in two opposing directions with no real focal point.
Of course a change of front would mean that the branches will need some tweaking, but I can live with that. I'd rather spend a bit more time regrowing branches if it means developing a better tree.
More photos (and future updates) can be found here.
It was only after I wrote my first post about it, however, that I started to see a different way forward. It all started with an illustration I received from one of my Reddit readers, -music_maker-:
 |
| Sketch ©-music_maker- |
He envisaged a much fuller tree, an idea which really excited me. There was only one problem - two dimensional photos tend to misrepresent trees and as a result he'd put a branch on top of a small jin. I figured his design would need a little tweaking but I was up for the challenge.
With my new plan in mind I allowed the branches to grow, doing only minimal pruning to get rid of misdirected growth, shortening the bottom branch once it had fattened up, and getting rid of the new buds that continue to sprout all over the trunk. But the top remained unchanged.
The next breakthrough came in July 2017 when Kathy Steyn did a demonstration on a much bigger olive at our club. I took my tree along to that meeting for a critique and Kathy also felt that the tree needed a live apex. At the time she suggested I allow a bud coming off one of the back branches to grow and I kept that one for a while. Fortunately the tree produced a better bud coming straight off the trunk, enabling me to remove the poorly positioned one.
My new leader is now growing strongly and I'm really looking forward to the day that I can shorten it and start developing a proper apex. This photo was taken a few days ago:
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| March 2018 |
I'm still not too happy with the cluster of branches high up on the main trunk though. They seem rather cluttered and poorly arranged to me and perhaps in time one or two will have to go. Photos from all four sides may give a clearer idea of the true situation:
 |
| View from all four sides |
And while rotating the tree to get these photos, I started to wonder whether I've been working with the right front. The current one was chosen by a senior member of my bonsai club and is slightly different from Rob Kempinski's original front.
I find myself drawn to this option:
 |
| Potential new front |
Some will argue that it has less movement than the current front and that the base appears narrower from that side, but I'm not too happy with the appearance of the wide gap between the main trunk and the big jin when viewed from the current front. I find my attention pulled in two opposing directions with no real focal point.
Of course a change of front would mean that the branches will need some tweaking, but I can live with that. I'd rather spend a bit more time regrowing branches if it means developing a better tree.
More photos (and future updates) can be found here.
Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Choosing the Right Ginseng Ficus
Ginseng Ficus have a really bad name in the world of bonsai and let's face it, a lot of them are really ugly, with huge roots growing in bizarre arrangements. Most of them bear no resemblance to any tree I've ever seen in nature. And yet I've always felt a strange attraction to these peculiar little trees with their fat bases. Especially since I visited Adam Lavigne's blog and saw what a little creativity can do with them.
When it comes to buying Ginseng Ficus, however, I'm hard to please. My trees must have well arranged roots, decent taper... and a low price. Trees like that aren't easy to find, and it took me years to find my first one.
I really hadn't planned on buying another until I stumbled upon this one in April 2017:
The base isn't very different to the first one, but I succumbed to temptation based on my desire to learn from the pruning errors I made with number one.
And then a local supermarket started selling them (wrongly labelled!) far cheaper than they're available anywhere else, so in December 2017 temptation struck once more.
I really like this one with its single "trunk", complete with a little movement. Sure it's got a bit of reverse taper right now, but after removing the unsuitable aerial roots high up, I buried the lower half of the trunk in river sand to encourage the remaining one to fatten up and possibly to develop more in the right area. Hopefully in time that will help to produce proper taper.
Once it was settled in its new pot I removed the unwanted branches below the graft and made the first steps to smoothing out the graft site.
And in February I realised that the left branch was threatening to take over from the apex, so I shortened it.
When it comes to buying Ginseng Ficus, however, I'm hard to please. My trees must have well arranged roots, decent taper... and a low price. Trees like that aren't easy to find, and it took me years to find my first one.
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| Number one as purchased - June 2013 |
I really hadn't planned on buying another until I stumbled upon this one in April 2017:
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| Number two as purchased - April 2017 |
The base isn't very different to the first one, but I succumbed to temptation based on my desire to learn from the pruning errors I made with number one.
And then a local supermarket started selling them (wrongly labelled!) far cheaper than they're available anywhere else, so in December 2017 temptation struck once more.
 |
| Number three as purchased - December 2017 |
I really like this one with its single "trunk", complete with a little movement. Sure it's got a bit of reverse taper right now, but after removing the unsuitable aerial roots high up, I buried the lower half of the trunk in river sand to encourage the remaining one to fatten up and possibly to develop more in the right area. Hopefully in time that will help to produce proper taper.
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| Unsuitable aerial roots removed - December 2017 |
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| Potted up with river sand where I want aerial roots to develop - December 2017 |
Once it was settled in its new pot I removed the unwanted branches below the graft and made the first steps to smoothing out the graft site.
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| Stub at graft site - January 2018 |
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| First steps to smoothing out graft site - January 2018 |
And in February I realised that the left branch was threatening to take over from the apex, so I shortened it.
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| Left branch taking over - February 2018 |
At the same time I did a bit of wiring. This photo shows my proposed new potting angle as the tree is currently leaning over backwards.
Number two is getting similar treatment.
Meanwhile in November 2017 I decided the trunk of number one had thickened enough for me to shorten it.
Due to early mistakes I'm not too happy with the overall shape of the trunk, but hopefully with time (and branch development) that will improve. And hopefully I'll do better with number two and three.
Additional photos including future updates will appear here:
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| Balance restored - February 2018 |
Number two is getting similar treatment.
Meanwhile in November 2017 I decided the trunk of number one had thickened enough for me to shorten it.
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| Number one after pruning - November 2017 |
Due to early mistakes I'm not too happy with the overall shape of the trunk, but hopefully with time (and branch development) that will improve. And hopefully I'll do better with number two and three.
Additional photos including future updates will appear here:
Monday, 12 March 2018
My Air Layering Blunder - a year later
It's been over a year since my blunder when removing the air layer from a member of my family of Ficus Ingens. A blunder which meant that, instead of having one new tree with lots of roots, I found myself with a tree with very few roots and a stub with lots of roots and nothing else. At the time I feared that neither would survive, but by the time I wrote my first update three months later, it was clear that the new tree was alive and well. Things weren't looking so promising for the stub with all the roots though. A bud had formed at soil level, but nothing ever developed there and I feared that the entire stub had died of root rot.
Winter came and went, and now the end of summer is approaching, and all the while they've been left to their own devices on the bottom shelf of one of the stands in my greenhouse, receiving water and the occasional feeding, but no other attention. Today I decided to check how the tree was developing, holding no real expectations of finding a second tree there. I was in for a surprise.
Nothing has ever developed on the upper part of the stub, but clearly the roots are still alive and have sent out a brand new trunk:
It's going to be a long time before I can do anything with that one, but perhaps in a lighter position it will develop more quickly now that it's made a start. I don't think it would be wise to disturb it just yet, but hopefully by next summer it will be ready for me to move it to a pot of its own.
The tree it shares its home with hasn't grown substantially, though it's now covered in leaves.
I guess it's put most of its energy into developing lots of roots, so I expect to see a lot more growth next summer. Again, a better position should help. As I said in a previous post, the shape is all wrong, so in time I'll have to do another air layer at the bend. I've already identified a suitable new leader, so when the time comes I'll be left with a tree with a little movement. For now the future air layer will help the main tree to fatten up.
As for the parent tree, I haven't done anything to it either but it's been outside getting the full benefit of the sun so it's grown tall and strong. There are lots of new branches near the area of the air layer but it stubbornly refuses to give me any lower down on the trunk.
Looking at the structure I was tempted to think that the tree wants to be a literati, but the leaves are far too big to make that an option. One of these days I'll have to sit down and see what other options it has to offer. Perhaps a hard pruning will finally persuade it to produce those lower branches I want.
Winter came and went, and now the end of summer is approaching, and all the while they've been left to their own devices on the bottom shelf of one of the stands in my greenhouse, receiving water and the occasional feeding, but no other attention. Today I decided to check how the tree was developing, holding no real expectations of finding a second tree there. I was in for a surprise.
Nothing has ever developed on the upper part of the stub, but clearly the roots are still alive and have sent out a brand new trunk:
 |
| The second tree, just starting to grow - March 2018 |
It's going to be a long time before I can do anything with that one, but perhaps in a lighter position it will develop more quickly now that it's made a start. I don't think it would be wise to disturb it just yet, but hopefully by next summer it will be ready for me to move it to a pot of its own.
The tree it shares its home with hasn't grown substantially, though it's now covered in leaves.
 |
| The new tree - March 2018 - with the second tree just visible to its right |
I guess it's put most of its energy into developing lots of roots, so I expect to see a lot more growth next summer. Again, a better position should help. As I said in a previous post, the shape is all wrong, so in time I'll have to do another air layer at the bend. I've already identified a suitable new leader, so when the time comes I'll be left with a tree with a little movement. For now the future air layer will help the main tree to fatten up.
As for the parent tree, I haven't done anything to it either but it's been outside getting the full benefit of the sun so it's grown tall and strong. There are lots of new branches near the area of the air layer but it stubbornly refuses to give me any lower down on the trunk.
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| Parent tree - March 2018 |
Looking at the structure I was tempted to think that the tree wants to be a literati, but the leaves are far too big to make that an option. One of these days I'll have to sit down and see what other options it has to offer. Perhaps a hard pruning will finally persuade it to produce those lower branches I want.
Thursday, 8 March 2018
What to do with a crazy Lonicera?
It's been four months since I bought my Lonicera and my little tree is growing like crazy. So much so that I'm struggling to keep it under control.
Two months after its first styling it had grown so much that at first glance it was hard to see that it had ever been styled at all.
Looking at all that needed to be done I took the lazy way out, and in January I took it along to one of our club's meetings and let another member do the pruning for me. For some reason he decided to change the front (he seems to make a habit of that, having done the same thing with my clip and grow ficus a month later) but didn't make any other drastic changes. After the meeting it looked like this.
On the whole it didn't look too bad, but I was a bit concerned by the fact that the first two branches were now pointing towards the back. However I decided to live with that problem for the time being.
By yesterday, when I brought it inside for a haircut. it was extremely overgrown once more:
With so many new branches growing in all directions it was a struggle to decide what to keep and I may well have removed a couple of branches I shouldn't have. Fortunately on a tree this vigorous that isn't likely to be a big issue in the long term.
After pruning, I couldn't help feeling it looked a bit unbalanced:
The difficulty of keeping this tree under control got me thinking though, and I can't help feeling that in this case less may be more. I'm seriously contemplating going for a windswept tree. Perhaps with a starting point something like this:
Before I commit to any major changes, however, I'd love to hear other people's ideas.
You can find more photos and future updates here.
Two months after its first styling it had grown so much that at first glance it was hard to see that it had ever been styled at all.
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| January 2018 - before pruning |
Looking at all that needed to be done I took the lazy way out, and in January I took it along to one of our club's meetings and let another member do the pruning for me. For some reason he decided to change the front (he seems to make a habit of that, having done the same thing with my clip and grow ficus a month later) but didn't make any other drastic changes. After the meeting it looked like this.
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| January 208 - after second pruning |
On the whole it didn't look too bad, but I was a bit concerned by the fact that the first two branches were now pointing towards the back. However I decided to live with that problem for the time being.
By yesterday, when I brought it inside for a haircut. it was extremely overgrown once more:
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| March 2018 - before pruning |
With so many new branches growing in all directions it was a struggle to decide what to keep and I may well have removed a couple of branches I shouldn't have. Fortunately on a tree this vigorous that isn't likely to be a big issue in the long term.
After pruning, I couldn't help feeling it looked a bit unbalanced:
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| March 2018 - after pruning |
The difficulty of keeping this tree under control got me thinking though, and I can't help feeling that in this case less may be more. I'm seriously contemplating going for a windswept tree. Perhaps with a starting point something like this:
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| Roughly pruned in Photoshop |
Before I commit to any major changes, however, I'd love to hear other people's ideas.
You can find more photos and future updates here.
Saturday, 24 February 2018
The Fusion Project
In August 2015 I decided to fuse some of my long, straight Ficus Natalensis cuttings together to create one larger tree.
In order to plant them close together a lot of root pruning was required. Some had fairly substantial roots, so I was able to keep a few of the thickest ones to grow as root cuttings. The two resulting trees are doing well, but I'll discuss those another time.
Once potted I bound the bases together with self-adhesive tape. I'm not sure why I didn't bind them higher up as well, but once done I had this as my starting point:
The base looked like this:
As the nights were still cold (August is the end of winter here) I put them back in my greenhouse and due to space constraints they remained there for the next couple of years.
In order to plant them close together a lot of root pruning was required. Some had fairly substantial roots, so I was able to keep a few of the thickest ones to grow as root cuttings. The two resulting trees are doing well, but I'll discuss those another time.
Once potted I bound the bases together with self-adhesive tape. I'm not sure why I didn't bind them higher up as well, but once done I had this as my starting point:
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| August 2015 |
The base looked like this:
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| August 2015 - detail |
As the nights were still cold (August is the end of winter here) I put them back in my greenhouse and due to space constraints they remained there for the next couple of years.
By November 2016 they were growing strongly, but when I removed the tape they were showing no signs of fusing:
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| November 2016 - detail |
I replaced the tape, adding more higher up on the trunk, but didn't think to add movement. Here they are in December 2016:
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| December 2016 |
Finally in May 2017 I realised my mistake and tried to wire some movement into them, but after wrapping thick wire around them I found I was unable to bend the wire as much as I wanted to, so I took them to a workshop where my mentor did the muscle work for me.
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| Wired - May 2017 |
And in spring 2017 I finally moved them out of the greenhouse into a sunnier spot.
When the wire started biting I removed it and got help in rewiring them to ensure the curves didn't bounce back to their original position. After the wire started biting a second time I decided it was no longer required. This photo was taken a few days ago, several weeks after the wire was removed.
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| February 2018 |
Close-up photos show good fusion in some places:
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| February 2018 - detail of lower trunk |
However, in other parts there are still big gaps:
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| February 2018 - detail of upper trunk with gaps |
I added extra tape to this area, so hopefully the gap will soon close.
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| February 2018 - gap taped |
There are a couple of additional photos here. More photos will be added to that page as the tree develops.
Hopefully by next summer the trunk will have developed well enough for me to start thinking about branch selection.
Tuesday, 13 February 2018
The Consequences of Over-Aggressive Pruning
Although I've been known to do a trunk chop from time to time (with mixed results), when I chop my trees I often err on the side of caution, cutting back to the lowest branch and waiting for back-budding before cutting back further. It slows the progress, but it's a safeguard against disaster.
When my succulent cuttings didn't sell in October 2017, however, I decided to throw caution to the wind with them, leaving only minimal foliage on one of the thinner cuttings and none at all on the rest of them. On the advice of a senior member of my club I'd done a similar chop on another thick succulent a few years back and, though the tree's recovery was slow, the result was satisfactory. I had no reason to suspect that things would turn out differently this time.
Perhaps October (late spring) wasn't the best time of year for this operation. Perhaps I did something else wrong. I just know that where the two thicker trees were concerned, things did not go to plan.
The thinner trees quickly produced masses of new growth everywhere, with only minimal die-back, allowing me to remove excess new buds within weeks.
The first pair didn't need much work, but the one below was getting quite top heavy so I cut it back hard. I also removed the dead branch on the left.
The thicker trees were a lot slower to respond. By November they were showing signs of die-back on important branches, with little new growth high up and lots of tiny new buds at the base.
Perhaps if I'd removed some of the lowest buds I'd have got better growth higher up. Then again the trees might have died and, though they weren't trees I really wanted, I didn't want to take that chance. I hate killing trees.
By early January the thinner trees were doing really well.
Unfortunately, while the new buds at the base were growing strongly, the trunks of the two thicker trees had continued to decline. By now the thick branch at the base of this tree had deteriorated so badly that it snapped off with no effort, leaving a rotting hole which I attempted to carve away.
I was beginning to suspect that the entire trunk would be lost and developments over the past month make it seem my fears are justified.
The other one isn't looking much better, though there's no rot, so part of the trunk may survive.
As I'm trying to cut down on the number of trees in my collection, I put the two thicker trees on my club's raffle table last Saturday. While they'll never be the trees I'd hoped they would be, in time someone may be able to develop them into decent clump style trees.
As for the remaining trees, I'm contemplating putting those on the raffle table too. Given their better condition I may do it in April, when my club is hosting an all day meeting attended by members of the other clubs in the region.
When my succulent cuttings didn't sell in October 2017, however, I decided to throw caution to the wind with them, leaving only minimal foliage on one of the thinner cuttings and none at all on the rest of them. On the advice of a senior member of my club I'd done a similar chop on another thick succulent a few years back and, though the tree's recovery was slow, the result was satisfactory. I had no reason to suspect that things would turn out differently this time.
Perhaps October (late spring) wasn't the best time of year for this operation. Perhaps I did something else wrong. I just know that where the two thicker trees were concerned, things did not go to plan.
The thinner trees quickly produced masses of new growth everywhere, with only minimal die-back, allowing me to remove excess new buds within weeks.
 |
| November 2017 - not much to do on this pair |
The first pair didn't need much work, but the one below was getting quite top heavy so I cut it back hard. I also removed the dead branch on the left.
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| November 2017 - before |
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| November 2017 - after |
The thicker trees were a lot slower to respond. By November they were showing signs of die-back on important branches, with little new growth high up and lots of tiny new buds at the base.
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| November 2017 - little new growth with nothing high up |
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| Detail of the base of the above tree |
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| November 2017 - little high growth and dying branch at base. New buds at base not shown. |
Perhaps if I'd removed some of the lowest buds I'd have got better growth higher up. Then again the trees might have died and, though they weren't trees I really wanted, I didn't want to take that chance. I hate killing trees.
By early January the thinner trees were doing really well.
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| January 2018 |
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| January 2018 |
Unfortunately, while the new buds at the base were growing strongly, the trunks of the two thicker trees had continued to decline. By now the thick branch at the base of this tree had deteriorated so badly that it snapped off with no effort, leaving a rotting hole which I attempted to carve away.
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| January 2018 - hole where branch had snapped off, before carving. |
I was beginning to suspect that the entire trunk would be lost and developments over the past month make it seem my fears are justified.
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| February 2018 - carved hole, one month later. |
The other one isn't looking much better, though there's no rot, so part of the trunk may survive.
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| January 2018 |
As I'm trying to cut down on the number of trees in my collection, I put the two thicker trees on my club's raffle table last Saturday. While they'll never be the trees I'd hoped they would be, in time someone may be able to develop them into decent clump style trees.
As for the remaining trees, I'm contemplating putting those on the raffle table too. Given their better condition I may do it in April, when my club is hosting an all day meeting attended by members of the other clubs in the region.
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