Sunday 27 July 2014

buds bursting out everywhere

Back in June the Black and Red pine were de-candled as covered in this earlier blog post.

The new buds started to form at the points where the original shoots were cut off about 3 weeks later, and now, after another 3 weeks have passed these buds are extending and new back buds are forming old older parts of the branches.


Black pine - 3 new terminal buds - one will be removed

Black pine again - 5 buds here - 3 are terminal buds and two have formed on the side of one of them. Tree health and an excellent fertiliser regime lead to good results like this. This tree has sat here for 3 years before it was strong enough to be candle cut due to poor soil and very weak roots when we got the tree - I also made a small mistake by fully styling the tree soon after getting it before the poor root system had been investigated - always learn from experience ! 

this branch section is the junction between wood 3 & 4 years old showing a nice strong back bud. it will probably sit dormant until next year before developing into a small candle. 


another new backbud on 4 to 5 year old wood - finally the tree can be developed now



Red pine this time - its a bud fest ! easy to see why they are called red pine too ! Incredible tree health - the colour is good, the needles are good. This tree will be styled this winter once the new needle clusters are fully hardened off.


Twin buds on a red pine terminal - uncut we only had one candle so the branch could only get longer - now we have 2 shoots so the branch can be ramified properly. Where I have 3 or more buds the two best placed ones will be selected as keepers and the others plucked off with tweezers. 


Fertiliser observations: 


Yesterday all the baskets of fertiliser were replenished - we exclusively use our bonsai boost pellets as our organic dry feed and it took 2.5kg to do the lot - that means there are 125 baskets in use as it takes 20 grams per basket. Little things like knowing this help with planning when you are stocking up on consumables - buy the right amount, don't run out but don't waste money sitting on stuff from one year to the next. 

You hear that fertilisers can burn roots........maybe some do but look at the picture above .......there is incredible root mass right under the basket ! if they're hungry you have to feed them


Plan on feeding solids  every 6 - 8 weeks from early spring until early Autumn. We boost this with dilute weekly feeds of liquids and tonics - fish emulsion is our trump card and we are now trialling using it alongside a seaweed and an algae based product - results are so promising these extras will be added to the product range soon. As you can see I don't have an endless list of fertiliser products as we want to sell what we use here - simple concise information and products makes bonsai health easy. 


Here is a fruit crop plumping up nicely and a new burst of inner foliage shoots too - oriental bittersweet that I think will need guarding from the birds later in the year if we are to see the stunning display of brightly coloured seeds. This is a potential Noelanders accent tree once repotted if I can keep enough berries intact - I may experiment with a fridge with this little tree in the same way plants are controlled for major exhibitions like Chelsea flower show 


white pine, yamadori juniper, deshojo, zelkova, juniper, black pine, mixed accent.....a lot of variety in one corner of the bench



Feed me !!

 & choose life ;-)






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