Repotting 3 - Real time video

One of our new additions  - a large specimen Japanese Acer Palmatum - is up for the repotting treatment today so I set up the video camera to record the process in real time and share it here

The Tibolar fertiliser pellets in NPK 4:6:2 were put in the pot and the trimmed root pad sat on top of them - this method gives the tree an incredible boost in recovering from the root pruning and potting as the organic feed is breaking down into useable compounds while the new root tips are forming - the tree can then continue the uptake of nutrients far quicker and I'm seeing great recovery on the trees repotted so far this year. We are offering the feed via the ebay shop in stand up pouches and buckets from £4.99  - £19.50

Tibolar 1kg 13:6:2

Tibolar 1kg 4:6:2

Tibolar 450 gram 13:6:2

Tibolar 450 gram 4:6:2

Tibolar 200 gram 13:6:2

Tibolar 200 gram 4:6:2

repotting - day 2

Following on from yesterday we carried on this morning with the bonsai work.

Main job of the day was to repot the juniper I took to a Mark Noelanders workshop last year. It was a leaning / slanting tree that I was never totally convinced by - hence taking it to the workshop.

It was the first time I'd worked with Mark and it was the right choice as I'd looked at the tree for too long to see a different style but he instantly wanted it far more upright and tilted forward. We did the usual and put the pot on wedges to do a first styling and, upon getting home I kept the tree propped up at the preferred angle until re-potting time was here.

This tree has a funny history really - selected in Japan by Danny Use of Ginko Bonsai Center it arrived potted like this.........................

The tree was sold to Newstead Bonsai Center in the Uk and restyled like this....................

 This is the 2010 Newstead show

I bought it like this...........................

and did a rather un-adventurous styling  like this - I did re-pot to tilt the tree forward so we could see more trunk width and a nicer view of the deadwood / live vein. This was the design we took the tree to the Welsh National bonsai show with. 

After this I let the tree grow, Peter Warren gave it a good thin out one day and I just spent a couple of years learning how to stop it flowering (and also what makes the tree flower - bad for junipers if you want to refine them with nice neat foliage) 

Today was repotting time..................it meant the root ball was going to change a lot - half of it would be removed at least ...if not it would be mounded up in an ugly lump sticking out of the soil and I hate seeing a bonsai that has had the angle changed look like this. It is a waste of the next few years as you are leaving all the wrong roots on the tree - better to be confident, get as many as possible into the pot at the correct level and cut the rest off - and it is a juniper - they grow so easily from cuttings so loosing half the roots wont make the slightest difference - (you could loose a lot more and the tree would recover ok) 

I had a nice old pot Tokoname sat here empty too

At the back a lot of root tips were cut off and exposed to the air so I covered these with a little fresh sphagnum moss to stop the rest of the tree losing moisture from the cuts

And now the tree can settle until Autumn - the foliage was only rough styled as it was a one day session with lots of socialising but its all in roughtly the right places until the next wiring and styling is due

I smile when I see the tree much closer to where it was when it left Japan all those years ago ! Funny old game this bonsai lark 

Repotting marathon 1

Spring is here - trees are budding out and many are in need of repotting. Some were trees we had last year that were getting difficult to water properly as the root balls compacted and the water started running off. Others were new trees we've got in that were in need of attention, some were trees in the wrong pots and some are customer trees that have come in to be repotted.

The Fagus crenata was in a small unsuitable pot used for import and it was difficult to water last year due to the large spreading plate nebari. I bought a large hawthorn because it was in a very nice japanese blue oval pot that looked a much better option for the beech

The roots are ok, soil is a bit dark and compact so I've washed off as much as possible with a hose

The pot is prepared with mesh, 2.5mm aluminium wires and a soil mix of Akadama, Kiryu and ezo grit. Then a sprinkle of Tibolar fertiliser pellets NPK 4:6:2 are added to sit the tree on..;-)

The tree is balanced on a couple of canes to check position and fit as it saves disturbing the soil and pellets if more pruning is needed - all seems fine so in it goes

The tree has a bit more room and depth to increase vigour   - now it will sit on the shaded side of the garden to recover

Next up a big tree ! Taxus cuspidata that is going to fit into the Aspinal pot in the background

I've been working on this tree 3 or maybe 4 years now and its coming along quite well - the current pot lets me pick it up easily now too. The Ezo grit is a great ingredient for big trees - it is very light so moving the trees is a bit easier.

Next up was a tree bought a few months ago that was in totally the wrong pot. A kashima (or maybe kotohime?)  clump acer in a massive Walsall Ceramics pot - its a lovely pot but not for any acer as it is 6" deep. 

This tree was incredibly heavy to get round onto the benches and once I got it out of the pot it was easy to see why..........pea shingle drainage layer and granite grit with compost. I'm really glad the tree needed repotting straight away as cold wet heavy soil like this is about the worst thing to put a bonsai in.

Now for some epic root reduction !!!!

Heavy woody roots are all cut off and every root growing downwards from under the fused plated underside of the nebari is cut off too. Now we are close to a flat fibrous pad - just a bit more off from all over

Now we have a maple in a proper maple pot

And here is the contrast between the 2 pots

Maples are happy when dry so there is no point making the job harder by using big deep pots and cold wet soil mixes. This tree needs some wiring and pruning soon - I'll give it a week or 2 to settle in though

Along with these I got a big hawthorn, a Rosemary, an Alder and 15 small acer clumps done !!

Hands are frozen now but back to it tomorrow

Rosemary in my first Stone Monkey pot

and they fly the nest.............

This week a friend who is building up a collection of very nice acer bonsai found that persistence can certainly pay off....in the nicest way....He often asked if my Shin Deshojo was for sale, and I often said I could not find an equal replacement so No, it was one of the trees I was keeping..........

Over new year greetings the request came through so I thought why not, he really wants the tree, would totally appreciate it and I have had a good few years fun and enjoyment bringing the tree on so we did the deal and I dropped it round - 1200 miles from my home !!!! Posting trees is ok, but trees you really care about need face to face service as it would be such a dis-service to the bonsai if it was broken by an unknowing courier or unprecedented accident. The car was loaded with the tree, pots, bags of our soil blend, fish emulsion, bonsai boost pellets and a few accessories - plus Relentless and blueberry Red Bull  

The Tree

Shin Deshojo, imported in an unknown year, and I stumbled across the tree walking into Willowbog Bonsai Nursery on day.

 The tree had been hit by late freezing winds so had defoliated itself in most areas so even though it was July we had a new crop of red leaves, much smaller than normal, but with random big leaves from the first flush. We fed the tree, enjoyed it and waited until the next spring to repot so the mound of root under the trunk could be reduced and the planting position gradually flattened out. The tree was the same width all the way up so I decided to grow the lower branches wider rather than prune the apex narrower so we used a much bigger growing pot for 2 years

This caused a push of vigour that needed checking so the next repot put the tree in a stunning Japanese Tokoname cream oval barely 3cm deep inside

Deshojo are run away growers and will extend node length to 5cm or more in the blink of an eye and this is too big a gap between buds when fine tuning a tree really so the shallow pot and small amount of feed plus correct watering (minimal) helps to shorten node length. Now the outline was getting closer to my desired image the first leaves were allowed to open then the tiny new shoot that appears was pinched out to stop all extension growth on the exterior of the tree. Inner, weaker, shoots are allowed to grow and the bottom branches are allowed a small amount of extra extension growth too. Later in summer one from every two outer leaves is cut off to halve the shade effect of the canopy and if the single remaining leaf is still too big it is cut in half

This is a constant ongoing process but the unplanned sale of the tree has finished my time with the tree and moved it to another person to do their thing from now on. I offered the tree with or without the pot but both have stayed together and now will love the pure clean air in the foothills of the Austrian mountains

Bye bye to the unit for a few days ! 

SOIL MIXING

Repotting time is nearly here - Cornwall. SW UK is a little bit milder than the rest of Britain and we dont get much in the way of frost - we have sensors on the bonsai benches and so far this winter we had one night of minus 2 and one night of minus 4 but either side of these two clear nights it has been plus temps. Days have been hitting 15 C regularly, roots are active and early acer buds and larch buds are swelling visibly now. 

We stock all the essential soil components and also, if the customer needs enough of one mix we offer to blend them to suit the tree collection and predominant climate. The key points of getting the soil mix right are correct water retention, good aeration, soil PH can be important too

We use

Akadama - 2 line, hard type, holds onto water well
Kiyru Grit - allows hard feeding, drains well, heavy component
Ezo Grit - superb light, warm airy grit - drains well, superb root development
Kanuma - acidic lightweight volcanic grit - soft, holds lots of water
Black Lava - very hard, will not compact or breakdown in hard frost, drains well, contains lots of minerals and some trace elements

We dont use
Compost (apart from our chinese elm mix - they like a bit)
garden soil / leaf mould
Bark - depleates nitrogen making balanced feeding difficult to measure
granite chips / potting grit - freezing cold, very heavy, can be silica based

 80 liters are best done in a proper mixer - less effort and nice consistent results

Akadama is £12.50 a bag, the others £14. Blended is £14 a bag too - (Collected) - Next day courier delivery to mainland Uk is competitive and can be quoted for.





First and foremost I am a bonsai enthusiast and I love nothing more than hunting out mature japanese trees that can be refined so selling one of the good ones from my personal trees leaves a gap that I need to fill. As a maple went I wanted another to replace it, and I know there are no Deshojo's available that come close to the sold one so I broadened the search a little and came up with a 13 trunk fused clump style Acer Palmatum Yatsusa Kashima

Earlier this year we sold the 5 trunk Kiyohime clump that appears in the late  Peter Adams maple book and also in Dan Bartons bonsai book from when he owned the tree. The kiyohime has dwarf tendencies in its extension growth and is weaker in the apex but grows very strongly from the base branches so they go wide but stay low

The Kashima can appear very similar in leaf and extension growth but it grows like most trees - strong apical and upward growth and weaker in the lower areas.

Here was the find - it has been maintained in a healthy state for about 25-30 yrs in the UK, maybe a bit longer than that now but the tree has not been wired or styled for a long time. The top strength and upward tendencies can easily be seen here, the pot is way too heavy too but I have a good Tokoname cream oval - 4.5cm deep- ready for a fairly hard repot in a month or so.

Lots of guy wires will then go on, outer branches will be flattened with normal wiring and then some areas will be cut back harder to put a tree shaped silhouette back rather than a mushroom dome. The trunks need cleaning, the nebari cleaning out and defining and then the foliage pruning begins

The tree will be fed well with Tribolar pellets - 2 applications and a 14 day cycle of using  our fish emulsion after the leaves harden off until they just start to turn for Autumn. Hard feeding is essential on a tree if you plan on cutting losts off but keeping it strong and healthy.

A 2nd maple will be here soon - a large trident maple with 5 trunks that are rising from a fused plate the size of the pot nearly. This tree it a 'start again' project........it has a documented history from 1910 but is now tired and gone beyond simple recovery - health is fine, the branches are long leggy things with twigs on the very end so i'm going to bang in the fertiliser (Tribolar, fish emulsion, algae & seaweed extract and a couple of special compounds) then cut off most of the branches and grow them again - A great project as you cant find tridents with such age and maturity to import anymore, and even if an equally old but refined japanese tree came onto the market it would command quite a price.

The project is at least 5-6 yrs to see even half a result though

Pics to come once the tree gets here

Other than that it was lovely and sunny in the garden today - white pine that needs styling  seems happy with good winter colour, Zelkova to the right and a true yamadori Japanese juniper trunk grafted with Itoigawa foliage ready for a first refine session after a workshop with Ryan Neil a few years ago to give it its first styling from raw material. Plenty to do !!

The Crenata Chronicles III

Continuing our work with the Japanese White barked Beech bonsai it is time to do some basic early winter prep work

As we want to see the structure of the tree, assess the ramification and do some work all the brown leaves are removed. Now we can see just how dirty the trunk has become over the Autumn. Dirt, fertiliser residues and green algae make it all look a mess

As we can see the tree is in serious need of a good clean - -  and at the top of the picture is a small side branch coming across the trunk . . .it should be cut off  but we'll se if it can be moved first.

Trunk cleaning is down to some water and vinegar and some plastic bristled brushes. Start at the top, work down and then wash the whole tree with hard spray from a hosepipe.

All scrubbed, now the branch.........

The old stub is removed, hollowed and the edges cleaned up with a sharp knife

Two 3.0 mm copper wires are placed in the curve, temporarily held with wire while they are wrapped with raffia and plastic tape. This is a backbone for the branch we hope to move and being coper wire it will actually hold the bend in place

Twin copper 2mm wires are put on for added protection to the outside of the bendand the branch that was crossing the trunk now goes the right way ! 

All exposed bits of the cut are sealed and I quickly worked up the tree adding a few guy wires and wiring a few branches that were starting to creep up at the tips

Finished tree - repotting planned for spring, I want to boost the vigor as the next stage is to massively increase the number of shoots and to thicken some new branches that are just thin new shoots coming out of the trunk. This tree has a stunning nebari - it would have been airlayered in japan over 30 years ago to be this mature.

Tree wired in copper - its all i use on every tree - Because we produce all our own annealed wire fresh in small batches it is lovely and soft to put on, and because we do it in half kilo rolls you dont get stuck with old rolls of hard wire - (it stiffens up over time and not many people use up full kilos very fast). The copper is so much thinner to do the same job as aluminium so the tree looks better, the job looks neater and as we dont really have any price difference there is no reason to use an inferior wire. 

Pot resurection

We've been looking for a pot for the large Japanese yew I have here for a year or two now as the tree is getting close to ready for it. This particular pot is a Dereck Aspinall pot that has had a fairly hard life with a previous owner but it was the ideal size, colour and shape for the tree so I decided to buy it a few months ago.

Most damage was to the feet where all the edges are chipped off - this comes from sliding the pots around on the benches, tables or in your vehicle and is a commonly seen form of damage. I see it a lot on European pots and less so on Japanese pots so I suspect the clay used or the techniques in manufacture may have something to do with it, but that is a bit of guess work based on observations.

First thing was to clean the pot well and assess all the damage

 

There are several chips in the rim too, both inside and out - the pot certainly has had an active previous life but I'd had a good look at it a few months before deciding to get it so none were surprises. 

First job after washing and drying was to rough up the edges with a file, then apply an exterior 2 part epoxy filler

I left this for 24hrs in the warm and the next day began gently sanding with very fine wet and dry sand paper. Following the sanding I mixed a colour match from my paints, and gave the areas 2 coats, followed by an ink wash to blend it and finally a sealing coat. The entire pot was oiled and left to dry for a week in the warm. I'm very pleased with the results and will certainly plant the taxus cuspidata in the spring.

And here we have a lovely UK made pot back in its prime

Dereck Aspinall  - Soft Rectangle - unglazed, 23" x 16" x 5"

Ramification Pt 1

Autumn is nearly here and the leaves are starting to drop on many trees, letting us see clearly how the summer growth effected or improved the ramification of our deciduous bonsai.

I enjoy experimenting a bit with bonsai methods and I find quite a lot that many recommendations in books are not that specific, at best are generalised and often don't work that well in our climate. The first year I had the Zelcova broom I followed the book method - cutting extending growth back to a few leaves, total defoliation of the outer half of the canopy in early summer and then pruning back the new shoots to a few leaves. This was an incredibly labour intensive way to look after the tree - the defoliating alone took nearly 7 hrs in total and the results were perfectly ok, the inner leaves stayed green etc.


This year I wanted to do what felt right, so I decided to treat the pruning differently.

First cut was made as the new shoots are opening and extending while they still were soft and red. This cut was back to one or at most 2 leaves over the whole outer canopy. In effect this stopped all extension growth.

The pruned shoots changed from red to woody, the remaining leaved continued to grow a bit and they hardened off. Now I cut all these leaves in half just like a beech or palmatum so lots of light could penetrate past the outer canopy and reach the inner tree. This gave a huge advantage as the terminal buds have stayed dormant - (defoliating makes them open and the tree outline gets bigger). Over the rest of the year I've just cut any strong shoots that extend past the outline and thats it.

The picture shows the tree from underneath - all the leaves inside the tree are perfectly green and it is amazing to see the whole tree is full of living inner shoots - quite funny when another bonsai 'expert' was overheard at a show saying this tree would have no ramification under the dense outer canopy of leaves ! haha.

Proof of the pudding - I've never had a deciduous tree reach Oct with this many perfectly healthy leaves on it from virtually the trunk to the outside.

Feeding has been our Bonsai boost pellets - 2 baskets at a time but only 3 times all year....and our fish emulsion about 12-15 times after pruning. No feed was put on before the leaves were cut in half.

This pic shows how we've kept the whole tree open and airy all year - this has let loads of light in 

Tree was repotted to a better front this year too

And the music..............