ChalkBonsai

Wabi-sabi

2012-01-10T22:41:00.000Z

I completed the repotting and root maintenance on my maples for this year. A bit early - but i suspect they will wake up early this year. They are having their third repot and and potting up to their final pot sizes. All of them at least a year late for their new pots - but poverty and the ongoing recession put and end to any new pot purchases over the last 2 years.

Luckily they were in well shaped pots - with no internal lip - and a nice taper on the walls - so they popped out easily. This is the root system of my Deshojo - they are in nice(ish) condition - but heavily compacted. A little bit dark and a tiny bit stinky.

A little help from the cat to get the positioning in the pot right. The position was adjusted for favourable wabi-sabi before soil was packed in.

The roots were combed out and any crossing ones removed. A little shaking and poking to settle the soil in and it was time for watering. The roots on the bottom were trimmed in tightly so there was no spring in the base. This maple is a random Acer Palmatum i got from M&S. Its thickening nicely and has a wonderful autumn colour - a deep wine red. The soil is old Akadama from before the Fukushima disaster so there is no danger of radiation. Its got a lot of Fuji grit in it as well - 2 scoops to 4 of Akadama i think - it looked right.

The soil mix and potting method is exactly as the Japanese nurseries do it. Their centuries of experience with this species gives us valuable knowledge. I have varied the particle size a little - the palmatum random getting the larger particles. The drainage layer is biosorb though. The rest is 1.5 to 5mm akadama with 25% fuji grit. plus minus.

I do wire the big maples into their pots as the wind can easily knock them over. These wires will also anchor the guy wires for the training rigging later in the year.

I gave them a really deep watering to get all the dust out and make them at home. Cat is assisting as usual. Note I am barefoot watering the plants on the lawn in January.

The soil level is well below the rim so that it will be easy to water - even after some growth and the usual moss invasion. This pot also has a nice taper and no internal lip - so when its time comes it will come out easily.

Here is the Deshojo's new pot. The ever present cat was assisting as usual. Really liking my new pots this year. I found a terrific vendor on Amazon with a really nice selection - and amazing fulfilment.

I'll pose some nice pictures of them in their new homes in the following weeks.

various things

2011-12-30T16:21:00.001Z

Its been a strange winter so far. Only a few frosts - and no sign of snow at all. Several of the bonsai still had leaves out - and the hawthorns still aren't completely bare. Given how mild it is I've left some of the maples out on the lawn and not don't a great deal to protect much else either.

I've been fortunate this year and got some nice new pots for Christmas. Couldn't afford all the new ones I wanted last year - so the maples have had to stay on an extra season. Their roots got a bit messy and they grew strangely - but no long term harm.

Please excuse the crap photo - This is to illustrate the improved ramification on this maple. Its really come along very nicely this summer. I've taken it all back to 1 node and done a lot of wiring. All the work last year with weights on the younger branches has set them in position nicely so there wasn't much need for heavy wiring - just some tweaks on the newer growth.

Part of the upcoming summer program is improve the lower growth on this maple as the shape isn't great like this. A bit too much like a snow cone right now - I want to get a few big low branches happening. There's going to be almost daily pinching of buds during the peak season.

I didn't feel like working outside so I took it in and stood it on my desk. The picture is of it standing on the cats perch. No hanging out in the dojo with the sensei catching flies here.

I've got a nice 38cm pot for this one to be planted into over the next weeks. Really looking forward to getting the roots cleaned up and sorted out.

Next up is the major pine work. A lot of rafia and wiring to be done over the next week.

Those damned yamato sunball things still persist - no sign of decay yet. Ive bought some new korean seedcakes to test out. They look better - just need to see if they work. Wish someone would import cheap bio-gold again.

Edit -

Measure it - its 95cm tall from the ground and the base of the trunk is 5cm thick. So i have to watch the height carefully as its getting on a bit.

Peppermints

2011-11-04T14:19:00.000Z

Some of my nursery material is coming along nicely - this is the end of their second year. The hawthorns are still in their first pots and the roots looking for space. Next year I'm going to grow one of them in the ground and see how it goes. The trunks are plumping up nicely already. All the nursery material is on tap water and cheap fertiliser. They also get any of the left overs from the hydroponics. No science - I just empty a bucket load onto them.

The trunk chop on the oak is almost grown over and integrated. Over time this looks like it will subside into a nice even taper.

The Beech's are coming along nicely too. During midsummer when they were laying down next years buds they were watered and fertilised mercilessly to ensure a giant season next year. I'm thinking of trunk chopping these over the winter.

They seem to be bulking up faster than the hawthorns. They are all over an inch at the base - with this one being closer to 2.

Had I known that I could grow cheap hedgerow nursery trees to 2 inch trunks in 2 years I would have started many years ago.

Notice the peppermints.

My hydroponic pomegranates are coming well now. They have put on about 25cm this year. I want to get that again for a few years before i think about style.

I've got some Canna terra flores for the indoor fruiting and flowering plants.

I think I will have to bring in the Scots pines during the winter for another round of maintenance as they are firing buds out all over.

I think I have good buds at every point that I want - so the smaller Scots are going to look very good late next year.

I got some Raffia for doing some heavy work on the pines.

The pines are now on weekly Canna - I'll keep a slow feed ( bi-monthly) going to them during the winter. The dormant plants in soil will get a gentle monthly feed.

I've been trying some new fertilisers again - Yamato sunball. I'm very confused about this - they are like rock hard peppermints - been sitting on the soil surface for a month now with no sign of doing anything. Must be doing something wrong. I was hoping for something that behaved like biogold.

pine color

2011-08-07T17:50:00.000+01:00

Here is the big Scot's pine early on in the season. Mid April. It has a very nice even flush of new candles on it. Surprised me a little as it had just been repotted.

I have the primary branch structure in place with some heavy wiring. I will need some raffia to finish this job. The deltas of good foliage are forming with every shorter tributaries. All the crossing and plain silly branch's are gone. I still have a great deal of pondering to do until i settle on the final shape. There will be a few Big cuts and maybe some of that ghastly jin.

After the spring candles the big pine went all yellow. I feared that I'd damaged some roots and that I would lose some branches.

I tried Heavy fertiliser every 10 days. It didn't die - but it didn't get a great deal better either.

Much improved now - still not the black green color of extreme vigor - but very good progress. Canna every 2 days and fish emulsion on the weekend. I'm amazed at how much higher the nutrient requirements are in fired clay.

As a result of this i don't have a nice flush of candles coming through now and there isn't much back budding to speak of - but there is always next year.

Then again - the buds are good and theres a bit of life left in this summer. Moar fertiliser!!!

Pomegranate's

2011-07-31T18:08:00.001+01:00

I must deviate for a while from native trees to the tree that led me towards bonsai - the pomegranate. It is an excelent species for bonsai - but a bit out of fashion nowdays with all the junipers and pines.

I have had a few miniature pommegranates for several years. They are very dificult to cultivate and i thought i would share some solutions to thier health and vigor.

I have moved towards using fired clay based soils this year. The nutrient requirements in this medium have suprised me. They require far more than I had expected. Now that i have the big pines under control in this medium i turned my attention to some really sickly pomegranates in the same medium. weekly fertiliser wasnt having much impact at all.

In some older translated japanese bonsai books I have found a little advice about them. They advise deaper pots to suit the habit of the root system - and also note that they are heavy feeders. Any fruiting or flowering plant requires a lot of food during its productive season - my experience with the calamondon has taught me about this - and i also have a huge chilli harvest which uses vast quantities of feed to get its large yield.

A single overstrength dose of fertiliser every 10 days had almost no impact. Not on pines or citrus and certainly not on the pommegranates. The chillies and fruit now get fed every 2 days at normal strength. This wasnt enough for the pommegranate. I think part of this is due to the medium they are planted in - akadama is much more forgiving and seems to retain more nutrients.

I used Canna on the pines with good results. But its for vegetative growth and not flowers or fruit. It did revive the pomegranates and bring them back to reasonable health. The extra gogo im hoping will come from the Tomorite which has the better balance of nutrients for flowering plants. My chillies and tomotoes love the stuff - and the calamondon seems to be doing well on it too.

As i increased the frequency of fertilisation i became annoyed with the ammount of waste. For the calamondon i tollerate this as i only fertiliser every second day.

I use nutrients and equipment from the hydroponics industry. So i decided to grow the pomegranates on a home made ebb and flow hydroponic method. Simply I keep 5 litres of nutrient solution in a bucket. The pots are submerged into this solution twice a day or if the pot is very light from being dry.

This home made ebb and flow hydroponic setup had brought lush growth to the pommegrantes at last. I use the solution for about a week and then dump it on the beeches and hawthorns. So there is little waste of nutrient anymore.

Next year they will need a different soil to thrive - but for now they are well again.

Ebb and Flow
Pomegranate

Pines

2011-07-24T16:22:00.001+01:00

Here is a picture of the Scots pine at the beginning of the year with its spring candles up.

I'm shortening the branches on the lower right as the opportunity arises.

Some of the foliage pads are forming.

See next post.

Pine progression

2011-07-24T16:10:00.000+01:00

I'm still on the lower part of the learning curve for pines. But it seems that at least i am keeping them very healthy and full of vigor. Think Ive got a good grasp of the theory and some novel techniques of my own. But they do grow very slowly so its something you acquire over many years.

With this medium Scots pine that had been collected from the wild Ive had some challenges as there was growth at the end of some very long spindly branches. Its been repotted and is responding with loads of back budding - even onto old wood.

When the opportunity has arisen with some choice areas of budding Ive cut back to them.

Here are 3 choice buds all starting to grow as part of the second flush of growth.

Ive removed the top bud. This has allowed me to move the growth and ramification in closer to the trunk and improve the overall shape of the bonsai.

Now i have a well positioned horizontal fork nice and close in. Going to need 3 or 4 more of these.

Back budding on old wood. And its a long way back.

Here is one of the new candles from the second flush. Ideally next year i will get a tree full of these. This year started slowly while i got to grips with the feeding requirements in sterile growth medium. I now feed the pine trees 4 times a week. I am amazed at how much they can eat.

Oak

2011-06-28T18:14:00.000+01:00

This oak is 60cm tall now from the surface of the soil. It began another strong flush of growth so Ive cut it right back. Some of the ramification deltas are now 3 deep and looking very nice. Ive left some of the Whopper early season giant leaves on to power it. Next year its going to look good if Ive got the node lenghts correctly suited to the foliage.

All the cuts are sealed. Ive got a nice selection of terminal buds which is going to improve the shape and further the ramification. Its been growing from the last 2 buds on each branch as a rule - so its a bit harder to control - but if you trim well its very effective.

The oak certain loves the fine akadama. I'm unsure about the biozorb so i may put this one back in coarse akadama for another 2 years.

The internal branches are all coming off from nice positions on the trunk. not too even. not too perfect. There has been a lot of wiring in there to keep it from becoming to unruly.

I suppose its a mistake to have begun the crown with 45 degree branches. It will do for now.

The Beech's have begun their second flush of growth for the year. I'm hoping for another 5 leaves. In some places i have 3 nodes already. So mid to late June around London seems to be when you get another burst from them.

I'm enjoying the beech's. They seem to put on weight faster than oaks - but retain their smaller leaves. I'm going to have to get at least one of them into a bigger container for next year. I'm also temped to chop one of them off quite low. Going to have to think a bit more about the results i would achieve with a trunk chop.

ongoing progress

2011-06-19T21:18:00.002+01:00

Many of the trees are progressing well - the oaks are all making great progress. Last years seedlings are also making giant leaps.

My larger oak is putting on weight very nicely. This year already more than last. Its the second year in the pots and the roots are well developed - its getting loads of fertiliser.

The primary branch structure is developing nicely now as well. Interesting design decisions on where to place the new buds need to be made. The node length needs to match the leaf size for a balanced image.

As per oaks habit, the tap root is doing laps at the bottom of the pot. Going to have to research root pruning of oaks a bit to be ready for its next pot.

I'm a bit worried about the big scots pine. Its too yellow and its got these funky wrinkly needles.

These pines had 80% of their old soil removed and are in sterile growth medium. My maples live happily in pure akadama - but some of the pines are a little grumpy. I'm still some ways short of the fertiliser concentrations some others advise using - and Ive noticed that the patch of lawn that receives the leftover fertiliser isn't any greener than the rest of the lawn. So i guess more wont harm it - perhaps. It may also be a nutrient problem due to the sterile soil and rainwater so Ive used some iron/mag/manganese tonic to hopefully fill in any nutrient holes. I have a maple that's showing classic iron shortage ( green veins on yellow leaves ) so maybe this will get them greened up and vigorous. Otherwise the big one is back budding very nicely after a good spring flush.

This can also be a copper shortage or over watering.

The beeches are putting on weight now on the branches and setting buds - quite a lot based on the way the wire is biting in. These may grow a little again this year but more than likely its next years buds getting into place. So its important to feed like crazy and water generously to ensure next years growth is massive. Ive rewired where needed and removed the rest. I'm thinking of chopping some of the beeches as the trunks are already nice enough for small bonsai.

The hawthorns are unstoppable. Well other than the wind which blows them over all the time. They are also putting on wood and massive growth. They seem like such a perfect tree for bonsai - i wonder why they aren't more popular. small leaves - rapid growth - easy to maintain - attractive. i guess the wild specimens aren't much to look at down south. Although i did see many good ones out of the train heading up to Newcastle - the sheep nibbling did them good.

Wind

2011-06-05T13:06:00.000+01:00

Its that time of the year in London when the wind is howling through the yard and knocking over many of my pots. I had repotted this quince from a nursery container into a nice pot I had scavenged from Tokonoma bonsai a few years ago. The nursery soil was removed - to bare root - and the roots cut right back to fit its new home.

I had placed it on a nice sunny table outside the kitchen window for my morning edification. The wind picked it up off the table and smashed it. This ruined my whole day.

I suppose i have learned that the roots were in excellent condition after the repot and it seemed to like the media it was planted in.

Chicken Sh1t pH

2011-05-15T14:26:00.002+01:00

Ive experimenting with some new nutrients. Ive read in a few places about people using chicken manure - so i got some and gave it a try. To start it seemed OK. I will keep using it on the lawn and vegetable beds.

BUT. A magnolia i was rescuing died suddenly midway through opening its flowers. I was not pleased.

I added some pH test drops to rain water. The London rainwater is strongly acidic. This yellow color is the most acidic color that the kit measures indicating 6.0 or less.

I then dropped a small piece of chicken manure pellet in and observed.

As the manure pellet dissolved it made the solution strongly alkaline. The light wasn't good - but the pH is towards the high end of the scale. So in the region of 7.6 which is a substantial swing.

The lesson learnt is that i must test new additives before i put them on to avoid unexpected results.

For species that like alkaline conditions this is fine. There are plenty of trees down south grow in the chalk. I would recommend avoiding this for acid lovers like pines and magnolias / azaleas.

citrus progress

2011-05-14T08:20:00.002+01:00

Once the calamondon settled into its new pot and soil it went berserk. The growth tips are a mass of shoots. Once the scent had faded i removed the early blossoms. I want all the energy to go into growth.

There is also a lot of adventurous back budding. This new growth is very fragile and cant be touched. If you blow hard on it the new twigs will come off. I lost a few which were in perfect positions. Luckily i got more coming in the same place.

I am concerned about the color of the new growth. the chlorosis is really bad. Its getting fed once a week. Ive increased to twice a week, with chempak high nitro and growth technology citrus focus - both mixed over strong. The citrus focus has got seaweed and humates. I'm hoping this will improve the roots and soil. Ive also put some Mycorrhiza in the soil to improve nutrient uptake.

http://www.growthtechnology.com/citrusfocus.asp

Last year i fed it like a madman to green it up - so i suppose as a larger plant it needs more. The citrus trees are notoriously greedy. I'm having doubts about the substrate I'm using. it did very well in akadama for the last 2 years. This biozorb doesn't seem to hold much liquid. in the small pot i could get a litre of water in without much runoff. This much larger pot saturates with 500ml so its capacity to hold nutrients is much less.

Once a week i take it onto the lawn and give it a good soaking to flush all the soil.

crazy oak

2011-05-12T08:00:00.002+01:00

Look at the size of that leaf. In a few years time i will have to learn how to reduce the leaf size. For now i want it to fatten up and ramify.

These shoots can grow over an inch per day. Maybe my one acorn was a freak. I shall find out as the next 4 get growing.

You can see where Ive optimistically wired the base of all these shoots to set them off in the right direction.

I'm a little off piste with these - but i guess if i get 10 flushes of growth and it doubles in size. Well what can i do? Most seem to find them slow growing. I do hope Leonardo was right and that as i increase the ramification and twig thickness the trunk will respond similarly. So far it has grown very well - i estimate a 25% increase in girth at the base so far. The bark isn't great - or there at all - but no 4 year old tree will have good bark - that comes later.

Been busy

2011-05-09T17:51:00.001+01:00

All the new hedgerow trees have made it through the winter and are growing strongly. So much so that the wind keeps blowing them over.

The beech's broke bud late in April and they were the last to get going.

The 4 new oaks also made it through the winter and are growing strongly now.

The mountain maple has been defoliated and has come back very well. Every single possible bud point has sprouted. I have massive back budding and a big increase in ramification. Ive also been wiring and hanging weights to improve the layout.

It was defoliated on 16 April and the photo on the right is 21days later. I have already pinched back some over enthusiastic growth.

My larger oak is going crazy this year. Its also throwing massive shoots for the last 3 nodes of every branch making it quite hard to tame. Ive got 3 grades of training wire and I'm pulling the young soft shoots into place early before the set. Its starting to take a lot of wire.

The trunk has put on quite a bit of weight already this year. Its getting 30% over strength fertiliser once a week.

The point at which the oak is cut back is important. similarly to brach cutting a pine. The last buds on the branches are the ones that will grow - so you need to select them so that the new branches head off in the right direction.

I have also been fortunate with some of the budding on my large Scots pine. Its behavior is much easier to work with than the small one. While working on developing nice dense foliage areas Ive cut back some overly long branches and in all cases Ive gotten several nice buds at the cut point.

Also some good buds all the way back into the 2 year old needles. I'm spoilt for choice here. Its behaviour is very close to the descriptions of black pines.

Daily water and lots of fertiliser. Several litres of strong high nitro fertiliser per week.

Ive been experimenting with chicken manure. The tea seems alright. But it clogs up your soil very quickly. I suspect it does strange things to the soil ph.

Scots pine buds

2011-04-27T16:43:00.002+01:00

I'm getting all sorts of strange looking buds coming up one of the small Scots pines. It seems that those in the know are hard parted with the knowledge of this species. Most focus on the Japanese black pine - which is more forgiving to work with as it will have many periods of growth in a single season. The Scots pine only has one flush of growth - then its all over till the next year. It is possible to have a second period of growth late in the season if the tree is very healthy and well fed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lammas_growth

This one seems to be multiple simultaneous buds and needles. I suppose I'l find out in a few months when it all grows out.

This started as a candle and then did some stuff at the base. They could be new buds for the lammas late season burst - or just ugly needles.

I am getting some nice buds under the pinched candles. Once the candles have hardened off a bit more and the buds are defined I'l choose the ones i want.

I cut back aggressively behind some of the pine flowers and have been lucky with some good new buds forming there. There are some more further back so ramification will continue to improve.

I have also been gradually removing the 3 year old needles. I cut them off and leave a 5mm stub which falls off on its own in a few weeks. I'm hoping that this gentle loss of foliage will spur on the late season growth without doing any harm.

I have been a little surprised at the vigour of this tree as it was almost bare rooted. I used biogold in the early season - which the pines seem to love. Now they are on strong chemical fertiliser alternated with chicken manure weekly. I try to keep them on rain water for the PH which the pines like - but often they just get hosed.

Trunk Growth Factors

2011-03-22T23:18:00.002Z

Leonardo da Vinci has some things to say about this :

All the branches of a tree at every stage of its height when put together are equal in
thickness to the trunk below them.

and this :

Every year when the boughs of a plant [or tree] have made an end of maturing their growth, they will have made, when put together, a thickness equal to that of the main stem; and at every stage of its ramification you will find the thickness of the said main stem.

Towards the end of the season we will see - if this is correct i will get some lovely results. Several of my trees have increased hugely in ramification this year already. The Oak is as usual is leading the pack - but the maples are looking strong too. I wonder if the defoliation and doubling of fine twigs on the maples will have an effect. So much still to learn.

Outdoor Deployment

2011-03-14T13:53:00.002Z

Ive been watching the weather - very few frosts left hopefully so I'l start to place the trees outside on their spots on the lawn. Cat likes this very much as they give her great cover for birdwatching. The little villain has never caught a bird - but she does like to watch them.

This is a kiyo hime maple that i picked up several years ago at the local nursery and felt sorry for- so i adopted it. Never intended to grow maples - but i seem to be quite good at it.

Il keep the big pines under glass as while longer for them to recover from the repotting.

This is another maple - i picked up this one as a silly potplant for my desk at work - i got it at the exit of M&S while buying a sandwich for lunch. In a square plastic pot like this one below. It was never intended as a serious bonsai and now its starting to look quite nice. I suppose I'l keep it going and see where it ends up. Ive had it 4 years now - and its on its second year in that pot.

Good starter material for the patient.

Fresh oak leaves

2011-03-14T11:57:00.000Z

I love the color of fresh spring oak leaves.

more potting

2011-02-03T23:51:00.004Z

This is my gin&tonic calamondon tree. It had been in this pot for 2 years and was ready for a larger pot and some fresh soil.

This is its second repotting in my care. This was akadama bought off amazon with a little compost - and its worked very well. The roots are beautiful.

Excellent roots. No rot at all. Great health. I was so very pleased when i pulled this out of the pot and saw how healthy the roots were.

Its growth had been exceptionally strong this last year.

These plants are very hungry and need a huge amount of fertiliser in the sterile soil. Full strength at least once a week.

The roots are well organised and worked out perfectly radially with a rake. They were well organised from the previous repotting so it was quick and easy. A few more years and those surface roots are going to look very good. I cleaned off the old soil and trimmed lightly.

Its been planted into quite a large pot. I'm using biosorb and pine bark. about 4:1 mix ratio. There is a 1.5cm drainage of layer of coarse soil.

After 2 weeks the tree is looking greener then before it was potted. It seems quite happy with the new pot.

The plant is now in a totally inert pH neutral soil. I have a new fertiliser regimen planned and i hope for very strong growth this year. That trunk is still way too skinny.

PS - a few days later

In most respects this calamondon behaves like a kumquat. So it appreciates a deeper pot as the roots like to go deep - similar to pomegranate with the deep pots and heavy feeding requirements. They seem to be less PH sensitive than pomegranate though. I have potted it over a very generous drainage layer of course soil particles. 3 weeks after repotting and it is back budding vigorously.

repotting season

2011-01-30T23:51:00.000Z

Time to re-pot some of the yamadori i bought last year. They have settled down nicely and its time to get rid of the old akadama that's turning to mud and get them into pots that drain freely.

I cleared the top soil till i hit the upper roots. i also wanted to get the grass and weeds out of the soil as i find these can impact the growth and health of the plants.

This is my large Scots pine and is 105cm from the ground level potted.

please note my high tech rake.

The roots are gently combed out radially. moss and weeds cleared until the major radial roots are reached.

I took my time clearing out as much of the original soil and akadama as possible without cutting any major roots.

There was plenty of good fungus on the roots and i preserved as much of this as possible to "seed" the new pot.

I kept several long sections of heavy fungied root to jump start the growth in the new pot.

Some of the roots doing laps at the bottom were also grass roots. some sort of forest grass that just wont give up.

Sadly there was a lot of rot at the bottom which pulled clear freely as a disc.

The pot i bought it wasn't very good for drainage.

Ive got some sphagnum down in the bottom of the pot to make the roots happy.

There is also a generous drainage layer under the moss.

The cat approved of the moss.

If this puts out good candles this summer and is vigorous i hope to be able to cut it back quite hard so i can begin to place the structure for some good foliage pads. Plenty of time though - i see this one as a 15 year project.

Snow

2010-12-20T22:07:00.001Z

Big Scots pine in the snow. Even this bigger one is getting its branches bent a little by the weight of the snow.

Small Scots. I flicked a bit of snow off the poor thing because some of the branches were bending rather a lot.

I'm hoping my new soil and pots are here in time to repot these pines for next year. The plastic yamadori pots don't give a great deal of dignity to them.

Young oaks. They should be OK i guess ?

Maple colours

2010-11-02T14:52:00.000Z

Satsuki

2010-11-02T12:50:00.001Z

I just got a copy of Alexander Kennedy's book the Floral Treasures of Japan. It should keep me busy for a few days.

There are some growing techniques used on Satsuki's that i want to learn about.

Got it off amazon second hand. Its a signed copy too.

As usual the Cat assists me.

Maple through the year

2010-10-17T19:07:00.000+01:00

At the beginning of the year this maple was repotted into a bigger pot with hard akadama and volcanic grit. it seemed to like it. It was fertilised weekly.

By mid year it was growing nicely. I cut off some of the crazy long growth at this stage. Might have been better if i left it there - but it looked better without it. I also removed the chopstick scaffolding that had been there.

Here is is today with some autumn color. The trunk is at least 50% larger. Next year i will develop the ramification further. The size is OK now. And it needs to be fatter of course.

New oaks

2010-08-08T17:29:00.000+01:00

I was really annoyed about loosing that oak that i bought. Ive been looking out for some trees in the area to collect - but there really aren't any. So the only choice was to grow from scratch. No idea how i ended up there - but i found that i could buy seedlings of native trees from the Woodlandtrust - so i ordered myself 4 oak seedlings and waited patiently to see how long it would take and what they would looking.

They came in a plain unmarked box - and seemed to last very well in it. The poor things languished in there for a few days until i got back from work.

They come in these root training cell pots. There is a reasonable amount of soil and a good helping of roots in there. They have gone straight into some medium sized pots of good soil and after a week are all looking very perky and show signs of a bit of last season growth.

Progress

2010-07-11T23:04:00.001+01:00

Sadly the new oak died. I'm more than a little angry that someone at a bonsai show would sell me a tree without roots - but it was a risk at the time and luckily didn't cost a great deal. Onto better things.

I've been growing some pomegranates for a few years. Ive been bedevilled by them starting strongly each year and then dieing back. The leaves turned this purple color. Turns out the purple color on fruit trees is a sign of Phosphorus deficiency. Ive been giving them a hit of super phosphate once a week and there has been a substantial improvement. It seems they are greedy plants like citrus and want a lot of nutrients.

The Calamondin is also on the same feeding program and is doing very well. It also seems to want heavy feeding.

They are now on twice weekly fertiliser and once weekly super phosphate. This regime seems to be helping my ornamental quinces hold onto fruit as well.

Ive switched fertilisers to Canna tera vega. Its a product mostly used in hydroponics - but since I'm growing most of my plants in sterile soils like them i though I'd use premium nutrients. The results are very pleasing so far. I'll switch to the aqua range once this batch is finished. Go to your local hydroponics store and try some out - the other wild eyed nervous customers will be freaked out by your presence.

The cat is very pleased at the new position of the big maple on the lawn. Its just the right size for her to lurk under. Pity the poor lawn is dead due to the drought.

The big maple is on the same twice weekly fertiliser - but without the super phosphate. I bought a PH testing kit and found that the rain water that i used to water my plants was well under 6. I use a little bicarb to up this to about 6.3 and found that it made the roots jive. Nutrient uptake at the improved PH is much improved.

Its my subjective opinion - but London rainwater maybe too acidic for all plants. Phosphorus uptake at less than 6.1 seems to be much reduced.

The maple was repotted this year and had a really slow start. But with the improved PH and nutrients the roots have now completely filled the pot and new shoots are getting going.

The little Scots pine is doing very well. I did a little light trimming and wiring to refine it. Ive thinned out the needles in a few areas - I'm hoping to improve the apex a little. I also hope to have a nice pot made for it over the next few months.

The photo isn't very good - but i am very pleased with this tree.

I bought another very large Scots pine. I'm going to stare at it for another few weeks before i do anything to it.

New Oak

2010-05-08T22:06:00.007+01:00

I popped into the Middlesex Bonsai Society show in Ruislip today. Sadly my camera didn't work all that well in the low light so that's all the photos i got. I hope tree number 18 won - a lovely prostrate hawthorn in flower.

I picked up a little oak starter tree there. It looked like Quercus Robur - except that the leaves were really tiny and the bark was smooth. So i bought it - £2.50 was a small price for my curiosity.

It was really loose in its pot and i couldn't find out how long it had been in the pot. I decided to have a little scratch around in the pot to see if there were any roots in the strangely loose soil - i found very few. I completely removed it from the soil it was in and cleaned it off to get a better look at wounds on the tap root. It didn't appear to be sealed so i popped a bit of wound seal on it and clear off the dangling bits being very careful not to loose any more precious roots.

Luckily i had some spare pots and good soil about. This is similar soil to the soil i used on my bare root hedging trees i potted during the winter - but with some more organic material added. Its heavily laced with Mycorrhiza to help it along.

These roots are no worse that the roots on the field maples that i gathered last year - so i should be able to keep this little one going as well. I will be misted several times a day. I will also get some very weak foliate feed. Its quite large but i will try to make an enclosure to keep it in a more humid environment.

I am very pleased to have added another oak to the collection.

RHS Wisley

2010-05-04T22:28:00.004+01:00

Now that the weather is easing up its a great time for a walk in the country to admire natures work. Its even better with a good lunch and manicured lawns for strolling.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Wisley

This is a Sequoia - a young one i suspect. The nebari is already very interesting to look at.

The pinetum section was very interesting as it contained the 7 of the largest recorded specimens for species of conifer - known as the Champion Trees.

If you are growing a bonsai and have styling angst and need to see what a mature example of a wild tree looks like then this is the place to be.

The scots pines are lovely.

This time of the year there are some fabulous blossoms from the various fruit trees on display. There are imported onramentals and natives to be seen. Wisley as quite a large apple orchard with many varieties.

There is also a small Bonsai garden with a few very nice specimens on display. This winter was a tough one and some of the maples seem to have lost a few twigs.

Wisly has a very large section devoted to azaleas. There are some massive examples. All shapes and sizes are on display in the gardens. They are worth visiting this time of the year purely to see this section.

The nursery section on the way out of the gardens is rather good. Some very interesting and rare Pinus Negra ( european black pine ) cultivars are available there. There is also an extensive selection of azaleas available there too - interesting named varieties.

Deshojo maple in spring

2010-04-20T19:51:00.004+01:00

This is a Deshojo I've been growing for a few years - I bought it as a tiny little twig because I felt sorry for it. This is its second year in the new pot with almost pure Akadama. The roots have filled the pot entirely and it is now extremely vigorous. Sadly I've had to travel and missed the lovely spring foliage.

Its now growing riotously and Im not sure how Im going to slow it down now. Its 70cm from the base of the pot to the average height of the crown - trunk 3cm in diameter a little off the ground. Ive taken a lot of the long shoots back to the first node and will continue to develop ramification. It needs to fatten up a little more but is starting to look quite respectable ( after a good haircut ).

Oh - heres a picture of it that my wife emailed to me while i was away. Lovely colours.

New Pot

2010-04-10T12:35:00.013+01:00

This is the pot i picked up in Southhampton. Its a rather nice 40cm pot and just what i needed for this larger maple.

Yes i know the maple is scrappy. Il give it a good haircut once the roots are established. I didn't want to repot and do a major pruning at the same time - so last seasons late growth spurt is still there.

Last year it receive a substantial mid-year pruning - eliminated crossing branches and useless internal foliage. The process was helped by a nice gold glass of hoegaarden.

I also tried out some different cutting tools for the pruning. My busted up old Japanese still work best though.

The roots were cut right back - much further than this image. If last years repottign is any indication then this will take 4 months to get its vigour back and it will have a late season growth spurt.

The cat is seen assisting as usual.

While talking to the people in Southhampton I also learnt that the toxicity of Azaleas isnt that great to cats - so I'm allowed an Azalea now. I wanted one purely for the hysterical flowering.

Bonsai Trees Southhampton

2010-04-08T13:59:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago i had a chance to head south out of London. I wouldn't usually go this far to visit a vendor - but i was curious and the opportunity arose.

There was a good selection of new and specimen material and pots available.

Also your usual soils and tools.

I picked up a nice new pot for my larger maple - more about that later.

Bonsai Trees Southhampton

Pests

2010-03-11T16:59:00.005Z

I was clearing the moss off the surface of the little Field Maple cause it makes it difficult to water. The moss will look lovely and the soil underneath is bone dry. this little one was starting to use a bit of water now that there was some foliage out.

Much to my disgust there were lots of little nasty wiggly white grubs under the moss.

The roots on this little one hadn't reached the outside of the pot - so I pulled off the loose bits and any signs of the grubs. I didn't want to disturb it too much though as it has started the year really strongly.

Interestingly you can see the Tesco's premium light kitty litter at the bottom of the pot. Roots were developing nicely in it. The straight John Innes No.4 didn't work very well and there was no visible root development in it after a year - not very good at all. It needs pumice and gravel to loosen it up.

I grabbed a bit of soil from the shed put it into a nice new ceramic pot.

Ive got some Provado Vine Weevil Killer and il dose all the plants with it.

Info on the chemistry of the insecticide - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid

Repotting a small Oak

2010-02-27T19:32:00.013Z

The buds on the Oak were starting to swell. So it was time for repotting. I'd placed the tiny oak ( which was growing in a peat seedling cup ) in a small pot with an inner lip. It proved very hard to extract. It had been in this pot for 2 years.

I'm going to discard that pot as its so hard to get anything out of it.

Once I'd got it out of there is discovered that the roots were 6 foot long and had been doing laps of the pot. This type of root is very different from other species i had worked with before - and it was extremely pot bound. Interesting that the root growth had been as vigorous as the above ground growth which had been rather extreme during the peak of the growing season last year.

Any of the new acorns ( 12 being prepared now ) that germinate this year will immediately go into larger pots based on this knowledge.

I lack experience with repotting roots like this - so I decided to be cautious and not cut back the large long roots too much. The placement in the pot was defined by getting the large root system into the pot and unwinding them. this may be a mistake - we will see what it looks like when i repot it again in a few years.

The pot is a little to large - but I'm aiming at massive growth over the next 2 years so i need plenty of headroom.

The soil is filtered Akadama and fuji grit ( 70 / 30 aprox ). I'm hoping the fuji grit stops it setting like concrete. The good akadama is cheaper than local hydroponic alternatives and is very effective. So why not ?

The cat was very interested in the process and lent a hand as usual.

Design Time

2010-02-20T14:39:00.003Z

This little Field Maple is an early starter this year. Its really roaring ahead.

But what to do with it?

I though i would try out an informal upright style. Ive even found a nice little pot for it. Now all i need is a quiet decade to grow it - well 3 years and it will look pretty. I enjoy growing the plants from seedlings or nursery material - its a mode deliberate process of design and growing. Unlike finding the shape in a yamadori you have to grow the plant into a vision in your head.

Il repot it later into a batch of my homemade soil. Need a nice big batch of soil as im going to try to start off some acorns as well.

I though back to this little fig i grew many years ( 2002 ) ago for inspiration. The poor fig had been through some hard times and wasn't in great shape - but i was very fond of it.

New Material - potting

2010-02-14T18:57:00.003Z

I made up a batch of soil for the new trees. Its a 4 equal part by volume mix of sharp sand / John Innes No.4 / vermiculite / fine horticultural grit. Why that mix - because it looks a lot like the loamy soil I see them growing in naturally and its also the soil that my oak did so well in last year. The field maples were planted in straight John Innes which is nearly waterproof and sets like concrete, so the sharp sand and grit loosen it up a bit and the vermiculite holds some extra water. So far it drains well.

I bought a bunch of cheap plastic pots for these young trees to live in outside for the next few years. They have such whopping holes in the bottom of them that i feared all the soil would just fall out. I got some if the lining for hanging baskets and cut it to fit the bottom of the pot.

The roots of the bare root plants on average were quite good - but needed a bit of trimming to fit into the pots.

Beech roots.

Hawthorn roots.

In the pot.

Can't wait for the first buds to get out and get the growing and training under way.

New Material - Buckingham Nurseries

2010-02-13T21:39:00.007Z

Ive been looking for some new native material. While cruising the local lanes and woodlands i couldn't see anything there that inspired me.

I decided to explore the hedging nurseries for material. Buckingham nurseries is an easy drive out of London on a Saturday morning.

http://www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/index.html

All of the species i wanted to start this year were available in several sizes.

I picked up a few Hawthorns and Copper beeches. The Beeches were 120cm and the Hawthorns 150cm tall. These larger plants were all £2.95 each.

These trees are supplied bare root - and wasn't 100% certain how this was done. As you can see in the pictures they have bushels of them sitting loosely in the ground. Once you have decided what you want the staff gently tug them out for you. You get a reasonable amount of root.

I have the roots soaking in water now and I'l make up some soil for them and get them potted tomorrow.

More images in the next few days.

Spring Buds

2010-02-01T11:51:00.002Z

The first spring buds are starting to swell on the Field Maples and the Japanese Maples are bleeding through some sealed wounds.

Note the cat fur on the poor little field maple. My cat loves gardening. Sometimes she's a little too enthusiastic though. Here's a picture of her pruning a maple for me. Very kind.

Time to start work on the repotting.

Note to cat. Akadama isnt kitty litter.

Oak

2010-01-19T13:18:00.006Z

Now that we are through the dead of winter i have begun to work on the plants again. they've had a nice break and are ready to gear up for another good year.

The little oak had its trunk chopped. I took about 60cm off the top and sealed it off.

I left a few centimeters above the next apex bud for it to die back a little. Its probobly going to have this procedure performed a few more times in its life so no need for surgical precision at this time.

I'l give it a week or two to get over the fright before i move it to its new pot. The oak is the beginning of the chain of the repotting season as i have several plants that want new pots this year and they will all be inheriting pots from their older siblings.

This one is going to go into an akadama / fuji grit mix. It was in a 3 part mix of sharp sand , john innes and horticultural grit - which worked extremely well and may have contributed to its explosive growth. I think i will use that soil mix again in the near future.

The work on oaks will continue with planting of a few more acorns. I got lucky and picked up a few acorns for quercus brantii while walking in a restaurant garden - so il see if i can get them to germinate as well.

Roots

2009-09-27T22:21:00.007+01:00

While i was getting rid of the moss and adding fresh top soil to some of my plants i noticed how good the roots were looking.

Both of these plants were repotted at the beginning of this year. One is a acer palmatum and the other is a citrus. The common factor is the batch of soil used and that both were extremely root bound in small pots. They both went into pots 200% larger - and into the same mix of akadama and organic material ( a little bark ).

Both species have managed to fill their pots in 9 months with fine roots. Towards the end of the year both of them have shown very vigorous growth - something i attribute to the well developed root system ( the ability to take in much more water and nutrients ).

Next year i have some more plants going into a similar soil mix. Hopefully the plants will do as well as these have.

So far the akadama shows no signs at all of collapse and seems good for another year at least.

Windybank visit

2009-09-27T17:12:00.013+01:00

Ive been looking out for bonsai vendors nearby where i live.

I also needed some supplies for this years round of repotting and maintenance - so it was a chance to stock up and explore a new vendor.

On the weekend i drove my long suffering wife around to windybank bonsai to have a look around and buy some supplies. I found them friendly and relaxed.

They are quite easy to get to - i drove all the way from the north edge of London. Anyone in the greater London area could get there once or twice a year for vital ingredients. They are about 10 minutes off the M25 so easy to access for anyone coming around.

A nice range of trees - from very expensive specimens to some good started material.

Also on hand was a good selection of pots , soil , fertilisers and tools.

I got a couple of nice pots and some akadama. I also bought some fuji grit to experiment with - more about that later.

So far all my attempts to get a soil suitable for bonsai from hydroponic vendors have failed so i will be using akadama for the foreseeable future. Its well priced and the results are excellent.

I like.

Acorn Gathering

2009-08-27T16:51:00.005+01:00

Its a good time of the year to go and gather some acorns. Got to get there early or the squirrels with munch them all.

I need another 2 oaks for the collection. Ive tried to select acorns from the trees with the smaller leaves - as i have noticed a huge variation in leaf size of wild tree and with some luck i will get a smaller one.

I noticed some strange "things" hanging off the oaks. Turns out to be Knopper gall - a pest to oak trees that arrived in the 60's. A gall wasp lays an egg in the acorns and the critters causes them to deform.

There is also a nice stand of Scots pines there so i may go back in the winter when the brambles have died down and see if there are any little ones i can gather.

I'm hoping the Scots pine i have develops this lovely orange bark.

Calamondin.

2009-08-20T00:00:00.005+01:00

Not a very native or English plant - but it does have a long history of cultivation in England as orangeries were built and citrus ( and other exotic species ) were grown as a symbol of prestige. And lets not forget who likes marmalade the most. They are sold at most of the local nurseries with fruit on them and are very pretty little things. I bought this one cause it looked cute 3 years ago. They aren't locally grown stock either - but are grafts from dutch suppliers.

Quite hard to grow as well. The cold winter here can really set them back a long way - definitely a conservatory plant. They feed heavily during the summer so it gets full strength citrus fertiliser once a week.

The poor thing really didn't like the cold much - as u can tell from the color.

I took a bit of a risk and repotted it while it was dormant and in poor shape. Its in an Akadama and bark mix. It seems very comfortable in this soil and once the roots had made themselves at home it has gone a lovely deep green again and put out a lot of new growth.

As with most plants - it has taken many months to get comfortable in the new pot. Id estimate 6 months before it became really vigorous.

They are fantastic in a Gin & Tonic - well worth cultivating.

BTA show.

2009-06-28T16:47:00.010+01:00

Today i popped out to the BTA show. I found out about the show from a local Bonsai club - the Bonsai Group in Enfield. There were quite a few people about and a good number of people exhibiting. There was a nice selection from local nurseries and ceramics studios. Some good Hawthorn and Oaks starter material was available as well.

At the Bryan Albright stand i bought a lovely Scots pine. He had a few gathered examples from England and France available.

I have been wanting a good Scots pine for a while and its not something that the local nurseries in my area keep.

Ive been growing Mugo pines and Japanese Black pines for a while now so i feel I'm equipped to try out the local sort and learn their quirks.

Ive pinched a few candles and I'm going to spend a few days staring at this one now trying to find its shape. I need to do a lot of research into the quirks of the Scots variety of pines.

Oak Training - Part 1

2009-06-27T16:24:00.006+01:00

Now that the giant shoot on top of the oak has been trimmed off i waited for the buds near the apex to swell and get growing again. This new side branch is going to be trained into the new apex.

While the new green shoot is nice and soft tie it up to a piece of the old trunk. I use a bit of very soft lead soldering wire for this. Be gentle - don't go straight up immediately - try to feel how stiff the little branch is and get an idea of how much it will yield without buckling.

This plant is very apically dominant . I was hoping that the trunk chop would direct a little growth lower but nothing is going on down below. Maybe defoliation would get the lower buds and branches going again. I have no experience defoliating Oaks - but i may experiment next year on this one as it is young and vigorous. Otherwise the heavy pruning on top and leaving the bottom unchecked should maintain the balance. This will be an interesting battle over the next few growing seasons.

On the bright side - the lower trunk growth is very good.

Field Maples update

2009-06-11T23:00:00.012+01:00

The little trees are starting to perk up now. It’s been hard work - but persistence has kept them going. It seems that the misting and keeping them in sealed environments to reduce transpiration has helped.

I really didn't think this little two leafed plant would make it - but the crown is growing quite strongly now.

The larger of the maples is also growing quite strongly now - and there is plenty of summer left to fatten him up for the winter.

This capture is also valuable to me in that i have been wanting a few Field Maples for my collection.

It has also been very valuable practise for going plundering hedges for specimens. I will need to have the perfect soil ready in the shed for when the bigger trees are captured - i have a great solution for this which i will write about in the next few days. I will also look into having some sort of a bubble for the bigger ones to keep them humid while they get over the shock of being transplanted.

I have stopped misting the maples and taken them out from under the bubbles and they don't seem to be suffering for lack of moisture so i assume that they have grown enough of a root system to support them.

I still need to learn a lot about this species. I'm guessing from the the brutal hacking they receive in hedges that they can be pruned back very hard. I also suspect that they can be defoliated in June like Japanese Maples.

The other valuable piece of information is the timeline. I now know that it has taken the trees about 8 weeks to begin growing again after they were captured.

Field Maples

2009-06-01T18:06:00.018+01:00

The two captured maples continue making progress. With the warmer weather (!) over the last few weeks I've put a bubble over the larger plant to keep it nice and humid and keep transpiration down to minimise stress on the plant.

Interestingly - the two chilli plants next to the field maple are the complimentary chilli seeds from Wahaca ( Mexican street food in Covent Garden ). I hatched them in the seed propagator along with the tomatoes. I put 2 in and both germinated. They start off growing quite slowly but seem to be accelerating rapidly now.

The smaller maple is looking a bit scrappy. It was captured as a tiny plant and it was quite a struggle to keep it going. The apex now has a fat bud growing - and the top 2 latent buds are under way as well. The little one is still living in the small seed propagator.

Oak Pruning

2009-06-01T12:37:00.014+01:00

I decided to chop the trunk on the little Oak - I'd taken off the top but and it began to grow again on the buds near the apex. Hopefully this chop doesn't upset the plant too much.

The cut took away a lot of wood and leaves. I'm hoping it will put some effort into some of the lower branches and less focus on the apex bud. The cut is however placed nicely now for my new apex shoot to be trained.

Bear in mind that the oak throws single opposing leaf nodes unlike the parallel nodes of the maple family.

A lesson learned with the oak is that when its young ( and maybe older as well ) the apex growth is very vigorous so its prudent to pinch the top bud early in the season and retrain the apex shoot when convenient.

The chunk with my hand to show size - about 20cm.

The base of the trunk has shown some very good growth though - its close to doubled in diameter.

yet more progress

2009-05-18T16:21:00.003+01:00

I’ve altered my fertiliser routine to every 10 days and I’m using balanced fertiliser now. I’ve given the fruiting plants some extra potassium to help them along while the flower and grow fruit.

The top shoot on the oak was over 40cm. I’ve pinched off the apex bud. I’m considering taking off a chunk of it - just not sure whether to do it now - or do it while its dormant. id like the plant to put its energy into growing some of the branches and not reaching for the stratosphere. I’ve spent a bit of time looking at the structure of the plant - unlike maples with their parallel buds the oak puts out alternating buds. I have to position the cut correctly for growing the new apex shoot and maybe two new top branches.

I’m really struggling with pomegranates. They are quite particular and difficult to grow. The potassium feed seems to be helping them a bit.

The leaf stalks on the little gathered field maples are starting to straighten out – I’m misting less now and they seem to be able to get almost enough moisture themselves from the soil. Both are still going and I hope they will start to grow again soon.

More Progress

2009-05-04T12:49:00.003+01:00

The Oak continues to grow at a huge pace. The shoot at the apex now measures 29cm - and shows no sign of slowing down yet. I cant recollect having seen a shoot like this on an Oak before - it must be very happy where it is and with what its being fed. There is also some useful growth on the bole which i am more interested in right now than the giant shoot.

The captured field maples are doing ok - the larger one seems to be getting a grip on life - but the tiny one is still strugling. i continue to mist them as often as possible.

The sharp eyed observers will note that the poor little oak is surround by those pesky Japanese maples. tsk tsk.

Progress

2009-04-24T15:25:00.006+01:00

The two captured Field Maples seem to have survived their first week of captivity. I still mist them with extremely dilute fertiliser whenever i walk by. They do still look a little droopy - but this is expected at this stage. I do hope that they perk up in the next few weeks.

The Oak is going well and has thrown gigantic new growth from the apex - currently 8cm and still going strong. It has also added a few millimeters to the diameter of the base of the trunk. If i am lucky i will get quite a bit more growth out of it this season. That top shoot has grown that 8cm since the 16th - today being the 24th - so during peak growth its doing 1cm per day. Wonder how long it can sustain that?

Over winter i may cut the Oak back a few nodes at the apex and train the top shoot as the new apex again. All depends on how thick it is and what the growth rate is this season.

The plan for the Oak is to reach a height of about 70cm once fully developed in an informal upright style. This will take a while.

Acer Campestre ( Field Maple )

2009-04-19T17:05:00.014+01:00

A while a go i tried to grow some Field Maples from seed i gathered in a local park. i carefully collected these seeds and stored them all winter. i had them in with the tomatoes in the seed propagator - the tomatoes are looking great but there is no sign of little maples. i emptied out the seed trays and the seeds were still there - completely inert in the soil. I'll do some more research and try again next year.

Today was a lovely day in London - warm and sunny - if a little windy - so i decided that we should go for a stroll in the local park. there's a lovely path along a river through the woodlands that i like to walk along. and there in the mud on the side of the path - about to be slaughter by the municipal mower were a few maple hatching's. nature had succeeded where i had failed. i guess a squirrel had tucked them away there as a snack and forgotten about them. i tugged gingerly at them and the came cleanly out of the mud. problem solved - here were the two field maples i had been craving to fill up my collection. maybe one day i will get lucky and pull a big one out of an old hedge - but for now i am satisfied.

My personal preference is to grow my own plants from nursery material or gathered seeds. It doesn't lead to instant gratification - but you do become a good grower. I would like to gather a good hawthorn from an old hedge sometime - but that's another project for another day.

Luckily i had some John Innes No.2 soil based compost and a few pots handy. I was using this soil for the garlic and pumpkin crops this year - but its nice soil and its got some grit in it too - not just compost - so i will use it for the little maples too.

With a young plant like this its important to get it into some moist soil ASAP as once those cells get dry and die they never come back.

I'm misting them as often as i see them to keep them going during the trauma of being uprooted and moved. Until the roots have grown into the new soil they will get all their moisture from the misting. Ive added a very weak solution of foliar feed to the misting water - in this case some 30% strength miracle_gro.

Commercial growers of cuttings use a constant misting system in greenhouses. I cant seem to find out what they put in their water - but i assume the plants need some nutrients as they grow a root system.

This leads me to wonder again about the effectiveness of maxicrop. Opinions are divided on sea-based nutrients as a foliar feed - but there is some support for it as well. Id like to see some tests of the effectiveness performed as a controlled experiment on a large number of plants. Foliar feeds of seaweed based nutrients are commonly used in agriculture and their uptake is reasonably well understood.

But I'm so keen on these young plants that I'll throw everything into the fight to keep them going - so i will be applying a dilute foliar feed over the next few weeks as they establish themselves and setup a root system in their new environment.

Addendum - i did add a sprinkling of bone meal to the soil as well to help with the root growing process.

Pests.

2009-04-18T13:02:00.004+01:00

Ive had a few problem plants, and this had led me to wonder what is causing this. Is it a nutrient problem or is there some unseen enemy that is attacking my plants?

The main symptom is a yellowing of the leaves and a loss of vigor. There are no visible insects on the plants - no scale or aphids. They are fertilised weekly with chempak.

I have 3 of these miniature pomegranates. The one pictured is particularely badly affected.

I suspect blackfly - because i can see them flying around the pots - not on the leaves though - but around the pot and soil.

My citrus also has some sticky residue on the leaves with no pests visible and this seems to be a symptom of blackfly. Ive searched the net and cant find an article on blackfly - all the articles seem to be cover greenfly, blackfly and aphids.

I dug up some soil that i was trying to grow some Chestnuts in and saw little white grubs in the soil - and there were blackflies buzzing around the pots.

I have sprayed all of them with Bayer Provado. Last year i had some scale and aphids and this product seem to sort them out very effectively. The label says that it does provide protection for some time after application as well.

As a check that it isn't a nutrient problem i have put some maxicrop on one of them.

I hope that this will go someway to restoring the plants to full strength.

Fertilisers

2009-04-17T17:49:00.007+01:00

Fertilisers used sofar this season.

miracid = miracle grow for azalea , camellia and rhododendron. i use this occasionally for the mugo pines and various fruit trees.

bonemeal - makes those roots jive. i add a little to the soil during repotting. potentially can make the soil a little alkaline when it decomposes.

chempak - high nitro ( no.2 ) - early season. i put this on everything. ( even the pitcher plant )
chempak - low nitro ( no.8 ) - mid to late season.

in theory chempak has all the other trace elements too - so i need nothing else - well thats what the package says.

ive wondered whether some form of biological fertiliser is needed too. i read about bio_gold and the various hard cakes that are used. opinions do seem to be divided over whats best - with good results being produced but those for and against.

maxicrop seaweed extract - this i am not sure about. it seems popular with gardeners and many hydroponics stores sell it too - but there is the controversial court case in New Zealand where they lost the case - where it was alleged to be useless. i have put some on one plant and im waiting to see how it behaves first.

if you are interested - this is where i began my research.
wikipedia stub.

some others that i have bought but not used.
bonsai fertiliser - generic balanced fertiliser.
citrus summer - i have a calamondin. and we need the little oranges for our gin & tonics. cant seem to find the exact nutritional requirements for citrus. buts its doing fine without it.
citrus winter - looks like low nitro from the label.

English Oak - Part4

2009-04-16T12:50:00.007+01:00

The little tree is coming on well with about 1mm of girth added to the base of the trunk.

I hadnt expected it so early on in the season - but the second flush of growth has begun. I'm glad that the apex is the strongest growth point at this stage as well.

I'm keeping this one on the chempak high nitro for another few weeks as im looking for a lot of growth this season.

plants left behind.

2009-04-02T13:47:00.004+01:00

Here is a photo of one of my oaks that i left behind in Australia when i move back to Europe. Its been in the ground for 3 years. Although the growth rate of Oaks is slow they are still capable of a few feet per year.

This young tree has survived drought and extreme cold. In fact it seems to have thrived in those conditions.

ah - back in those days i used to grow Morton Bay figs.

English Oak - part3

2009-04-02T13:36:00.011+01:00

Here is another image a week later of the little oak.

Its doing very well - Im hoping the buds are going to form some nice small branches where they are.

Oaks usually have a second round of growth later in the season so I hope these branches will be in good shape by the end of the season as well.

With the amount of foliage and new branches I'm hoping it will put on some good girth on the bottom as well.

At the moment its on a weekly dilute ( about 75% strength ) feed of Chempak high nitro ( 25+15+15 ).

As you can see im using some normal aluminium wire to shape the heavy branches - but on the light delicate shoots im using lead soldering wire to encourage them in the right direction.

English Oak - part2

2009-03-23T13:54:00.009Z

Here are a few more picture of the oak. The growth is rapid as it comes to life in spring again.

Ive selected the buds i want to develop and pinched the others. This young tree was very densely covered in buds so i had plenty of choice. Its very enjoyable growing like this - not needing to wire ( much ) or trim to get shape - but rather to rely on organic growth to get a nice shape developing.

Ive been giving it a little bit of high nitrogen fertiliser - chempack high nitro. the growth seems vigorous so far and im hoping for a big year from the little oak. As you can see in the background - the high nitro is giving rampant growth on the maples.

Im hoping the combination of increasing the number of limbs and the amount of foliage will increase the girth of the trunk quite a lot this year. Ive got some lead wire on the bas to keep track over the season.

Quercus Robur

2009-03-14T12:40:00.007Z

The acorn that sprouted in my vegetable patch is comign along nicely. its a tough little tree. It had a good season last year and is positioned well this year from some good ramification. its enjoyable to grow from see and be able to shape the tree from the beginning.

ive begun to pinch off some of the buds on the trunk where i dont want new branches forming. The apex is in great shape to put out the next layer of branches and continue upwards. as you can see there are several buds up there that will have to go. il just rubbing them off early in the season so they dont get too much energy diverted into thier growth.

as you can see - i am spoilt for choice for buds right now. the tree feels like its moving towards a formal upright style.

Singapore

2009-01-30T16:33:00.008Z

While i was over in Singapore i had a chance to go and have a look at the chinese garden in Jurong Park where they have a large bonsai collection. Coming into this incredible heat fresh of the plane from sunny England was really hard and we struggle for hydration as all the kiosks int he park were closed durign the week. Do take somethign with to drink if u decide to wonder aroudn there durign the week.

An interesting rogue branch on this plant. It also appears to have been planted in Tesco's premium light kitty litter. I'd love to know what they use over there and where to get some. Sadly there was nobody arround i could interogate abotu the soils.

Il try to put up some more images at a later date. I'm planning on doing a gallery of inspiring plants.

Field Maple - Part 1

2008-12-16T00:37:00.006Z

Ive gathered some field maple seeds from finer leaved local trees. There are plenty around in any woody area.

Not sure how many of the seeds will prove to be viable. I guess about 5% of the gathered ones. i cut a few of the seeds in half - most were empty - but a very few had a green kernel in them.

i guess if all else fails i will go to the local instant hedges nursery for some 60-80cm seedlings of hawthorn and field maple.

Ive got the seeds wrapped up in moist cloth - il see if any hatch after a few days. hopefully i get at least 2 viable ones.

Acer_campestre

trunk growth factors

2008-12-16T00:23:00.009Z

What factors cause the tree to increase in girth. observations of maples.

i currently have 3 maples - various random japanese varieties. one rescued from the exit of M&S one afternoon after being the last forlorn one left there - its was £4.99

1 - number of branches. the grafted plant has a lot of fine branches and foliage and was freshly repotted into good pottign soil - it has a vigorous root onto dwarf foliage. it was regularly fertilised through the growing season. fantastic growth on the trunk durign the season. i had pruned almost all the branches back 4 nodes fromt he tips - the two new shoots added about 4 inches this season and added a lot to the root branch thickness.

2 - number of leaves. the dwarf wins here with a tonne of foliage during the growing season.

3 - pruning. in these plants pinching and encouraging ramification durign the growign season seems to slow the plant down and reduce the growth in the trunk and parent branches.

4 - growth conditions. soil or fertiliser.

i used a bit of soldering wire trunk to track growth over the season. reasonable results on the M&S plant.

Soil

2008-12-14T23:38:00.003Z

Its Repotting season. Ive been looking for a good source of grit for making a potting mix. Most of the local nurseries seem to have a good selection of horticultural gravel now - it seems to be a seasonal product as im sure i didnt see it at other times of the year. had i known this i wouldnt have pursued other grit options.

i want to get to understand the PH of the soils as i have a few pines so i bought a PH testign Kit. the PH also has a huge effect on the health and vigour of trees that it cant be ignored.

Catsan = PH > 7.5 -- not going to plant anything in this.
Tesco Premium Cat Litter Natural Clay = neutral PH = turns to mud after a few minutes in water. unsuitable.
Tesco Premium Cat litter Light Weight = neutral -- nice. seems to be fired clay pellets.
Akadama - TBD.
Horticultural grit - TBD. Doesnt hold moisture particularly well.

got some akadama off Amazon that seems to be doing the job now - good price and arrived in the mail swiftly. it hasnt disolved into a puddle of clay either. ive done the important plants with this. later on il do some of the new seedlings and cuttings in the tesco/bark mix and see how it goes.

i may collect another oak for next season. Quercus robur seems to vary quite a lot - sadly the one i hatched 2 years ago seems to think its an elephant ear. il try to find a finer leaved one for the next acorn. the first oak - junior - is doing well ( other than having big ears ) in random soil and will hopefully have a good growing season if well watered and fertilised.

i have also collected some field maple ( acer campestre ) seeds which im going to try to hatch for next year. ive collect some seeds for local trees in the park and on my walk home from the tube station. these also seem to vary quite a lot in leaf size so i tried to gather seeds from the trees with finer foliage.