Are there any bonsai enthusiasts here? I did use the search function to try and see if there were any existing bonsai threads. And there were none.. I could hardly believe it. What kinds of trees have you had in the past, or do have right now? I've just pruned and repotted my little juniper, and have been reading all I can about both bonsai as an art form and about junipers in general (their characteristics and what kinds of environment are best for them). Should this little one be successful, I may think of getting an indoor plant for bonsai a few years down the road. Which species would you recommend?
i have a decent collection,a few junipers,15 maples,giant segayas,3 elms,a blue spruce,27 ficus rettussa,and a few more.moost i ve collected from the wild but some i started from seed.ive ben styling bonsai for 15 years and just keep collecting them.this year i collected a silver maple thatrs about 30 years old (8 inch trunk and 3 feet tall from the wild.im excited for this one. As far as indoor bonsai goes,theres sevral that do fine.the only speiciers i have for indoor are my ficus,they do real well and are verry easaly reperduced with cuttings,i have 27 now but started with 1 ficus.nice to see another bonsai artist in here.What style is your juniper?most of my trees are sho hin,some liteiti,and a a few wind swept. sunshine all arround frog
Oh your ? ,,as far as an envirenment for juniper.they need to stay outside all year and are pretty stong trees.Try not to prune and repot at the same time it may kill your tree from shock.do evrything slowly in stages.Junipers are good to learn bonsai with as they are pretty forgiveing trees and stunt verry well frog
Thanks for the tips, Woodenfrog. And that is quite the collection there. 27 ficus? I've heard ficus is a good starter tree for beginners as it's much hardier than most and also bonsai beginners tend to want to keep their plant indoors. I know I did at first! But when I found out about junipers (the day after) I put it outside. The silver maple does sound exciting. This is probably a very newbie question but how did you figure out the age of that tree? And also, how did you remove such an old tree (not old for a tree obviously, but relatively speaking right now) without damaging the roots or having adverse effects? To be honest, my juniper was store bought and horror of horrors, it had a slab of glued rock. I know all about the toxicity that I didn't know at the time. The next day I went out to buy some soil to repot it and wash the roots from the old soil. I've not pruned the foliage much at all. I'd rather learn abit more before doing anything to it? From the looks of it also, it's only 5 or so inches tall - just a baby. I've heard that due to the glued rock, these plants don't live past a year or so. Is this true?
it should live sence you took the rocks off,just put it in a big pot to thkin the trunk and it should be fine. Yes i have 27 ficus,didnt really mean to have that much but they root so ealaly from cuttings.Most of my trees are good for my zone (zone 4)and stay outside the ficus,bannana,and lemon stay in durring the winter. As far as the silver maple goes i dug it up over a year.1st year severd roots on one side ,fertalized then then this sping i got the rest of the roots choped.this tree wouldnt have made it in one digging.i judged the age by the size of the trunk and tap root,allso by looking at the distance between nebri. About 2 weeks left here for collecting from the wild,i hope to get this cool chinese elm to go with my other chinese elm. My Japinese red pines are goin out this year ,i started from seed last year and are big enouph to go outside now. good luck with your juniper. woodenfrog
Best of luck to you too with the silver maple. Regarding the age, I suppose it's virtually impossible to tell the exact age of a tiny tree. I figured with the uprooting with your tree but I wouldn't have imagined a whole year. Sounds like the tree was transported in pieces? We'll see about the juniper. I have one more question at the moment about bonsai and it concerns the type of soils. How important is it to use specific soils packaged especially for bonsai? I know that these plants need a lot of 'breathability' for their roots to prevent root rot. Right now, the juniper is in 'Schultz professional potting mix'. I'm just wondering if this will greatly affect or damage its growth if I don't use any special bonsai soils.
the soil needs to be well draining.potting mix will rot the roots.as it retains too much watter.the bonsai mix in the bag is awaom,its made of tinny rocks and organic matter.I recomend useing it for beginers,its evspensive but works well.i mix my own soil as i have allot of trees.if i was starting out and had 1 tree i would use the mix.lots of trees are lost becouse of poor soil,well draining soil the most important thing in growing healthy trees.root rot is ugly. frog
oh,one more thing about the soil.when you watter it you wanna see the watter drain out as fast as you pour it (yes that well draining)if it dosent drain allmost simatamisly then the soil is retaining too much watter and may cuase root rot sunshine
I don't have any bonsai yet, nor do I know anything about them. I am growing redwoods, sequoias, maples, cedars, pines and various other trees from seed though, so I'm probably gonna hold on to one of each variety as a bonsai.
WoW frog! seems like you are the bonsai king i've tried a few bonsai indoors but never had much luck for more than a season or two. i was thinking a doing a few again this year outside but what i was wondering is do you keep yours in full sun or part shade? do you nestle them closer to the house for winter or leave them exposed? and do you have them on a rack of some sort up off the ground like you would see at a botanical garden or something?
LOL,im no king,i just have a large addiction to trees. my trees are on benches and platforms on my deck.They are in partial sun.in the winter they go in a cold frame next to my shed sunshine all arround frog
Frog, An update: I found a bonsai store relatively close by where I am, and had it repotted in the right soil. Things were going well until today where I noticed there were small red dots moving along the foliage of the juniper. I've read that I should first use strong jets of water to remove all the mites. I'm guessing these are spider mites as I spotted one small thread from one needle to another. Since you have a few junipers, I thought you might have faced this problem somewhere along the way. Right now the foliage on mine is still quite green. But what alerted me first were the whitish speckling on the leaves and then at a closer look, the red dots. I've since given it two thorough washings. Any tips?
those are indeed a type of spider mite...keep doing what you're doing though by thoroughly wash/rinsing the leaves. if they continue to appear use a little diluted dish soap or castile to smother them before they start to have to much fun on your plants
Thanks for the quick response, passiflora. I'll take your advice. If the soap (or castile) do not work, how will I know that the soap etc. is eventually harming the plant itself? Ie. how do I know when to stop?
I would use the soap tell you dont see the bugs annymore.thats my only advise on bugs,I dont have anny exsperiance with them.ive benn lucky enouph to never have bugs. peace frog
remember you're using a very diluted solution. i've never seen soap harm plants to the point of toxicity. but just like you would do when you water, don't wet the leaves while the plant is in the sun. the water/soap combo will act like a magnifying glass with the suns rays and can scorch the leaves. most insects breathe through little holes in their bodies called spiracles. the soap will clog up the spiracles so that they can't get air...slow suffocation....sounds horrible doesn't it? lol but it usually works.
Thanks you two. I've been doing as you've both said for the past few days and I see no more of those little bugs. I've also put the tree in a different place now against a southfacing wall. Is that ok for junipers? I've read sometimes that they like light... and sometimes that they don't like too much afternoon light. So how much light? I just don't want it to burn up. Right now there isn't any new healthy growth on the tips and I'm not sure what else to do but to play the waiting game. Should I fertilize? Or let it be? While washing the leaves water already seeped into the soil and it's far from dry being outside. I'm in the Pacific northwest. Should I just stop fussing with it for now?
Yes,stop fussing with it and let it recover.Fertilizer should be used on heathy trees only so wait tell it recovers from the bug treatment before fertalizeing.Junipers (mine annyway ) like partial sun.Mine get about 3 hours of full on sun then latter in the day partial sun.Dont let it have full on sun tell its heathy agian to avoid burning. Allso remember ,there is alot of wisdom in that little tree,they know what to do to fix themselves.there time frame is allot slower than ours ,one must practice the waiting game and patients to have trully healthy prosperous trees. good job so far with your juniper keep up the good work and keep us posted on its progress. sunshine woodenfrog
