Show your Bonsai

[Merlin5]

Here's one for you Raymond. Bargain!

https://www.herons.co.uk/Large-Ficus-Bonsai-Specimen-COLLECTION-ONLY

 

[Raymond Lin]

Here's one for you Raymond. Bargain!

https://www.herons.co.uk/Large-Ficus-Bonsai-Specimen-COLLECTION-ONLY

I stick to sub £50 trees If I can get through the winter not killing any i might treat myself to something more trained and older at around £100 in the spring.

Not sure what I do with a £7000 tree, it will need its own green house, probably need insurance as well?!

 

[Merlin5]

Yeah, at £7K, I think you'd be correct on both of those!

 

[Raymond Lin]

Yeah, at £7K, I think you'd be correct on both of those!

The Dawn Redwood Forest arrived today, a few things

Pro

1 - It has 7 trees, not 5 as I thought from the ad, 2 of them were obscured.
2 - Good size trees
3 - It was only £49

Con

1 - It could have been 8 trees, I can see a stump, which seems it was cut months or perhaps last year
2 - It is really pot bound. I poked a stick into the soil to check moisture and I can feel roots everywhere
3 - The surface has a lot of growth, more than just moss, some grass and even slime substance, that's why it looks wet.

For the price, I am well chuffed, £49 for 7 trees, I want to repot it right now but will wait until next spring. I am part tempted to put the stump back in when I repot, it looks kinda cool…..

 

[Merlin5]

Very impressive Raymond and a good deal for 7 trees. Proper little forest you've got going on there, let's hug a bonsai!

 

[Raymond Lin]

Very impressive Raymond and a good deal for 7 trees. Proper little forest you've got going on there, let's hug a bonsai!

I love it, and I think its so cheap because it came in a training pot and not a ceramic bonsai pot. Every other Dawn Redwood Forest i've seen are hundreds of pounds and to have 7 trees for under £50 was quite a find. It actually wasn't even listed, I emailed Heron Bonsai and asked them if they got any, I didn't hear back for like a week and they emailed me with the photos and put it up online for me to buy.

Read up on Dawn Redwood, it's kinda cool, it was thought to be extinct at one point and it is the oldest species known to man, was around during dinosaurs time! If I plant them in the ground they can get up to 100m in height and 7m wide...

https://www.bonsaiempire.com/tree-species/redwood

 

[Merlin5]

Ah so you got it from Herons, very good. Interesting history about them. This could be you in front of your redwood bonsai in a few years

https://i.postimg.cc/Wz7nsHdh/359852.jpg

 

[Raymond Lin]

Ah so you got it from Herons, very good. Interesting history about them. This could be you in front of your redwood bonsai in a few years

https://i.postimg.cc/Wz7nsHdh/359852.jpg

Yeah, basically I really wanted a Dawn Redwood whilst I was doing my research into all the species. I also saw another video where someone had a forest like that with trees that goes golden in the autumn so I started searching. I also picked up on Peter Chan mentioned they have like 20,000 trees in their nursery, of course their website don't have that many so I thought I would just fire an email trying my luck. If you look at their site they have Dawn Redwood but they are single trees that are trained with a S curve, which I don't want for this species since it isn't what they look like in nature.

They emailed back with 2 choices, this one that i have and another with 9 trees (but much younger looking trees).

Moral of the story is that if you like a kind of tree, but can't find it online, just email them and ask!

 

[Raymond Lin]

Ah so you got it from Herons, very good. Interesting history about them. This could be you in front of your redwood bonsai in a few years

https://i.postimg.cc/Wz7nsHdh/359852.jpg

Looks like this forest hasn't been repotted for at least 18months. Dense soil and lots of roots at the base. Going to loosen some of the edge soil and bit of roots at the bottom and then put some grit and then soil in the base of the pot and put it back for the winter.

 

[Andrew_McP]

I thought they were supposed to be pot-bound? I do remember something about trimming the roots occasionally, but this is based on vague memory rather than being bothered to do five minutes' research.

I really ought to do a bit though, because the tree below is now my responsibility. My mother started it... well, at least 20 years ago, and it hasn't been touched in any way for about a decade as she slipped into dementia's apathetic grasp. I trimmed a dead bit off it earlier in the year, but I generally just let it do its thing... which is pretty much anti-bonsai!

 

[Raymond Lin]

I thought they were supposed to be pot-bound? I do remember something about trimming the roots occasionally, but this is based on vague memory rather than being bothered to do five minutes' research.

I really ought to do a bit though, because the tree below is now my responsibility. My mother started it... well, at least 20 years ago, and it hasn't been touched in any way for about a decade as she slipped into dementia's apathetic grasp. I trimmed a dead bit off it earlier in the year, but I generally just let it do its thing... which is pretty much anti-bonsai!

pic not working btw


Pot bound means the roots has overgrown the size of the pot.

From what I have learn is that the tree will naturally grow proportional to the roots. So 10meters tall tree you can expect similar level length of roots underground to balance it out. So if the tree is pot bound, you are restricting it to grow. I know that is the idea of bonsai but growing is partly how it gains strength and health.

So every year or couple of years, depending on the tree, it needs to be repotted. New Soil put in.

Re soil, over time soil breaks down, it gets smaller and smaller particles and that holds more water, what this means is the root will be too wet, and too much water can cause root rot. If the roots dies, tree dies. Also, for such a small soil volume, all the nutrients will be taken up quite quickly so it will need fertilising a few times a year during the growing season.

 

[Andrew_McP]

pic not working btw

Thanks, they show fine in the preview, post and your quote of my post, but they're links to Google and I guess I can see them because they're mine... or something. One day I'll get the hang of the internet. And thanks for the er, potted bonsai guide. Ours was dry as a bone and had a good soak earlier in the year, but it's definitely sodden at the moment. Might give it a holiday in the conservatory now it's unlikely to get hot in there until March.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2RGte6bCiSZMAy9y9 ought to link to a shared album.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Thanks, they show fine in the preview, post and your quite of my post, but they're links to Google and I guess I can see them because they're mine... or something. One day I'll get the hang of the internet. And thanks for the er, potted bonsai guide. Ours was dry as a bone and had a good soak earlier in the year, but it's definitely sodden at the moment. Might give it a holiday in the conservatory now it's unlikely to get hot in there until March.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2RGte6bCiSZMAy9y9 ought to link to a shared album.

That is a beautiful old pine tree. I take it has always been left outside?

I won't take it indoors in the winter, it needs "season". In the winter it rests, if you take it inside it will always be warm and it won't rest. Winter is when most trees takes a breather from growing, stores its energy and then waiting for spring.

Perhaps when it gets really cold, put it in the shed until the snow blows over or in a room with no heating. The warmth of the house will trick it into spring and sprouts too early. Generally if you put it under that bench you have when December comes it will provide protection from wind chills and most of the blunt of the cold weather.

That root system looks solid and congested. Tree needs both water and air, it gets air from the soil so if its solid it can't get any air and also so compact and wet it will rot.

BTW, you need to left Bonsai alone sometimes. You let it grow (to get stronger) then trim back to shape. You shouldn’t constantly trimming it.

 

[Andrew_McP]

That is a beautiful old pine tree.

In the spring it has delicate little pink cones, which are really rather beautiful. I really need to start looking after it, rather than letting nature and neglect do it for me. It's always been left outside, and putting it in the conservatory would, as you suggest, be a risk.

That root system looks solid and congested.

It's a solid block of not-quite-totally-root! I've left it alone for fear of making things worse or introducing disease, because it's been like that a very long time. And that pot it's in is perfect for it. But I guess if I like the tree enough -- and I do -- I shouldn't begrudge it a slightly bigger new home.

I've always wondered what would happen if I planted it in the garden with 'infinite' soil available. Would it die of shock or would it suddenly go all Jack-and-the-Beanstalk on me, with a decade or two of pent-up growth potential? Given my unskilled gardening skills, it would probably just be smothered by weeds.

 

[Raymond Lin]

In the spring it has delicate little pink cones, which are really rather beautiful. I really need to start looking after it, rather than letting nature and neglect do it for me. It's always been left outside, and putting it in the conservatory would, as you suggest, be a risk.


It's a solid block of not-quite-totally-root! I've left it alone for fear of making things worse or introducing disease, because it's been like that a very long time. And that pot it's in is perfect for it. But I guess if I like the tree enough -- and I do -- I shouldn't begrudge it a slightly bigger new home.

I've always wondered what would happen if I planted it in the garden with 'infinite' soil available. Would it die of shock or would it suddenly go all Jack-and-the-Beanstalk on me, with a decade or two of pent-up growth potential? Given my unskilled gardening skills, it would probably just be smothered by weeds.

The size of the pot isn’t the problem. The main problem is when the tree’s root is pot bound, it gets solid and no air, and that usually means too much water and moisture it can cause root rot. Putting it in a larger pot don’t really fix anything. It needs all the soil in between the roots scrap off (there are lots of videos online), cut back a bit of the end which it will grow back. As I said, growing is what makes it stronger. But you do this generally in late winter or early spring before the leaves comes.


If you put it in the ground, after untangle all that, it will grow full size. The only thing restricting its size is the pot itself. A tree grows as large as the roots is long so it’s the pot that keeps it small. If it’s in the ground with no limit then as the roots gets deeper, the trees gets taller. Of course, you have to do it at the right time and also into the right kind of soil. When it’s in a pot you water it, you can protect it when it gets too cold or hot. When it’s in the ground it’s basically has to survive.

but seeing how it’s still alive after being neglected for so long, your mum must have got it really strong in the first place to be able to go this long not being attended to.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Put in a layer of grit and soil at the base to raise it an inch or so, basically added more insulation and protection for the winter if anything else.

 

[beachBOYken]

I'm thinking about getting a bonsai tree, would the below be ideal for inside on a window seal.

https://www.herons.co.uk/Ficus-Bonsai-S-Shape

 

[Raymond Lin]

I'm thinking about getting a bonsai tree, would the below be ideal for inside on a window seal.

https://www.herons.co.uk/Ficus-Bonsai-S-Shape

Yop, it's where i plan to mine in the winter.

Here is what i learn.

1 - You must keep the roots above 28f/-2c, at that temp is where water freezes (its lower than 0c as its inside a cell, impurity brings down freezing). When it freezes is when the cell ruptures and when roots die, and plant dies.
2 - At 5c thereabouts is when the plant pretty much stops and slows metabolic rate due to the temp so for a tropical plant like a Ficus, when you see the weather report to see that it is going to be under 10C soon, bring it inside until Spring.

Remember to keep watering even through the winter, just not as frequently, don't let the pot dry out, it will still transpire water through the surface of the bark, even if it's a tree that loses all its leaves.

 

[robj20]

These look great, never though of growing these at home. Can you keep them indoors all year round?

 

[Raymond Lin]

These look great, never though of growing these at home. Can you keep them indoors all year round?

Species and location / facing window dependent.