Saturday 31 July 2010

Growing Medium Revelation

Although my time growing bonsai is still very limited since I have started a new development in the standard growing medium used for bonsai occured. When I first started out, many people, books included, suggested the most suitable growing medium was a substance called Akadama. This was a Japanese form of baked clay, which retained water very well but at the same time allowed free drainage of any excess. Due to it being Japanese and therefore needing to be imported I found that this was not exactly cheap. It seemed that other people felt this too and so had been looking for a cheaper, more readily available alternative. This is where Cat Litter comes in, it may sound strange at first but this is now the preferred growing medium for a vast number of growers. The reason for this is that there are a couple of brands of cat litter name Sophisticat Pink, and Tesco Premium LightWeight cat litter, which use a very similar formula of baked clay granules. This meant that large bags could be bought of this product for a lot cheaper than their Japanese counterpart, and the cat litter works just as well and even slightly better in frost conditions. This was an excellent find especially for a beginner like myself who often doesn't have a huge budget to be spending on extra supplies. Care must be taken however when purchasing the cat litter to ensure it is the right brand, other brands have been shown to clump up around the rootballs of trees which can be disastrous. The only difference between the Sophisticat and the Tesco brand is the average grain size, the Sophisticat having the slightly larger sized grain, this is purely down to personal choice though, I am using Sophisticat and have been very happy with it so far, and my trees planted in it seem even happier!

Sunday 25 July 2010

Invaluable Help

One thing I found when starting to practice bonsai was the wealth of reading material available in both books and on the internet. Whilst this is great for learning about everything you need to, and finding inspiration through pictures, if you have a question there is little hope of a response. This is where the internet forum trumps the lot, through a forum you can ask a specific question and have it answered by experienced bonsai artists very quickly. The first forum I found on bonsai was called BonsaiHelp, unfortunately this site has closed down now for various reasons, however its core community has created an off-shoot forum of their own which is currently thriving. I find this forum to be the most important tool I have available to help me along with this hobby, and as a beginner in the art myself it is incredibly insightfull to listen to more experienced people talk about the subject and show off their collections. At first I was a more passive member, rarely posting questions but merely reading the wealth of information contained in other peoples topics. Now however, I take a much more involved role in the forum asking more questions and even on occasion trying to help other beginners with things I may have experienced too. The forum currently has over 300 members and many new posts each day, and I will continue to read and contribute as much as I can. I would just like to recommend the following site though to both beginners and more experienced bonsai artists due to the crucial help and enjoyment it has afforded me.

Give it a visit and say hello WeeTrees Bonsai Forum

First Tree

So my first purchased over 3 years ago was what I have already described as another "mallsai" I was inexperienced at the time and knew no better place to get one than in my local Homebase. The tree was a Chinese Elm, and I immediately took the labels advise and kept it indoors. The tree sat in my room seemingly happy enough and pushed at new growth. This new growth was however pale and slightly leggy, the first indication that the position of the tree was not ideal. Following this pale and leggy growth the tree began to display yellowing leaves and also drop them. At this point I knew something was wrong and so after researching a little on the internet decided the tree would be much happier where it was intended to live, namely outside. After I moved it outside its recovery was almost instantaneous, it pushed out new growth where it had previously lost it, and a much more compact habit.

This Is the earliest picture I could find of the tree, still sporting it's original blue glaze pot. This was probably about a year after purchase. I know now that I left this tree far too long in it's pot I bought it in and more importantly in the same growing medium it was bought in. The soil these trees are usually growing in from purchase is very unsuitable, it holds far too much moisture and has little drainage capacity. In order to get maximum growth and health for the tree's roots it needs to be planted in a free draining but moisture retentive at the same time type of medium. You will also notice I had added some moss on top of the medium to simulate grass. Whilst this can look alright, it should only really be used for a short period i.e. for a show, as the moss can cause further drainage issues and also harbor unwanted guests e.g. creepy crawlies! The moss also provided a further problem for me in that it began to grow up the trunk, making the bark underneath it constantly wet, this led to the trunk beginning to rot at the bottom, which I have now sorted out but was worrying at the time. Since this picture I have repotted the tree into a more suitable growing medium and it is being allowed a period of free growth as I am planning to extend it's silhouette into a much broader shape.

Here it is as it stands today, no dramatic change but looking very healthy and well on it's way to my future view for it. In hindsight the pot I repotted it into is all wrong both in shape and size, and once it has achieved the desired shape I intend to pot it into a more suitable round pot with a dull glaze, more suited for this style a informal broom tree.

Lastly I have included a rough virtual representation of the shape I would like to achieve to give some idea of where it is heading. The current more rounded shape will be replace by a much shallower and wider dome which will appear to bring the height on the tree down, appear as if the trunk is thicker, and give it a bit more presence. Then with the addition of a more suitable pot I think this tree will not be a bad addition to my collection, from humble beginnings.

Background

I would like to start with a little background to how I became interested in bonsai and where I am at present. I have had a strong interest in bonsai trees really since I was a little kid, my Dad always used to take me to the local flower show every year and I would stand and marvel at how they made these seemingly ancient trees fit into little pots. Various members of my family have also owned a couple of "bonsai" trees widely known as "mallsai" (cheaply bought supermarket trees) and so had a little experience with them up close. However, as with most of these purchases they are often mis-sold as easy to keep indoor plants when they are usually quite the opposite. So it is of no surprise that these early forrays into bonsai were unsuccessful and the trees succumbed to over zealous care. My interest hightened in my late teens when I became involved in eastern martial arts and this meant I was enlightened to the wider eastern culture also. So I decided it was time I tried to care for a bonsai tree of my own, and this is where my journey began!