Winter 2014 - Repotting session part I

Winter is definitely here and some trees are going dormant while others are starting a new growth cycle.
It's pretty easy to see whose doing what : trees with leaves that have fallen are the trees that are going dormant, while the trees that are showing signs of new buds, bud swelling or bud developping into leaves are starting a new growth cycle instead of doing dormant.

I took that opportunity to do some repotting on various trees.

Trying out a new potting mix

My usual potting mix is a mixture of grid/pebbles, perlite and pine bark.
But lately there have been several new interesting horticulture materials on the local market and I decided to go and give those a try.

I did use the soil-less mix before for potting and training and got some good results.
I still retained my inorganic medium, 5~6mm pebbles from Espace Jardin.


For water retention I used to use perlite, but I found some vermiculite at Vaneron Garden Center, and decided to give it a go.


And instead of pine barks for my organic component, I decided to give the new soiless mix that's available in several nurseries and plant centers a try.



And here's the mix with all three components combined


For more info on bonsai soil here are some links:
Bonsai Soil Demystified
Soil basics

Repotting #1

My first repotting priority was this ligustrum ( privet / troène ) that I had to repot in a classical potting soil some time ago. Time to go towards a much more draining mix now.

Ligustrum in the training "pot".  Colanders in a bonsai training method in use for some time now.
Read more here : In praise of colanders

The purpose of the colanders is to promote finer roots. In a normal pot with only drainage holes
at the bottom, the tree tends to develop lateral roots that curl about in the pot. With the colanders the aim is to promote :
1. Finer roots ( feeder roots )
2. Enable the roots to spread ( and even leave the colander )
instead of coiling around in the pot.

One of the rare trees that I had in full gardening soil, time for some draining mix. Notice the soil level here, the nebari is still underneath the soil surface.

Now that's what I'm looking for! Lots of feeder roots and fine roots. I did not perform any root pruning on this tree for this repotting session.

Here's the little guy :)

Repotted ( sorry for the slanted shot angle I noticed it afterwards )

I repotted the tree with the nebari exposed.

Another angle

Wiring #1

This thuja seedling's trunk is starting to lignify ( starting to produce woody structures ), its about time to wire it and give it a rudimentary shape before it lignifies too much and becomes too hard to bend.

Take care not to crush the branches.

Wired and shaped

Repotting #2

This ligustrum is in the stages of branch development. Not a pretty sight and definitely not show ready. There are several sacrificial branches that are still on the tree and which will still be on the tree for quite some time.

Cuphea literati

I often find interesting stuffs when working on my plants, be it a normal plant or a (pre)bonsai.
Sometimes the projects works, other times they don't work.
My best example would be my mame root bonsai : http://maubonsai.blogspot.com/2013/03/ligustrum-011-mame-progression-from-root.html
It was just a root cutting that I kept because it had an interesting look to it, and now its one good track to become a nice mame.

My new project is a cuphea mini root that I salvaged during a repotting session.
It was from the cuphea entered in the last OfBonsai Ryuga contest : http://ofbonsai.org/contest/ryuga-2013/entry-cuphea-hyssopifolia-false-heather-mauritius

At first I was not having much expectation for this plant, but now its starting to get more and more appeal to my eyes. I have various ideas for the foliage disposition, but what I know for sure is that I want to try and create a " bunjin (literati) shohin cuphea".

Lets translate that last bit :
Bunjin / Literati = Its a "bonsai style" difficult to define precisely, this style breaks many rules but nevertheless the trees have an air of refined elegance. The slender trees in japanese paintings (sumi-e) had an abstract, calligraphic quality that was the inspiration behind cultivating bonsai in this style.

"Pine Trees" (left hand screen) by Hasegawa Tōhaku (Japanese, 1539–1610).
The painting has been designated as National Treasure in the paintings category.

Bunjin Bonsai / Literati Bonsai

Shohin = Shohin-bonsai are 20 cm / 8 inches and under. Basically small sized bonsai ( yes there are BIG sized bonsai, some over 3m high! )

Cuphea = Is the name of the plant. In this case a Cuphea hyssopifolia.

The parent tree

During the repotting session I decided to remove the foliage on the bottom left close to the trunk.

Turns out to have its own root system

I did an initial repotting. I placed it rather deep into a pot, leaving only a small section out to maximize rooting chances.

After some free growing the tree seems to have well rooted and gain back its vigor

Close-up on the formation of aerial roots

Repotting - you can see how the root system has toughen since the first repotting

Removing the aerial roots.
This section will be the new apex of the future bonsai, this means that I don't need the aerial roots.
I'm trying to create a bunjin here, this means feminine trunk line, not a bulky masculine trunk line.

Cleaned up trunk. There are still some roots, but those can be removed later on.

Now for the main roots.

Reduced root ball

Repotted

Close-up of the trunk line

Flower detail

British Shohin Association Exhibition 2014 Part 1 - Peter Warren Exhibit Critique

A walk around a few of the exhibits with Peter Warren at the BSA 2014 Exhibition at Willowbog Bonsai Nursery.

Big thanks to Bonsai Eejit (Ian) for sharing those events on his YouTube channel!

Bonsai Club - First informal meeting part 2

Part I here 

Last weekend we had our first informal bonsai meeting at Hem's place.

It was not something that was planned, I was just going there for a quick "Hello" and ended up with a 6 hr informal bonsai meeting, where we worked mainly on Jeanluc's plants.

Well this meeting was unplanned and we did not took any pictures methodologically but mostly randomly.

Yamadori Goyava : Carving

I think the most interesting material for me was this yamadori goyava belonging to Jeanluc Essoo.

Here's a little evolution of the tree since it was collected, courtesy of owner ( Jeanluc ).

Originally that material was not meant to be worked, but a section of deadwood caught my eye and I decided to work on it.

I think it has a huge potential to become an outstanding goyava shohin if Jeanluc managed to nudge it in the right direction over the coming years.

Old front - I think the left side should be the new front in the long run.

The section of deadwood that caught my eye. The old cambium was still on the
tree and it was keeping moisture trapped underneath which in turn will cause the wood to rot faster.
Another issue arising here, the two dead branch touching, one needs to go or get reduced.

Decided to keep the lower branch but to reduce its diameter. 

We did not do a full work on it - time was short.
It definitely needs 1 or 2 other sessions done on it.

Trying out some Lime Sulphur

We used the newly created deadwood to test some lime sulphur (or lime sulfur ) and see how it reacted.

This was purely for experimentation.

For info that dead branch was already dry and lifeless, on a fresh green carved branch I usually prefer to let it get weathered down first ( even if its not strictly necessary ). 

Ended the session on a quick "How to unwire" course :)

There were some wires on the upper branches. The tree was starting to grow into those wires, and it was more than time to remove them. We ended the session by going through the basic notions on removing wires on the branches : when and how to safely unwire by hand, how to cut wires instead of removing by hand and where to cut wires partially.

Hem and Jeanluc in the process of identifying areas to unwire

Jeanluc cutting the wires

Jeanluc cutting the wires

 Part I here