Bonsai Art

Bonsai for Sale Spring 2012

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:25:40 +0000

I’ve decided to take photos of my whole collection and offer them for sale. I don’t want to sell them all, but I like to vary my collection from time to time. I often sell some and buy others. If you are interested in any of them please leave a comment on the page (link below) with contact details and I will get back to you. I haven’t put any prices in place I will just be taking offers. I may put some up on ebay later on the year, I will make an announcement when I do.

Spring Collection 2012

The Dreaded Vine Weevil

admin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:42:22 +0000

The wine weevil is the number one pest when it comes to bonsai. This vile beast has the ability to destroy your whole collection!

The signs to look out for are semi-circular holes on the leaves indicating that a weevil has been chewing on them during the night. They prefer to come out in the night time to feast on the leaves so they can be hard to spot. The best way to find out if you have any is to keep a check on your leaves for marks. Spend time looking after your bonsai and you will be able to spot these easily.

However the adult vine weevil might make your bonsai look ugly by chewing on the leaves but it is not the one that will kill them. They lay eggs in the soil of the pot and their larvae eat the roots of the plant which will lead to their death. Because they live underground they are impossible to spot which is why it’s important to keep an eye out for the adults.

What can you do to treat them?

If you discover vine weevils or think you can see their marks on the leaves you must spray your whole collection with parasitic nematodes. These are microscopic worms which will kill the larvae.

Help! The Leaves on my Bonsai are Dry and Crispy

admin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:32:36 +0000

If you find that the leaves have gone dry and crispy on your bonsai the most likely cause is dehydration. The soil has dried out too much at some point and the bonsai has suffered as a result. There are a number of stages of dehydration which you can check for. If the leaves have started wilting but are not crispy it is desperately in need of a drink and you should give it water straight away. This should sort it out and get it looking it’s best again.
If it has not had water for a long time you will find that the leaves are going crispy on certain branches but not all.
Finally the last stage is when all the leaves dry up and go crispy on ALL the branches. Even at this stage your bonsai might be saveable by soaking it in water and pulling off all the leaves to further save moisture.

There are of course other reasons for leaves drying out and going crispy. These could be the lack of a good root system, spending too much time out of it’s pot during summer or diseases. With an indoor tree it could mean that it is placed too close to a radiator.
Whatever the cause the fact is still the same that it has not had enough water.

Cotoneaster Restyling

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:33:53 +0000

Here’s a before and after of a cotoneaster I restyled. I am extremely happy with the results and I really think it has turned out to be one of the best cotoneaster bonsai I have ever seen. It’s history as a bonsai goes back at least 10 years and possibly more. I bought it from a lady who’s husband owned it but had passed away. Unfortunately she didn’t know how to care for the trees and had to sell them all off. This particular one seemed to have been neglected for a long time as you can see in the photo. I found evidence that it had previously been in a shallow pot as there was mesh halfway into the root ball! I spent a few hours trimming it and moving it to a new pot and this was the result:

It has bushed out a bit more since taking the photo so I will be adding another soon. They really are great shrubs to use for bonsai as they give a lot of interest. The bark looks aged and rough quite early on and the leaves are very small. Add to that the fact that they flower in spring and grow berries late summer they give year round interest!

False Cypress Styling

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:25:22 +0000

Heres a before and after of a false cypress (cryptomeria) I bought recently for a little project at the weekend. I am fairly happy with how it turned out but I think it’s got a long way to go before it’s looking great. I think I may have worked too quickly on it as some of the needles are turning a bit yellow unfortunately. Having said that, this variety does turn a golden yellow in the winter so it might be ok, only time will tell.

Needle Juniper Progression

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:21:28 +0000

Heres a before and after of a needle juniper I have been developing. At the start when I bought it from a garden centre the trunk was horizontal to the ground and needed a lot of work to get it upright.

Juniper Bonsai Progression

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:15:05 +0000

This photo shows the 5 year progression of one of the first trees I developed myself. I bought it from a nursery and as you can see it has progressed quite a bit.

The Right Way to Water

admin — Wed, 25 May 2011 20:01:50 +0000

When bonsai start to dry out you need to water them but which way is correct? Firstly you should make sure you don’t get water on the leaves. The reason for this is that droplets of water on the leaves in the sun act as small magnifying glasses and end up burning them.
Preferably you should water them as the day is cooling down in the evening with a fine rose watering can. Of course if they look desperately in need of some water you can give it to them straight away!

If a tree has suffered from dehydration (leaves are very sagged and going crispy) you should fill a bucket with water and carefully put the tree in there to give it a good soak for about 30 minutes. Any crispy leaves should be pulled off to give it the best chance of survival.

General Bonsai Care Sheet

admin — Sat, 21 May 2011 10:53:30 +0000

Here is a nice general purpose care sheet I wrote which you should be able to apply to almost all bonsai types.

General Bonsai Care Sheet

There are three main things to worry about when taking care of bonsai.

Watering

You need to water your bonsai if the weather has been dry. If it’s been cloudy and dry it may be 3 days before you need to give them water, if it’s very hot and sunny you may need to do it daily. The easy way to check is to use a chopstick or other piece of small wood and push it in the soil. When you remove it, if it’s dry you need to water your tree. Deciduous (leafy) trees will start sagging when they need water but evergreens (needles) will not show you at all so you need to be careful with these.
Don’t overdo the watering, it can do more harm than good. Most of the time the rain will do it for you.

Roots

You should never let a bonsai get pot bound, having no room left for it’s roots to grow. There is no set rule about how often you should repot it. Generally you want to do it every 2-3 years. Smaller pots will need doing more often. If the tree hasn’t outgrown it’s pot (looks too big for it) just trim the roots and put it back in the same pot for another year.
Repotting should be done after the last frost just before the leaves open in spring. Roots can be trimmed back quite a lot but need to be kept moist whilst repotting. A well draining 60 soil/40 grit mix is what I use. There’s a lot more on this subject online.

Feeding

Bonsai need to be fed a balanced fertiliser at least once a year. Spring is best, you can do it again in summer if you want. Don’t bother buying special expensive bonsai feed. As long as you check that it is a completely balanced fertiliser it will be fine.

General Tips

Bonsai are always growing, they don’t stay the same small size.

Don’t cut the new growth on your juniper with a scissors, trim it by pinching the new growth with your thumb and finger.

Pests can appear just as with roses, most can be picked off but you can spray with a pesticide (I’ve never done this personally). The main pest to watch out for is vine weevils it’s worth reading up about these. These are the only thing that can kill your bonsai really.

Let your bonsai grow untouched without trimming it sometimes to gain strength.

Never cut ALL the leaves off the bonsai at once.

Position your tree in semi-shade if possible so that it doesn’t dry out too much in the hot sun.

Don’t overdo anything and don’t panic.

Keep your bonsai outdoors all year round. Don’t be tempted to bring it inside to shelter it from the winter.

More Yamadori Finds (part 1)

Adam — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:42:11 +0000

A few days ago I found a lovely looking tree which I wrote about at “Naturally Formed Hazel Bonsai“. I went for a search around the same area again today and found other nice looking specimens. I brought home two oaks and two birches which I’ve yet to do anything with yet. All of them need a bit of growing on to look good as they are a bit bare at the moment.

One interesting yamadori specimen I spotted today looks very interesting. It is another hazel tree but is larger than the other one I collected. It’s going to need a good shovel to get it out.
The problem Is I don’t know what to do with it once I retrieve it as it’s a bit of a strange shape. It looks to have had a tortured life so far! I think it’s going to need to be a lot shorter than it is at the moment, but I don’t want to lose the character that it has.

Any suggestions?

Part 2

Part 3