Bonsai tree: Transplanting Tips: An Uncommon Technique

Mystified? If you are not familiar with the technique shown here, you just might be.
The technique shown here is particularly good if you want to replenish the soil while leaving some of the roots undisturbed. Doing this lessens stress and hastens recovery.
The technique is useful when you want move a tree from a larger to a smaller pot, or into a pot that has a different shape. It also works when you want to replenish some of the soil and then put the tree back into the same pot and is particularly useful for repotting forest plantings.
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Azalea - Developing New Branches

An advanced stage in the development of a Satsuki azalea. There are at least three flower variations in this photo: white, pink and pink and white striped. Satsuki azaleas are renowned for their vast and varied range of flowers. The bonsai artist’s name is not mentioned.
Azaleas respond extremely well to pruning during most of the growing season. You can cut off all the branches and new shoots will appear from the stubs. You can even whack the trunk down to almost nothing and new shoots will spring forth from whatever is left. This and other features like small leaves, small and beautiful flowers and easy adaptability to container culture, make azaleas a favorite for bonsai enthusiasts.
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Bonsai Grafting Technique

All you need is a good sharp grafting knife and willingness to experiment.

An easy way to add a branch
The technique shown here allows you to keep the roots of the scion until it takes an obvious advantage.



The part you want is the branch growing of the right of the trunk. Notice the slit to left of that branch.

This picture shows where the scion will be grafted on. In the left part of the drawing the bark has been removed down to the cambium layer. In the right part of the drawing a notch has been made to receive the scion.

Joined. The two notches fit together. Two small nails are used to hold the graft together in place. When the graft has healed and you are sure that it has taken, you can separate the new branch from its trunk and roots and use a concave cutter and a chisel to clean up the remaining stubs.



Some grafting tools: the knife and chisels are essential. Read more!

A Cornucopia of Bonsai Art & Technique

 

This drawing by Kihara Susuma is from an article entitled ‘Exploring a Collected Needle Juniper’ that appears in Bonsai Today issue 98.

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Juniper sp.

Well known and one of the most popular - Juniper bonsai. It habituates in the northern hemisphere of the World. For growing a bonsai, it best suits species form South-Est of Europe and Asia.
Particular characteristic of the fruit is a common one for the whole Cypress group. The leaves happen to be of two type: pinnacle and very rigid or scale. Sometimes both of them appear to be present on the same bonsai. An interesting fact is that fruits of the Juniper are used to make the sort of alcohol called Jin. This tree likes a lot of sun rather than a watery environment.

Caring in vegetation period

Every king of Juniperus sp. is felling well under high-level sun radiation, but suffers being in a dark place(except heated seasons, when we talk about young plants).Juniper is very steady to most uncomfortable weather state and temperature, though when it is frosty weather you should guard its rhizome. Juniper does not attach to the group of plants which needs a lot of watering, so it is recommended not to water until the soil is fully dry. It is also not recommended to settle the plant in high humidity environment. Adding nutritive material best suits to a warm time of the year in a moderate way. You should not abuse using nutritions, when it is a favorabil season to browse.
In the end of winter it is the best time to trans-pot the Juniper and to prune (before the young runaway appears). Every 3 or 4 years, you should cut the rhizome to 1/3 of its true length, which makes a good plant invigoration of the existent rhizomes and appearance of new ones.

Styling the bonsai

The species which have pinnacle leaves, you should firstly completely remove the yellow ones, from the center of the crown, trying not to leave there a thing. The trees with green squamiform leaves should not have new runaways and the pruning is good to be spent in spring and autumn.

Because of the low growth it is not a must to cut branches for changing the direction of the trunk, but it would be much more useful to wire, that could be done in autumn and un-wire not earlier than 7-8 months.
You could apply other, much harder techniques, thanks to a high flexibility and durability of its wood material. It is often used the technique of forming the tree by attaching weights or cross-piece.

Illness and wreckers

The stables and leaves of these plants are rarely exposed to insect, tick or woodlouse invasion in the specific power of the bark and leaves. But it can't be neglected the possibility of being infected with the fungus Coryneum cardinale, that slowly destroys the infected tree. The illness begins with discoloration of the leaves and appearance of some black spots on the surface of the trunk and branches, which provokes branches to become dry.

With the help of fungicide, especially sistematical, you could get rid of it. In this case you should necessarly remove dry branches, to eliminate the possibility of uncontrolable spreading of the fungus. Read more!

Bonsai styles and forms

In order to decide to begin growing your own bonsai, you should already know that there are different styles, in which you little tree to be represented. Surely it all depends on the tree species and surely your imagination. There are a lot of complex styles to choose from, even you can apply some different styles together in order to make your eyes admire, but you should know the basic ones, from which you could easily begin. Bonsai can, however, be classified into five basic styles: formal upright, informal upright, slanting, cascade, and semi-cascade. There are two other possible styles (Windswept {Fukinagashi} and Literati {Bunjin}) that many people consider as basic styles.

Formal Upright (Chokkan)

The formal upright style has classic proportions and is the basis for all bonsai. It is the easiest for a beginner to grow because it requires the least experimentation, avoids the problem of selective pruning, and should almost immediately become a displayable bonsai. In this style, the form is conical or sometimes rounded and the tree has an erect leader and horizontal branches. One of the branches is lower and extends a little farther from the trunk than the others. Also, the lowest two branches are trained to come forward on the front side of the tree, one slightly higher than the other. The formal upright style is considered the easiest for the novice bonsai grower. Plants in the formal upright style look best in oval or rectangular containers. Do not center the plant when placing it in the container. Plant it about a third of the distance from one end to another. In choosing a nursery plant for this style, make sure the trunk rises up from the ground in a fairly straight line. Trim off the small branches or twigs that are too close to the base and near the main stem. These branches detract from the overall composition. For a tree to be a formal upright, it must have a very straight trunk and a very balanced distribution of branches and leaves. The goal is to develop a sense of balance, but not strict symmetry. The first branch should be the most strong and should be positioned roughly a third the height of the tree. This style is best suited to conifers.
Recommended Species are: Larches, Junipers, Pines and Spruces are all suitable species. Maples can also be used, but are not as easy to train into such a conformist style. Above all, fruiting or naturally informal trees are not suitable for formal upright.

Informal Upright (Moyogi)

The informal upright style has much the same branch arrangement as the formal upright style, but the top, instead of being erect as in the formal upright style, bends slightly to the front. This bend makes the tree's branches appear to be in motion and enhances the look of informality. The trunk in the informal upright style bends slightly to the front. This bend helps to give the style of informality. Many nursery trees are naturally slanted. This makes them well suited to the informal upright style. Check the tree's slant by looking down at the trunk from above, from this angle the top should slant to the front. If this view is not attractive, you may move the rootball to slant the tree in another direction. If you choose a vertical tree at the nursery, and want to train it in the informal upright style, simply tilt the plant when potting it. When you do this, trim the branches and foliage so they are scaled to the size of the tree. The informal upright style looks best in an oval or rectangular container. It should be planted, not in the center of the container, but a third of the distance form one end. Informal uprights are one of the most common styles. This is the most basic design in that it follows the natural structure of the tree's trunk. The goal is to develop a single line of the trunk, reaching from the roots to the apex while producing a natural structure of branches and foliage. Again, the branching starts about a third of the way up, and there should be little or no empty spaces. Most deciduous trees will be best suited to informal upright styles.
Recommended Species are: Most species of plants are suitable for this style, mainly the Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum), Trident Maple (Acer buergerianum), Beech, practically all Conifers and other ornamental trees such as the Crab Apple, Cotoneaster and Pomegranate.

Slanting (Shakan)

In the slanting style, the trunk has a more acute angle than in the previous styles. The lowest branch should spread in the direction opposite to that in which the tree slants. The top of the tree is bent slightly toward the front. The lower branches are arranged in groups of three, starting about one-third the way up the trunk. In the slanting style the trunk has a more acute angle than in the informal upright style. The lowest branch spreads in the opposite direction to that in which the tree slants. Slanting trees in nature are called "leaners" -- trees that have been forced by the wind and gravity into nonvertical growth. The attitude of the slanting style falls between the upright and cascade styles. This style looks best planted in the center of a round or square container. The goal of shakan is to balance the movement of the trunk with the placement of the branches so that the tree does not appear to be lopsided. A slanted style tree can often give a very powerful impression of strength and age.
Recommended Species are: Most species are suitable for this style, as the style does bear similarity to informal upright. Conifers work particularly well.

Cascade (Kengai)

In the cascade style the trunk starts by growing upward from the soil, then turns downward abruptly, and reaches a point below the bottom edge of the container. For this reason, the container should be placed on the edge of the table, or on a small stand. The cascade style of bonsai represents a natural tree growing down the face of an embankment. A cascaded planting usually looks best in a round or hexagonal container. The cascade style has most of its foliage below the soil surface. This style is representative of a natural tree that is growing down the face of an embankment. Training a tree in the cascade style takes longer than in the slanting style. Choose a low-growing species instead of forcing a tree that normally grows upright into an unnatural form. Bend the whole tree forward so one back branch is vertical and the side branches fall naturally. A cascaded planting usually looks best in a round or hexagonal container that is higher than it is wide. The tree should be planted off-center from the cascading side.

Semicascade (Han-Kengai)

The semicascade style has a trunk that is allowed to grow straight for a certain distance, and then is cascaded down at a less abrupt angle than in the cascade style.The semicascade style has a curving trunk that does not reach the bottom of the container as in the cascade style. Prostrate junipers and flowering plants are well adapted to both of these styles. The cascading branches are thought of as the front of the tree, and the back branches are trained closer to the trunk than in the other styles. The semicascade should not reach below the bottom of the container, but should go below the level of the soil surface.
Recommended Species are: Plants that are well adapted to the cascade and semicascade styles are prostrate junipers, and flowering plants such as chrysanthemums, wisteria, willows, and star jasmine.

Windswept (Fukinagashi)

This style simulates the effect of sustained exposure to strong winds. In this design, each of the branches appears to be "swept" to one side, as if being blown by a strong wind or having large portions of foliage and branches stripped by environmental conditions. These trees are modeled on trees usually found in coastal areas, where strong environmental forces have shaped and sculpted them for years.

Literati Style (Bunjin)

This style is the most unconventional of them all. Bunjin often have long thin trunks which curve back around toward the front at the top, displaying the tree's foliage in a cascading form. It is not uncommon to see Japanese Red Pines shaped in this style. This style technically "breaks the rules" in a number of ways, but also imitate trees in nature that have been forced to contort themselves to survive. Often the result of adverse conditions, bunjin show us how nature itself "breaks the rules" in order to survive, not infrequently with astounding grace and beauty.

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