My Top 5 Trees for Bonsai

Xavier Martinez — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 14:10:05 +0000

If I were starting bonsai today what tree would I buy and why?

In this episode I am going to explain my Top 5 ‘beginner-tree’ choices in relation to several critieria. This will take into account: relative experience, indoor or outdoor, flowering, cheapest and quickest results. Then, I will follow my own advice and start a brand new tree – next episode; as part of my Bonsai Basics series.

I also explain why I chose to ignore one of the world’s most popular starter bonsai. Let me know if you agree in the comments…

Don’t I look great!

Topics Covered:

01:25 My best Flowering Option – Dwarf Azalea.
03:58 My first starter-tree Option – Japanese Larch.
05:54 My easiest to source Option – English Oak
07:52 My best indoor Option – Tigerbark Ficus.
09:23 My favourite Option – Italian Alder.

Which species do you think I should have chosen???

God Bless & Happy Bonsaiing
Xavier

Autumnal Pruning and Wiring

Xavier Martinez — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 11:28:56 +0000

Well…it has been a long time since I last posted and for that I apologise. The last few months have seen me busy with my secondary occupation and thankfully, the bonsai have thrived without much intervention. In truth, I find that Sept-Oct can be a period for rest and reflection. The last of the fertiliser has been applied at the commencement of Autumn along with a final bug spray. Though – the apples have really been attacked this year and have needed constant attention!!

I also had a visit from my favorite potter in September and she had some beautiful work for me to purchase. A separate post will follow with pictures and details soon. If you are unable to wait then have a look for Deiceramics on Facebook and Instagram. I have also done a little bit of work on two nursery plant projects which I can share with you now.

I found this dwarf Azalea struggling in the corner of a local garden center. Like many of my projects this one cost very little but has seen several ‘do-overs’ during the last few years.

Unfortunately, I have no earlier images to show how far it has evolved. I have wired and pruned it to maximise the flowering opportunities. I removed a lot of additional buds to ensure next years flush is at its best.

This Buddleia was another garden centre cast-off which I planted into a growing bed several years ago. It has been heavily pruned up to 4 times / year and was then transplanted this March.

The trunk has majestic movement and with a little more branch reduction in 2022 this specimen should make a promising bonsai.

I will repot this into a ceramic next year.

Decidious pruning & Wiring

We have now reached the time for pruning and wiring of some of our decidious trees. The optimal time is just as the leaves have browned off and begum to fall. We normally have about 2 weeks to wire and prune whilst the tree can still allocate resources. Any later than this and I find that work can be detrimental to the health of the bonsai.

So…right now two of my favorite species are dropping their leaves: The Linden (Small leaf Lime) and The Red Oak. The Linden is a relatively robust tree that has soft bark. Care needs to be taken when wiring but with patience you can obtain fantastic results. The Red Oak are much smaller examples and the wood is a lot harder to bend.

If your tree is still in development then I would advise you to prune only those buds where you are already happy with the branch girth. I find it better to wire out the long shoots into shorter and more interesting shapes. Invariably, these get pruned back heavily a year or two later…

This Linden was purchased from a local hedging supplier in 2017. I removed the top 4ft and left the tree to recover for 2 years in a grow-pot.

It had been pruned twice / year and fed heavily. The roots are still a mess beneath the soil line and I have yet to decide how many of the visible ones will be kept.

I have wired the secondary branches ‘out’ to optimise space for next years shoots. I reduced the ‘visual’ length of the shoots by wiring in bends at appropriate bud sites.

This still requires the removal of one of the lower branches to avoid inverse taper developing.

Some of the wiring has been done with the knowledge that I shall be removing the upper third of the trunk. This will be achieved by applying an air-layer in late May. The site of this is shown by the two black lines. I have traced in white what will hopefully become a new potensai.

The reason for this operation is to eradicate the ugly stright trunk and allow a new ‘tapered’ apex to be developed from the existing lower branch.

It will be frustrating having to wait another year for the air layer removal to take place but I am looking forward to seeing how this looks in 2023.

Red Oak - Pre and Post Autumnal Work

I purchased 10 x 2-year-old whips in 2015 and left them to grow in plastric pots till 2019. They were very slow to grow and I had no clear plan for their development. In the end, I decided to treat them all as Mame projects and secured them in small ceramics. These have large leaves so I tend to remove at least 65% of the growth to give an ‘impression’ of leaf pads.

The leaves turned a brilliant red in late September and then dried out by last week. I removed the final few leaves yesterday by carefully peeling them away from the new bud growth. I removed unsightly stubs and rubbed off the buds I did not need. I then wired a few of the branches out to optimise next year’s shoot growth. The branches can be quite hard so be careful with your bending!

Japanese maple - Autumnal Pruning

The one tree that must be watched for leaf-drop is your Japanese Maples. Due to the amount of water movement they have in Spring I always do my pruning work around this time. At the moment the leaves are about 50% still green so I shall wait another week before I commence pruning and wiring them.

Off all of the decidious varieties the Japanese Maple benefits most from having its development work done at leaf drop. The process is no different from what I have described above but i am sure i will add a few pictures of me carrying out this work in a later post.

This is a ‘must-do’ activity. if you forget, then your next safe opportunity for pruning will be in late May 2022.