Pruning – Expressions of Grace Bonsai

Azalea Bonsai

Xavier Martinez — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 11:11:21 +0000

Azaleas produce incredible flower displays and last year was fantastic. Let me tell you the KEY dates and Tasks that I ALWAYS follow to ensure my Satsuki Bonsai thrive.

A few Fun Facts about Azalea Bonsai.
What about the Flowers?
When is my BEST time for pruning?
What about Cuttings?
Repot: Spring or Summer?
When do I do my Wiring?
What are the issues with pests?

God Bless & Happy Bonsaiing
Xavier

Time to prune that Scots Pine

Xavier Martinez — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 15:30:33 +0000

In early 2017 I decided to purchase a batch of 20 Scots Pine two-year-old saplings from eBay. They arrived bare-rooted and at the time I had no true understanding of the necessity of mycorrhizal fungi. I potted them up in a standard garden centre mix and left them to ‘thrive’. The short story is that they didn’t! Of the original twenty, only three managed to establish a healthy roots system by 2019.

When I examined the ‘deaduns’ it was clear that no beneficial fungus had developed whereas in the three healthy plants there were obvious signs of the white ‘powdery like’ mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. I did a lot more research and am now looking to purchase some for my next set of bare-rooted saplings.

This is a classic example of ‘on the job’ learning. Looking back I wish I had understood the requirements for succesful potting of a bare rooted pine. Perhaps then, I would now be dealing with twenty thriving potensai subjects

What I also learnt was how difficult it was to identify that the young saplings were struggling for those years. Yet, if I had considered their progress, I would have identified that the majority were not producing new healthy candles – as they should AND this would have told me their was probably a root issue.

So hopefully, if you are new to pines, you will take this crucial bit of knowledge and use it wisely. Key point for pines – do not bare root them. You want to keep a good amount of that beneficial fungus from the old soil to keep the exchange of nutrients process going.

Early summer pruning:

Around this period of summer it is a good time to start looking at your Scots Pines. This is when we can clearly see all of the new growth and make decisions on what to keep and what to lose. As with all pruning we must ask ourselves what stage the tree is at and what we wish to achieve. This is explained in greater detail in the first series of ‘pruning’ posts started June 2021.

In this case, I have three four-year-old potensai that have had wire applied to them in 2020 and are now ready for further styling and development. I will only be using one of the three for this post and I apologise now if some of the information is a little repeitive.

In this image I have tried to capture several of the branches each showing numerous new healthy shoots. Our first task is to reduce any groups of shoots to just ‘two’. This ensures we reduce the risk of unwanted swelling and also allows us to establish directionality to our design.

If their are any yellowing needles then these can be removed

You are able to see that near the tip there are three shoots growing from one junction – one of these must be removed.

As an observation, I also notice that lower down the branch there are smaller single shoots growing. This is great news because it means I may eventually be able to cut back to this growth in the future.

There are no hard and fast rules about which candle you should remove in this trio. However it does help to have a design idea already in mind. This way you can easily identify which of the shoots is growing in the wrong direction.

Generally it is best practice to maintain acute angles (less than 90 degrees)

I always cut right back to the junction to leave a flush transition to the remaining shoots. In my experience it has not been necessary to seal these size wounds with cut paste.

This operation should be repeated across the entirity of the tree – even on branches you wish to grow out. (We must always be careful of junctions swelling)

We then shorten candles as shown in the image. This should encourage back budding from the site of the cut and also further down the branch. Hence we aim to achieve 2 new shoots at each cut site and thereby establish ramification for next years growth.

These pines are classified as ‘single flush’ which means what we do now sets up the growth for next spring.

This is the branch after pruning is completed. I have two growing tips at the end which will produce further buds for next year.

I also have two weaker juvenile buds pushing out further back down the branch. These are key for my design and I am hoping that next year I can chose to either cut completely back to these OR remove the one on the inside and leave the outside one to develop the pad.

I do also wire my pines at this time and will generally leave this in position for up to 9 months. I have set a reminder on my phone for 6 months to check for wire bite. It is important to already know where and in which direction you are going to be wiring your branches before pruning.

I have included one of my latest Scots Pines Collaboration videos. This was a very difficult young tree that had been growing in my nursery bed for several years. A fellow YouTuber (Kennet de Bonde) suggested a completely radical over haul…

It is really worth taking the time to look back over some of his earlier videos – he is extremely clear in his explanations and visually makes it much easier to know what ‘you’ should be doing next.

It is also fun to see the various ways his hair is styled

Be ready for my shop page to appear soon(ish) – it will still be centred on ‘collections only’ but I am now able to take card payments.

Keep smiling…

Chinese Elm Bonsai

Xavier Martinez — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 17:18:53 +0000

In this fourth episode I look into the most popular of species for both Indoors and Outdoors Bonsai – the Chinese Elm (Ulmus Parvifolia). Also known as the ‘lacebark elm’, this species is native to eastern Asia, including China, India, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Of all the bonsai available to beginners, this is probably the species most purchased…and also, most often killed

I killed my first Chinese Elm, also my first bonsai, within the space of 3 months. I had no knowledge of how to care for this plant and no understanding that such care was needed. When it first started to shed all of its leaves I panicked and thought it must need more fertiliser – to stop the leaves falling!

When more leaves fell from the bonsai I looked at a book in hope and realised my tree probably had a root problem and must need repotting. Needless to say, I had no idea about the right soil or when the right time was to do such an operation. I pulled it out and trimmed the roots, because the book said I should, and then put it back in using a combination of topsoil and John Innes No 2 (potting mix).

Surprisingly, it seemed to ‘pick up’ over the next month and I thought I had the problem solved. I was now a Bonsai Master!!! Alas, I then noticed the tips of the new shoots were wilting and yellowing. Clearly I thought, with an air of smugness, I needed to prune this back (like the book says)…

This process of plant murder continued for about 3 months. It is probably important to mention that I made the biggest ‘common’ mistake by daily overwatering…as well as giving it more fertiliser. One week later it dropped the last of its leaves and the new shoots browned off and died. I think I ‘loved it’ to death…

But here is what happened with a dying Chinese Elm that I did take the correct action on

So if you want to learn how NOT TO kill your Chinese Elm Bonsai then I recommend watching this video

God Bless & Happy Bonsaiing

Xav

Japanese Larch Bonsai

Xavier Martinez — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 08:54:03 +0000

Find out my KEY dates and Bonsai Care Tips for Japanese Larch.

A short and simple guide that is ideal for beginners. Pruning dates, Wiring, Potting, Disease, Fertilising and a bit of cricket too…

God Bless & Happy Bonsaiing
Xavier

Japanese Maple Bonsai

Xavier Martinez — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:45:39 +0000

Find out my KEY dates and Bonsai Care Tips for Japanese Maple. A short and simple guide that is ideal for beginners. Pruning dates, Wiring, Potting, Disease, Fertilising and a bit of history too…

God Bless & Happy Bonsaiing
Xavier

Dawn Redwood Bonsai

Xavier Martinez — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:34:39 +0000

Find out my KEY dates and Bonsai Care Tips for Dawn Redwood. A short and simple guide that is ideal for beginners. Pruning dates, Wiring, Potting, Disease, Fertilising and a bit of history too…

God Bless & Happy Bonsaiing
Xavier

Developing my Ficus and Jade Bonsai

Xavier Martinez — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 13:35:36 +0000

Happy New Year from Expressions of Grace Bonsai. I pray that your Christmas celebrations find you all rejuvenated and ready to dig deeply into bonsai for 2022! January is always challenging because it is the only month when I truly do nothing to my trees. Instead, I spend the time reviewing my website and bonsai database. I was very lucky that my daughter developed a very detailed Access database that has all manner of ‘drop downs’ and reminders…

This year I finally intend to upload lots of bonsai pictures into a gallery/shop section. I have thought about internet sales through Woo Commerce but I am not set up with appropriate banking and I don’t like the idea of posting. I do intend to encourage more visits to my private nursery where I will be more than happy to sell direct and chat lots

Wiring out my Ficus retusa

During the first few weeks of December I spent time reviewing my Tigerbark Ficus. I obtained the two pictured above in 2017 from Savin Nurseries and have been slowly developing the secondary branch structure. They are pretty easy to work with but can be problematic when dealing with pests. Mine get regularly infested with aphids that secrete a clear sticky substance that then ‘drips’ onto surfaces!

This year I decided it was time to do some major branch wiring which has finally allowed me to spread the growth out and maximise air and light circulation. It has also made it easier for me to see the pesky critters before hitting them with the spray! If you zoom into the images you will hopefully see that all branches have been wired – many hours of work

During late 2017 I planted about a dozen cuttings taken from my biggest tree. These were left to grow for 2 years and then wire applied to provide some trunk movement. Last year I pruned them back and continued to wire out promising branches. They all stand around 10″ and look to become great bonsai for the future.

Ficus are very easy to grow from cuttings and do not need rooting hormone. Just take the extra few minutes to plant some of your bigger pruning scraps and you will be rewarded. All of these are available for purchase – just drop me an email.

Needless to say I planted another batch of cuttings in 2019 which all appear to be thriving as well

Fun with Jade

I purchased my first Jade in 2016 and it forms the backbone for this forest planting. It is the largest tree to the rear left and is also the parent to several of the smaller plants. Jade is the easiest indoor plant to care for and cuttings develop from a single leaf.

This is planted in a 320 x 200 cm chinese ceramic and stands around about 40cm high.

As with the Ficus, I have taken cuttings regularly. Jade can be a little more challenging to style and I have found it best to let them run wild for a year before pruning them heavily back. They bud as ‘pairs’ from the cut site so you can ‘plan’ how it should develop.

Jade can be wired and I happily apply movement to any of the more juvenile growth. It is a slow process, but again, well worth the work.

That’s about all for now but please accept notifications to ensure you are alerted when I do any new posts. My next effort is a ‘catch-up’ on the autumnal pruning and wiring work I carried out on my Maples and Hornbeams last November.

Happy bonsaiing

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.

Happy Bonsaing

Hinoki Cypress Bargain Basement Project

Xavier Martinez — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 09:58:39 +0000

So, as the end of summer rapidly approaches, I find my thoughts wandering eagerly to a time of rest. The past 5 months have been hectic and despite the enjoyment, I am definitely ready to take a break. However, we are not quite at that time yet…

Now is often a great time to start scouring the nurseries for unwanted ‘summer-damaged’ stock. Normally I will find dwarf azalea or potentilla but this week I was lucky enough to discover a Hinoki Cypress. Although I have never worked on this genus before, the price reduction to just £5.99 was too good to resist

The rules for purchasing ‘bargain-basement’ nursery stock remain the same:

Check beneath the soil for signs of inverse taper on the base of the trunk
Is there a good number of usable branches (not just 2 dimensions)
Is it relatively healthy (I am sure there will be some obvious dieback)
Is there a unique feature to seperate it from ‘the rest’?
Is it cheap enough that it dying will not be a big drama

You must get you fingers dirty before you make that final decision! I have pulled this out of the plastic container and immediately noticed healthy white roots. It is also not root bound so I could get away with leaving it ‘as is’ during styling.

It has a unique twin trunk feature which means it is very likely to have a strong base for the future nebari to develop. I had a little dig under the surface and could see that inverse taper would not be a problem.

Definitely worth paying the price

When I got it home I drenched it and then left it in a shady part of the garden until I had a chance to do some research. I always take the time to learn about my tree before I jump in with the chainsaw! I was satisfied that basic structural work could be done safely and because the root ball was nice and healthy I chose to do a very simple ‘slip pot’ into a bigger container to protect it through the winter.

I ‘m still not entirely certain which will be the front for this design. I have decided to wait until next year and just let the tree recover and push out new growth in 2022. I may yet remove some more lower branches and apply wire sometime next year. The main priority for me is allowing the tree time to develop a strong root base. Patience…patience…patience

And of course…now is a good time for taking cuttings. I obtained 8 usable shoots making sure to make clean cuts just below the point where the colour has changed from green to brownish. They are potted up in vermiculite and peat based mix and have plastic humidity ‘domes’. I will check them in about 6 weeks and hopefully see fresh growth. They will stay in the greenhouse through the winter.

And now for some bonsai 'home truths'.

Every year, no matter how careful I am, some bonsai just die. Sometimes it is due to mistakes I have made and sometimes it is just down to the environment. Whatever the cause – it happens and you must be prepared for this. When you take a tree out of its natural environment and make it grow in a small pot things will sometimes go wrong. The best we can do is to try and observe and understand how our bonsai grows and responds to different environmental factors.

Learn about the tree before you start to do any type of work on it. Remember, the tree is already unhappy that you are not letting it grow in the open so anytime you do anything else it will have some form of adverse affect. Hence, most of the pruning and shaping work is done in the spring when the tree is full of stored energy.

This year I had to say farewell to: a mature Japanese Maple, two ten-year-old Satsuki Azalea and several younger assorted varieties. I also had a near-miss with my prized Japanese White Pine and several Chinese Elms.

I think the Azalea died as a result of poor soil which allowed the roots to dry out during the hot sun. I have no idea why the large maple died – shame, it had a great nebari

So, the advice is to never totally give up on your tree. I always wait at least one year before consigning anything to the bonsai funeral pyre. At this moment two more of my ‘deaduns’ are sending out baby shoots from their root base. Granted, the tree will not be the same as before but at least it will have a chance to start again.

Now is also the time for the 3rd round of pruning on your Japanese Larch. Check those new shoots for tight buds close together and prune back to this point. If the internodal distance between buds is still large then cut back to the first whorl where you should hopefully activate two opposing buds. If you are unsure or your tree is still in development then leave things until next spring.

You should also be seeing a lot of leaves yellowing on your Satsuki Azalea. Don’t worry – it is perfectly normal. All I do is gently pluck them off the branch.

This is also the time to do light pruning on your Chinese Elm. All I do is cut back to the design silhouette and remove those pesky mealy bugs feeding off the trunk and branches!!!!

Happy bonsaiing

2nd Larch Pruning & Snakebark Maple Tidy Up

Xavier Martinez — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 16:15:16 +0000

Around this time of summer, many of our Japanese Larch will have produced a long enough second flush to allow for a follow-up prune. As with the first pruning, we are seeking sets of buds that have a small internodal gap. If the buds are still too far apart then we prune right back to ‘just above’ the needle swirl at the base and wait for a final smaller push in Mid-Autumn.

If your tree is in early development and you are still looking to thicken branches then I would recommend you only remove unwanted new growth that will not be of use in the design or may lead to unwanted branch thickening and inverse taper. If you are unsure, then it is much safer to leave the growth and review it when we carry out the Spring prune and bud selection in March 2022.

Please read the June blog post which provides detailed images of this pruning technique.

Japanese Larch ready for 2nd pruning

Lots of new growth

Most of this is too small to prune

My Yamadori Japanese Larch

The images I have selected show one Larch that needs over 3/4 of the new shoots to be pruned. The lower branches will be kept longer with at least 4 viable buds as I intend to wire some movement into them when they start to swell next Spring.

The second Larch pushed out lots of new growth but it is very juvenile so I will leave it till Autumn before pruning.

Most of our decidious bonsai will now have a good covering of leaves and be in need of a tidy up to ensure we are able to maintain decent airflow and light into the core of the tree. We will want to remove any unwanted juvenile growth that sprouted from junctions or crotches and we will look to prune shoots back to the desired shape.

This pruning is not intended to encourage another flush, though it does happen. This is the time when I am looking to remove surface weeds and inspect for bugs. I also use this time to wire in ‘minor’ movement on branches for my younger nursery stock. I often carry a notebook and write down any thoughts I may have for the future of the bonsai.

It is important to remember that your bonsai needs a good amount of leaves to enable it to produce strong vascular growth in the autumn. This will be the period when the tree expands trunk and branch girth. If you remove too much of the growth now, you can severely impair this aspect and put the tree back a year…or two!

The current tree front

The potential new front

Japanese Maple - Post prune

Post prune - Front option 2

Post prune - Front option 3

This Snakebark Maple has been in the wars and has lost several key primary branches over the past 7 years. I have slowly brought it back to full health and am now looking at maximising the ‘charm’ of the chaotic root growth whilst hiding the obvious ugly trunk flare resulting from extensive dieback.

Once I had pruned and tidied up the tree I decided on using front option No 2. It still allows the central trunk dieback to be a part of the design but reduces the amount of visible inverse taper. This angle also improves the view of the nebari and the branch structure. It still has a long way to go yet…

So what else have I been doing?

Italian Alder Spinney

First wiring of my Hornbeam

Ongoing Hornbeam work

Wiring and branch development

I purchased a variety of 2-year-old starter plants in 2016 that included: Hornbeam. Italian Alder, Japanese Larch, Silver Birch and Crab Apple. I try to work on them but find the demands of the more developed bonsai sap my energy and time.

This week I have managed to do some more wiring work to establish a primary structure for these potensai. The key is to avoid trying to prune to the ‘final shape. You need all of this leaf mass to help the tree grow but you can definitely apply some wire and get your branches moving in the right direction.

I appreciate this is only a snapshot of some of the ongoing tasks in the nursery so if you have any specific questions you want me to answer then just ask by leaving a comment. If you take the time to look back over the previous blog posts and also my facebook posts I am certain you will probably find the information you need.

HOT TIP:
If you have applied any wire during the last 3 months then be sure to have a reminder set on your phone for early autumn because this is when you may see some pinching. Early autumn is also the time to apply some more biogold fertiliser so make sure you have some ready

And now for a final few images showing one of my imported Dawn Redwood. This has been put through quite a radical branch removal and it’s potting angle changed. This year I finally applied the ‘once only’ pruning technique and all of the new fronds look fantastic.

Another long blog but hopefully someone is getting something from them?

Happy bonsaiing