Still Remember Me?
28 May 2012 16 Comments
in Experiment Tags: Black pine, Bonsai experiment, Defoliating Black Pines, Kuromatsu, Pulling Needles
Do you remember this tree? If you don’t or at least, need a little help to remember, you can learn more about its history by reading the previous post about it (Remember Me?).
Last April, I revisited this tree again, and you guessed it, pulled all the needles off. Except, this time, we took it one step further to really see how much this tree can take. Last year, we found that pulling all the needles off the tree didn’t kill the tree (Cool!) as long as we left the terminal bud intact, but still yielded long needles (about 2+ inches (5+ cm)).
Since we now know that the tree will survive a defoliation, we thought about different ways of stressing it further so that it would produce shorter needles. We came up with three options:
1. Pull off all the needles and repot the tree.
2. Pull off all the needles and wire the tree.
3. Pull off all the needles and cut off the terminal buds.
All three of these methods will definitely weaken the tree, but which one do we do? After much discussion, we decided to go with option 2 because it was the least stressful for the tree. Though wiring can be stressful for a tree, repotting and especially cutting off terminal buds can be much more stressful. Since we’re trying to find that tipping point between continued growth and die back, we decided to push the tree in small steps.
Here is the tree after I pulled all the needles off. I even pulled off the needles in the weaker interior buds as well. The tree looks very naked and un-pine like (This blog contains adult content…). :op
Here is a close up of the different strength terminal buds. Note how the bud sticking straight up are the biggest buds. This is the case because they tend to received the most sunlight. Some of these large terminal buds are the reason why we thought about cutting the strong buds as well as pulling the needles.
Here is the tree after I wired it! It was a bit strange at first but went by very quickly since I didn’t have to worry about the needles. It was like wiring a deciduous tree after defoliating. Somehow, I feel a Black Pine can’t quite pull off the whole, “Winter silhouette,” like a maple can. Hum….?
In this photo, you can see that I pointed all the buds outwards and slightly upwards. How the buds are pointed will greatly play into how strong the branch will grow. Downwards = weaken(0), Upwards = strengthen(10). I got the buds at about 7.
What Are We Looking For This Time?
Interestingly enough, as I was pulling off the needles, I noticed that the tree had many new back buds everywhere! As I wired the tree, I actually had to cut some of them away to reduce the crowding. Could I be on to something here??? My initial thoughts were that since the tree had no foliage, plenty of sunlight reached the interior and the tree responded by budding out (Isn’t that why we thin trees out?). I asked Mr. Tanaka his thoughts and he said it’s hard to say what caused the back budding. Since the tree has been de-candled every year, except for last year, the tree may have just reacted strangely and that the needle lost didn’t play a part at all. He then added that sone trees just back bud more easily then others. Of course, on the other hand, perhaps it is because so much sunlight is getting into the tree.
Nothing conclusive yet, but all very interesting…
Here are some things I’m going to be looking for as the tree continues to grow till the end of Fall.
1. Candle and Needle length
2. Changes in strength in the new terminal buds
3. Increased back budding
Currently, I checked on the tree and the terminal buds have started to push out new needles. Once October or November comes around, I will thoroughly go through the tree and post my findings with some pictures of course. I’m hoping by the end of the year, we’ll see shorter needles produced and the continuation of strong back budding.
What’s Important
The important thing about this experiment is not to see how good we can make this tree. Sure if things work out, that’s great, but what’s important is to recognize how the tree will react to certain stresses and give us a better understanding of Black Pines. Perhaps the different outcomes we see in this tree can lead to newer and better techniques. Maybe, maybe not… but at least we’re trying, which gives us at least some chance of learning something new as opposed to doing nothing, which means we learn nothing.
Thanks for following our little experiment. Lets see what the Fall brings!
Thanks for reading.
P.S. If you are actively reading this blog, I would appreciate it if you subscribe to it (right column of the blog). This is one of the best ways for me to know how many people are reading. Thanks!
Randomness of Daily Life
21 May 2012 23 Comments
in Culture Tags: apprentice life, fishing, golden week
Within a week, we had three birthdays at Aichi-en. Aiki (center/oldest)March 30th, Yoshiki (right/middle) April 4th, Hiyu (left/youngest) April 6th. Here is a shot of all three of Mr. Tanaka’s kids together for Aiki’s Birthday.
Since the last couple of post I’ve wrote as been pretty heavy on Bonsai, I thought I’d lighten it up this time around. As I scrolled through the photos I’ve taken this last month, I’ve decided to pool some of the random ones out and share them with you. Also, I’ll touch upon some of the things I did during, “Golden Week,” in Japan, plus a little R&R time with a customer.
Golden Week
Golden Week happens every year in Japan and is pretty much a group of holidays lumped together into about 9 days during the end of April and the beginning of May. This is also the time of year where many workers get paid vacation or at least take it a little easy. I was sitting in the workshop when Mr. Tanaka pointed out the Golden Week dates, then quickly added that Golden Week is meaningless to Bonsai professionals because we work everyday (awwww…). If you would like to know a bit more details about Golden Week in general you can click here to visit our good friends at Wikipedia. Here are some of the things I did during that week.
The first thing I did during Golden Week was clean up the walkway! Mr. Tanaka laid out this stone path about 3 years ago and now wants to add cement to fill in the gaps. In the gaps were a variety of small rocks/dirt and weeds. I was on hands and knees cleaning the gaps out in preparation for the cementing.
With the help of an air compressor, I got the walkway nice and clean!
We then took the K-trunk to the hardware store and picked up some dry cement. I would have to say that no matter how hard or dirty the work is, Mr. Tanaka is always there working just as hard as I am.
It’s time for work!
Here’s Mr. Tanaka slowly adding in the cement. He started on one end and I started on the other end.
Once we got the cement into the gaps, we thoroughly washed the walkway with water to remove the excess cement and solidify the remaining cement. Here’s what the walkway looked like after it dried a bit. Now it’s nice and clean and we don’t have to worry about weeds growing there anymore! I guess it’s really a plus for me. ;o)
The following day we set up this pole and flag. The pole itself is about 7 meters long. The last day of Golden Week is Children’s Day and it’s customary to put up these fish flags. The top flag is just a colorful design flag whereas the lower three flags represents the father, mother and children. (I must have stood there for 15 minutes looking up at the flags waiting for the wind to catch it just right to get this photo) We had this pole up for about two more weeks after.
The kids love getting their pictures taken so I got a shot of them with the flags. The kid holding the toy gun is actually the neighbor’s kid.
I then proceeded to walk around the yard taking random pictures of things. Here’s a Crab Apple in bloom.
Not sure of the name of this plant but I think it’s an orchid of some kind. It was blooming as well.
This is a large ceramic turtle that is positioned along the stone walkway. I looked down at it and it looked up at me and we felt connected for a few seconds. Kind of like when you look at someone and you can tell they’re thinking the same thing as you are? For me and the turtle it was, “we’re going to be here for awhile…”
All the Five needle pines are pushing new candles and needles.
One of Hawthorns we have that’s flowering. WOW!
Of course, as I was walking around, the kids were playing and they wanted their pictures taken. Here’s Hiyu and the neighbor.
More work!
Here at Aichi-en, May is the time to defoliate our maples. Here’s Mr. Tanaka defoliating a large multi trunk Japanese Maple. Normally we cut off the large leaves and one leaf from a pair of leaves. Sometimes I forget how big some of the trees are seeing them outside . Once they’re in the workshop, is when I realize just how big they are.
Here’s the same tree last Fall.
As I was defoliating a Trident Maple, this lizard jumped out and tried to Bite Me! Well, not really, it just came out and looked at me. I guess it was wondering what all the commotion was about. Amazingly, the lizard stayed in the tree during the whole defoliation. When I put the tree back on the bench, the lizard was still in it! Perhaps it’s use to seeing me all the time. On Trident maples, we normally defoliate every leaf that is on the exterior of the tree.
Antique Show
One Saturday morning I was sitting in the workshop drinking a cup of coffee when Mr. Tanaka walks in and says, “Let’s go!” I quickly got up to leave and it turns out we were going to a big annual antique show. For those that recognize the building, it’s the same building that Meifu-ten is held in.
For those that like to look at Antiques and random things, this was a great place to be. Here was a booth that sold scrolls and porcelain ceramics.
Here’s Mr. Tanaka checking out the scrolls.
Mr. Tanaka likes to go to these shows because sometimes we find Bonsai related items. Unfortunately, this booth had nothing we were looking for. See anything you like?
I noticed there was lots of ceramics for sale. Not much in the Bonsai area though.
Lots to see!
What’s a antique show without someone selling old currency.
During the show, we met up with Mr. Fujiwara and his customer Mr. Tomomatsu. Here they’re checking out the finer things in life.
What’s A Monkey Park?
During the last days of Golden week, I was sitting with Mr. Tanaka during Breakfast just like any other day and he says, “Today we’re taking the children to the Monkey park and you’re coming too.” I was like, “um… What’s a monkey park?”
It turns out it’s a childrens theme park that is half primate preserve and half amusement park.
Here are some monkeys sleeping. I can use some sleep like that…
I don’t need to know how to read Japanese to know what this means…
Now this sign, required a little bit more explanation. Hahaha! It turns out that there was a bridge for monkeys to cross right above this sign. Watch out for monkey poop falling from the sky!
Of course there would be a turtle at a Monkey Park. It didn’t really do much. Now that’s a mellow and relaxed life. That’s probably why they live so long. I wouldn’t mind being a turtle.
Mr. Tanaka and the kids.
That’s Asami (Mr. Tanaka’s wife) and Hiyu on a ride.
It’s Not Always Bonsai Work with the Customer, Though it is Still Work
Mr. Fujiwara’s customer, Mr. Tomomatsu invited us all to go fishing last week!
In Japan, sometimes the customer will invite us out to do different thing from a evening dinner to a special activity such as fishing. It’s sort of their way of saying thank you for all the work we’ve done for them. It doesn’t stop there though, because there’s a much deeper meaning to the invite. It’s a combination of friendship and their feelings of obligation to take care of the bonsai artist that makes Bonsai available to the public. This was Mr. Tomomatsu’s way of supporting the art community and motivating us to continue what we do. It’s sort of a support your local art program type of thing.
Since invitations from customers have such a deep meaning, we as proffessionals (and apprentices) have an obligation to accept and to enjoy what the customer is giving us. When the customer sees that we’re having a good time, they are even more satisfied and happy.
So Mr. Tanaka and I got up at 3am, and by 5:30am we were out in the open seas fishing with Mr. Tomomatsu, Mr. Fujiwara and Mr. Tanaka (the weekday helper at Aichien).
This is one of the rare times where I get to wear my sunglasses in Japan. Just about nobody in Japan wears sunglasses. Apprentices especially can’t wear them because it makes them too, “cool,” as Mr. Tanaka would put it. Here’s me in action! Turns out I just got my hook snagged on something. For awhile there, I thought I got something big!
This was our bait. I’ve never used shrimp as bait before.
Here’s Mr. Fujiwara with his big catch!
Mr. Tanaka with one of his catches! Hahaha! It turns out that Mr. Tanaka ended up catching the most fish that day.
Here’s Mr. Tanaka (Aichi-en helper) with one of his catch. It’s a halibut! He later told us that he made sashimi out of it and that it tasted really good. That was the only halibut caught that day.
Here’s Mr. Tomomatsu with one his catches!
Unbeknownst to me at the time, this Red Sea Bream was to be the only fish I caught that day. Interesting fact about this fish is that it is a prized fish in Japan. It is normally served at celebrations and festive occasions. It was a little late in the season to catch these fish but I guess I was lucky.
Well, after about 8 hours of fishing, these were all the fish we caught (I say we loosely since I did only caught one fish). As you can imagine, there was a lot of fish lunches and dinners in the following days. Mostly, sashimi which was great! It was a good day.
This cat that was hanging close to the dock was eyeing our fishes.
Well, there you have it. A little bit more of the things I’m doing in Japan. It’s mostly work for sure but we get to have fun here and there. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
I’ll end this post with this photo of Mr. Tanakas pot. One of the highest quality Japanese Antique pots I’ve seen so far. It also has a great deal of patina on it as well (the pot is actually red). Mr. Tanaka commented that, “this pot is almost too good to sell!” Hahaha, almost…
Thanks for reading.
P.S. If you are actively reading this blog, I would appreciate it if you subscribe to it (right column of the blog). This is one of the best ways for me to know how many people are reading. Thanks!
Repotting a Beast!
15 May 2012 66 Comments
in Soil Tags: Black pine, Bonsai Soil, Repotting
The first tree I noticed when I came to Aichien a year ago was this huge monster Black Pine! As I wondered around the yard I kept coming back to this one and snapping pictures of it with the camera. The reason why this Black Pine intrigued me so much (yeah, who wouldn’t be) was that it wasn’t a finished tree. This tree was a perfect example of a tree in development. As I looked over the tree, I thought to myself, “how great is it if I can play a small part in the development of this tree.” Well, a few weeks ago, I got to do just that. As you can see from the photo, the branches are growing out and sections of the canopy is still empty in some places. The trunk was collected decades ago and all of the branches were grafted. From the looks of the branches, the grafting was done about 8-10 years ago. In this post, I’m going to be sharing some photos of this tree being repotted, discussing the soil mix we use and the importance of understanding how soils works.
There Are Better Things to Do
Soil mixes can be a hot discussion/argument among many Bonsai enthusiast. Different people use different mixes and material for various reasons and it seems that some will even fight to the death defending it. In this post, my intention is to only talk about the soils we use at Aichien and understanding why we use them. Overall, I’ve come to realize that the soil components used doesn’t really matter and that understanding how the components retain water and its effects on the tree is more important. Depending on the mix you are using, think about how they affect your trees and ask yourself, “is there something I need to change or adjust to better develop my Bonsai?” There is no universal soil receipt that will work for every tree at every developmental stage in every environment and everyone. Since there are so many variables in Bonsai including the artist themselves, there would never be just one way to do anything. So instead of trying to defend the soil we use, I thinks a better approach would be to understand how much water a soil mix holds and how that affects the tree. This way, no matter what components we use in our mix, it’s focuses towards the tree and it’s water needs. Then we can move on to better things like creating great Bonsai! There’s going to be lots to talk about so lets get started!
The Tree
This Black Pine hasn’t been repotted for over 5 years. It just happens that I was lucky enough to be here when it was time. Mr. Tanaka said that if we waited one more year, the pot might not stay in one piece! I’m not sure if this tree is the oldest in the yard, but it’s definitely has the biggest trunk in the yard. Take a look at what we did.
Since this tree was so big, we decided to go to it instead of bringing it to us. We ended up repotting the tree right where it stays. Here, Mr. Tanaka is using a root hook to help separate the root ball from the edge of the pot. He also used a root saw as well.
I joined in and worked on separating the rootball from the pot. In this photo you can see a large channel that was dug out. We did this to all four sides of the pot. The soil was pretty hard and there were some areas that had large roots that we had to deal with. In many ways this was the most difficult part of the repot. If the pot had really good patina on it, we would have to be very careful in not damaging the patina when creating this channel.
This tree wasn’t tied to the pot so it saved us from having to get underneath to cut the wires. Since the tree is so heavy, it’s not like Mr. Tanaka and I could just lift the tree out. What we did was this. I found a safe place to put one hand on the trunk of the tree and the other hand on the lip of the pot. I slowly separated the root ball from the pot to the point where Mr. Tanaka could shove a wood block in-between. We then did the same on the opposite side and the root ball was now above the pot. This made it a lot easier for both of us to pick up the root ball without taking the pot with it.
Here’s the tree on the cart. Pretty big tree huh?
The first thing we did was work the bottom side of the rootball. This picture is pretty cool because I was actually holding the tree with my left hand and holding the camera with my right hand. (I would have to thank Sam and KJ Edge for sending me a portable camera last Christmas. If I had to use my large camera, I probably would have skipped taking photos of this tree and the work.) After Mr. Tanaka finished raking and cutting the bottom roots, we set the tree back down and he started working on the sides of the rootball. At this point, he told me to go mix some soil for the tree.
It’s About Water!
Understanding the individual soil component is all about understanding how much water it holds. How much water a soil mix holds will affect how the tree grows. Types of soil and sizes dictates how much water they hold. The soil mix then in turns, affects how we adjust our watering schedule. Forget your preconceptions of what bonsai soil should be made of and think more about how much water a tree wants, water retention of the soil and the effects it causes. In this case, we’re working on a Black Pine. Black Pines grow best in drier conditions and though it can take a good amount of water at one time, it needs to dry out for the roots to grow well.
Basic Laws of Bonsai Soils affects on Trees –
1. Trees will grow slower if the soil is wet for a long time (wet mix). 2. Trees will grow faster if the soil is we for a short time (dry mix).Of course there are exceptions to everything but for the most part, these statements are true.
Bonsai Soils We Used for This Tree
Medium size hard Akadama.
Akadama is a clay that has been fired. Depending on the temperature at which it was fired, the hardness of the clay will change. Depending on the hardness of the akadama, it will break down at different rates. Soft akadama breaks down faster and hard akadama breaks down slower. This material is what holds most of the water in the mix.
The reason why akadama is a good soil medium for bonsai is it evolves with the root system by breaking down. When a tree is first repotted, there are not many roots so fresh new akadama holds less water. As the tree grows more roots and demands more water, the akadama will break down and start to retain more water. There is a point though where akadama will breakdown so much that it will bind together and form a water repellant block that stays very dry. Depending on the tree variety, this may be a good or bad thing.
Akadama in Japan is very cheap. It available at the local garden center and is about 500yen per bag ($6.00US). Shipping this stuff around the world makes this material much more expensive and have turned away bonsai enthusiast from using it. When the price of akadama becomes 30 dollars a bag, I understand.
Coarse River Sand
Coarse river sand is just that, large sand particles. This medium is used to help in the drainage of the soil. Other then surface tension of the small granules, this medium doesn’t hold water at all. It’s not important though that it’s coarse river sand. The important part is that it doesn’t hold a lot of water. Are there other materials out there that will do the same? Of course!
Hyuga (Japanese Pumice)
Hyuga is a type of volcanic rock. It doesn’t normally break down though if compressed hard enough will crumble (everything breaks down with enough pressure). The average piece of pumice will not normally break down. Hyuga is light and holds some water though is considered a fairly dry component. It’s mainly used to dry up a soil mix just like coarse river sand. In Japan, a bag of hyuga normally has a small amount of granite mixed in as well, which are the darker pieces in the photo above.
Small pieces of charcoal
The last component that we add to the mix is crushed charcoal. It’s less then 5 percent of the overall mix. Charcoal is used as an absorbent of any toxicity that is found in the environment. Pollution in the air and water could potentially have an ill effect on our Bonsai so a little bit of charcoal can help limit their amounts in the soil. Unlike full grown trees in the ground, our Bonsai are limited in space to grow so keeping that environment clean is a plus!
Here is all the components together. I used the shovel and slowly mixed everything together.
After I mixed the components, I took out the sifter and sifted out the dust and small particles.
This is how much dust and small particulars there were in the soil I mixed. It’s not a small amount for sure.
To Sift or Not to Sift
Sifting soil is also another hot topic that people argue back and forth about. Again, I’m not taking sides one way or the other. The important part is understanding why or why not to do it. Small particles and dust holds a good amount of water compared to large granules. Since this tree needs drier conditions, we removed a component that holds a lot of water.
I talked to Mr. Tanaka about sifting and he said we don’t really have to sift the soil and that his father never sifted his soil mix. The consequences to this is that he had to be more careful in allowing trees to dry out before watering. If the conifers never dry out in between waterings, the roots will slow down and start to rot and die off.
On the other hand, removing the dust and small particles will cause the soil to dry out faster. Now it’s not a matter of allowing the soil to dry before watering, it’s a matter of not allowing the soil to stay too dry for too long between waterings. Roots always grow faster in drier conditions, but when the roots are completely 100 percent dry, roots will not grow at all and start to die off.
So before you decide to sift or not sift your soil, think about the effects it will cause to the roots in the soil and if you’re able to adjust your watering habits to it. The decision is yours.
*Secret side note* (well, not so secret anymore): this year, we sifted all of our conifer mix and didn’t sift our deciduous mix. Guess what, the trees are growing fine. Since the conifers needs to dry out in between waterings and deciduous trees like being wet all the time, it worked out just fine.
Large sized pumice for drainage layer
We use this large size pumice for the bottom layer of the soil. Using this large pumice helps keep the bottom of the pot drier so that the roots don’t stay wet too long. It also helps protect the drainage holes from plugging up when the akadama starts to break down. We normally only use a drainage layer on conifers.
The bottom of the pot is always the last area to dry out. Heat and evaporation dries the top soil first and slowly works its way down. By the time the bottom of the pot dries out, the top layers may be too dry and roots may have already died off. If we water the tree correctly and not allow the majority of the soil to dry out completely, then the bottom layer will stay wet all the time. The use of pumice is a great way to keep the soil a bit more uniform in holding/losing water.
Back to the Tree
Once I was finished making and sifting the soil, Mr. Tanaka was just about finished with the root work. Here you can see him using compressed air to help blow out the dust and small particles from the root ball. This technique works well for those hard to reach areas and makes the overall work much cleaner. (That’s Mr. Tanaka’s mother in the background. She always amazes me as to how much work she does around the nursery)
Here’s another shot of the root ball. As you can see on this side, Mr. Tanaka decided to dig out more of the old soil.
The pot!
That is a huge pot! We decided to change the pot and give the tree a little bit more room to grow. This pot is heavy and weigh just as much as the tree!
This is a Japanese Antique pot, which means it’s over 100 years old. For those that are observant you already see the crack repair on the bottom left of the pot lip. This was actually a factory crack from the firing process. Creating large pots is much more difficult than small ones. There’s so much more clay and weight to it. Have you noticed that the larger the pot gets, the price increases exponentially? Risk of deformity and cracking during the firing process is higher so sometimes a maker has to make several just to get a good one out of it. I have yet to see a Japanese Antique pot this large without some sort of factory crack.
As I was cleaning the pot and putting in the screen for the drain holes I noticed this little fella. I’m not normally a fan of bugs but for some reason lady bugs don’t bother me. Maybe it’s because they’re so good at eating aphids. ;o) I tend to see more of the ones that are black with red dots in this area. Seeing this guy reminded me of home.
Normally the tree is on a plastic turntable. Since the new pot has raised feet, it doesn’t sit right on the turn table. We needed to add some wood to the turn table for the pot to sit on. Here’s Mr. Tanaka cutting some wood. Essential tools of a Bonsai nursery. Spare wood and a pull saw!
Ready for the pot!
Positioning it just right. Once the tree is in, we’re not moving it!
Here is Mr. Tanaka adding the large pumice for drainage. Since the tree isn’t going anywhere for a long time, we didn’t bother with the tie down wire. The tree is so heavy and stable that it’s just not going to move. A car would have to hit it to move it! Or perhaps a Sumo Wrestler!
Next he added the soil mix. When was the last time you needed a dust pan to add soil into a pot?
With a lot of grunting sounds, Mr. Tanaka and I lifted the tree and placed it in the pot. Here Mr. Tanaka is checking and adjusting the position of the tree.
The tree is going to like that extra space!
A quick shot of the side.
Once the position was set, Mr. Tanaka added more soil.
Mr. Tanaka then used a pair of chopsticks to work the soil into the roots.
Once the soil work was finished, all that was left was to water.
We watered the tree until the water coming out of the drain holes turned clear.
And there you have it, repotting finished and time for the tree to continue it’s development. The timing in repotting this tree worked out great because a hour later, it started to rain!
The Proportions
The normal mix we use for conifers such as Black Pines at Aichien is the following:
2 parts akadama, 1 part hyuga, 1 part coarse river sand
The mix we used for this particular Black pine is as follow:
1 part akadama, 1 part hyuga, 1 part course river sand
There are a few reasons why we made the mix for this tree on the drier side. One reason is that the tree is still in development and the drier mix will help accelerate root growth and foliage growth. The other more important reason has to do with the large volume of soil we used. Though the mix is on the dry side, the shear volume and depth of the pot causes the soil to stay wet longer. For the most part, the average Bonsai enthusiast isn’t repotting trees this big so it’s something most of us don’t have to worry about. On the other hand, if you get your hands on a monster like this, then we have to take into consider the volume of soil and it’s affects on water retention.
Sifting to Size
The more surface area soil has, the more water it will hold. Small soils put together in a container will have much more surface area then the same container with large size soil. Knowing this gives us an idea of what size soils we should be using for the various trees we’re working with. So the next time you’re repotting your prized shohin Trident Maples, using large soils isn’t the best idea.
Soil Use in the Various Stages of Our Trees Development
Now lets talk about how water retention in our soil mix affects the tree. Having this information will give us insight to what we need for our trees in different stages of development. For example, we have a Trident Maples in three different stages:
1. Raw material: During this stage of development, it’s all about developing the trunk and the main branches. We need the tree to grow at a more accelerated rate so we tend to use a drier mix (think of Soil Law #2)
2. Developing the branch structure: During this stage of development, we don’t need the tree to grow as vigorous as before. The soil mix at this point starts to change and becomes a wetter mix (think of Soil Law #1). In this case, the akadama is usually increased in the mix.
3. Refinement and maintaining shape: At this point, the trunk and the structure of the tree is done. It’s all about maintaining the shape and increasing ramification and density. The soil mix at this point has a lot of akadama and stays wet the longest causing the new growth on the the tree to grow slow and short (Refined trees at Aichien using about 90 percent akadama and 10 percent hyuga).
Though the increase wetness of the soil goes with the increased development of the tree, there is a fine line that can be crossed and the soil mix can do more harm then good. Here is where watering techniques come to play and why it is so important. As I go from tree to tree, I have to focus on what kind of soil mix it is in, type of tree (needs more or less water), the time of year and if it even needs water at that time. Winter can prove to be an especially difficult time to water because of the cold weather. Overwatering trees in the Winter leads to root rot. Unfortunately, the tree will not start to show signs of decline till the Spring which at that point is already too late to adjust your watering technique.
Here’s a picture of me watering during Winter. Notice how I’m not smiling? I have yet to see any professional or apprentice smile while they’re water trees. It’s challenging because so many things are going through my head while watering and on top of that, I have to monitor the health of each tree (plus it was cold). Also the last thing I want to do is accidentally skip a tree. There are trees in the yard where one missed watering on a hot day will kill them.
Reality Check!
Having said everything so far, we have to come back to reality. I’m apprenticing at a Bonsai nursery and I’m doing it every single day. That is not the case for the majority of Bonsai hobbyist out there. We all have lives and Bonsai is not always number one. Because of this, using the most ideal soil mix doesn’t always work out for everybody. Before I started my apprenticeship, I had a 9-5 job just like most people. That meant I was either going to water my trees in the morning or the late afternoon, and sometimes both. Since my watering schedule is limited I needed to adjust my soil mix to accommodate it. For most of us, that meant using a mix that holds more water and we get by with that. Of course, by doing this, we do have to realize that there are consequences to it as well (think of Law #1) Since the trees are staying wet longer, the development of the tree will slow down. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but more of a realization that our trees are only going to be as good as the effort we put in them.
For example: I can only water my bonsai are small and can only water every two-three days. Just about the only thing that holds that much water for that length of time is 100 percent potting soil. The tree will grow using it and I can get away with watering every other day or so, but will the tree develop as fast or as well as a enthusiast that maintains the tree everyday? Most likely not. Is one right or wrong? Not really because both are still developing bonsai at the end. It really came down how much effort and time one decided to put into their Bonsai. Knowing this, we continue to do the best we can with what we got and feel satisfied that we’re still creating Bonsai.
Us vs. Them
Cases where the cost of soils are too high or the inability to keep up with its watering schedule could lead some of us to more unconventional soil mixes for sure. That is perfectly acceptable to do in Bonsai and many have done the same in Japan. The important thing to understand is how the water retention of the soil affects the growth and development of your trees. If your mix is working well for you, then by all means, continue using.
*For those that are using a more unconventional soil mixes, I ask that you respect what others are using since it’s working for them.*
*For those that are using the more conventional soil mixes, I ask that you respect what others are using since it’s working for them.*
Now that we respect each other, lets also open our own minds and learn from each others experiences and take the best part of them and continue to make Bonsai better and better! I’m tired of arguing…. aren’t you?
Pine Cones If You’ve Ever Wondering
If you ever wondered how pine cones develop on a Black Pine, here is how it happens.
Pine cones on Black Pines take two years to fully develop. Take a look at the photo above and you can see two sizes of cones. The small reddish cones are new cones forming on the tops of the new candles this year. The bottom larger cones use to be just like the small red cones one year ago. In the Fall, the larger cones will mature and release its seeds.
Here’s a closer shot of the new pine cones. Note how the largest strongest candle has three cones and the small candles have two? Stronger areas on the tree will always produce more of everything. The development of Pine cones can be a huge drain on the tree though, so many times, people that see them will twist them off. This way, the energy that was going to the pine cone can go to other areas of the tree.
For fun, here is what a new Bristlecone pine cone looks like. Pretty!
Well, I think this is the longest post I’ve written on the blog. There is so much information about soils and watering and I tried to hit most of the key points in this post. There will be more to discuss in the future for sure. (Sneak preview: How readily a component gives away it’s moisture and how that affects the tree?) I hope this post changes the way you see soils and it’s components and gets you thinking about what you’re using as a soil medium and how well it’s working for you. Bonsai is much more flexible and freeing then most people know. Mr. Tanaka said it best, “Bonsai is freedom.”
Thanks for reading.
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Lets Bend! Part 3
05 May 2012 28 Comments
in Projects Tags: Bending, Black pine, Feelings, Lets Bend, Pot Selection
Repotting season is coming to an end here at Aichien an how fitting that this Black Pine turned out to be the last tree to be repotted. I got the honor (ordered) of repotting this tree. Welcome to Part 3 of this Black Pine’s restyling journey. This marks the end of the major work for this tree. For the next couple of years, I’m only going to be pulling needles and de-candling this tree to build more structure and density (maintenance work). As Mr. Tanaka would say, “the fun is over.” Personally I like doing the maintenance work and getting the tree more refined is satisfying in its own right. This time around I’m going to repot the tree into another pot and I thought it would be fun to see how the feeling of the tree changes with each pot. Though this is not any sort of definitive guide to selecting a pot, it may add to your increasing library of tips when deciding what pot goes well with a tree.
Are you ready? Okay, just checking.
For those that are new to the blog or those that would like to review the two previous post about this tree, click Part 1, then when finished click Part 2.
The Mighty Wedge
A must have tool for any Bonsai enthusiast. They can be used to tilt trees to try out new angles when styling. In this case, I put it inside each pot to hold the tree in the new angle so I could step back and look at the overall composition.
The Four Options
I pulled the tree out of the pot and took care of the root work. Now I need your help in selecting a pot! Take a look at each photo carefully and think how the pot complements the tree. Is the pot too big, too small, too light, too heavy, or just right? Take into consideration all of your own experiences selecting a pot for a tree and decide which you feel is the best pot.
Option #1 – Deep oval pot with a lip and cloud feet
Option #2 – A deep rectangular pot with a lip and cloud corners. The feet are also fairly tall.
Option #3 – A oval drum pot (when was the last time you ever saw a oval drum pot? especially this size!)
Option #4 – Deep oval pot with a lip and two large band feet.
Mr. Spock – “… in this case, do yourself a favor: Put aside logic. Do what feels right.”
Your feelings can be a very powerful tool in Bonsai. It wasn’t until recently that I seriously started using it for Bonsai. Bonsai in the past has always been somewhat logical and mechanical to me. It was a matter of defining the problem (tree material) and applying a set of rules/guidelines (limitations) to remedy that problem. For the most part, it was working really well. After awhile, in my pursue for more Bonsai knowledge I found that my feelings of what needed to be done were developing an edge to my logical senses. There became a point where I felt the answer first and the logical side of me explained it after the fact. Not to say that one is better then the other though. I believe that we need to use both to advance ours Bonsai knowledge and experiences. Logic in a way is how we process our pool of knowledge and our feelings are what allows us to expand that pool.
Example: I’m working on a tree and I come to a branch that I’m not sure what to do with. I’m trying to think about what I should do with it (bend, cut, etc.). At one point I find that I don’t really have a logical answer but I feel I need to cut it off. I end up going the safe route wiring the branch instead and moving on with the rest of the tree. After I’m done with the tree, Mr. Tanaka looks over the tree and ends up cutting that branch off. I would ask him why and he would give me an explaination. After having this happen several times with other trees, I decided that I was going to do what I felt and not spend an excess amount of time thinking about it. At that point on, I decided to convey my thoughts about what I felt needed to be done with other trees. I guess I started to trust my gut feelings. If I thought a tree needed to be tilted, wired, bent, cut or left alone I would do it. More times then not, it turned out to be correct and my pool got a little bit bigger. Either Mr. Tanaka explained it to me after the fact or I took some time to contemplate and figure out the answer on my own. Not to mention my confidence level shot up as well! Though I always found the answer at the end, my feelings told me it was right long before the reasoning came.
Now It’s Your Turn
So as you’re looking at the four photos and thinking about which one is the best choice, try letting your feelings guide you in your decision. I can’t guarantee that they will always be right, but when they are, you will have taken one more step deeper into what Bonsai is all about. Why not give it a shot? Scroll back up and really look at the four pictures carefully and thoughtfully. Then make your decision.
I put this picture here so you don’t see our decision too quickly! It’s a large flower that is growing from some creeping vines in the yard. This photo is somewhat hypnotizing in a way. ;o)
What We Decided On
Option # 2 was our choice out of the 4.
The compressed trunk, strong lean to the left gives this tree a very powerful feeling. This tree is a bit on the strange side as well because of the curve on the trunk. We needed a pot that will complement all those characteristics. In this case, the pot is deep which gives it a heavier feeling. This heavy feeling pot helps anchor the tree to the ground because of it’s heavy lean to the left and keeps the tree from looking like it’s going to fall over. This concept applies to cascading trees as well. The pot isn’t oiled at the moment but if I did, the color would be slightly darker and give it an even heavier feeling. The cloud corners and tall feet gives the pot a more fancier look which goes well with the unusual shape of the trunk. Mr. Tanaka says, “a strange interesting tree should be in a strange interesting pot.
So out of the four pots, we felt this one was the best one. Are there other pots out there that would work better? Of course there are. If this tree ends up staying at Aichien for a long time and perhaps go to a show one day, we would definitely take the time to find the perfect pot for it. As for now, this pot will do.
I put some moss on the right side to help protect some of the exposed roots. Once the roots start to grow and establish themselves, the moss will be removed. I took the tree outside, watered it and put it in a nice sunny spot. At this point, the tree is placed just about in the center of the pot. I would have liked to move it more to the right side but there isn’t enough space at this time. In the future when the roots on the left side grows and develop, I will then be able to reduce the root ball on the right side down. I probably won’t repot this tree for the next three years.
So Why Not the Others
Option #1
The heaviness and strength of this pot is beyond the tree to the point where the tree is dwarfed. Instead of a balanced composition, the focus is shifted to the pot first and the tree second. The shape and depth of the pot is good and the raised cloud feet are good as well. In this case, it’s just a matter of the pot being too big.
Option #4
This pot is similar to Option #1 but smaller. The size is much more appropriate and the focus is shifted more to the overall composition as oppose to the tree only or the pot only. Unfortunately, though this pot is a good size, the lack of cloud feet makes this pot more on the plain side. Since the tree trunk shape is on the abnormal side, the pot should have a little of that same feeling to complement the tree. Overall, this is pot is okay for this tree but not the best choice.
Option#3
This pot is very interesting to me. When I placed the tree in the pot, the first thing that came to mind was a snake coming out of a basket. Something that you might see in front of a snake charmer! A oval drum pot this big is somewhat a rare shape. This was actually the first time I’ve ever seen one myself. The size of this pot is about the same as Option #1 but has a much more heavier feeling because of the beads and the red colored clay. The design of the pot would be a great match for this tree if it was only smaller. Just like Option #1, the pot is just too heavy for the tree. If this pot was the same size as Option #2, then this pot would have been the best choice.
Recap
The beginning (July 2011)
De-candling and the bending of the trunk (July 2011)
The first styling (January 2012)
The repotting (May 2012)
Now that this tree repotted, the main work is done and it’s off to other things at the nursery. Thanks for following along with this project. I’m sure there will be more to come in the future. I hope that the work I did on this tree has helped to increase your own knowledge and has added to your Bonsai experiences. The restyling took about 9 months, which is a drop in the bucket in Bonsai time!
So did your feelings help you in selecting a pot this time? If so, great! If not, don’t worry, you may still be correct. The important part is that your thinking and feelings are coming together and deep inside of you, an answer came and you expressed it with confidence. Right or wrong, you stuck your neck out and made a decision. Isn’t that really how we learn, grow and get better at the things we do?
Behind the Scenes
One thing that many professionals don’t talk about is the care of the tree during the restyling process. In the case of this tree, how I watered it was essential to the overall health of the tree. Black Pines like water but they grow best when they are allowed to dry out. Normally, the tree would dry out every day except when it’s worked on. After the first bending of the trunk, the tree slowed down in it’s water intake. If I continued to water the tree heavily, the tree would weaken even more and I might not have been able to style it in January. After I styled the tree in January, again the tree slowed down and took in less water. During the Winter months, it can be tricky in how the tree is watered because of freezing weather and rain. There were times where the tree wasn’t watered for 5 days because of rain and cool weather. There was also a point in the Winter when I placed a block of wood under one side of the pot just so that it would not allow the soil to hold so much water. All of these little things adds up to the overall health of the tree. Since I was able to keep the tree healthy, I was able to move on to the repotting this year. If the tree wasn’t healthy at this time, I would have had to skip the repotting this year and you wouldn’t be reading this post until the Spring of 2013. That would have been a one year lost!
Though this post is not about tree health, it is important to understand how to keep your tree healthy. It should be one of our top priorities. In the long run, a little extra work in keeping the tree healthy will allow us to produce quality Bonsai and at a much faster rate.
Thanks for reading.
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I love the Smell of Pesticides In the Morning!
01 May 2012 41 Comments
in Pesticides Tags: Aphids, fungus problems, japanese maples, pesticides
I love the Smell of Pesticides In the Morning!
Aphids attacking new growth on a Japanese Maple
Well it’s that time of year again! Spring is in full swing here in Nagoya and deciduous trees are producing nice juicy new growth that bugs love to feast on. As the breeze comes and goes, there are fungus spores flying all around us as well and they too can cause problems with out trees. Today at the nursery we decided to bring out the the big guns and spray all the trees to control some of the Spring bugs and fungus that are out and about. In this post I will talk about what we use when spraying and how we spray. Perhaps at home you are currently having bug or fungus problems and not sure what to do. Hopefully this post will give you some insight on how to control the pest or fungus you may have on your trees.
Recognizing the Bug Problem
Here in Nagoya, it can get very hot/humid and there a plenty of bugs that love those conditions. For others in the world that live in drier environments, they too have their own set of bug problems as well but it seems to be not as aggressive. First thing to do when we think we have a pest problem is to find out what kind of bug it is. Certain types of pesticides will only work on specific insects and may not solve our problems and could potentially increasing the problem.
During this time of year, one of the main culprits are aphids. Aphids are currently feeding on the new growth on deciduous trees. What I’ve noticed this year is that aphids have started to feed on Japanese Maple first. As their population increased, they then started showing up on Trident maples and other trees. Japanese quince tends seem to attract a lot of aphids as well. During the Spring as I was pinching many of the maples, I started noticing more and more aphids everyday and that sent up the red flag that it’s time to spray.
Back home in San Jose, California, I didn’t have any Japanese maples but I always had a problem with aphids attacking my boxwoods and only my boxwoods. So depending on the area, aphids may have different feeding habits, so it’s important for all of us to recognize the pattern in our own backyards and address it accordingly.
The other main pest we have here are thrips. These bugs tend to attack the Trident Maples first and like to hide on the underside of the leaves. They keep sucking on the leaves and cause them not t0 develop properly and cause the leaves to have a dry brittle and curled look to them. As the temp gets higher, thrips will be much more prevalent.
If you would like more basic information on aphids and thrips, you can read about them on wikipedia.com by clicking these two links: Aphids, Thrips
Fungus
Fungus is another problem that can potentially arise at the nursery. The difficult thing about fungus is that we cannot see them. Only when we start to see the damage on trees do we realize we have a fungus problem. For the most part, we do a lot of preventative spraying for potential fungus problems. There are certain trees that we know are very susceptible to fungus problems such as Flowering trees so we take extra care to really soak the tree with fungicide. Other things we do to stop the development of fungus is to not overhead water leafy trees. It can be very effective to prevent fungus problems just by keeping the moisture level down on the areas that are most affected by fungus, i.e. the leaves.
When We Spray and How Often
A cool and cloudy Spring day
Here at the nursery, we spray the trees about once per month. High temperatures and humidity levels forces us to spray more often because the insects seem to be much more aggressive in their feeding. The best time to spray is when the temperature is cool early in the morning or late in the afternoon. There’s been times during the Summer where Mr. Tanaka and I were up at 5am to spray because that was the coolest time of the day!
The reason why we spray during the cool times of the day is that the foliage of the tree is not as active at low temps. If we sprayed the trees at the hottest part of the day we can cause the foliage to burn because it’s being coated with chemicals at it’s most active time. If we sprayed in the middle of a hot day the foliage will burn, drop off and weaken the tree.
Spraying can be serious business here in Japan because if the trees are not sprayed regularly, insects will start to feed on the tree. The insects here are aggressive enough that they can turn a large bonsai tree yellow within a few weeks and weaken the tree enough where sections or branches can die off.
This month we’re using a mix of Malathion (pesticide) and Daconil (fungicide). Both products are readily available at most garden centers.
What Are We to Do?
So depending on your climate and situation, your regiment in pest control will vary from us. Back in San Jose, California, I hardly did any spraying at all because the pest problem was just not as severe. Carefully look through your collection of trees and gauge how much pest control you need and set up a schedule for pest management. I would be a shame loosing trees or branches because we didn’t catch the insect/fungus problem in time.
Let’s Get to the Spraying!
First thing we did was mix the Malathion and Daconil with water. Be go through about two of these containers for the nursery. We followed the instructions on the bottle of both chemicals. It’s then important to really mix the chemicals with the water. I’ve heard plenty of stories where apprentices will forget to mix pesticide throughly and end up spraying 100 percent pesticide on trees and severaly burning them.
This is the setup that we use. We have a gas powered pressure washer that feeds the pesticide to a high pressure line and sprayer.
Before we start to spray the trees, we watered every tree at the soil level only. This will help dilute the chemicals further down when it hits the soil and not cause any potential problems with the roots.
Here’s Mr. Tanaka in action. As you can see, the pesticide/fungicide is coming out at a very high pressure. We use this pressure to completely cover the trees top to bottom, inside and out.
As Mr. Tanaka was spraying, I was assisting him with the line. Though I had a mask on, I wanted to stay as far away from the mist as possible!
Here’s a shot of a Five Needle Pine dripping with Pesticides/Fungicides
Here’s a shot of a Trident maple completely covered in the spray. Most bugs like to hide on the underside of the leaves so its important to get the pesticide/fungicide there as well. That’s why the high pressure sprayer works so well because it moves the tree foliage around and allows the pesticide/fungicide to cover everything.
Afterwards
Afterwards I rinsed out the equipment and put them all away. Next was to clean myself up so I stripped off my chemical covered clothes and jumped in the show to clean off any chemicals that may have landed on my skin. As for the trees, we leave them alone and allow the pesticide and fungicide to do their job. Once I was cleaned up, Mr. Tanaka said to my surprise, “take a break for the rest of the day.” At that point, I quickly went to my room and started writing this post. ;oD
For those that want to search older post, I have refined the search categories (on the right column) so it’s easier to find a specific post.
Thanks for reading.
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The Trident Maple Projects (yes, another two…)
22 Apr 2012 28 Comments
in Projects Tags: Kaede, Root over rock trident maple, Trident maple bonsai, Trident maple development
The Trident Maple Projects (yes, another two…)
Trident Maple #1
Trident Maple #2
As if I wasn’t busy already, I decided to add a couple more project trees to my plate. Let’s hope I don’t regret it in the future. ;o) In this post, I’m going to chronicle two Trident Maples I’m going to develop throughout my apprenticeship here at Aichi-en. The trunks have already been developed and I’m mainly focused on branch development and ramification. I hope to give some insight for those of you that have Trident Maples and not quite sure how to develop the branches and get them nice and dense like you see in the show books. As the two trees progress over the year (assuming all goes to plan…) I will update you on their progress with plenty of pictures. Since I’m talking about pictures, there is going to be about 60 pictures in this post, so I’m getting you started right and hopefully you have a bit of time to go through the whole post. I thought about dividing this post into a few parts but I always been annoyed by the words, “to be continued,” so I’m going to lay it all out right here and now. I got a nice warm cigar lit and I’m ready to get down to business. Let’s get started.
Trident Maple #1 Root Over Rock
Let’s have a look at the three other sides
Side
The Back
The other side
Instead of having two Trident Maples that are similar such as in my last post about the two Rough Bark Japanese Maples, I decided to change it up a bit and develop one root over rock. If you’re not familiar with a root over rock tree, it’s pretty much a tree that has grown it’s roots around a rock. Simple huh?
As you can see from the pictures, the leaves have already started to push. This okay for Trident maples because they are very strong trees. If you plan on repotting a Trident maple with leaves already pushing, be a little less aggressive with the roots and all will be fine.
Getting Rid of the Bad
Though the tree looks like it has plenty of branches already, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s structurally good. We have to take into consideration branches thickness and taper when developing the branches on a deciduous tree. We can develop a dense tree but if all the branches are too skinny or too thick, it doesn’t look as realistic or natural. Before we get to the branches though, we have to check out the trunk and see if there’s anything that needs to be changed or fixed there. Let’s have a look.
Here is the base of the tree. Pretty good base but it can be cleaned up a bit. I especially like the root on the left that is flowing down over the rock and into the soil.
Here’s a shot further up the trunk. The first thing I decided to do was clean the trunk of flaking bark and green algae. I used the tool pictured to lightly peel off the loose bark. Bark will normally start to form on Trident Maples at about 10-15 years. This particular tree was grown in the ground for over 20 years and has been in a bonsai pot for the last 10 or so years.
As I peel the bark, you can see that it reveals a nice orange reddish color. After a few weeks, this color starts to fade and turn grayish.
Once I peeled off all the flaking bark, I took a brass brush and lightly brushed the trunk to remove the dirt and algae that’s developed over the years.
Here’s a shot of the tree with a clean trunk. Another nice technique in removing dirt and algae from the trunk is to use water and an electric toothbrush. It actually makes the job much faster and easier.
As I cleaned the bark, I noticed some old small scars. I’m not a big fan of scars on Trident Maples so I’m going to get these scars to heal up. Some Bonsai enthusiast out there likes to show off scars and dead wood on Tridents but I think these small scars are more distracting then interesting.
What I did was taking a small carving too and re open the scars. By doing this, the tree will sense the open wound and want to heal itself. I did this to all the small scars I could find on the trunk.
Next thing I did was cover the fresh wounds with cut paste. This step is important because the tree will heal much faster this way. Just think of a cut on your finger and using a band aid. Using a band aid always makes a cut heal faster. If I don’t use cut past, the wound will start to heal but may not close completely leaving me with what I had before. I expect these scars to heal by Summer.
Now To the Branches
The following photos are examples of what I decided to cut. Obviously I can’t talk about every branch scenario out there, but this will give you some good examples of areas to cut. Ideally, branches on trees should be growing away from the trunk. The best structures are always a simple structure so if you keep that rule in mind, you will develop beautiful branches. This tree had it’s main branches wired years ago and the rest of the small branches were developed by cutting only. The cuts were quick and not much attention was neccesarily placed on how good they looked. Let’s fix that.
Noticed where I cut? There was a long branch that was growing off to the left and I decided to cut it off and allow the smaller (developing taper) left over branch to grow away from the trunk. This will hopefully help create some back budding on the long main branch as well. In the future, if I get something to back bud, I may cut more of this branch back. For the time being, I’m going to stop here.
Here’s an example of branches that grow straight up. Sometimes these branches can be wired and bent down and outwards but this short stub is too thick to bend. Also, there are four branches coming out from one point. Let’s clean this area up.
I cut the branches growing up and I applied cut paste afterwards. Branch structures always look cleanest when they divide into two. Sometimes three branches growing out of one spot is okay but it should look clean and they’re usually the smaller branches.
A bit difficult to see but this is the back branch of the tree. There are several branches growing upwards. Some are too thick to bend whereas others are so straight up that if I bent them down, they will have a strange curve on them that looks unattractive.
Here’s the same area with three branches cut off. Looks better already!
Here is the tree after I did a bit more cutting and repotted. I put the tree in a larger pot to allow the roots some extra room to grow. I’ll talk more about the repotting process on the second tree. As you can see, the tree isn’t as full as it was. I kept the branches I could use and got rid of the others. At this point I am finished and I’m going to let the tree grow throughout the Spring. I will fertilize the tree in a couple of weeks and revisit the tree in the Summer. At that time, I plan on wiring the branches that I have and any new ones that has grown.
Here is a quick before and after.
Trident Maple #2
The four sides of Trident #2
Front
The side
The back
The other side
On this Trident, I followed the same steps as I did with the first Trident. Let’s take a look at the trunk.
Here’s a shot of the trunk with the bark cleaned off. I also showed the tool I plan on use to cut the branches. It’s a spherical concave cutter.
There was only one scar on the trunk so I quickly took care of that and moved on to the branches. This tree has a lot more usable branches then the last Trident Maple but there was still some that I needed to cut. In this photo, you can see a cluster of branches growing from one spot. This is a problem needs to be addressed.
I cut off the bulk of the knob and kept three branches. This scar will heal and create a little bump but in the long term, will smooth out and make the branch look interesting.
My hand makes an appearance here to make the branch easier to see. 
D This branch is a bit thick to be so far from the trunk. There are lots of back buds so it’s time to cut and promote some smaller branches to develop.
I cut the branch back to a bud that is starting to grow. Depending on how the other branches grow, I may cut off this entire thick branch in the future. For now, I’ll leave it there.
Here’s an example of a leggy branch. The thickness is okay but it’s so long with no division in the branch.
I cut the branch to a pair of growing buds. These buds should grow into branches during the Spring and I should be able to wire them in the Summer.
Here is an example of developing taper. There are two branches that have divided and a thick third branch in the middle.
I cut the center thick branch off and kept the smaller side branches. These two branches should elongate in the Spring and I will wire them in the Summer.
Here’s a shot of some thick branches growing out of one spot on the trunk. Normally we only want one main branch coming off the trunk. Sometimes two is okay.
I cut off the thick third branch that was growing up. I tend to keep branches that are growing down or level first because they are the most difficult ones to develop. Branches that grow upwards are easy to make and only taken into consideration after the downward and outward branches are developed.
More examples of thick branches growing straight up.
Better already!
As I move my way to the top of the tree, there was a big problem at the top that needed correcting. Here is a shot of the top before the cut.
On this side shot, you can see that there are two branches growing up creating two apexes. Deciduous trees in general should only have one apex.
I cut of the thick branch that was the second apex and left the rest as side branches. Now we have one apex.
Here’s what the apex looks like after I cut off the second apex from the back.
I went through the top and cut back some leggy branches as I did with the lower branches and this is what the tree looks like now. Much cleaner. Note there is a triangular shape to the canopy. This will allow light to reach the bottom branches and stay strong. There’s still much work to be done but that will be in the future. Let’s repot!
First thing I did was cut off the tie down wires.
Note how I cut the wires completely flush. This will insure that they don’t get caught on the drain holes of the pot and make it difficult for me to pull the tree out.
Since the pot was so shallow, the tree came right out. Look at all those nice roots I’m about to cut…
I took my root rake and started to rake the bottom roots out first.
Once I raked the bottom roots out, I used my root scissors and cut the bottom nice and flat.
This is to show you just how flat the bottom is.
Next I started working on the side roots. I used this root hook to break apart the tight compacted roots.
Once I raked all the side roots out, I looked at the root spread (nebari) and there were some things I needed to fix. Just like branches on the tree, we want the root spread to grow out and away from the trunk. In this example, there is a thick root growing back into the trunk. Now is the time to fix this problem.
Trident Maples can take a lot of root work so I’m never afraid to cut. Since this tree has a lot of feeder roots, I was definitely confident in cutting off bad roots. If scars like these are beneath the soil line, I don’t use cut paste. The moisture of the soil will keep the wound moist and I’m hoping for some roots to grow out of this cut.
Here’s another example of a root growing back into the trunk.
Problem solved.
Here’s an example of a root growing along the trunk.
Now you can see with the bad roots removed, the left over roots show a more natural root spread that moves away from the trunk. As I repot the tree in the future, I will continue to fine tune and develop the root spread.
Last thing I did was cut off the leggy side roots. This will force the roots to divide and ramify.
Now that is a tidy looking root ball!
Here is the tree after I tied it into the pot. Again, I put the tree in a larger pot to give the roots some space to grow. I didn’t show the tie down procedure but will in the future on a different post. I also tilted the tree to the right a bit to show off some of the buried root spread on the tree’s right and since the flow of the tree is going to it’s left, I wanted the apex a bit more on that side. Next I watered the tree and placed it in a nice sunny area. Like the first Trident, I will fertilize in a couple of weeks and revisit the tree in the Summer.
Another quick before and after
Well there you have it! Two more trees in the production line. I’m looking forward to the continued development of these trees and lessons I’ll learn from them. As I write more about them in the future, I hope that you too will learn some lessons and have some ideas of what to do on your own trees. As always, please feel free to comment on this post and share your thought, observations and questions.
The 500 mark!
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and Thanks for reading.
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The Japanese Maple Experiment
19 Apr 2012 33 Comments
in Projects Tags: Arakawa momiji, Japanese maple, Rough Bark Maple
Maple #1
Maple #2
Since it’s repotting season and I was itching for a maple side project, I asked Mr. Tanaka if I could develop these two Japanese Maples. These Japanese Maples are called Arakawa Momiji which literally translate to Rough Bark Japanese Maple. Unlike the typical Japanese Maple with smooth bark, these maples develop small and fairly hard bark plates. Both of them have nice trunks and were field grown. About 10 years ago, they were put into bonsai pots and sat at the overflow field that Mr. Tanaka owns. A few weeks ago, I was watering the overflow field and stumbled upon these two and thought it was be great if I could practice developing them during my time here in Japan. I showed them to Mr. Tanaka and he gave me the green-light to develop them during my own time (as if I had plenty of that… ;o)).
The first thing I decide to do was repot both of these trees. As I was repotting the first tree, Mr. Tanaka glanced over and said that I should restart all the branches. We both decided to repot both trees and during the Spring of 2013, I will cut off all the branches and force the tree to bud out at the cut branches and hopefully the trunk as well. Mr. Tanaka then added that putting the trees in the ground would make them stronger then in a pot. At that point, we both decided to repot one tree in a bonsai pot and the other tree in the ground as an experiment (for the blog). I’m going to let both trees grow for the rest of the year and in the following Spring, cut off all the branches and see how both trees respond. In this post, I’m going to show you what I did with each tree and continue to write more post about them in the future as they continue to develop. Let’s get to work!
Arakawa Momiji #1
The current front. I especially like the movement and taper of the trunk.
Here is the root ball after I removed it from the pot and cut some roots. I will post the process of repotting in a future post.
Note on repotting:
Deciduous trees tend to grow slow after they are repotted. The following year, if the tree isn’t repotted, it will grow even stronger. There is a point though where the tree will become so root bound that it starts to slow down again. Since this tree hasn’t been repotted in about 10 years, the tree itself, though healthy, is slow. If the tree was repotted a couple of years ago, I could have bare rooted it with no problems. Now that the tree is in a slow state, if I bare rooted it, I could potentially kill it. I decided to go easy on the repot and keep more roots this time. Next year when I repot again, I can be a bit more aggressive with the roots.
When you’re repotting your own trees at home, you should always evaluate the tree and put into consideration how strong it is to determine how aggressive you can get with the roots.
This isn’t the best picture but it does give you an idea of what the cork bark looks like. The bark develops fairly quickly on this tree. Branches that are about 4-5 years old will start to develop cork.
Here is the tree in a new wider pot. I tilted the tree to the right a bit to show off more of the root spread (nebari) on the tree’s right. I then put some sphagnum moss on the top soil to maintain the moisture level to help the tree recover from the repotting. I set the tree in a nice sunny spot and will start to fertilize the the tree in the next couple of weeks. The soil mix I used for this tree is 70 percent medium-hard akadama, 15 percent coarse River sand, 15 percent pumice with a splash of charcoal. The granular sizes ranged from small to medium. This is about the typical mix we use on our medium to large deciduous trees.
Rough Bark Japanese Maple (Arakawa Momiji) vs. Typical Green Leaf Japanese Maple (Yama Momiji)
Rough Bark Japanese Maple grow pretty much the same as a typical smooth bark green leaf Japanese Maple. The new leaves come out green with a red border. As the leafs mature, they will turn completely green. They both are worked the same and feed the same during the growing season.
The benefits of using this type of maple is that the bark is very interesting and their wounds actually heal faster then a typical Japanese Maple. Last year, I cut of a 1 inch (2.5cm) branch at the trunk and the wound as already callused over. Other then the bark and healing speed, they are pretty much the same as a Green Leaf Japanese Maple.
Arakawa Momiji #2
This one is going into the ground.
Since I plan on putting this tree in the ground, doesn’t mean I just pull it out of the pot and plop it into a hole in the ground. I still have to do the root work just like a regular repotting. This photo is a good example of finding the true root spread (nebari) before working on the rest of the root ball. Normally, I would start on the bottom of the root ball first, but in this case I don’t know where the root spread is yet so I have to find it first. If I don’t do this first I may end up taking too much from the bottom. Now that I know where the root spread is, I can focus on the rest of the root ball.
Here is the root ball cut and cleaned up.
To The Field We Go!
In early March, Mr. Tanaka, Juan and myself made a small growing area at the overflow field (it’s not always sitting in a comfy chair in the workshop ;o). This area is about 12 inches (30.5cm) deep with used bonsai soil (akadama, pumice, coarse river sand). I took a shovel and dug about 8 inches (20cm) deep, leaving a slight hump in the center.
Next I placed a thick plastic bag on top of the hump. This plastic will help force the roots to grow outwards as oppose to downwards. Some people use a large tile or wood board instead.
Next I put a small amount of soil on top of the plastic.
Here’s the tree on top of the mount.
Next I filled the hole with soil and compressed it with with my foot. I think you can see some of my foot prints in the soil! p
Last thing I did was water the tree.
So all we can do now is wait and see how both trees will grow. Which tree do you think will grow stronger and faster? Most would say the the tree in the ground would and it is a very much proven fact. The reason why I’m doing this experience is for couple of reasons.
1. Practice what I have learned in developing deciduous trees.
2. Trying to figure out if the gains of putting a tree in the ground as opposed to a pot, is worth the time in creating a growing ground in the future.
3. (Most important) I’ve always heard from my first year doing Bonsai till now that putting trees in the ground will make them grow faster and stronger. One thing that has bothered me in Bonsai is that many people will always tell you how this and that works well, but they never did it themselves. It’s always something they heard from other people and just accepted it to be true. Once I came to Japan, some of those truths turned out to be incorrect and I thought to myself, “Wow! There is a lot of misinformation out there and I just assumed it was correct because that’s what people were saying over and over.” With this experiment, I can at least say that I tried it and it worked… or maybe not work… we’ll see. For you readers out there that haven’t tried it or can’t (let’s face it, we don’t all have large backyards), you can at least have some sort of visual evidence that it works or doesn’t.
The Fall
Both trees will continue to grow during the Spring and Summer. In the Fall, they will both slow down and I’ll take some pictures of the new growth to see which grew faster. I’ll keep you all updated with plenty of pictures.
I got more projects in the works so if you liked this post, there will be more coming soon!
Now you can say you were there at the beginning! Thanks for reading everyone, and I mean it!
P.S. If you are actively reading this blog, I would appreciate it if you subscribe to it (right column of the blog). This is one of the best ways for me to know how many people are reading. Thanks!
