Fusion Bonsai

Mangetsu azalea fusion update

Greg Wentzel — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:58:46 +0000

When I got this tree from Will Feldman almost a year ago the blooms had already fallen so I let them bloom this year just to see what they looked like. In the next few years I will remove the flower buds before they bloom. The flowers tax the strength of the tree and I want full strength and growth at this stage. After the trunk has completely fused I will let it bloom. I decided not to take cuttings as I had originally planned to use to fill in gaps. I found on my Dawn Redwood test piece that when I topped the tree it slowed growth and fusion to a standstill, so I will let this tree grow freely and hope that the cuttings thicken and fuse. This tree is 5 years old now and needs to be repotted with new soil. It would probably grow faster in the ground but I have run out of yard space so I will put it in a grow tray. The first step was to remove all the blooms.

The next step was to rake the roots out. I was a little surprised how few roots there were. I figured after 5 years they would be pot bound. I used a soil mix of 2 parts Virginia Fines pine mulch, 1 part crushed lava and 1 part course sifted sand. I soaked the whole tray in a B1 solution for about 15 minutes before putting it back on the shelf to rest. In a few weeks I will begin fertilizing heavily.

Have fun!

2013 Potomac Bonsai Festival

Greg Wentzel — Sun, 05 May 2013 22:45:11 +0000

The 2013 Potomac Bonsai Festival was held at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington, D.C.. Here are a few pics.

Have fun!

Growing pines in colanders

Greg Wentzel — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:09:50 +0000

I have wanted to try growing pines in plastic colanders for a while and finally got around to it. In the book ‘Pines’ published by Stone Lantern there is an article titled ‘Pine from seed’ written by Kusida Matsuo that explains how he grows pine seedlings in plastic colanders using 7 parts sand and 3 parts akadama with no organic material. This provides excellent aeration of the roots and promotes vigorous growth. The only downside to this technique is that you must water the trees several times a day to keep the roots from drying out and fertilize heavily because the potting mix and colander drain very quickly. Skipping a day of watering could prove fatal to the tree.

I am going to use 100% crushed lava as my potting mix. Our bonsai club buys about 100 bags a year from Roy Nagatoshi in California. The shipping is steep but the quality of his material is the best I have found. As you can see the lava pieces are fairly small. It drains well but still maintains some moisture in all those tiny pockets.

I decided to pot 2 pines. The first is a dwarf variety Japanese White Pine ‘Kokonoe’ that I grew from seed planted last spring. I wired the seedling and planted it in an 8 inch colander.

As you can see there are lots of fresh buds.

The second tree I chose is a Japanese Black Pine ‘Kotobuki’. This is a one year old Kotobuki scion that I grafted onto Black Pine rootstock.

You can see the sealed scar at the base where I removed the the top of the Black Pine. There are several strong candles emerging.

Matsuo’s technique placed one small 6 inch colander inside another larger 8 inch colander. I placed my colander inside a plastic deck rail pot filled with more crushed lava. The reason I chose to do this is for convenience. I wanted to have the pots on my deck so I could easily water the trees as I rushed out to work each morning. A second reason is the exposed colander would dry out quickly with a little wind and the deck rail pot should solve most of this problem. If my potting mix appears to be drying out as summer gets hot I will probably apply a thin layer of leaf mulch to slow evaporation.

Finally I lightly pressed seabird guano pellets into the top of the potting mix. Seabird guano is organic and high in nitrogen. As the tree grows I will increase the amount of fertilizer.

Matsuo claims that the trunk should be about 2 inches in diameter after one year. I hope to match his results.

Have fun!