Obtaining Your Bonsai
It is not often realized that bonsai are in fact ordinary plants despite
their exotic appearance. Many still believe that they are some special botanical
species. The average garden is a gold mine as far as raw material for
bonsai is concerned. Almost any plant shrub or tree can be dug
up and made into an instant bonsai, not to mention the hundreds
of cuttings and layerings which can be taken from stock plants.
Garden plants suitable for bonsai include the common ash,
azalea, beech, berberis, box, camellia, cedar, flowering cherry,
cotoneaster, crab apple, cypress, elm, ginkgo,
hawthorn,
hornbeam, holly, juniper, larch, English field maple, Japanese
maple, oak, pine,
privet, pyracantha,
quince, rhododendron,
spruce, sycamore, willow, wisteria and yew.
The first step in the bonsai process is to dig the plant up and
get it to a large container or pot so that it can get accustomed to
being planted in a container. The next step is to prune the shrub
roughly into a triangular shape by thinning out some of the
branches. If the plant has sufficient root the training and shaping
can be done immediately. If the tree is not showing signs of vigor
then it is perhaps better to wait until it is growing properly before
any training is attempted. As long as the plant has sufficient root
and the root ball can be made to fit into a bonsai pot the chances
of survival are very good indeed. If the plant does not have
sufficient root or is not sufficiently vigorous then you will need to
be patient and wait until the plant is well established. Bonsai does
require some patience and to wait a year is not too much to ask.
- Where to look
- Even if there is no legal restriction to
collecting, the location still needs to be
suitable for producing potential bonsai subjects.
Stunted growth in trees can only result
from conditions unfavorable to normal
development. This could be caused by
the area's climate (high altitude, for
example), poor light (such as dense
undergrowth or permanent shade from a
cliff), or even poor soil (in sandy
moorland or stony ground, perhaps).
- When to lift
- In principle, all transplanting should be
carried out during the plant's dormant
period before the year's growth
commences. The considerable climatic
variations in areas where there is a good
chance of finding suitable bonsai material make it difficult to pinpoint the
correct months for transplanting. But as
a rule of thumb, deciduous trees should
be transplanted in autumn and conifers
in early spring (through to mid-spring in
temperate zones). In either case, plants
should not be lifted while frost persists:
the ideal time is after rain, when the earth is well soaked.
- How to lift
- The roots of a tree form a complex
network often searching far into the
earth for the water and nutrients it needs.
To give the lifted tree the best chance to
become established, roots and rootlets
should suffer as little damage as possible.
The plant should never be wrenched up:
take the utmost care to dig a trench deep
enough to ensure that all the roots can be
lifted, with as much of the surrounding
earth as possible. Also take some soil
from around the tree to ease the transition from nature to tray. It is more
important to lift deciduous trees with as
much of the surrounding soil as possible,
than it is for conifers, which can be
transplanted with almost bare roots and
still have a chance of establishment.
- How to move
- The essential function of roots is to allow
the tree to 'drink' and this is why it is vital
to keep them moist during transport.
The most natural way is to take a little
moss, moisten it and wrap it around the
roots. If you cannot find any moss, use
cotton wool. The wrapped root ball
should then be covered in plastic or
aluminium foil. If transport is to take
several days, the root ball must be moistened again. For trees with only a few fine
roots, and especially outside the dormant season,
spray the tree with a transplanting spray. This should be allowed
to dry before the tree is lifted. Before
wrapping, the roots should also be
sprayed. This spray acts as a sealant and
helps to stop the tree losing moisture by
transpiration, thus giving it a greater
chance of surviving the shock of transplanting. Some recommend trimming
the roots and foliage before transport,
just after lifting. This consists of pruning
some of the leaves and the ends of the
roots to limit evaporation through the
leaves and to make absorbing water at
root level easier. It also provides an
opportunity to re-establish the balance
between the branches and roots.
Cut only a little foliage from a tree
which has many roots and cut only a few
roots from a tree which has sparse
branches and leaves.
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