Maple Bonsai Blog

One way to make this decision is by choosing one that suits the size needed. For instance, if a tree that will ideally be two to four foot is needed then pick a large leaf maple for the bonsai. If a smaller one is desired then mame is a good choice, though shohin is too. Seedlings are often used for maple bonsai and red seedlings will produce a bonsai with wonderful purple or red foliage. They make good medium to larger size finished trees. Green ones reduce better and therefore make nicer small bonsai trees.

A hardier maple that can be successfully cultivated in the city is the Trident Maple, which is a deciduous. It can withstand more pollution in the environment. It still has its weakness, which is frost because its roots hold a large quantity of moisture. Protect it with straw during the winter months or put it in a hothouse. It is also popular because it has the uncanny ability to form into a bonsai better than other maples. This maple has every characteristic that produces a fantastic bonsai. Some of these are as follows:

• They like being cultivated in a container a lot.

• They naturally favor growing upwards and are easily shaped into the style chosen.

• They adapt to root pruning and they produce big trunks, which happens in a relatively short period.

• They fuse root buttresses rapidly and the development of branches can be quick.

For those that would like to cultivate a bonsai that works well in some shade the Japanese maple is the a good choice as it doesn’t realize all of its potential if exposed to extreme sunlight. Basically, keep it in partial shade in the summer months and full sunlight for the rest of its season. It does like fertile and damp soil. Although all of the maples do better without to much direct sun.

Many people think of the Japanese Maple as the best tree for a bonsai. One reason is because its fall leaves are lovely shades of red, orange, and gold. They like its dainty fern like leaves. Prune it during springtime and keep it out of the wind and cold. This tree is also known as the Japanese Mountain Maple.

Two of the Japanese Maples that have rough bark are the Nishiki Issaiand an the Nishiki Gawa.. The Sanku ’s bark is quite uncommon. These represent a few hybrids of the Japanese maple that number about three-hundred in total

Whichever type of tree is chosen to cultivate a bonsai, the amount of space available and the free time are important considerations when picking the tree. Also, to develop a bonsai certain tools and pots are needed for one kind of tree and different ones for another tree., though some tools are general bonsai tools. Maples are good trees for those just starting to make bonsai trees as they are easy to care for and are sturdy. Pick the bonsai maple that is best suited to your needs and you can grow a beautiful tree.

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Yes I am potty about Maple Bonsai if you hadn’t guessed, however this article has a much broader appeal. The subject of Bonsia can cover a broad spectrum of subjects for the enthusiast. One area however does not seem to get much coverage, and that is pots. When starting out the pot should not be the first consideration however as time goes on it becomes more important. Below is a brief introduction to the subject, leave a comment and I will expand on this more if required.

As with all types of plant pots, Bonsai pots are available in a huge array of sizes, shapes and colours but making sure you select the correct pot for your Bonsai tree can make the difference between a good looking Bonsai and an incredible looking Bonsai. Be warned, though, the pot you pick can have either positive or detrimental effects to the growth of your beloved Bonsai tree.

Q. What type of Bonsai pots should I be considering?

Firstly, if you have a juvenile Bonsai that is still growing quite rapidly you will need to consider several training pots before you decide on a final show pot to exhibit your Bonsai. However, when selecting a Bonsai pot you should never pick one that means you will need to drastically trim the roots. If you do want to reduce the size of your pot or the roots then you need to take it in gradual steps, moving down a pot size at a time before eventually reaching the size you want.

Make sure the pot you are considering has very good drainage and is entirely frost proof, this will help keep your Bonsai safe and healthy all year round whether it is kept indoors or outdoors. If you are selecting a glazed pot, be sure that only the outside of the pot is actually glazed, because the Bonsai will need the rough surface on the inside for the roots to grab onto and establish themselves.

Q. What pot for what tree?

The type of pot you should buy is indicated by the kind of tree you are growing as well as the style you want. Conifers lend themselves brilliantly to naturally coloured, unglazed pots whereas deciduous trees look good in glazed or unglazed and in just about any colours. Experiment a little to find the right pot for you, and especially consider pastel colours for your deciduous trees or a bright coloured pot for a flowering tree.

Also, consider how much room the roots will need for your particular choice of tree. Cascading trees will require a deep pot with plenty of room for the roots to grow down but also so the branches can hang over the side without draping on the floor.

If you have a heavily glazed pot, remember that the colour of the glaze will age and ware off slightly over it’s lifetime and many people wipe the glaze with French polish in order to speed the process up giving your glazed pot a slightly more natural and aged feel.

Remember the final pot will need to house the Bonsai for many years hopefully, and so as the tree matures take the time to study it and make the right choice.

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Author: Davide Petilli

More often than not, the approach to bonsai art comes with a present. A friend, a relative or a partner gives a new little tree in a short pot and he can’t tell us how to handle it.

Those bonsai trees are set on a piece of furniture or next to a window and normally die in a couple of months. Here comes the misconception that bonsai trees die after a short time.

But a bonsai can live among hundreds of years (there are specimens of 1000 years and more), so you are not excused if you let your bonsai die. But what to do with that strange thing?

This is a brief kick start guide to help you in the first months with your bonsai:

Establish what species it is: first thing first you have to know what species your bonsai tree belongs to. It is important because every species has different needs. This may be a hard task, there are hundreds of species and each can have a lot of varieties and cultuvar.

To start you don’t need to know the exact variety or cultuvar, you just need to know the general name of the species: it could be a maple, an elm or it could be a pine or a juniper.

Arborday.org has a guide on the trees classification that can help you. Also Wikipedia has a classification list.

Set your bonsai tree outdoor: unless your bonsai belongs to a species native of tropical regions, you have to put it outdoor (of course if you live in a tropical place you can set your tropical bonsai outdoor). A bonsai cannot survive indoor due to a handful of reasons, if you assume your bonsai is an ornament you are wrong. Period.

If you identify the species, you can know the precise spot where to set it. Usually conifers should go in full-sun, the other species should be set in mid-shadow or even shadow. This is a really rough distinction and there are a lot of exceptions, a good cultivation sheet can help you a lot.

Learn how to water it: watering is a crucial task and one of the most difficult of bonsai cultivation. Every species needs different quantities of water, and you should understand the needs of your own bonsai tree.

The bonsai lives in a small pot, there’s a relatively small quantity of soil in it and the tree can certainly suffer dryness and temperature excursions.

As a general rule, if it is summer you have to water your bonsai every evening. If you water it in the morning the soil will dry in no time and the tree will suffer. If you water it in the evening it’ll have all the time it needs to adsorb water and nutriments and, even if the next day the soil will dry, the bonsai will not suffer.

During spring and fall you have to diminish watering, just wait until the surface of the soil starts to dry out and only then water. It is easy to over-water your bonsai tree, so follow the rule above and you should be ok.

During winter the bonsai wants little water, just keep the soil humid, not wet, and water when it begins to dry.

There are two watering methods: the first is giving your tree a shower and continue until the water exits from the drainage holes; the second is to immerse the pot in a can of water and let the soil adsorb.

In both cases remember to bathe the foliage too (never if the sun still hits).

Fertilize your bonsai: fertilizing is the most underrated task by the novice. It is really important to fertilize the bonsai because the soil in the pot will easily loose it’s nutriments for the tree.

The quantity of soil is limited and it is an isolated environment so it’s our duty to provide nutriments. If your matter si if water is sufficient, the answer is no. Can you live just drinking water? No. For your bonsai is the same thing.

Until you become an expert, a balanced fertilizer (10:10:10) will do it’s work. You don’t have to acquire a bonsai specific fertilizer, the bonsai has the same physiology of all the vegetables, every fertilizer will do. Remember just to dilute it more than the recommendations say or you’ll risk to burn your bonsai.

A simple and good solution would be to use the hanagokoro, a Japanese organic fertilizer, very strong, easy and safe to use as it is almost impossible to overfeed.

You should fertilize during spring, when the vegetation begins, until July (in the boreal hemisphere) then stop in the hottest period. Restart in the second half of August until October (November for the conifers).

Get another bonsai: only action will allow you to gain the sufficient experience to manage a bonsai. Keep collecting bonsai and make your own, with try and errors you will become an expert.

Needless to say it is a great satisfaction to produce your own bonsai and a lovely feeling to watch your bonsai garden growing.

You may have noticed I have omitted such tasks as pruning, wiring, jin, shari and so on. This is a primer, a kick start guide, born just to help you keeping alive your bonsai.

Defining what is a bonsai isn’t easy, but we can resume it in the “perfect balance between the tree, it’s form and the pot hosting it”. If you don’t learn how to take care of your tree, and limit your experience to this primer, your bonsai will survive but it’ll loose its “bonsai title” in a couple of years or less.

If you are serious with bonsai art, you want to study. You can buy books - I will soon post reviews - or read some good online resource - in the sidebar there are a phiew -.

Of course keep reading this blog, I will post a lot of things about bonsai.

If you think this list isn’t complete (keep in mind it’s a survival guide), feel free to add your points.

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/first-time-bonsai-a-5-points-survival-guide-124852.html

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It seems that all those bonsai we kill when just starting could be winners.

This article gives us all hope of still being masters of the art even with dead bonsai.

So don’t give up just relabel them and enter them under a different categorie - good luck.

See the artical below.

Dead Bonsai lives on…

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I love my Maple Bonsai but here’s one young man who started as a lot of us do with the ritual sacrifice of our first bonsai, but then…

He seems to have got the hang of it now, with a collection of 120 bonsai, I should hope so. Talk about having your hands full, I have, shaping and loving my one maple bonsai.

On top of this he’s now going to Japan to study the noble art with a master in Osaka, we all know how it feels to turn a hobby into a passion but this takes the biscuit. No of course I’m not jealous but with a wife, a couple of kids and one demanding maple bonsai this tends to slow you down bit.

It seems we have a future master of the art, as even the most experienced might baulk at reducing a 5 foot tree.

Take a look at the full article.

For bonsai aficionados, pro…

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