Maple Bonsai Blog

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First let me say this information is for those of us in the northern hemisphere, for all those down south  it will be a little (approx. 6 months) out of sync. People keep asking me what to do with their Maple Bonsai in the winter. Well the answer is not a lot, if your bonsai is an outdoor tree leave it outside. You can protect it from the worst frost or winds to stop it drying out but that is about it.

The winter is a dormant period for most trees, so let it rest. Whatever you do do not feed as if there is a break in the weather you bonsai may start to sprout new growth. This could be a disaster if the cold weather returns again.

Here is an article outlining a basic yearly schedule for Bonsai growing, hope this is useful.

The Maple Year Author - Craig Coussins

To facilitate readers in other countries I have used seasons as well as UK months. Please remember that you must take into consideration the variables found within temperature in your own country. Early Spring (February to March) Although you can repot almost anytime this is the optimum period for the majority of Maples. Kashima and Kiyohime will have started to move at this time. Make sure they are protected. / Feed o.10.10. (Zero Nitrogen) every 7 days to stop lush growth but only after the buds have opened. Throughout Spring (March to May) Start plucking out the bud centres Early Summer (June) After the first two feeds start feed High Nitrogen feed to build stamina on young trees. If you want good Autumn colour cut down your High Nitrogen food. If tree is healthy then consider full or partial defoliation. This can be followed with selective wiring. Remember that the tree will have to be looked after as the same as February to May or Spring. The problem in Summer defoliation is Sun Burn rather than winds. Mid Summer (July) Wire trees with Cage (not tight) or protected wire and do any major pruning at this time during summer dormancy. Reduce feeding until mid August or late mid summer. Late Summer (August) Start a weekly feed with low Nitrogen food. Last time for defoliation before fall. Early Autumn / Fall (September) Trim all leaves that grow out of the planned shape. Stop feeding if leaves start to change colour. It should be noted that good fall colour is achieved with little of no feed….but the question is whether or not you want to risk the tree’s health for a short term benefit. Autumn / Fall (October) Complete your feeding with low or Zero Nitrogen Feed Late Autumn / Early Winter (November) Remove any dead leaves and make sure that the trees are protected against winter frosts and wind. Winter (December to January) This is the other time when you can perform major surgery on your Bonsai. Author - Craig Coussins Website: http://www.bonsaiinformation.co.uk

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The Japanese Maple Bonsai play an important part in the structure and design of Japanese gardens. Not just the aesthetic appearance and texture but also on a spiritual level. The art of bonsai goes beyond horticulture and is part of the Zen Buddhist philosophy. Zen and Shinto traditions both play a large part in the design and lay out of gardens. The idea of Zen Buddhism is to be in harmony with nature and not obtrusive to it. Buddhism sees nature as having a soul, so this personifies it, and means it should be respected. The traditional bonsai artists believe that the purpose of this arts miniature approach is to promote the shrinking of human foibles such as greed and self-centred thinking. These bad traits of man promote the unthinking destruction of all of nature according to the belief.

All of the different parts of the bonsai have particular meanings of their own in the Zen Buddhist belief system. For instance the branches stretch towards the sky seeking a richer thought process or enlightenment. The stout trunk carries the responsibility of promoting the spread of the philosophy. The sturdy roots stand for a concrete grounding in the philosophy, which is ultimately bound for heaven.

Maple Bonsai fit into this as they are one of the species that take well to the formal upright style and go well with the skyward stretch towards enlightenment. They are also good candidates for the informal upright style. In this style the trunks is supposed to bend to one side or the other, but not in the direction of the admirer. This mimics the natural bending of trees away from the shading of other trees or objects, or the effects of the wind over time. As stated these trees have a strong upright tendency this makes them particularly suited to these two styles. The Maple Bonsai can also work well with the slanting bonsai style, however it isn’t a good candidate for the cascading or the semi-cascading style.

Although the philosophy of Zen Buddhism and its part in bonsai is interesting, it isn’t a necessary requirement for the cultivating and the enjoyment of these little trees. Today all over the world bonsai fans enjoy a wonderful hobby, that certainly can help you to be peaceful and in tune with nature, but you don’t have to adhere to a Buddhist belief. It can just be used as a tool for decorating the inside or outside of the home.

The bonsai tree can sometimes live for hundreds of years if cared for correctly. They are a lovely, peaceful piece of art that can be given to your children, and this can be repeated for generations to come. These trees are a personal expression of the artist, and therefore no two trees are the same, as in nature. It takes patience to learn how to create a bonsai and failure is common at first, but as mentioned patience is the key. If you want to become a bonsai master it takes time and effort, but you don’t have to be a master to create and enjoy your own bonsai. Just learn some basics, get a tree, and keep it healthy. Enjoy your Maple Bonsai in whatever way suites you, as a piece of art, decoration, or a spiritual representation of nature.

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Hello, I hope this article informs you about the main areas that require attention during the life of your Maple Bonsai. The subject matter can get quite intense and some of the topics can be contentious even amongst experts. But these short paragraphs contain a lot of very useful information and I hope provide any necessary pointers you are looking for.

Origins and description.

Japan and China are its native countries of origin. The leaf looks slightly like a person’s hand. When the branches and trunks are young the bark’s color is usually green, but can be red on certain types; they all become pale gray or brown when older. Of the numerous varieties the red leaved one is the most sought after for bonsai.

Light and watering.

Sit the tree in a spot out of direct sunlight during the hottest part of summer, preferably where it can have sun in the morning or evening. The foliage is dainty; it is likely to burn sitting in direct sunlight. For this reason watering in direct sunlight can be harmful. Watering should be done very early or late in the day and the plant needs to be watered well. Do this every day and give the plant adequate drainage so its roots won’t rot by sitting in excess water

Fertilizer feeding.

The bonsai needs to be fed every two weeks, use a slow-acting pellet fertilizer. This procedure should be done from spring through autumn, during the other periods it should not be fed but should be left to rest. If a tree is debilitated or re-potted don’t feed it; stop feeding for approximately two months. When the hottest summer months come also quit feeding it for a month, perhaps even two. If you would rather use chemical fertilizers then feeding should be done bi-weekly with a balanced mixture and make the compound half-strength.

Pruning.

Never stress the root system by pruning it without pruning the branches because they will be over taxed in an effort to feed too large a branch system. To prevent losing too much sap prune the branches during the fall or winter. Seal the wounds with wound dressing to aid recovery. New growth should be removed by pinching so the tree grows good branches; this also stops long internodes, which are the spaces between sets of paired leaves on the branches. To get the utmost internode reduction, use tweezers and a magnifying glass when the shoot first opens. If long internodes have been grown, repair this by cutting the branch down to the first internode. Let it grow again and pinch correctly to get the appropriate spacing. The aim is to have a short spacing.

The way to get smaller leaves is to prune them off; take them off during the early summer one year and leave them on for the next year, thus rotating the procedure. Remove every leaf from the tree, but let the leaf stem remain. This creates what can be called a false autumn and causes smaller leaves to grow back. Don’t re-pot and leaf prune in the same year, as this is too stressful for the tree.

Wiring.

Normally, most people would shape maples with just pruning and pinching. When wiring is needed, do it during the summer months as the tree is fully leaved during this period. You will need to protect the bark and can use raffia for this. Remove the wire after six months at most, preferably before then, to avoid damaging or scaring the bonsai tree. An alternative method of shaping a younger tree can be achieved by tying it to a stake. This way it can either be pulled straight or bent to a wanted shape.

Re-potting.

The re-potting of younger maples is done bi-yearly and for older ones in two to three year intervals. This should routinely be a spring project; the roots need to be curtailed by half or a little less. If lifeless or damaged roots exist they need to be removed so they won’t rot and cause further damage. Ideally use 20-30% course sand in the potting mix which can be either a loam or peat mixture. This allows for adequate drainage and lets the roots breathe.

You can find a further article about potting on this site. Please leave a comment as blogging is supposed to be interactive. Thanks for viewing this and come back soon, there is also an RSS feed for this site.

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These are green maples and are sometimes called mountain maples or smooth maples. Their natural homes are South Korea, Japan, and China. They are stout, generally hardy and therefor healthy trees. Their leaves reduce nicely making good bonsai trees. They’re suited primarily for single bonsai, although they are good for forest plantings and clump style.

What is clump style? It is a style with numerous trunks, which grow around a centralized spot. The trunks connect to each other so this style differs from the forest presentation in this respect. This is a classic bonsai style and is otherwise called grove style. The several trees are put in one pot, which gives a forest illusion and you usually use an odd number of trees to conform to the Japanese art and show respect. The clump style is also different than the raft style in that in raft styling the trunks are placed along a shared spine. In the raft style the tree is made to look like one that the wind has blown over and the surface branches keep growing as new trunks, because the underside has rooted.

The tree produces tiny flowers whose sepals are colored purple or red with white petals. As with most maples, if not all, over sunning can scorch the leaves. The leaves have five to nine lobes and are yellow in the summer becoming purple or red during the fall. It is a very airy and dainty maple and likes part shade in the height of summer or curtainly not direct sun. In places with climates like that of England’s then it should take the full sun without any problems. In the winter if outside it should be placed on the northern side of the home as it thinks that spring has come if it gets a bit warm. The problem is that it could be killed by a frost if it doesn’t stay dormant until spring really comes. Being on the northern side of the house it doesn’t think spring has arrived until hopefully any spring freezes have finished. This way it won’t sprout new leaves too soon.

To propagate it, asexual ways have to be used like budding, grafting, air-layering or cuttings. A good way to propagate with a cutting is to put it in a small pot with moistened soil and place a plastic bag over it and seal the bag or use a zip-lock. Left in indirect light for nine months it will grow roots. No more water should be needed while in a sealed bag as it becomes a tiny greenhouse.

The fertilization should be done in late winter or early spring; the soil needs to be well-balanced. It can develop a disease called chlorosis if it doesn’t have sufficient iron, if this disease occurs the leaves become a sickly yellow color. It will remind you of the look of jaundice. Re-pot it during this time period too. It needs damp soil, but not really wet. If the soil gets too dry it can cause the leaf to burn when exposed to sunlight.

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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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