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Steeldrifter

My latest addiction

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I bought the same book but left it next to the bed at night. One of the two knuckleheads got it and it was unreadable. They seem to like the glue used in the binding.

 

I seem to remeber you could train it or start it from scratch by planting it that way like one might find in the woods just the way the seed feel. If I planted one now I would ne dead by the time it was buig enough.

 

That just inspired me. I will try the rock method again but by planting it as if the seed feel that way. We will see which of us dies first.

 

I also have found it har to find nice containers for them without someone thinking they are special and charging a lot for. Have you found any good sources?

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I also have found it har to find nice containers for them without someone thinking they are special and charging a lot for. Have you found any good sources?

 

One of my local nurseries (Tellys Greenhouse- in Troy Mi http://www.tellys.com/departments/bonsai ) actually specializes in Bonsai and they have not only a wide selection of Bonsai trees from $20 up to $1,300 but they also carry a good selection of bonsai pots from $7 for one like the one I just used in the above picture, all the way up to some 21" oval "raft style" pots for $59 to $99

 

If you can't find any goods pots local and want me to pick you something up next time I am at Tellys just let me know. I'm in there about 1-2 per month and could ship you a few pots.

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If you have a Golden Bear Buffet near you, they almost always have some Bonsai fro relatively low prices.

The easiest way to grow roots around a rock, is to re-pot the tree in a deeper pot (Not traditional Bonsai style) with the chosen rock buried beneath the top of the soil.

 

As the roots grow out, start lowering the soil depth. It should take less than two years to have the soil down to Bonsai pot depth, at which time you can re-pot to an appropriate pot or rock surface. This type of Bonsai looks really nice on a flat rock base with the soil built up around the rock and covered in moss.

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Ya like my drawing, too? It's a quickie using MSPaint. I thought it turned out pretty good.

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You are an Ar-tist! lol.

 

I've been tryin to save one of my Junipers lately. My cascade style juniper has started to turn a bit brown and brittle, thought at first maybe not enough water, but after doing more and more reading it sounds like maybe too much water. So I've cut off watering that one and taking it outside during the daytime now. I know you use to keep bonsai for many years, anything you can offer as to what else to do with it to try to save that one? I know it is still very much alive "inside" because a fingernail scratch of the truck shows nice bright green so I don't think it is a goner yet.

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How are you watering? If you are wetting the soil, then it might be too much.

I had to keep reminding myself, "This is a miniature tree in a miniature setting." It's so easy to try treating your Bonsai like a house plant, but it's not. Think of a rain storm ... a downpour. Now try to imagine what that downpour feels like to a 30 foot tree.

The leaves get soaked, but the ground gets a little water and the roots get even less. Now try to water your Bonsai as if it was a 30 foot tree ... miniaturized.

Does that make sense?

It is very easy to forget to water it for a couple of days. This can be catastrophic. With the very limited amount of soil, it can dry out in that short a time. Most Bonsai die for this reason. It is possible to over water, but it's more common to dehydrate.

 

Usually, in the real world, a tree that gets dehydrated, loses large amounts of leaves ... just like in the fall. As long as there are enough living leaves to create sugars, the tree will live. If all the leaves have died, then the tree will probably not survive.

You might need to prune off the dead and dying branches ... look for new growth.

 

Good luck.

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Oh, and mist that tree every morning. Dew is like a trip to the spa for a tree ... every morning, lightly wet the leaves ... like miniature dew.

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Wow,that's some great stuff!

 

It takes an artist to do that well.

I'm sure if I put my hand to it I would end up with a stick.

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Well I picked up a new bonsai last weekend. Normally I don;t care much for Ficus, even though I like most my bonsai as indoor bonsai and a ficus is a great indoors one to have, yet usually they don;t appeal to me much. This one though when I came across it last weekend I really liked the trunk and the overall shape of it, it has lots of branches to work with so I'll be pruning and wiring it some soon as I change the soil. The soil that is in it is much to dense right now.

 

ficus1.jpg

ficus2.jpg

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Here is the new ficus after repotting, pruning and wiring today. This is my first attempt at what is called a Windswept style, which is trained to mimic a tree that is standing against a strong wind such as on the top of a mountain and such. I still have some more pruning and defoliating to do but so far I am pretty pleased with the look of it for my first of this style. I also found some nice roots when I repotted it that I left exposed.

wind1n.jpg

wind3c.jpg

wind2c.jpg

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Nicely done ... be careful not to do too much too soon. Repotting is traumatic, to some extent, and the tree is going to need to time to re-establish roots. Mist in the morning ... can't emphasize that enough.

Nice looking trunk on that tree.

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Yeah that's why I decided to leave some of the branches on it still. It's still a bit thick up top for the look I want but I didn't want to put it through too much all at once so I figured I'd wait and thin the top out a bit more either later this year or next. One good thing is that the tree is about 6 yrs old and was just repotted last year so I didn't have much roots to cut at all during repotting so that was good.

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