bonsai 101: what are bonsai seeds?

I want to talk a little bit about bonsai seeds. Sometimes you see these things on eBay these “bonsai seeds”. The fact of the matter is that they are just seeds for whatever species of plant they're selling. Sometimes you see these kits at big-box stores in Hobby Lobby. They sell a bonsai kit which comes with a pot and soil and seed. Guess you're supposed to plant the seed in the potting soil and grow a bonsai tree. but these are just seeds for Japanese Black pine or what not. 

Ponderosa pine

It will take years for the seeds to grow to resemble anything like a bonsai. This is so especially if the plant is kept in a little pot its whole life. Sometimes when I tell people that I make bonsai they tell me about their experience with these bonsai kits. Some of those seeds never sprout. The truth is that for the novice some seeds could be hard to sprout. Some of the seeds need cold stratification, scarification, or warm stratification.

I'm not saying you should not buy them, but understand what you're getting into. They are just regular seeds. The fact of the matter is that a bonsai tree is a plant that somebody cultivates by pruning, wiring, and fertilizing. The seed itself does not a bonsai make.

Brazilian rain tree

So when you buy these bonsai seeds just understand that it's going to take a lot of years for it to develop into anything that might come close to looking like a bonsai.

I grow trees from seeds. One of my favorite things to grow is Moreton Bay ficus or ficus macrophylla. These trees get pretty big and very quick. However, it takes a good number of years to get to a size worth showing. I am talking shohin size. Then you have to get the branching out right, the ramification. You can't do that on a young macrophylla until you cut the top tip part right where all the auxin is. When you cut that part it promotes more Branch growth but it slows down the growth of the whole tree over all.

Moreton Bay Ficus

So, I want you guys to know that there are no seeds that grow into a bonsai. A bonsai comes from someone dedicating time and care in developing a plant so that it becomes a bonsai. 

bad branch location on a bonsai-Ficus

What do you do when you have a massive trunk but the branches are not in the

right place?  If you are talking about a Ficus then make it bald. That's right cut off

all the branches. Do not leave anything.

This sounds like harsh treatment, but desperate times call for desperate measures. One

day I was out collecting Ficus from where I work which happens to have a lot of pine

trees. In those pine trees, little birds deposit ficus seeds and they grow. They can get

pretty big if the landscape people do not get to them. So, one day I found a really big

tree that was as thick as my forearm, I'm not a small guy. The problem was that all the

branches were growing from one side. The side that was facing the tree had no branches. The ramification looked very bad. But the trunk was thick and one

of the hardest things to do because it takes a lot of patience is to thicken a trunk.

I tried growing it out for a while. But had no success because all the smaller branches started growing from all the bad branches. It only had bad branches, to begin with. I didn't want to throw this tree away I had collected it made it into a cutting and it was growing. It would be a

waste to throw this tree away, so I chopped off all the branches.

I had noticed when I cut the branches from another Ficus that they would sprout out

new smaller branches all over. I also noticed that if I left a longer nub of a bad branch

there would be new growth there. That would be bad as those branches would also grow

in a bad spot. So, how could I make branches grow in good spots? The only way was by

removing every branch and not leaving long nubs.

At first, I saw no new growth, and yes I was scared that I might have killed the tree.

That's always in the back of your mind. But one day I saw little buds coming out from the

tippy top of the tree which is great because I don't want branches growing just anywhere

on the tree. They all started to grow where I wanted them to.

Not only were they growing where I wanted them to, but they were growing in large

quantities. So many that I had to cut some of them off because I knew that the tree really didn't need that many branches.

I left just enough branches so that they were in a good position, and they would have

room to grow. I wired the lower branches just to give him some shape these are going

to be my longer branches. I'm not going to prune these for a long time. In fact, I'm not going

to prune any branches until some of them get to be as thick as a pencil. The reason

I will not prune them now is that that will slow down the growth.

.As you can see growth is fantastic. I want those branches to grow, grow, grow.

Aerial roots when you live in a desert.

What are some features that you like on bonsai trees? I love aerial roots on ficus trees. They start out thin, but when they bury themselves in the soil they get fat quick. They add lots of character to the tree.

To be frank, growing aerial roots was a mystery to me. Sometimes I would see them grow on some of my Ficusses. Then one day after a heat wave killed some of my trees I decided to install a “drip irrigation” system. They actually make sprinklers in 180 degrees, 90, and 45-degree heads. I installed what you might call an overkill of sprinkler heads. I did not want to lose any tree to thirst.

I turned the sprinklers daily. Instead of mostly the soil getting wet the sprinklers would wet everything. I am talking about the leaves, trunks, and all. Also the brick wall, the wood stands, and the ground soil. I was changing the microclimate. Where I keep my trees I have little to no wind. It’s like a little alcove.

After about 4 weeks I noticed that some of my ficusses had a bunch of aerial roots coming from the trunk.

That is how I stumbled upon aerial roots.

I believe that consistently wetting the whole tree helped create aerial roots more than just the higher humidity.

I had seen pictures of Scandinavian ficus bonsai. They are kept in grow bags. That is a plastic square bags with artificial humidity and light. The winters are harsh up there. Also, daylight in winter is very short. They keep these “exotic” trees in these bags to protect them. Because the humidity is high and the temperature in the bag is relatively high the ficus produce aerial roots. The roots were few though.

In fact, when I saw that I was going to make a mini greenhouse out of wood and clear plastic to try and replicate it.  

I live in Los Angeles, CA. We have had some very warm summers and wet winters (wet for LA, don't laugh at us Seattle) the last few years. The rain was not enough and when it did rain the temperature was too low to do much ariel root growing.

The summers were hot enough but because LA is at the edge of a desert it was never humid enough.

Aerial roots widened the trunk

I want to emphasize that the roots were not growing from the branches. Not every Ficus produced aerial roots and not every tree that made aerial roots produced the same amount.  Even among the same species namely ficus microcarpa, there were differences.

I never use straws to grow the aerial roots. They will not "dry out" if they get wet every day. 

What Ficusses produce aerial roots?:

• Chinese Banya-F. microcarpa
• Moreton Bay Fig-F. macrophylla
• Port Jackson Fig-F. rubiginosa
• Peepale Fig-F. religiosa
• Burtt Davyi
• Weeping fig-F.Benjamina

What can help make aerial roots?:

• Warm temperature 80f or higher
• High humidity
• Spraying the trunk daily
• Right species of Ficus
• Even within the same species, it varies

You might have noticed that most of the aerial roots like to grow on the underside of lateral parts of the tree. The underside.

Cheers

Bonsai 101: Fixing to much exposed roots

Hello, bonsaiaphiles. What are your solutions to major bonsai problems?
I had a Japanese boxwood that I found in a nursery. It was old and tucked away where only a bonsai enthusiast dares to go. You know what I’m talking about.
There was this JBW (Japanese boxwood) that had a lot of potential. However, over the
years watering it had washed away the top layer of soil exposing the roots.
I did not mind it so much. It even in my humble opinion looked nice.
It was in a 5-gallon pot. I worked on it for two years getting the roots short enough to pot in a shallow pot. The branches and leaves were looking nice.

The elephant in the room was the roots:

This is what everything looks like together:

Is this the best tree in the world? Of course not, but I love it.  I always thought that putting
a rock in there would be the best idea. I would need to find a rock that would first, fit in there.
Second, that looked natural and not forced. I stumbled upon this rock in my garden:

I removed a little bit more dirt. Then I started to wedge the rock in the space between the roots.
I did not want to force it and break the roots.

Here is what the whole thing looks like after:

It almost looks like they belong together. I would like it to slide a little more in. Ill tap it with this small hammer.

See how the rock curves up mimicking the trunk? That is a very good part of the design.

That's what I did. It came out pretty good if I do say so myself. There is a sense of satisfaction in solving these issues.

Do you have any similar experiences?

Bonsai 101: mallsai, you have to learn to walk before you can run

For those who do not know what mallsai is here is my definition: This is a potted plant, most often woody that has an asian aesthetic that is sold at big box stores or on the side of highways and is labeled as bonsai.

Wow, now that I got that off my chest I feel much better. Thanks for coming folks.

I can’t fool you guys. You came here for some controversy. Well, most of you.

I do not understand why practitioners of the art of bonsai turn their noses at theses trees? Even the word MALLSAI is  used as an unflattering name. So my defense of these bonsai (yes, I dare call them bonsai) is two pronged.

First, the bare roots if you will. The foundations of what a bonsai is. The two things that all bonsai have in common. That is that you get a tree and you put it in a pot. BAM! There You have it.  You might use a piece of slate, plastic pot, a carved rock, it’s all good. Then you stick a plant  in it.

We can all agree that monocot plants are excluded from bonsai. Also, that a potted plant needs to have the appearance of a trunk. Can we all agree that these things are a common denominator in all bonsai across the world? Yes, I am making some big statements here. As I am a nobody in the world of bonsai I have nothing to lose by speaking truth to power and getting all you woke on bonsai or whatever it is people say nowadays.   

I am bringing kanji into the mix. In Japanese this is how you write bonsai:盆栽. It is made of two characters. The first is 盆. That character means tray. I Know because google translate told me so. Google translate also says that 栽 means cultivation. There you have it a tray for cultivation. OK, when you use 栽 as a noun it means plant. So, it means plant in a tray.

Not to make this anymore boring bonsai aesthetics have changed continuously since the time that japan brought penjing from China. Guess what? Bonsai is a living art so it will continue to change. The fact that there is disagreements on aesthetics in the bonsai world is proof of this.

Part two. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Just like lobster, salmon, beef tongue (wait, i am making a point here) these were poor people's food at one point in American history. Now, these babies are expensive delicacies. Why did I bring these things up? Because its proof of changing tastes.

How many of us were introduced to bonsai because of a roadside precombens nana juniper? I am waving my hand in the air. What if that is your comfort level as far as time and money investment? Do those things a bonsai define?

Maybe, just maybe our view on mallsai says something about who we are. Stop, before you scroll down to start trolling let me say this. If you have looked at the eveidence and are satisfied that mallsai are not bonsai. That is ok. I can accept that. However, this is subjective and we have to respect those who enjoy a tiny juniper in a mass produced Chinese ceramic pot with soil that does not drain well and will probably kill it in a month. Or would you rather they killed an 80 year old Japanese black pine because they had no experience keeping bonsai? Cheers.

Garden apple tree to bonsai, almost

My father wanted me to get rid of an apple tree. The tree was about 10 years old. It was probably planted by a passing bird. The problem is that it was growing next to the wall. so, before things got out of control we had to get rid of it and in the process, I would collect a new tree to turn into a bonsai.

I cleaned the trunk a bit. it was a multi-trunk tree. the smaller trunks were cut back but not removed completely.

Surprisingly (or maybe because there was a concrete slab under half of the roots) there was plenty of fine roots and only a couple of very thick roots. This was the bigger of the roots. The saw cut right through. The tree did not release though.    

The tree had a massive taproot holding it down. the angle was awkward but once the dirt was removed from one side all the way through it was easier to cut through.

I took a saw to the taproot again because it was still very big. I had built this box out of broken down pallets. I covered the roots in compost and watered. Ill prune off the extra bits sticking out but I am pretty much done.

This is my second time prying a tree from its comfortable home. Hopefully, this one survives.In any case, I have a peach tree to remove next weekend. Wish me luck. Cheers.

Growing ficus religiosa and benghalensis from seed in cooler climates

I have had much success with growing ficus macrophylla from seed. The weather here in Los Angeles is warm enough to germinate the seeds. The seeds grow even better during one of our many heat waves during the summer (here is the link http://bonsai-misadventures.blogspot.com/2016/03/grow-fig-tree-from-seed-moreton-bay.html).

Los Angeles is many things both good and bad, but it is not hot enough to germinate Ficus religiosa the bodhi tree and Ficus benghalensis the Indian banyan. I have had success  growing each on two different attempts. The first, I put some dirt in a thin plastic ferrero rocher box. It was very shallow and I left it on the window sill when I lived in Pomona. Pomona is 50 miles from the ocean and is much hotter than where I grew up and now currently live, Inglewood. During a very hot heatwave near 100f I noticed that all the f benghalensis seeds had sprouted. It looked like a carpet of microgreens. I was happy and if I had known then that I was not going to germinate that ficus again I would have taken better care of them. I lost them all.

Last year I tried my hand a Ficus religiosa. I used a heat lamp to grow those. It did work. It was not a carpet like the indian banyan, but I took what I can get. My mistake was removing them from the heat too quickly. I lost them all.

So here we are. It's 2018 and I have goals and aspirations. I want to raise a forest of banyans and bodhis.

First things first: SOIL. Oh yes start the controversy.

I am going to grow these seeds in a plastic shoe box. There will be zero drainage.

I started with good ole peat.

I added vermiculite for texture.

Then I added fine volcanic cinder for more texture.

I mixed it all very well. Then I got my shoe box. I chose this to keep humidity high, but I will have to monitor moisture levels. Because there is no drainage I will have to mist.

Here is the box with the soil in it.

These are the seeds.

Here are the seeds on top of the soil.

And here is the first misting.

Los Angeles is to cold for germinating tropical ficus seeds. so I got this:

I bought this heat pad to boost the temp. It was setup in a corner of the kitchen. A Styrofoam sheet was placed underneath to conserve heat.

I pushed it and forced three shoe boxes on the heating pad.

Three days after the setup was completed I was pondering on whether the seeds needed UV to germinate. I went to check the boxes and discovered a lone plant growing. I thought that it might be a weed, though the leaves did look like a ficus (looked like most dicotyleodn sprouts).

Then I noticed it wasn't alone, and that there was a very small one that was just the size of ficus seeds. I was satisfied.

I have been obsessing about Indian Banyan since I started my bonasi journey. I am satisfied with my experiment up to this point. Cheers.