Make my garden tree a bonsai

My friend Lucy Ravitch is an amazing math teacher. She has written books for children on math. She posts a video on ideas to teach children math every Thursday (this is the latest one https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LucyRavitch/posts/YMoBuYDupBh). Anywho, She told me that she was looking to get rid of one of her landscape trees. Like any good bonsai lover dreams of yamadori bonsai filled my head.

This is the tree in question. My daughter is standing underneath it. This is a strawberry tree, Arbutus Unedo. It is a European tree that grows mostly in the Mediterranean. The best feature of this tree is the reddish-orange fruit and fragrant bell-shaped flowers it has from late fall to winter. It also has a very beautiful flakey bark, and to top it off I love the menthol-like scent it has. Yes, I love this tree.

An added plus is that because it was designed as a topiary tree it has amazing curvy branches.

A few negatives are the reverse taper of the trunk, not all the large branches are at the bottom, and the branches are too long.

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I started the air layer with a gardening saw. I cut two rings to mark the top and bottom edges of where I am going to remove the bark.

I used a flat gouge to remove the bark. It came off easy, a little too easy. It has very delicate bark. I used my fingers to remove the rest of the bark.

I coated the top edge of the cut with rooting hormone.

After, I soaked sphagnum moss in water. I cut a heavy duty trash bag to size. The trash bag will hold the sphagnum in place. I squeezed most of the water out of the sphagnum moss and placed it in the bag. I use zip ties to hold everything up.

I am worried that the air layer will not take. I promised to remove the tree by August even if the layer does not take. Also, I have never seen this tree, so I am worried about back budding. I saw a picture of Graham Potter with a huge strawberry tree that was shaped into a bonsai, so I believe that it is possible. Wish me luck. Cheers.

Update 07/31/2017
I went to chop the tree down. I checked the wound for roots. No roots to be seen anywhere. In fact, the tree had a callus forming on the exposed wood. The callus was slimey and spongey.  I was a little disappointed but not surprised.

I decided to move to plan B. I would remove the tree and try to plant it in a pot. It was easy to remove the tree as it had no tap root and all the big thick roots were on the surface. I used a pick to dig a trench around the trunk. When I had dug the trench and cut the branch like roots I used the top of the tree as leverage to sway the tree loose. it took two tugs and a push and the tree was free. I pruned all the branches and took the trunk home. There I used a hand saw to remove about 4 feet of trunk.

I made some clean cuts to the bigger roots. Then buried the roots in a compost, sand, and pumice blend.

Do I think the tree will take? I am hoping so. I will put it in semi shade and water like normal.

It's pronounced kəˈtoʊniːˈæstər not Cotton Easter

I saw the most amazing cotoneaster at one of my favorite nurseries yesterday. It had beautiful leaves. The leaves where about just right for the size of the bush. The bush had a few berries hanging on. Yet, The greatest feature was its natural curved trunk. I however, will show you the after shot first. Why? Because I chopped and hacked, and maimed this poor little tree.

What do you think of this tree?

I honestly did not want to. The tree gave no choice, no choice if it wants to become an amazing bonsai. This is what I envision for it.

This is desired outcome

Now let me show you what I started off with.

I know, it had unbridled branches much like the hair of a free spirited hippie who ignores hygiene and never washes their hair. That was what drew me to it. Beautiful leaves and berries on a large mane. What kept me though was its long and well developed curved body. A tree can never reach its potential if the trunk does not look good. A good trunk and bad branches what do you do? You chop off the branches.  Good branches and bad trunk? You can't chop the trunk. You can correct issues with trunks, but that will take longer than a branch problem in pre bonsai trees.

As you can see I had many choices on how I could shape this tree. Different people will have different viewpoints. You may infact say that my choices are crazy, and you know what? You may be one hundred percent correct. However, I have made the cuts so now it's too late to fix anything.

The two aesthetic principles that i gave the most weight to was first, movement. Second, I wanted a nice taper up the tree. I cut away all the dead stuff, and all the things that obviously I did not want to keep. Those would be smaller low branches, branches growing against the direction of the other branches, very large higher branches.

You can see that with some clean up the picture begins to focus. Every time we do something to the tree it should make in our mind's eye a clearer vision of where the tree will end up. I love cascade and leaning bonsai. I would have loved to have left the main line of the trunk reaching out over the pot, but this would not have made a great bonsai. The main line is moving to the right. I needed to change direction to make it more interesting.

After the cut was made the tree looked even better to me. It was obvious that the direction of the main branch though moving in another direction was still too long and straight, and that my friends is not interesting. I also saw that a few branches i had left on top of the big curve did not look so great. Another challenge was that the top branches were very thick. I needed nice thin branches. I knew i would have to lob them off.

The last thought was of movement. The trunks line will end at the apex. The new apex is the little tiny branch the orange arrow is pointing too. Their is a small problem as the branch the new apex sits on is a little thicker than i would like. That is a problem for next year though.

Did i cut too much. I would say yes. We'll see what happens. Good or bad I will definitely learn something from this tree. Cheers.


Update September 27

Did you know that cotoneaster is in the rose family? I was a little afraid that I had cut off more than I could chew. I would say that I chopped off  95 percent of the foliage. Yet, this resilient plant only 11 days later has given me a rose.

Flower!!!

This is of course, a very good sign. the leaves on the left branch are also new. What an incredible find this tree was.


Update October 24

One month and a week after i pruned this little tree it has pushed out many new branches. I will remove the branches that I do not want. Those include downward and upward facing branches. Also, branches growing to close and in the same direction and others. The new branches I leave will become my primary branches. I will not brune those until probably next August so they can thicken and grow secondary branches.

One month and a week after removing most of the foliage

Top view  shows that the branches are growing in a radial pattern.

Myrtle

Myrtles have beautiful bark, beautiful leaves, and beautiful flowers. Most myrtles come from asia. The popular one in Southern California came from china/ korea.

At the last bonsai meeting it was 2 ½ hours all about Myrtles. It was fantastic. I had not considered this tree for bonsai. Its beauty and fast growth made the myrtle more desirable. I learned that the myrtle is easy to grow from cuttings. As these are abundant trees in my area and they grow many branches from the base of the tree (suckers) it was an easy decision to try my hand at this tree.

I cut these branches friday June 17th. It was about 9:30 in the evening. I had gone to a dinner with my wife and on the way home I picked them up. I could not see where I was cutting it was to dark. I managed to cut some long stems. I placed them in a cup of water. The weather had been hot, so the tips of the branches were a little wilted. The next day in the morning the tips looked a little better.

I placed the cuttings in a bark medium four days after I original cut them. The bark was the kind used for potting orchids. Then we got hit by a heat wave. I thought I was going to lose all the plants. Two of them survived. YAY! It did look like I had lost them all. However, I kept watering the myrtle.  

I am going to go cut some more. Cheers.

Air layer of an apple tree or how to make bonsai from tree branches

Air layer is an ancient technique used for cloning plants. But Ivan, why would I use an air layer to make a bonsai? I’m glad you asked that question. There are many reasons to use an air layer to create material for bonsai.  In the same time that it takes to grow a seedling you can have a decent size trunk with mature leaves and branches. Also, some plants may flower after maturity is reached, which may take several years when grown from seed. Air layering trees that flower will produce new plants that are able to flower with in the same season.  Sometimes a bonsai will get too big and air layering will reduce the size and give you a second tree to work with. Perhaps a plant is hard to come by and air layering will produce viable copies.  Many times in bonsai an air layer is applied to a bonsai whose trunk is long and foliage is high. Air layer where the ideal trunk size starts. Air layer can also correct problems with exposed roots. Exposed roots are desired, but not when they are growing in an unpleasing way.  There are many more reasons to air layer. However, I am using it because I believe that certain branches on an apple tree would make great bonsai. So, great question.

Basically what you are doing in an air layer is removing a ring of bark all the way past the cambium layer from a branch. This will disrupt the normal flow of water. Then you will have to add some moist medium such as sphagnum moss held in place with a plastic bag. This will give the branch moisture that will keep it from drying out. I will add a rooting hormone to help the branch make roots faster.  The key to a successful air layer is three parts. First, the entire cambium layer should be removed. That layer is the white soft part behind the inner bark. You will know that you have removed it when the wood starts to look slightly more yellow instead of the white. Second, the medium in the bag has to remain moist. There should not be a pooling of water in the bag. That means that there is too much water.  An air layer will take time to develop the sufficient root mass to survive on its own. During this time I use a basting syringe to add water. Third, let the roots grow to a size that is able to support the foliage the branch has. Leaves equal perspiration. The more leaves a tree has the more water that is lost. You can reduce the amount of leaves, or you can let the roots grow out.

      This apple tree started growing about four years ago.  I’m pretty sure it was delivered by a bird through its waste. The Apples are very tasty. They look like small Pink Ladies.  Apple tree bonsai look very nice, especially in the spring when they are flowering. I will be making multiple air layers on the same tree. This specific branch I feel has much potential because of its scars. They are already healing. The branch is small and thin and can be shaped by wire easily. Also, I want it to be a very small bonsai.

The desired branch

After choosing the branch, score it in a way that will allow you to peel a ring of bark off. I use these shears to do that. You must make a deep cut in the branch. Then, without loosening your grip move the shears around the branch until it comes back to the original position. Repeat the same procedure an inch away from the first cut. 

Scoring the branch

Deep cuts work best

With a pair of pliers tightly grasp the bark and move them back and forth. Do not move them side to side.  But Ivan what is the difference? Yet another great question. Move the pliers so that they are able to spin the ring of the bark. Now, this branch has a knot so it won’t spin. Make sure that not one fiber of the cambium is touching both sides of the wound. 

I used a knob cutter to remove the protrusion 

I have made air layers in the past. Those were made without rooting hormone. I will use this rooting hormone to see if it will speed up the process.

It is important that you do not breathe in the hormone, and wash your hands after using it. Dust some of the powder on to the edge of the wound on the side that has the branch you want to make a tree. It is important that the powder make contact with the exposed layers and not just on the bark.

I cut the ends of a zip lock bag. This bag will hold the medium. This can be the trickiest part. Sometimes you won’t be able to use a bag because of branches or what not. You will have to use a sheet of plastic (in other words, cut the bag open so that it is no longer a bag but a plastic sheet). This will make holding it and filling it awkward.

Use a rubber band to securely tighten one end of the bag. I am securing close to the fork on the main branch so that there will be space to add the medium.

I used peat moss as the medium. My father in law grew up in Latin America. He said that they used many layers of fabric as the medium. Some people do not use a plastic bag for air layer. The use a plastic pot and cut it so that the trunk fits in the middle, they fill it with dirt and keep adding water when it starts to dry out. This can only be done with vertical trunks and branches.

Make sure that the medium is always moist. I added a piece of aluminum to block the sun and retain more heat. You will know that it has roots when you see a white hair like strands against the dark background. Ivan how do I know if the air layer failed? Another great question my friend. If the leaves turn brown and the branch loses its color the air layer has failed. on successful air layers leave the bag on until you see a great many fine roots.  On a future post I will show you my triumphs and my defeats concerning this apple tree. Cheers.  

Update May 16 2016

The tie came off one of the air layers. I took a picture so you can see the growth.

Update July 23

I'll be the first to admit that I somewhat neglected these air layers. I volunteer at a number of organizations, plus work, family, and life's ups and downs...well, I could have paid more attention to the apple tree. Heaven knows that I want these little guys to survive. I made three air layers on the apple tree. I decided to plant one just to see if it would survive. Normally i wait until i see long stringy roots. I opened the plastic sheath and saw white clumps. I think there are no stringy roots because i neglected to water the air layer many times during heat waves. Nevertheless, I took pruning shears and cut the air layer. the air layer did have new branches that grew after I started it.  I cut those in half to reduce the number of leaves to limit perspiration. this picture was taken twenty four hours after I cut the air layer.

The tree looks fine, I water this part of my garden daily, so the tree has probably seen more water in the last 24 hours than from when I made the air layer to when I cut it.