Category Archives: pruning

XXL trident seedlings

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I tackled some bigger garden grown trident seedlings today. Thicker roots so these took a bit more time and effort to extract than the smaller ones I usually offer.

After they are out of the ground and roots separated from each other the trunks and roots need to be trimmed

Trident trunks like this are still available bare root – until the new shoots start to open. Prices from $15 through to $30 for these XXL bare root tridents depending on how good the root base, trunk taper and trunk bends. This one priced at $20 as an indication.

XL trunks are a bit thinner, usually around finger thick – that’s about 1.5-3cm thick at the base – and priced at $10 – $15 each depending on quality as above.

As shown, XL and XXL tridents are usually tall and thin. They are good for larger groups as is but can be trunk chopped and grown on to create trunks will have good taper in a few years.

There are a small number that already have forks in the trunk which will give a natural point to chop for taper and for trunk bends. $30 for trunks like this one with good roots and a natural fork for trunk reduction. Not many of these so get in quick before they are sold.

Some have lots of side branches. Expect to pay $20 for a trunk like this. Only while stocks last.

Shohin Root over Rock – establishing trunk lines

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Now that the roots have been thinned and adjusted it’s time to take a more thorough look at the overall shape in case trunk lines need any work.

When I initially planted these I tried to match trunk shape to the shapes of the rocks while also trying to get good root lines. Since then strong growth of new shoots and trunk thickening have often changed the appearance so they need to be reassessed. Some will obviously need to have slight adjustments, others may need more radical pruning and a few will just be so bad I’ll scrap them.

Many readers will already be able to assess and prune for developing trunk lines but for newer growers I’ll try to work through some of my decisions with the following tree.

Check the appearance, roots, rock, trunk line and any branching from all sides and angles.

The main trunk line seems to compliment the shape of the rock from a couple of viewing points so that’s a good start. I can see that the original trunk was wired and bent (thinner upper section) but a new shoot has grown strongly vertical. Both those lines would be Ok as a trunk but the new, thicker shoot is almost the same thickness of the lower trunk meaning almost no taper in the trunk. Also that new shoot has long, relatively straight internodes so I would not be able too develop branches where I want them if that’s chosen as the main trunk. I decide to chop that new part just above the first node. New buds will sprout and grow in the coming growing season and I’ll reassess again next year.

Both trunk and roots would be better with some more thickening so I decide to rewrap and plant it in a grow box for another season.

Next subject

This one has also grown a few strong new shoots over summer which have done a great job of thickening both roots and lower trunk.

The new lower left branch is not a good candidate as new leader because it would make the new trunk line too straight and leading in the wrong direction to compliment the shape of rock and roots. It is also way too thick to be a branch on that trunk so I’ll cut it close to the trunk.

Thinner branch to the right is in a position to be a possible branch but the sweep upward won’t work and it also has long internodes so I’ll chop that one above the first node too and hope for better results next season.

After pruning the top. I’ve elected to leave 2 possible trunks to see which one looks better after another year.

A final tree to look at for this post. Note the thick lower trunk.

A closer look reveals something interesting.

The thicker trunk has spiral marks. The thinner part has more pronounced wire marks and near the end is a piece of copper wire protruding from the trunk.

This trunk is the result of some experiments with wiring very young seedlings the previous year to get really twisted trunks suitable for shohin sized trees. This is one that grew so quick I was not able to remove the wires in time and the trunk has grown right over the wire. That’s not something I would normally do or recommend but, in this case I think the results might possibly be good.

The twisted part of that trunk comes down too close to the top of the rock now. As it thickens it might obscure the view of the top of the rock. The new part is more upright so probably a better trunk line. I chop the thinner section.

After chopping the thinner part a close look shows the copper wire is now right in the middle of the trunk.

The remaining stronger, upright trunk has little taper or movement so I cut it back hard. Fortunately it does have some shorter internodes as the lower part so I’ve retained 2 nodes this time. Depending how many buds break in spring and which directions they grow I may cut further.

Shohin Root over Rock – the opening

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Removing the foil wrap is easy. Unlike some other methods the roots do not get tangled up or grow over and through the bindings.

Here’s the first after unwrapping.

And some more.

Now I can assess the shape better. Look at shape of the rock, flow of the trunk, flow of roots, etc to determine which side looks better. That can determine where the longer shoots will be chopped. These still have some growing to do so they may still change appearance. At this stage I’m just making some guesses and anticipating what may happen in the next few years and trying to direct future growth along the lines that I think will look best.

After preliminary pruning the tops.

Look at the mass of roots. Many of those finer white roots have grown since I wrapped it last winter. Provided moisture levels are adequate conditions between the rock and foil are ideal for root growth.

Roots do not actually need soil to grow. Humid conditions is all they need and that’s what foil wrapped rocks provide in abundance. Some of these did not even have roots sticking out the bottom of the foil last year but have since grown down and out into the soil.

From experience I know it is important to assess and manage the roots now. Too many roots may seem a good problem to have but over time they will all thicken and spread to completely hide the rock. No point having a root over Rock planting if nobody can see there’s a rock!

Also need to deal with crossing roots. As well as being confusing to the viewer, a root growing under another will push the overlying root out away from the rock as it thickens and spoil the arrangement.

After cleaning many of the new, smaller roots and removing some that cross over or under. This should allow the rock to show through the spaces even as the remaining roots thicken and spread.

The reverse side of the same tree before cleaning excess roots

and after cleaning the roots on that side.

Here’s another case of crossing roots.

A closer look at the root marked with blue….

Shows that it comes from the other side of the tree, ender the base of the trunk, under another important root then down the front of the rock.

That’s one root I will definitely remove now, before it gets the chance to start lifting the entire tree away from the rock.

A few of these little ROR starters are already good enough to pot up and begin training trunk and branches. Others still need some more grow time so those are rewrapped with fresh foil and will go back into pots or boxes so the roots and trunks thicken a little more next summer.

Wrapped ready for another year’s growth and development.

Shohin Root over Rock

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June marks early winter here at Shibui Bonsai. The leaves have fallen off most of the trident maples and that means it’s time to start work on the developing trees. Most years I start with the Root over Rock plantings because it is always great to finally see what has happened over summer.

The box of potential shohin trident root over rock

After clearing fallen leaves you can now see the trees and rocks wrapped in alfoil.

I use aluminium foil because it conforms very closely to the shape of the rocks. even into crevices and hollows and holds the growing roots very close to the rocks.

Roots have grown through the bottom of the polystyrene box over the summer indicating good growth of at least some of these trees.

After cutting the roots under the box I gently ease each tree out of the soil. Breaking a few of the roots at this stage doesn’t matter as I intend to cut them back much further in the next step

Just a quick, rough trim of roots hanging out from the foil to make the trees easier to handle.

I won’t trim the tops at this stage. I really want to see the shape of both rocks and new roots before deciding where to prune the long trunks and branches.

Next time I open them up to see how the roots have developed.

Autumn work

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Now that the leaves are dropping it’s time to get some trimming done. Maples tend to ‘bleed’ clear liquid when pruned closer to spring. Losing some juice from pruning cuts does not usually seem to hurt them but when I trim earlier in autumn there’s little, if any, bleeding so I prefer to trim as soon as the leaves drop.

There’s lots of small trident maples on the sales benches in 11 cm pots and these trees often drop leaves earlier than the larger trees so I’ve started with them. Here are some examples of how I trim the smaller trees.

Before autumn trim
Good surface roots
Part trimmed but the top is still too heavy
trim complete for this season
Before
After

The older bonsai are also trimmed now but it takes much longer due to the extra branch raminfication.

Before trim
After
ramification of branches from above

The trident maple shown above is still for sale. It is around 35 years old and is actually root over rock though the rock is small and the roots have spread to almost cover it.

Group plantings are also trimmed when leaves drop. This took quite a bit longer due to all the branches and having to select which parts to remove to stop branches becoming too thick and dominant. This one definitely NOT for sale at this stage.

For bonsai growers in the southern hemisphere, now is a great time to give your deciduous bonsai a good tidy up. For the northern cousins you’ll need to way a few months.

Ficus bonsai

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Summer is a great time to work on ficus and other sub tropical plants. They respond quickly and recover far better if pruned or root pruned while they are still actively growing.

This old ficus has been posted before. It is now a bit too large for me to manage comfortably so I’ve offered it for sale. Earlier in spring I gave this one a really hard trim as trimming had been neglected for a year or 2 and branches were becoming too long.

The tree has responded with masses of new shoots, some from the existing branches and more from the trunk. Now it is time to select best new shoots, thin out excess shoots and trim the good ones.

Ficus before selecting new shoots
After

The dwarf green tree frog was not impressed that I removed all his cover but stayed put while I worked. Now safely back in the poly house.

The above tree (with or without the frog) is still available if you fancy owning an old, impressive trunk bonsai. Still priced at $3,300

For those who would rather invest some time instead of money Shibui Bonsai also has smaller starter Port Jackson figs. In just 30 years you could have something like the tree above for an investment of just $15 or $20.

I also repotted some starter root over rock ficus to check the roots. These trees were started just last year which shows how quickly ficus can grow.

Ficus Root over rock

Shibui winter 2021 Seedling sale

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We have plenty of self sown maple seedlings in the garden beds at Shibui Bonsai again this year. These have all grown without any help so I can supply them at reduced rates. These seedlings will only be available until they start to grow in spring or until sold out.

First up let’s deal with quarantine. We cannot send trees to either WA or Tasmania due to plant quarantine rules and before you start complaining it is best to remember those restrictions are there to protect you and your wonderful environment from a range of pests and diseases that we battle daily here in the Eastern Mainland.

Trident maple seedlings are supplied in a range of different sizes

Small: seedlings with trunks under 3mm thick only 50c each. These are still flexible so suit wiring and bending or as smaller trees in a group planting. Also useful for root grafting.

Medium: trunks 3-6mm diameter approx $1 each

Suit group plantings, growing on, threading through plates, fusion projects and more.

Large: trunks 6-10mm thick $2 each

Great for larger trunks in a group planting or to grow on for larger bonsai trunks in future.

There are a few trunks larger than 10mm. $5 each while they last. Please note that thicker does not always mean better. These will usually have a large trunk chop and may have less attractive roots than the smaller ones.

Forest packs $20. A mix of different sizes suitable to make your own group planting. Usually 3 large, 10 medium and 10 small trunks.

Bent trunks: While most of these feral seedlings are pretty straight some have bends. These bent ones could be better for approach grafts to roots or to grow small trunks with good low bends. Price as per trunk thickness above.

I am happy to select seedlings with specific characteristics if you let me know exactly what you require so the more info you can give me as to your plans the better I can tailor your order.

Japanese Maples: These are not as prolific so numbers are limited and most are smaller size than tridents above. All JM seedlings $1 each and you get whatever sizes come up.

Please don’t expect too much from these feral seedlings. They will be packed just as they come out of the garden as shown above so some have lots of roots, some have fewer but all should survive as tridents are really tough. Even those with just a very few roots have great survival rates. The roots are only trimmed roughly to fit in bundles. You can’t expect me to do detailed root work at those prices so that’s up to you when they arrive. Trunks will be chopped to fit into a 50-60 cm long pack. Further detailed pruning to size is also up to you.

Trees are sent bare root. I’ll bundle the trunks, wrap the roots in wet newspaper and wrap in a plastic bag to retain moisture. Trees will survive quite comfortably this way during delivery and for several weeks if necessary. On arrival please check and refresh root moisture if necessary. Trees can be stored in a cool place for a few weeks or even longer if you are not ready to pot up straight away. For longer term storage roots should be buried in damp soil, sand or sawdust until planting is possible.

Delivery: Please allow for the cost of delivery in addition to the tree price. Trees are sent direct to your mailing address via Auspost. Price depends on the size, weight and destination of the order so I’ll need to quote each package to give you the best price so please supply your delivery address or at very least a postcode when ordering so I can calculate a price for delivery. typical cost is likely to be: smaller packages under 1kg $15 regular mail or $20 express. More than 1 forest pack or larger numbers of individual trees could be $25 or $30 for delivery.

Email neil@shibuibonsai.com.au to place an order or to discuss your needs this season.

pruning small tridents

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The leaves have fallen so it is time to trim and prune the maples. There are quite a lot of small tridents being grown on at Shibui Bonsai. Over summer they are allowed to grow with only occasional rough trims to limit the height of the new shoots. Now it is time to look more closely and prune for direction and taper.

There is not just one way to create bonsai. Much will depend on what style you want to grow, how big the bonsai will be and how well it has grown. With most developing trees there are a number of legitimate alternatives when pruning for shape.

This series shows one of the small tridents I pruned today.

The original tree has a right angle bend at the top which will not give an attractive trunk line so I cut back to a lower shoot with better line. Now the trunk has a slight change of direction and better taper above that cut. That cut would be quite suitable to grow on as a larger sized bonsai. Further down the trunk is another suitable side shoot with good angle. The lower cut provides even better trunk bends and taper starting lower. It can now be grown on as a larger tree or as a possible shohin sized bonsai.

Another young trident pruned for taper and changes of direction in the developing trunk.

Those tridents will be allowed to grow again next summer. If all goes well some of the new shoots will be selected to develop beginning branches.

Another year on and branches have started. Some shoots are again allowed to grow to add more thickness to both trunk and some of the branches. Selected shoots are trimmed occasionally through summer to produce ramification.

This time I am selecting carefully for shorter internodes. As this is intended to become a shohin sized maple bonsai pruning is rigorous. Any straight sections are removed. All long internodes are removed, even if they are growing in desirable locations and angles. Remember that buds can only grow from nodes so long internodes severely restrict ramification of branches. This is particularly important when aiming for smaller sized bonsai where everything must be reduced. The lowest branch on the right above curves up and out and still has a long internode. I have left it this year to strengthen and thicken the start of that branch. With luck some smaller side shoots will emerge from the nodes at the base. If they develop with shorter internodes I will cut back the stronger one next winter. If nothing emerges next summer the long internode will be chopped anyway and the branch developed the following year from new buds.

These photos show a small trident another year on from the previous example. You can see that branches have started to form. Again some shoots were allowed to grow long to thicken selected areas of branches or the trunk. Those thick shoots are now pruned right at the base. Again, long internodes are rigorously removed to give better structure to the developing branches. To save wiring, shoots growing in desirable directions are kept while those growing up or down are generally removed. I try to select thinner shoots further out on branches and near the apex to provide taper where possible. Development of this trident is advanced enough to think about finding a proper bonsai pot for the spring repot.

More banksias

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A couple of my smaller bonsai banksias started to develop dieback in some twigs toward the end of spring.

Many people would assume that, because these are banksias, the dead shoots would be the result of phosphorus toxicity. My experience with this genus led me to a completely different conclusion.

I have noticed that banksias have very dense fine roots that develop very quickly. Here’s what I found when this one was removed from the pot.

It definitely needs repotting.

First, trim back any long, fresh shoots.

When I cut through the root ball I found exactly what I was expecting – a dry patch in the middle.

That area is dry despite a thorough water last night and again this morning. The roots are so crowded that water has great difficulty penetrating which means the tree starts each day without a full pot of water. The dead shoots have nothing to do with P toxicity. They simply show a lack of water.

The remaining roots were trimmed quite a lot.

Note that there are no visible proteoid roots on this banksia because it gets regular fertiliser. Proteoid roots appear when banksias are short of nutrients and tend to disappear when the trees are fertilised regularly so paradoxically, regular fertiliser actually helps reduce the chance of P overdose for banksias.

Then back into the pot with fresh mix.

My experience with banksias as bonsai shows that the roots grow so fast that these need repotting every year to prevent them becoming root bound and having difficulties with water absorption. Fortunately they also seem very tolerant of the repotting process during the warmer months. This repot was carried out during a string of 40+C days in early January. New shoots continued to grow and more buds have sprouted since the repot. As usual, the freshly repotted tree went straight back to its usual position on the bench. The area is covered with light shade cloth this year but no other ‘aftercare’ was given.

I’ve found banksias to be very rewarding for bonsai. Why not have a try? Shibui bonsai normally has banksias available in a range of sizes including field grown trunks – see our banksia catalogue – hhttps://shibuibonsai.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Banksias-2018-1.pdf

Trident winter pruning

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Cold weather has finally come to Shibui Bonsai and many of the deciduous bonsai have lost leaves. I always find this a great time of year because I now get to see the underlying structure of branches and twigs that make up my bonsai. I now get the opportunity to assess the branch structure that has been hidden by a dense canopy of leaves for several months and to begin winter pruning and refinement. Continue reading →