Crataegus Bonsai

Thanks to Roger, Ram, Gary and John for their company and good humor and hard work at the fall Seasonal this past week! Notice the new french doors on the studio… we’re finally completely enclosed and warm…

Returning to the puzzling quiz of Oct. 2nd— ‘You see a bonsai that appears to have moist soil, but the growing shoots are drooping. What’s going on? How do you correct it?’

Ed Imholt got the first question right… Read his response—

‘Maybe the tree was from a hotter climate and the upper part of the soil dried out daily which did not allow for roots to form in the upper part. With no roots in the upper part of the soil then it would remain moist where as the soil in the lower portion of the soil would dry out quicker. First glance at the top of the soil would show you that the tree does not need water, but the lower portion of the soil is dry and cause the shoots to wilt.’

As for the correction, placing shredded spagnum moss on the surface of the soil will prevent it from drying too rapidly in hot climates, and allow surface roots to colonize that zone of the pot. This tree was in fact relocated to Portland, Oregon from a hotter drier climate, and in Portland roots will soon grow in that upper zone without much encouragement.

Thanks for all your comments!

Michael

I collected this tree with a car jack. 

It was growing out of a boulder the size of a Volkswagen mini-bus in Arizona near where I lived in 2002. The deadwood was locked into the rock crack, which had me scratching my head for months. On collection day, I looked back down at the car, and thought, ‘Hmmm…’

Another almost dumb idea was born. But the jack worked. And I just got around to styling the ‘jacked’ tree last year. The second photo is how it looks this year. 

This species of juniper, Juniperus monosperma, is not often used for bonsai, growing as multiple-trunked shrubs with little movement in the arid Southwestern states. But the foliage is fine and delicate and looks good on a tree this scale. Tree is about 20″ high.

Following a day and half of non-stop hammering, my students Tim Early and Ed Imholt helped me (no, I was not standing around watching…) put up the vapor barrier, the siding and a couple of windows. Thanks guys! It’s still lacking a few windows and the door, but at least we’ve got a dry interior. Here are a few photos of our weekend:
 Tim Early working on the  siding—

 And below, Ed Imholt on  the ladder–

Still needs a bit of trim…

A one-question quiz for everyone—

You see a bonsai that appears to have moist soil, but the growing shoots are drooping. 

What’s going on? How do you correct it?

We’ll take a look at the answers in two weeks!

Best,

Michael

First of all, ‘weed’ is the meaning of ‘kusa’ of ‘kusamono’ fame. The Japanese are being literal here, and ‘weed thing’ is what an accent plant is. Pluck your weeds, yes, but with some judgment…

Sometimes we don’t need to pull all weeds. There are three main times when we don’t. 1. If you have a tree that is weak, that weed might help dry the pot out a bit and prevent root rot. 2. I have been watching one weedy accent plant this year that has large broad leaves and it wilts easily when dry. It is a good heads up of when other things need watering, but don’t show that they do as readily. 3. Sometimes that weed is just a darling little thing and if you find pulling it is an act of grief, well then put it in a little pot and upgrade it to an accent plant. 

Otherwise, yes, pull your weeds… Because they can soak up the fertilizer like a sponge and leave your tree wanting. I remember one tree a fellow had in Arizona that had dark green mondo grass completely covering the soil surface, and the weedy juniper rising out of them was as yellow as a daisy. All the nitrogen was being sucked up by the mondo.

Keep your tweezers at the ready…

Best,

Michael

A couple photos of the studio from this week. Hopefully get the roof on this coming week before the rains start! It has been an absorbing project. I have been hiring a contractor friend on an hourly basis just to educate me, and I’ve been doing the work. He’s very encouraging when I voice fears of making a mistake, offering such perceptive quips as: ‘It’s only wood. And it’s stupider than we are!’

Related to yesterday’s post, our watering changes too with the beginning of fall and the cooler temperatures. Relatively higher summertime night temperatures will dry out pots quickly; in the fall, the pots will dry out slower, and we need to be awake to that shift. If you have been watering by rote in the hot heat of the last couple months, this is a good time to re-calibrate and look again at when trees actually need water.

Best,
Michael

With the cooler nights we have seen in late August, we can begin to taper off our ‘hamisu,’ the misting of the leaves in the summer evenings. Now the dew is doing that.

We might also begin thinking about fall fertilizing. I think fall fertilizing is more important for bonsai, particularly developed ones, than spring fertilizing. In Japan more fertilizer is sold for bonsai in the fall than in the spring. If you live in the Pacific Northwest or other areas with a long, mild fall, re-fertilizing the trees is very wise as it is as long and nearly as productive a growing season as spring.

Don’t discount at least some nitrogen in the fall…there is a lot of talk out there about cutting out nitrogen in the fall, but if you’ve been fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers throughout the year the trees will shut down naturally due to shorter day length and cooler temperatures by themselves, regardless of nitrogen. Nitrogen is used in all cell processes; don’t cut it out of your fall fertilizer.   

Best,
Michael

Yesterday’s ‘HEAT’ post made me remember a story from Japan…

My first year as an apprentice in Japan was a record setting heat wave. Temperatures reached into the low 100’s for weeks on end, and the humidity was wilting to those watering the trees…

They covered the heat wave on the news at night. One week a young carpenter fell off a roof dead of heat exhaustion, and the following day my teacher, Shinji Suzuki, handed out sombrero type hats and white shirts and forbade us to die. We added to this towels soaked in water and wrapped them around our necks. Both Tachi, my sempai, and I made it through all right and so did our hundreds of trees. But we got little work done during the hot surges. Watering was nearly nonstop.

One of the secondary effects of the extraordinary heat wave  of 2004 was that we got 4 times the number of typhoons that summer and fall compared to an average year. Prepping for a typhoon hit in the bonsai yard is unforgettable exhaustion…lifting or tying down every bonsai while being soaked by hard rain, and all the time you’re thinking that you will get no sleep that night as it’s like the life of a fireman, always ready to jump back into it to move something or tie something down that had been forgotten, and the wind blasting the house and keeping you awake rattling the windows until dawn. And you come in the next morning haggard, looking like you’ve just lost 9 rounds with someone who did not like you very much.

That’s my memory of extreme heat and typhoons. The heat got you wobbly, and the typhoons neatly finished you off… 

Michael