Thursday, December 25, 2008
European beech
This European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is coming very nicely. I was tempted to bring it to the Noelanders Trophy. But then it's a tough choice for me. There are about 50 candidates for this showl. So this beech might be on in 20010. The main problem is that I still have to find the right pot for it.
David's collection
David has some time over Christmas and workes on his collection. Here two linden and one hawthorn.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
still more substrate stuff
my answer to the Bonsai Talk thread:
Paul,
your interesting remarks explain why re potting and root cutting is necessary as soon as the roots at the bottom of the pot become too dense. How soon this happens depends on many factors. The main factors are plant species, age of plant and watering and feeding scheme.
A root ball that it too dense is detrimental, regardless of what substrate or soil you are using.
I believe in aggressive watering and feeding. Therefore my trees often get root bound pretty fast. I re pot old trident maples and Japanese maples every two years. Most old deciduous bonsai have to be re potted every three years. Conifers are not so problematic, especially very old collected specimens. They usually have only few roots and it takes very long until the are root bound. I leave very old collected conifers in the same pot for five to ten years and longer.
But make sure you know what you are doing! The substrate must be very well draining and aerating. Often collected trees still have the debris of their natural habitat around the rot ball. This debris decays in a surrounding which is moist and warm. This organic matter uses up oxygen and creates very fine particles which clog the substrate. The owner does not understand why his tree is going down hill while it in the correct substrate. Well, it is not anymore, it has clogged the substrate. Therefore I demand that the original soil from the habitat must be removed as soon as possible. When this is done one can leave the tree in the pot for a very long time. At leas this is what I am doing with very good results.
Paul,
your interesting remarks explain why re potting and root cutting is necessary as soon as the roots at the bottom of the pot become too dense. How soon this happens depends on many factors. The main factors are plant species, age of plant and watering and feeding scheme.
A root ball that it too dense is detrimental, regardless of what substrate or soil you are using.
I believe in aggressive watering and feeding. Therefore my trees often get root bound pretty fast. I re pot old trident maples and Japanese maples every two years. Most old deciduous bonsai have to be re potted every three years. Conifers are not so problematic, especially very old collected specimens. They usually have only few roots and it takes very long until the are root bound. I leave very old collected conifers in the same pot for five to ten years and longer.
But make sure you know what you are doing! The substrate must be very well draining and aerating. Often collected trees still have the debris of their natural habitat around the rot ball. This debris decays in a surrounding which is moist and warm. This organic matter uses up oxygen and creates very fine particles which clog the substrate. The owner does not understand why his tree is going down hill while it in the correct substrate. Well, it is not anymore, it has clogged the substrate. Therefore I demand that the original soil from the habitat must be removed as soon as possible. When this is done one can leave the tree in the pot for a very long time. At leas this is what I am doing with very good results.
Monday, December 8, 2008
more about over-watering
The Rhine in Germany as many rivers here gets the usual spring flood in May or June or both. The water is very high for a few days and then pretty high for many weeks. There are quite a few forests and hundreds of thousands of trees alongside the river which are under water for weeks. Many are almost swamp-trees like willows, but many others are just ordinary trees which will grow in the forests on the hill too. According to conventional bonsai wisdom they all MUST die because they are standing in water for weeks. Why don't they die? Well, the water is full of oxygen and the banks of the river are of pure sand and grit. The tree standing in this sand will get a constant flow of fresh water UNDER the soil surface right where the roots are constantly. All this water is full of oxygen. while there are lots and lots of organic matter which decompose and use up oxygen they don't do harm because the water is moving.
Can we learn a lesson here for bonsai culture? it is NOT about water in the soil or substrate. it is all about oxygen getting to the root tips or not.
Can we learn a lesson here for bonsai culture? it is NOT about water in the soil or substrate. it is all about oxygen getting to the root tips or not.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The over watering root myth
To a thread at bonsai talk overwatering myth
I wrote this:
The subject is close to my heart since many years. Bonsai don't die of root-rot. The roots of bonsai die because of some problem, then people continue to water as before. The roots cannot take up the water because they are dead. The soil or substrate as a consequence becomes more moist than before. The tree shows signs of death. The bonsai is taken out of the container and it is clear that the roots are rotting. One can see it and one can even smell it. Also it is obvious that the soil is too wet. So the gardener comes to the conclusion that the tree was overwatered and died of root-rot.
WRONG!
The roots have rotted because they were dead. Trees don't die of root-rot like people don't die of FEVER. Fever is a symptom of a disease. It can be many different diseases but the symptom is the same. Root-rot is a symptom and can have many different reasons.
In general bonsai are UNDERWATERED most of the time. Our literature warns so much of overwatering that most bonsai folks underwater their darlings. Many trees suffer or even die because they are not watered enough.
Modern substrates have created a very different situation than what is described in most bonsai books. What is a modern substrate? Well, anything like akadama, pumice, crushed lave, baked loam, turface, Styrofoam flakes, coconut crush, seramins and hundreds of other materials. They all have a couple of properties in common: small particles of even size which don't decompose or decompose slowly; ability to work as water buffer - take on water and and release it alter; due to the coarseness drainage is good and aeration; OXYGEN gets to the roots easily.
Consequences if you use modern substrates:
1) You MUST water aggressively and frequently. Meaning everything must be wet whenever it is time to water. During the main vegetation period this is EVERY day. Overwatering is not an issue! It is not possible to overwater. Whatever is too much will flow out of the pot through the drainage holes. Underwatering is very well possible.ANY FOOL CAN WATER WELL! Al that one has to do is to maike eveything dripping wet. If al trees are in modern substrate ther is no such thing as individula wateing anymore!
2) Yo MUST feed aggressively and frequently. During the active vegetation period this means about every ten days to tow weeks. You should feed much more than you used to. I feed about 30 (thirty) times more than I used do in the old days when we used soil instead of substrate. You can use chemical fertilizer. The danger of chemical fertilize (namely burning roots) is not present when you water aggressively. Whatever is too much will be washed out soon. You should use organic fertilizer a couple of times during the vegetation period besides chemical. Organic is everything that smells. (BTW: it is absolutely NOT necessary to use feed cakes and to mix you own feed. Any agricultural store has everything you need for bonsai.)
As a result your trees will grow much better than they used to.
I treat all my trees including ALL my world famous trees exactly in this way. I water about 500 trees in 30 minutes. Or my wife does when I am not there. She has no clue what she is watering. And she does not need to have a clue.
Don't trust you literature! Most bonsai books were written long before we started to use modern substrates. The information in bonsai books about watering, feeding, soil is antiquated most of the time. The information is even very dangerous if you use modern substrate.
I wrote this:
The subject is close to my heart since many years. Bonsai don't die of root-rot. The roots of bonsai die because of some problem, then people continue to water as before. The roots cannot take up the water because they are dead. The soil or substrate as a consequence becomes more moist than before. The tree shows signs of death. The bonsai is taken out of the container and it is clear that the roots are rotting. One can see it and one can even smell it. Also it is obvious that the soil is too wet. So the gardener comes to the conclusion that the tree was overwatered and died of root-rot.
WRONG!
The roots have rotted because they were dead. Trees don't die of root-rot like people don't die of FEVER. Fever is a symptom of a disease. It can be many different diseases but the symptom is the same. Root-rot is a symptom and can have many different reasons.
In general bonsai are UNDERWATERED most of the time. Our literature warns so much of overwatering that most bonsai folks underwater their darlings. Many trees suffer or even die because they are not watered enough.
Modern substrates have created a very different situation than what is described in most bonsai books. What is a modern substrate? Well, anything like akadama, pumice, crushed lave, baked loam, turface, Styrofoam flakes, coconut crush, seramins and hundreds of other materials. They all have a couple of properties in common: small particles of even size which don't decompose or decompose slowly; ability to work as water buffer - take on water and and release it alter; due to the coarseness drainage is good and aeration; OXYGEN gets to the roots easily.
Consequences if you use modern substrates:
1) You MUST water aggressively and frequently. Meaning everything must be wet whenever it is time to water. During the main vegetation period this is EVERY day. Overwatering is not an issue! It is not possible to overwater. Whatever is too much will flow out of the pot through the drainage holes. Underwatering is very well possible.ANY FOOL CAN WATER WELL! Al that one has to do is to maike eveything dripping wet. If al trees are in modern substrate ther is no such thing as individula wateing anymore!
2) Yo MUST feed aggressively and frequently. During the active vegetation period this means about every ten days to tow weeks. You should feed much more than you used to. I feed about 30 (thirty) times more than I used do in the old days when we used soil instead of substrate. You can use chemical fertilizer. The danger of chemical fertilize (namely burning roots) is not present when you water aggressively. Whatever is too much will be washed out soon. You should use organic fertilizer a couple of times during the vegetation period besides chemical. Organic is everything that smells. (BTW: it is absolutely NOT necessary to use feed cakes and to mix you own feed. Any agricultural store has everything you need for bonsai.)
As a result your trees will grow much better than they used to.
I treat all my trees including ALL my world famous trees exactly in this way. I water about 500 trees in 30 minutes. Or my wife does when I am not there. She has no clue what she is watering. And she does not need to have a clue.
Don't trust you literature! Most bonsai books were written long before we started to use modern substrates. The information in bonsai books about watering, feeding, soil is antiquated most of the time. The information is even very dangerous if you use modern substrate.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
new images of the quince
Chinese quince, Pseudocydonia sinensis, 80 cm, about 100 years old, imprted as raw material from Japan, originally collected in Korea. The third image is a virtual. The second crown has to get more voluminous.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Chinese quince is doing fine!
Many visitors in my garden in this past summer wondered why I would keep a 'dead' bonsai and not at least hide it from the public. Actually one day before my late summer meeting an assistant thought that it was a good idea to put it into the garage over the weekend to not give a bad image!. The tree had not shown growth in spring! I purchased this wonderful pot from Peter Krebs at the end of March and repotted the quince right away. For some unknown reason it just did not show growth that spring. Quinces have the habit to show the buds and already some small leaves for next year extremely early. They actually start in December in my greenhouse. In April then this turns into real spring growth. But it did not in 2008. Over the summer the buds turned black and the tree was apparently dying!! Well, I, like many people, was very much afraid, but I always had hope. Whenever I made everything wet when watering I could see that the trunk and the overwhelming majority of branches were alive. The bark was green and they looked solid and did not shrink, which would be a terrible sign. So we left the tree in the garden over my big festival. Everybody could see it and the majority thought that it must be dead. I wonder what they said behind my back.
So look at it now. It is in the unheated greenhouse and not only has thrown buds but a lot of spring growth already. I will have to put it into the frost-free room where the pots are.The new growth might die when it gets blow minus 5 Celsius. I am even contemplating to show it at the Noelanders Trophy. What a resurrection!
So look at it now. It is in the unheated greenhouse and not only has thrown buds but a lot of spring growth already. I will have to put it into the frost-free room where the pots are.The new growth might die when it gets blow minus 5 Celsius. I am even contemplating to show it at the Noelanders Trophy. What a resurrection!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Certre Award 2009 has started.
As of today teh Certre Award for the best combination bonsai and container has started again. I will certainly participate again this time.
See here:
Certre Award 2009
See here:
Certre Award 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)