Bonsai Growth!

bonsaibie

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Hi everyone! I'm a bonsai newbie and new to this forum as well. I have several bonsai that have been growing really well since I've purchased them. Three of them have grown from trunks that I propagated in water until they began to sprout roots and leaves.

However, they're growing incredibly large now- much faster than I anticipated. It's getting to the point where if they grow any taller they will snap from the weight on the stems that came out of the trunk. The growth is all healthy and I'm planning on repotting this weekend. Do any bonsai pros/veterans have any recommendations for what I can do about my fast growth? Is there something akin to a houseplant trellis I can buy to help the stems continue to grow upwards without snapping? Is it better to cut them off even if they're healthy? Any help would be super appreciated.
 
Hi everyone! I'm a bonsai newbie and new to this forum as well. I have several bonsai that have been growing really well since I've purchased them. Three of them have grown from trunks that I propagated in water until they began to sprout roots and leaves.

However, they're growing incredibly large now- much faster than I anticipated. It's getting to the point where if they grow any taller they will snap from the weight on the stems that came out of the trunk. The growth is all healthy and I'm planning on repotting this weekend. Do any bonsai pros/veterans have any recommendations for what I can do about my fast growth? Is there something akin to a houseplant trellis I can buy to help the stems continue to grow upwards without snapping? Is it better to cut them off even if they're healthy? Any help would be super appreciated.

Welcome to the forum!

Pictures would help tremendously! As would anything you know about what species they are and where you got them. Add your location to your profile and people will know where you are geographically...it matters...climates are different everywhere ;)

As far as "healthy" growth. If it really is "healthy" growth, there should be no concern over snapping from the weight...at least not any time soon!

If you really are concerned about snapping form the weight, the growth may be etoliated and not very healthy. Many species will put out "large" flushes of growth that can seem "healthy" to someone now used to how the species should grow but are really long and spindly and a sign the plant is struggling to find enough light/resources to grow "properly".

I was liberal with the quotes because there's really not enough information in your post to suggest the true state of the trees and felt like warning that "large" does not equal "healthy" in all cases. Hopefully this is not the case with your plants...but pictures would help ;)
 
Loud, deep mantra chants echo ‘long the valleys, signifying your arrival, traveller. The Woody Dwarves slowly extend their branches to welcome you, amongst themselves... deep within the Tiny Forest.

As my dude @LittleDingus has said, update your location... Lots of members from even MORE locales (Impossible? ;) ) trample upon this earthen floor.... SOME of them are going into spring.. others into winter.. SOME don’t even get a real “winter”... so your location is going to vastly change the information you recieve. 🤓..

Pictures! I wanna see your foliated friends...

THIS will also help “gear” advice towards your SPECIFIC specimens/garden.

Pleasure to make your acquaintance!

🤓
 
Dingus! I feel it necessary to point out that when I was reading this.. I ALSO air-quoted “liberal” and “quotes” 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Hehe...yeah, I felt the quotes were necessary. I get a lot of family/friends tell me "look how much this plant has grown for me" when it's got leaves that are 10" wide and internodes that are 15" apart and branches that can barely hold themselves up and the poor thing is just _screaming_ for more light! But it's grown huge so it must be alright.

I'm sincerely hoping that is not the case with @bonsaibie's plants...but without pictures and some bead on the species it's really hard to tell. A willow stem in water may very well have put out a pound of new roots and 3' branches in a season and may, in fact be very healthy and need a trim! But until we know more details, hard to guess :(
 
Even SOMETIMES pictures can mislead.. like THIS willow cutting..(left for dead in my “plant cemetery)
042FBD76-90E9-447E-AAD6-470AD81B2549.jpeg
You’d never even know...
20BBA685-BCDA-44CD-A860-05FCD6CC572F.jpeg
🤣🤣🤣
 
Even SOMETIMES pictures can mislead.. like THIS willow cutting..(left for dead in my “plant cemetery)
View attachment 338259
You’d never even know...
View attachment 338260
🤣🤣🤣

lol...yeah...I fell pray to that specific problem in another thread not too long ago. It sounded like the OP had spider mites but couldn't see them. I mentioned I had them before on the same species and sounded like exactly what they were describing but didn't have any now or pictures from before to show...except when I went to water the plant in question a few hours later...it had spider mite webs! Some of them I could not photograph at all until I misted with a little water so the webs caught the droplets!
 
Of course! So I have three cuttings - Australian, Weeping and Dragon (according to the person I purchased them from on Etsy). Couldn't take a great photo of the third before my phone died, but that aside- I'm mostly worried about my bonsai in the second image. I am located in the Midwest and while we're experiencing an unusual week of warmth, it's been relatively cold and will get cold as the weeks go by.

20201106_163510 (1).jpg20201106_163432.jpg
 
Of course! So I have three cuttings - Australian, Weeping and Dragon (according to the person I purchased them from on Etsy). Couldn't take a great photo of the third before my phone died, but that aside- I'm mostly worried about my bonsai in the second image. I am located in the Midwest and while we're experiencing an unusual week of warmth, it's been relatively cold and will get cold as the weeks go by.

lol...I know that seller! Not personally...but I know exactly what you have :) And the type of growth you have there looks normal. I believe these are from the same seller:

20201106_173052.jpg

I got these about 2 weeks ago for something to play with. I used to have some larger willow including a weeping willow that was starting to form up nicely but I went out of town to visit grandchildren and they didn't survive the heat :( I was very much more careful with my other trees and moved them out of the heat and arranged for someone to check on them but the willows were in a corner and forgotten...mostly because they are so easy to come buy here!

But first things first! Go to the top right of the web page and look for your user name. Click on it and go to account details. There is a spot there for "location". Nearest recognizable metro are is probably good enough for most US people, but BNut is international. It'll help those outside the US is you also add your agricultural zone. The US zone is fine...the details are easy to look up as necessary. You do that and next to your icon on the left of your posts people will see where you're located. It helps a lot and you won't have to repeat yourself in every post :)

Second...that is a decent amount of growth...Nice work! You'll likely see a lot more once they become used to being in soil :) Especially if you fertilize them a bit! If you have a NAPA autoparts nearby, ask for NAPA 8822: oil dry. It's really diatomaceous earth...it'll look like little bits of gravel. It's a cheap, long lasting, easy to maintain soil and I can tell you from experience that willow do well in it! That picture above is NAPA 8822 plus some chunk coconut coir. You don't really need the coir. I use it to help stabilize the tree while it roots out. The one downside to NAPA is it is very loose and the trunks may need some support until the trees root out a bit. Do try to stay away from big box store brand x soil. It can work...especially for willows...but there are disadvantages to it as well. I won't say more unless prompted, but soil discussions on sometimes devolve...everyone has a favorite...no one is wrong...but we all have different conditions to contend with...

Once in a soil, the roots will have some structure to grow into and really solidify those trunks in space. Then the branches won't feel/look so fragile. If you do go with the NAPA...or any inorganic soil...you will need to fertilize occasionally. That's one of the big reasons you want to get out of pure water. Unless you're fertilizing the water...the tree will eventually run out of nutrients and you'll have issues.

The corkscrew willows will tend to continue to grow straight up. You can trim them back anywhere and they will tend to branch from the base of the remaining leaves. Trim them far enough back and they may even form new branches directly from the trunk. That's part of the "art" of bonsai...learning exactly where to make those cuts to trigger what kind of growth you want for a particular species. For now...let them run as long as you can and trim them back only enough to fit your space. You want as much growth as you can get to fatten up those branches. It is not likely you will want to keep that stick for long. In a year or 3 you'll want to be thinking about where an interesting kink in a branch is and cut below there and root it off again. You can get several nice trees off one stick that way and each will be better than what you'll get from the stick itself.

The weeping and dragon willows will have a more horizontal habit but otherwise, same thing for now...let them grow as long as you can tolerate, but don't be afraid to trim back if you're out of space. The further you trim back the more likely new growth will push back to the trunk rather than from the leaf bases. If you leave a couple of leaves on a branch, they should favor growing from leaf nodes rather than forming new branched from the trunk but that's not guaranteed.

You might want to read up on colonizing plants and their growth habits. Willows are colonizing plants...hence the rapid growth! They want to move in and establish themselves quickly. There are downsides to that though. They tend to give up on branches...especially over winter...in favor of new branches. In a pot, they are a little more predictable, but read up on how they tend to grow and pay attention to how they react when you make certain cuts and you'll be a long ways towards making something interesting.

They are otherwise pretty bullet proof! Do realize, though, that even with fast growing willows, you are about 2 decades away from anything much like the pictures that seller shows of these guys as bonsai.
 
Wow!!! Thank you so much! This response gave me so much information- I am so stoked to repot them and I'll definitely start looking into the "art" side of them. I haven't learned too much about that (because my other bonsais are growing at a much more manageable rate) but like you mentioned, I want to get them to a point where their growth isn't all leaf based. Thank you so so much! I feel better about my bonsai going forward- I've been so proud watching them grow so keeping them healthy has been important to me.
lol...I know that seller! Not personally...but I know exactly what you have :) And the type of growth you have there looks normal. I believe these are from the same seller:

View attachment 338272

I got these about 2 weeks ago for something to play with. I used to have some larger willow including a weeping willow that was starting to form up nicely but I went out of town to visit grandchildren and they didn't survive the heat :( I was very much more careful with my other trees and moved them out of the heat and arranged for someone to check on them but the willows were in a corner and forgotten...mostly because they are so easy to come buy here!

But first things first! Go to the top right of the web page and look for your user name. Click on it and go to account details. There is a spot there for "location". Nearest recognizable metro are is probably good enough for most US people, but BNut is international. It'll help those outside the US is you also add your agricultural zone. The US zone is fine...the details are easy to look up as necessary. You do that and next to your icon on the left of your posts people will see where you're located. It helps a lot and you won't have to repeat yourself in every post :)

Second...that is a decent amount of growth...Nice work! You'll likely see a lot more once they become used to being in soil :) Especially if you fertilize them a bit! If you have a NAPA autoparts nearby, ask for NAPA 8822: oil dry. It's really diatomaceous earth...it'll look like little bits of gravel. It's a cheap, long lasting, easy to maintain soil and I can tell you from experience that willow do well in it! That picture above is NAPA 8822 plus some chunk coconut coir. You don't really need the coir. I use it to help stabilize the tree while it roots out. The one downside to NAPA is it is very loose and the trunks may need some support until the trees root out a bit. Do try to stay away from big box store brand x soil. It can work...especially for willows...but there are disadvantages to it as well. I won't say more unless prompted, but soil discussions on sometimes devolve...everyone has a favorite...no one is wrong...but we all have different conditions to contend with...

Once in a soil, the roots will have some structure to grow into and really solidify those trunks in space. Then the branches won't feel/look so fragile. If you do go with the NAPA...or any inorganic soil...you will need to fertilize occasionally. That's one of the big reasons you want to get out of pure water. Unless you're fertilizing the water...the tree will eventually run out of nutrients and you'll have issues.

The corkscrew willows will tend to continue to grow straight up. You can trim them back anywhere and they will tend to branch from the base of the remaining leaves. Trim them far enough back and they may even form new branches directly from the trunk. That's part of the "art" of bonsai...learning exactly where to make those cuts to trigger what kind of growth you want for a particular species. For now...let them run as long as you can and trim them back only enough to fit your space. You want as much growth as you can get to fatten up those branches. It is not likely you will want to keep that stick for long. In a year or 3 you'll want to be thinking about where an interesting kink in a branch is and cut below there and root it off again. You can get several nice trees off one stick that way and each will be better than what you'll get from the stick itself.

The weeping and dragon willows will have a more horizontal habit but otherwise, same thing for now...let them grow as long as you can tolerate, but don't be afraid to trim back if you're out of space. The further you trim back the more likely new growth will push back to the trunk rather than from the leaf bases. If you leave a couple of leaves on a branch, they should favor growing from leaf nodes rather than forming new branched from the trunk but that's not guaranteed.

You might want to read up on colonizing plants and their growth habits. Willows are colonizing plants...hence the rapid growth! They want to move in and establish themselves quickly. There are downsides to that though. They tend to give up on branches...especially over winter...in favor of new branches. In a pot, they are a little more predictable, but read up on how they tend to grow and pay attention to how they react when you make certain cuts and you'll be a long ways towards making something interesting.

They are otherwise pretty bullet proof! Do realize, though, that even with fast growing willows, you are about 2 decades away from anything much like the pictures that seller shows of these guys as bonsai.
 
Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce
 
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