Hello from Long Island, NY

gooeytek

gooeytek

Mame
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Location
Suffolk County, NY
USDA Zone
7a
A little introduction.

Over 25 years ago, I built a 10' x 10' greenhouse to create and keep bonsai in so my stepdad and I could do something together. We did loads of flowering azaleas, boxwoods, Japanese maples, elms, the usual. He has long passed since then and the greenhouse started to fall into disrepair, so the bonsai were given away and the greenhouse was taken down.

I told my girlfriend about the greenhouse and bonsai, and recently suggested that I might dabble back into it. The ginkgo was a tree I've always been in love with and curious about. I have often brought up in conversation, and she recently surprised me with one for my birthday.
As I understand, this has been in a pot for a while and I have become obsessed with it.

I've also been planning to build another greenhouse, smaller than the original, in a different spot, about 7' x 5'.
I want to keep the ginkgo in a large shallow pot, and it will be in the greenhouse through winter and outside for the other seasons.

I'm wondering when would be the best time to slip pot it into a very large planter, and if that's a good idea before moving it to the large shallow pot (about 18" diameter and 6" tall) that I've picked out.



Best,
JV

I'll take a better and updated pic of it since the leaves have since dropped.
 
Last edited:
gooeytek said:
A little introduction.

Over 25 years ago, I built a 10' x 10' greenhouse to create and keep bonsai in so my stepdad and I could do something together. We did loads of flowering azaleas, boxwoods, Japanese maples, elms, the usual. He has long passed since then and the greenhouse started to fall into disrepair, so the bonsai were given away and the greenhouse was taken down.

I told my girlfriend about the greenhouse and bonsai, and recently suggested that I might dabble back into it. The ginkgo was a tree I've always been in love with and curious about. I have often brought up in conversation, and she recently surprised me with one for my birthday.
As I understand, this has been in a pot for a while and I have become obsessed with it.

I've also been planning to build another greenhouse, smaller than the original, in a different spot, about 7' x 5'.
I want to keep the ginkgo in a large shallow pot, and it will be in the greenhouse through winter and outside for the other seasons.

I'm wondering when would be the best time to slip pot it into a very large planter, and if that's a good idea before moving it to the large shallow pot (about 18" diameter and 6" tall) that I've picked out.



Best,
JV

I'll take a better and updated pic of it since the leaves have since dropped.
Click to expand...
Welcome back to bonsai.
That's a great tree with which to venture back to this wonderful world of bonsai.
 
Welcome to the forum.

I'm not a gingko expert but I would likely wait until spring to do anything and then i would repot into something smaller(how small depends on how the roots look) with better soil.

Good luck.

Also you may wish to consider joining Long Island Bonsai Society.
 
Nybonsai12 said:
Welcome to the forum.

I'm not a gingko expert but I would likely wait until spring to do anything and then i would repot into something smaller(how small depends on how the roots look) with better soil.

Good luck.

Also you may wish to consider joining Long Island Bonsai Society.
Click to expand...
ooo...good idea. Another rabbit hole to go down into šŸ˜ƒ
 
Welcome Aboard BonsaiNut!

The ginkgo would be an interesting tree to start withā€¦ and yes getting the tree safely through winter is the first priority. Afterwards, in Spring, it would be a good time to up pot into a new container of your choosing.

cheers
DSD sends
 
Deep Sea Diver said:
Welcome Aboard BonsaiNut!

The ginkgo would be an interesting tree to start withā€¦ and yes getting the tree safely through winter is the first priority. Afterwards, in Spring, it would be a good time to up pot into a new container of your choosing.

cheers
DSD sends
Click to expand...
It's been in the current pot for a couple of years I think. I was wondering if I can just slip-pot it into a much bigger planter now to help it resist the freeze better. I hear we're going to have a colder winter this season.
 
gooeytek said:
It's been in the current pot for a couple of years I think. I was wondering if I can just slip-pot it into a much bigger planter now to help it resist the freeze better. I hear we're going to have a colder winter this season.
Click to expand...
You could slip pot it if you needed to...but I don't think you need to. Roots often grow to the outside perimeter and bottom edge of a pot for a reason (more heat and more oxygen). You can just sink the whole pot into the ground or a raised bed or a pile of mulch in a spot that is shielded from the prevailing winds.
 
Welcome fellow Long Islander.
I second the wait until spring advice you already got.
You'll have time to search for a good next step training pot over the winter
I would recommend against trying to put it directly into a bonsai pot as the root mass in that large nursery pot will have to be reduced in stages.
How many stages depends on how big the root mass is now.

So put it in the greenhouse as you said for the winter but make sure the temperatures stay below 40 in there. Greenhouses can get warm even in winter but the tree needs to be below 40ish to get dormancy.

When the buds begin to swell in the spring, probably March or April, repot it into a training pot that is basically shaped like a very deep bonsai pot.
Leave it in that for at least a couple of years then step it down again in size. You dont want to remove more than about 1/3 of the root mass in any one repotting so judge what size container you need from that.
 
Kanorin said:
You could slip pot it if you needed to...but I don't think you need to. Roots often grow to the outside perimeter and bottom edge of a pot for a reason (more heat and more oxygen). You can just sink the whole pot into the ground or a raised bed or a pile of mulch in a spot that is shielded from the prevailing winds.
Click to expand...
Paradox said:
Welcome fellow Long Islander.
I second the wait until spring advice you already got.
You'll have time to search for a good next step training pot over the winter
I would recommend against trying to put it directly into a bonsai pot as the root mass in that large nursery pot will have to be reduced in stages.
How many stages depends on how big the root mass is now.

So put it in the greenhouse as you said for the winter but make sure the temperatures stay below 40 in there. Greenhouses can get warm even in winter but the tree needs to be below 40ish to get dormancy.

When the buds begin to swell in the spring, probably March or April, repot it into a training pot that is basically shaped like a very deep bonsai pot.
Leave it in that for at least a couple of years then step it down again in size. You dont want to remove more than about 1/3 of the root mass in any one repotting so judge what size container you need from that.
Click to expand...
Fantastic advice. Thanks fellas! I have a big pile of compacted wood chips from a tree that I had removed with the stump ground down. I'll bury the pot in there šŸ‘
In the meantime, I'm already looking at other ginkgo specimens including a female sapling šŸ˜ƒ
 
rockm said:
FWIW, bonsai don't need a greenhouse. Using one can complicate their care. Long Island is a firm zone 7b. Gingko, maples and elms will be fine without a greenhouse.
Click to expand...
Yea, the greenhouse is for veggies and other types of produce, and I'll also use it to overwinter young fruit trees and a dwarf banana. I have a couple of fruiting fig trees in 5-gallon buckets that I cut down and put in the shed during wintertime.
The previous bigger greenhouse I built in the late 90's was so I was able to spend time in there with my dad when we worked on plants. We had tiered benches out along the leeward side to display the established bonsai on. We did have ficus that we kept indoors along with some Chinese elms.
 
Cajunrider said:
We laugh when we see that video. The truth is that many people have died when falling into holes like that in the swamp while wearing wader. The victims often cannot free themselves from the wader and drown in them.
Click to expand...
What's your take on whether Bald Cypress bonsai can live outdoors in the NE? zone 7a. I love the look of those.
 
gooeytek said:
What's your take on whether Bald Cypress bonsai can live outdoors in the NE? zone 7a. I love the look of those.
Click to expand...
Once acclimated, BC in the ground can take zone 7a without issue. In bonsai pot, they may need a tiny bit of protection.
For zone 7 I prefer to send the BC up there early in the season. For the first winter, they will need to be protected.
In 2025 I will move all my BCs up to zone 7a. I am planning to consult with bonsai people up there to get the right protection for my BCs.
 
Ok, I put my potted trees in the ground, pots and all.

I took a pic of my ginkgo beforehand:

IMG20231119134106.jpgIMG20231119134130.jpg
 
Welcome. Always great to have another Long Islander here. You have a nice gingko.
 
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