Sumo Shohin Willow Leaf Ficus

[Redwood Ryan]

Looked over the greenhouse today and noticed this guy is popping an aerial in the absolute perfect place, right at the base of that leader:


Which, given the humidity level, isn't that surprising...

 

[october]

Hi Ryan.. Just a general observation. You spend so much time and effort cultivating these ficus' and it seems like they are coming along. However, that's just it, they are coming along. I could be way off, but don't you think you are missing out on so much that bonsai has to offer by dealing with sometimes problematic pre material and only with ficus. Gardenia can make nice tropical bonsai, button wood, Chinese elm, olive and a couple of others. Also, what about conifers such as juniper and yew. Seems like you are in a good place to grow them.

If I am not mistaken, you have been in bonsai for 5-6 years. I don't think you are having nearly the amount of fun you could be having and getting the rewards that bonsai has to offer. I mean, coming home at the end of the day, watering all the trees and sitting back and looking at what you have done over the years can be very rewarding. That is bonsai's gift to you, their beauty. It doesn't have to be a ton of trees. You could have 5 nice trees that are in nice pots and whether finished or near finished.

I just don't want you to look back in 5 years and think, wow, I could have done so much more with my first years in bonsai. I know, I speak from experience about this. Once again, these are just my thoughts and I hope you take them as friendly advice from someone who had been there. My first 5 years in bonsai were very limiting. We did not have the media sources we have now. Although I enjoyed my first 5 years. I always think about how if all these resources were available then, I could have done so much more.

Rob

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Hi Ryan.. Just a general observation. You spend so much time and effort cultivating these ficus' and it seems like they are coming along. However, that's just it, they are coming along. I could be way off, but don't you think you are missing out on so much that bonsai has to offer by dealing with sometimes problematic pre material and only with ficus. Gardenia can make nice tropical bonsai, button wood, Chinese elm, olive and a couple of others. Also, what about conifers such as juniper and yew. Seems like you are in a good place to grow them.

If I am not mistaken, you have been in bonsai for 5-6 years. I don't think you are having nearly the amount of fun you could be having and getting the rewards that bonsai has to offer. I mean, coming home at the end of the day, watering all the trees and sitting back and looking at what you have done over the years can be very rewarding. That is bonsai's gift to you, their beauty. It doesn't have to be a ton of trees. You could have 5 nice trees that are in nice pots and whether finished or near finished.

I just don't want you to look back in 5 years and think, wow, I could have done so much more with my first years in bonsai. I know, I speak from experience about this. Once again, these are just my thoughts and I hope you take them as friendly advice from someone who had been there. My first 5 years in bonsai were very limiting. We did not have the media sources we have now. Although I enjoyed my first 5 years. I always think about how if all these resources were available then, I could have done so much more.

Rob

Thanks Rob. Excellent points all around.

My trees are just "coming along", but I'm more than fine with that. I don't really want "finished" trees, as they just don't do it for me. I like to take the worst stock that I can and see if I can make something of it. It can be a long process, but I enjoy it. There aren't really any clubs that are too local to me that I can join, and we don't really have shows out here that I can show trees at, which is why I tend not to want to keep trees that are finished. I enjoy "tree flipping"

I also just like working with the ease that Ficus offer. I'm quite busy with school, and it's nice to be able to work with such forgiving species that let me do whatever I want to them, and that let me experiment with them. They grow fast and let me establish the basics of bonsai. Once I finally get an eye for styling and seeing a tree in a nice, rough piece of stock, then I'll probably branch out. But until then, I'll stick with muddling along in the hobby

 

[thams]

There aren't really any clubs that are too local to me that I can join, and we don't really have shows out here that I can show trees at, which is why I tend not to want to keep trees that are finished.

There are some good clubs out here to join -- The Potomac Bonsai Association has a lot of great events and resources. I've held off joining until gaining a baseline knowledge of bonsai, but I feel like it would be a great experience. Plus members show of their trees at the National Arboretum once a year -- awesome! I plan on joining up with the Northern Virginia club sometime very soon.

I'm of course not trying to pressure you into joining a club, but I think it would be a great experience. With as much as you contribute here, I feel like you would excel in a hands-on atmosphere.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

There are some good clubs out here to join -- The Potomac Bonsai Association has a lot of great events and resources. I've held off joining until gaining a baseline knowledge of bonsai, but I feel like it would be a great experience. Plus members show of their trees at the National Arboretum once a year -- awesome! I plan on joining up with the Northern Virginia club sometime very soon.

I'm of course not trying to pressure you into joining a club, but I think it would be a great experience. With as much as you contribute here, I feel like you would excel in a hands-on atmosphere.

Yeah I've looked up some of the ones that are somewhat nearby, but meetings times don't match up with my school/work schedule, or else I'd join them in a heartbeat for sure!

 

[thams]

Yeah I've looked up some of the ones that are somewhat nearby, but meetings times don't match up with my school/work schedule, or else I'd join them in a heartbeat for sure!

I hear that! I feel like I've hit a learning wall that a club can really help me get past. Plus, I hope to show some trees one day, and that'll only happen if I can up my bonsai game by a few notches.

 

[october]

Yeah I've looked up some of the ones that are somewhat nearby, but meetings times don't match up with my school/work schedule, or else I'd join them in a heartbeat for sure!

Yes, school and work are full time obligations. I remember being in college. Unless it was between semesters or summer, it was never ending. Vacations were not vacations. There was always something due. Good luck in school.

Rob

 

[MrFancyPlants]

We had the NVBS yearly picnic at a members house in Warrenton a couple weeks ago. Most months the meetings are here in Arlington about a half mile from my house, but I bet it wouldn't be an hour drive for you. We meet on the second Saturday of each month at 9am and it goes into the afternoon. I just started going a few months ago but I'll say that I have learned a lot already.
I am a proponent of branching out into different species, but I understand doing what you want to do. A cool thing about the native and temperate plants is that you could plant them out in the yard and forget about them for a couple years and generate some nice material with a minimum of effort. I only got into the tropicals because I like having something to tinker with when it gets cold outside, but they are no less time consuming then the acclimated ones.

 

[thams]

I would give just about anything to work with some nice yews or boxwoods. Unfortunately I don't even have a balcony to use as an outdoor space. So, for now tropicals are my only option. I've considered asking friends if I can plant some nice material in their yard and dig it up later when I'm in a different space. Ficus are so forgiving though, that they're great to learn on and make impressive bonsai if given some time to bulk up.

I'm looking forward to joining the club -- it's something I've meant to do sooner.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

R.I.P.

This one went into shock and dropped all its leaves for several months. It was still alive, as there was still green under the trunk. I went to check the tree today, and it had rotted through. I went to scrape the trunk and my finger pushed right in. Darn.

 

[carp]

Not to offend, but it seems that you try really hard to grow tropicals in VA, and don't get the results you're looking for. Why don't you stop doing the indoor thing and focus on native trees that will thrive for you? Zone Envy will lead you to a path of failure, every time. It may take a few years, but the plants will never respond the way you wished they would. Really, I wish I could grow the conifers and deciduous trees you have available, but they will die here not matter what I do. May take a few years, but they will eventually check out. Same with tropicals outside of their climate. Unless you are a very advanced greenhouse grower, even then, they don't grow the same indoors as they do outdoors.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Not to offend, but it seems that you try really hard to grow tropicals in VA, and don't get the results you're looking for. Why don't you stop doing the indoor thing and focus on native trees that will thrive for you? Zone Envy will lead you to a path of failure, every time. It may take a few years, but the plants will never respond the way you wished they would. Really, I wish I could grow the conifers and deciduous trees you have available, but they will die here not matter what I do. May take a few years, but they will eventually check out. Same with tropicals outside of their climate. Unless you are a very advanced greenhouse grower, even then, they don't grow the same indoors as they do outdoors.

Yup, and that's part of the fun for me. This wasn't due to being grown indoors, so that didn't lead to its death. I'll just keep doing my thing, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Way to keep on it Ryan, everybody losses a few, and even then it is not a loss if you learned something. Figs can grow just fine in Virginia.

I was on the national arboretum site and I saw they had a "Bonsai CSI" class coming up. I can be real boneheaded so I was initially skeptical thinking that it would be pretty easy to see if someone bought a mallsai with no roots. But it would be interesting if it was possible to get some clues between the difference between a fungal or a watering issue. Of course even some of my healthiest trees so signs of pest damage.

One of my new friends in our local club had a really nice juniper cascade that lost it's apex over the winter. He said it was fungal, but I saw a fair amount of fine webbing on the dead sections. Sometimes the roses in my yard look like they've lost an entire branch to a gigantic cacoon. In Florida it would have been tent worms of some sort, but here I always think spider mite. Next time I get predatory mites I think I'll stick with the long pipes. If nothing else because I saw one on my ficus a couple months after releasing them this spring.

For tropicals though I also get a lot of scale, so keep an eye out for that.

 

[thams]

Way to keep on it Ryan, everybody losses a few, and even then it is not a loss if you learned something. Figs can grow just fine in Virginia.

I agree that figs can be grown in Virginia - I keep figs and grow inside exclusively since I don't have an outdoor option. BUT, I do find there are major restrictions on growing tropicals in a non-tropical environment. I'm pretty much confined to mame and shohin material since the strength of the light source to the distance from leaves comes into play when growing under lights. I find when I grow larger trees, the bottom branches weaken because the light's effectiveness diminishes significantly before it reaches the furthest (bottom) branches. I know I could invest in some better lights, but I'm just not prepared to shell out that kind of money.

It's frustrating to know that my material will never look as good as it could if it were grown in warmer climates -- but figs are awesome trees to learn on and can make really impressive bonsai.

 

[KennedyMarx]

You're not soliciting advice, but I'd like to chime in. I think that the soil you're using may be too water retentive, whether its the amount of organics (bark) or the overall particle size. The roots probably don't dry out enough to really grow seeking out more moisture. And maube the containers are a little too deep?

Consider that wind hitting the foliage causes a lot of transpiration in a plant. If a plant is inside there's not really a lot of air movement to cause the tree to need water. I know that I have had tropicals that were potted up in various combinations of Turface, diatomaceous earth, chicken grit, pine bark fines. They grew, but so slowly even once they were outside in the summer. This year I've put some of them into different coarser soil and those are the plants that seem to be the healthiest and fastest growing.

Just some things to ponder.

 

[thams]

You're not soliciting advice, but I'd like to chime in. I think that the soil you're using may be too water retentive, whether its the amount of organics (bark) or the overall particle size. The roots probably don't dry out enough to really grow seeking out more moisture. And maube the containers are a little too deep?

I've observed that when using the soil from Meehan's that I get great growth the first 8 months or so after repotting, but then the trees really slow down. When repotting I consistently observe that the soil in the bottom half of the pots is overly wet whereas the top half is appropriately moist. I even tip my pots during watering to drain excess water out of the bottom drain holes. I plan to try a more course mix when I repot to compare.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

You're not soliciting advice, but I'd like to chime in. I think that the soil you're using may be too water retentive, whether its the amount of organics (bark) or the overall particle size. The roots probably don't dry out enough to really grow seeking out more moisture. And maube the containers are a little too deep?

Consider that wind hitting the foliage causes a lot of transpiration in a plant. If a plant is inside there's not really a lot of air movement to cause the tree to need water. I know that I have had tropicals that were potted up in various combinations of Turface, diatomaceous earth, chicken grit, pine bark fines. They grew, but so slowly even once they were outside in the summer. This year I've put some of them into different coarser soil and those are the plants that seem to be the healthiest and fastest growing.

Just some things to ponder.

I totally agree with that. The soil the Meehan's are using is way too water retentive, but until I can source some aged bark, it's all I've got.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Or mix 1/2 and 1/2 with that pumice you picked up? If you're not using the pumice any more. I'l take i=t off your hands real cheap

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Or mix 1/2 and 1/2 with that pumice you picked up? If you're not using the pumice any more. I'l take i=t off your hands real cheap

Well, I do have a place right down the road where I can buy it

 

[KennedyMarx]

Do you have a soil sifter/screen set? Maybe you could sift the Meehan's soil to get the larger particles and mix it with pumice.