Here is a small five year old shohin Zelkova that is just starting to show some promise and will some day make a wonderful bonsai.
Posted by Hello
Monday, June 27, 2005
Zelkova Schneideriana or Elm As Bonsai
The zelkova is a genius of the elm family of plants and there are about six trees in this family and they are deciduous. The zelkova is common in North America and Northern Europe and of course East Asia.
The name zelkova is derived from one of the languages of Caucasus.
These plants occur in woodland thickets and hedge groves in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, and Asia. They have an ovate to elliptic type leaf and they produce a fantastic display of fall color if left out doors they will eventually completely defoliate and loose all of there leaves until the next spring.
Many of these elms have been acclimated over the years to grow indoors as bonsai. However this plant will do much better out doors but you can grow zelkova indoors if reasonable care is taken.
The most common of the elms is the Japanese Gray bark and it is well known and grown through out the world as bonsai.
However there is no reason that some of these other species can not be grown as well and also do just as well as a bonsai.
If you do decide to grow one of these plants indoors then find a well lit and fairly cool position for it and place it on a humidity tray and mist as often as you can.
If you prefer that your plant be deciduous and loose its leaves and have a slight dormant period then try to keep the plant out side during the regular season from may till early Autumn and then begin to bring it back indoors after it has dropped its leaves.
If you prefer to grow your zelkova outdoors then you’ll want to provide it some protection from frost and extreme cold once the plant has lost its leaves it can be wintered in garages or out buildings as they do not require light once leaf drop has occurred.
Watering will be much more critical indoors than outdoors as it will tend to dry out much quicker because of a lack of humidity unless you can provide it with some sort of green house affect.
Feeding of your plant will require a fertilizer high in nitrogen early in the spring when leaf bud is forming for at least about a month then you can drop back to just a well balanced feed for the rest of the season about every two weeks or so.
Pruning of your zelkova will certainly help it to become more compact and grow much nicer for you. I always wait and allow the shoots to grow out to about four nodes and then I prune back to about one or two leaves to get a more compact look.
The zelkova will respond very well to the broom style of bonsai as this tends to be its natural growing habit anyway.
However they can be trained in nearly any style that you desire so just decide on how you want your plant to look and then just work at it till you get what you want.
You can propagate this plant by seeds or green cuttings in the summer and hardwood cuttings in the winter and air layering after the spring growth has hardened off.
Plants that have been planed in pots or trained as bonsai are pretty safe from the well known Dutch elm disease. But you may want to watch out for aphids and leafhoppers and gall mites and you’ll want to be aware of leafspot.
You can wire your elm for shape and style but be aware that the bark will scare easily and care should be taken when you wire this tree.
Thanks, for reading and viewing.
©Copyright 2005 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me:
The name zelkova is derived from one of the languages of Caucasus.
These plants occur in woodland thickets and hedge groves in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, and Asia. They have an ovate to elliptic type leaf and they produce a fantastic display of fall color if left out doors they will eventually completely defoliate and loose all of there leaves until the next spring.
Many of these elms have been acclimated over the years to grow indoors as bonsai. However this plant will do much better out doors but you can grow zelkova indoors if reasonable care is taken.
The most common of the elms is the Japanese Gray bark and it is well known and grown through out the world as bonsai.
However there is no reason that some of these other species can not be grown as well and also do just as well as a bonsai.
If you do decide to grow one of these plants indoors then find a well lit and fairly cool position for it and place it on a humidity tray and mist as often as you can.
If you prefer that your plant be deciduous and loose its leaves and have a slight dormant period then try to keep the plant out side during the regular season from may till early Autumn and then begin to bring it back indoors after it has dropped its leaves.
If you prefer to grow your zelkova outdoors then you’ll want to provide it some protection from frost and extreme cold once the plant has lost its leaves it can be wintered in garages or out buildings as they do not require light once leaf drop has occurred.
Watering will be much more critical indoors than outdoors as it will tend to dry out much quicker because of a lack of humidity unless you can provide it with some sort of green house affect.
Feeding of your plant will require a fertilizer high in nitrogen early in the spring when leaf bud is forming for at least about a month then you can drop back to just a well balanced feed for the rest of the season about every two weeks or so.
Pruning of your zelkova will certainly help it to become more compact and grow much nicer for you. I always wait and allow the shoots to grow out to about four nodes and then I prune back to about one or two leaves to get a more compact look.
The zelkova will respond very well to the broom style of bonsai as this tends to be its natural growing habit anyway.
However they can be trained in nearly any style that you desire so just decide on how you want your plant to look and then just work at it till you get what you want.
You can propagate this plant by seeds or green cuttings in the summer and hardwood cuttings in the winter and air layering after the spring growth has hardened off.
Plants that have been planed in pots or trained as bonsai are pretty safe from the well known Dutch elm disease. But you may want to watch out for aphids and leafhoppers and gall mites and you’ll want to be aware of leafspot.
You can wire your elm for shape and style but be aware that the bark will scare easily and care should be taken when you wire this tree.
Thanks, for reading and viewing.
©Copyright 2005 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me:
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Here is a five year Ficus Retusa fig still small and still what I consider to be a starter plant.
Posted by Hello
The Ficus or Fig as Bonsai
The ficus is a very popular plant for bonsai and there are some where around 800 different species of these evergreen shrubs and trees and climbers that exist and they all are tropical and sub tropical.
The Ficus Retusa fig can make a wonderful bonsai if you simply take your time and work with this plant to get a shape and style going.
They are very tolerant of indoor growing conditions and will adept to most homes.
Most of our homes though have very poor humidity and unfortunately humidity is pretty much a necessity to the growing of ficus.
This is not to say that your fig will die or not live it simply will not grow as well or as fast if you subject it to less than the ideal conditions that they are used too.
The ideal conditions of course would be when you can provide lots of high humidity consistent watering and plenty of light.
Some things that you can do to improve the levels of humidity around your plant would be to keep it on a humidity tray and spray mist it regularly through out the day when ever possible. You might also try and pot some moss along in your pot to help retain moisture.
Some apartment dwellers may have a bathroom that does not have an outside window and If this is the case and you take a lot of showers and your bathroom steams up that’s great simply take along your fig and let it soak up all that wonderful humidity even if it is for a short while.
Since most of these type of plants are found on the jungle floor and the other taller tress block out a lot of the light they are fairly light tolerant and will adept to most indoor poor lighting conditions.
There are at least a dozen species of ficus and hundreds of varieties of figs within that species and of these there are many that can and will make a wonderful bonsai.
Try if at all possible to place your fig in a very high light condition even full sun will not harm your fig and by keeping a humidity tray filled with some small pea gravel under your plant you’ll only encourage it to grow faster and be healthier.
Of course misting will also be welcomed and you most likely couldn’t ever mist enough unless you had your bonsai all growing in a green house with a built in misting system. So you need not worry about over misting any of these plants as they all love it.
You will most likely need to repot your ficus at least every other year and feed it only during the growing season and never when it looks to be in poor health or during the winter months.
Ficus can be pruned during the spring although most will be tolerant of pruning year around as long as you’re not hard pruning and by hard pruning I mean taking a lot off of your plant.
Scale insects and mites can some times be a problem and should be watched for on your figs. Figs will leaf drop very fast if subjected to poor conditions such as over watering, or poor light, or drafts but if the conditions are improved your fig can leaf back in as little as 3 to 6 weeks.
Some of the varieties that make good bonsai are Ficus Salicifolia or willow leaf fig, the famous Ficus Benjamina of course and Ficus Retusa, or the Chinese banyan, and there is also a variety called the Green Island Fig which is also a variety of the Retusa.
Figs can se started from cuttings or seeds and of course air layering I prefer cuttings and have started most If not all of my figs in this manner.
Thanks, for reading and viewing.
©Copyright 2005 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me:
The Ficus Retusa fig can make a wonderful bonsai if you simply take your time and work with this plant to get a shape and style going.
They are very tolerant of indoor growing conditions and will adept to most homes.
Most of our homes though have very poor humidity and unfortunately humidity is pretty much a necessity to the growing of ficus.
This is not to say that your fig will die or not live it simply will not grow as well or as fast if you subject it to less than the ideal conditions that they are used too.
The ideal conditions of course would be when you can provide lots of high humidity consistent watering and plenty of light.
Some things that you can do to improve the levels of humidity around your plant would be to keep it on a humidity tray and spray mist it regularly through out the day when ever possible. You might also try and pot some moss along in your pot to help retain moisture.
Some apartment dwellers may have a bathroom that does not have an outside window and If this is the case and you take a lot of showers and your bathroom steams up that’s great simply take along your fig and let it soak up all that wonderful humidity even if it is for a short while.
Since most of these type of plants are found on the jungle floor and the other taller tress block out a lot of the light they are fairly light tolerant and will adept to most indoor poor lighting conditions.
There are at least a dozen species of ficus and hundreds of varieties of figs within that species and of these there are many that can and will make a wonderful bonsai.
Try if at all possible to place your fig in a very high light condition even full sun will not harm your fig and by keeping a humidity tray filled with some small pea gravel under your plant you’ll only encourage it to grow faster and be healthier.
Of course misting will also be welcomed and you most likely couldn’t ever mist enough unless you had your bonsai all growing in a green house with a built in misting system. So you need not worry about over misting any of these plants as they all love it.
You will most likely need to repot your ficus at least every other year and feed it only during the growing season and never when it looks to be in poor health or during the winter months.
Ficus can be pruned during the spring although most will be tolerant of pruning year around as long as you’re not hard pruning and by hard pruning I mean taking a lot off of your plant.
Scale insects and mites can some times be a problem and should be watched for on your figs. Figs will leaf drop very fast if subjected to poor conditions such as over watering, or poor light, or drafts but if the conditions are improved your fig can leaf back in as little as 3 to 6 weeks.
Some of the varieties that make good bonsai are Ficus Salicifolia or willow leaf fig, the famous Ficus Benjamina of course and Ficus Retusa, or the Chinese banyan, and there is also a variety called the Green Island Fig which is also a variety of the Retusa.
Figs can se started from cuttings or seeds and of course air layering I prefer cuttings and have started most If not all of my figs in this manner.
Thanks, for reading and viewing.
©Copyright 2005 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me:
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Propagating Maples
Propagating Maples
I have had many people over the years ask me the same question over and over and that is how I get maples to grow from starts. They tell me that when they try they do not have any luck.
Well let me see if I can explain how I do it and then perhaps you can too if your lucky.
I say lucky because there are so many different cultivars of maple and it seems at times that each one will have its own quirks.
I believe that there is a certain amount of just pure luck involved when you try to propagate these types of plants.
Maples can be started in a number of ways and most people will try to get them started from a cutting. This is a great way to get them started if you can really be on top of the watering or should I say misting.
The cuttings if you’re going to try your hand at getting some started in this manner should be taken in the month of June and that would of course be right now these would be called softwood cuttings.
You’re going to want the newest growth and of course that would be the new shoots that have just started this spring. These shoots will have not yet hardened
off and they will make good starts.
You’ll want the shoots to be around four inches in length and you will want the lower leaves stripped leaving perhaps a couple or so at the very end of the shoot.
You’ll want to plant them in a very course sand mix. I poke little holes in the sand with a pencil and then insert my starts and firm the sand down around each.
A rooting compound will also help and you can find either a powder type of liquid type in any good nursery or plant and garden store in your area. You would simply dip each cutting in the rooting compound right before sticking your cutting in the sand mix.
Another trick I try most all of the time is to very lightly scrape along the leaf stripped stem near the bottom and this will cause sort of a small type of wound and as the plant will almost always try to heal over this area it will then start roots where you caused the wound.
Another secret to getting cuttings started is to be able to keep them constantly misted however this is near to impossible without the aid of equipment and most people simply can not afford to invest in this unless they want to raise a whole lot of cuttings.
You could also get a lot of cultivars of maple started by the budding method and there is also grafting if your very experienced if not then just leave this method to the experts..
I will discuss some of these other methods in detail in yet another article at a later time.
You can also try seed and it should be collected once it has turned brown on the mother plant and then left to further dry out. The seed should be kept until your ready to work with it.
Most maple seed will fall off the mother plant late in the fall and most often simply just get blown away by the winter winds and such. But if a few do some how manage to get covered by some small amount of soil and other garden mulch then if your lucky they might sprout a couple of seasons later.
The reason is maple seeds have a really tough outer shell and they must lie on the ground and go through the entire process of a winter and if they survive then they might open up enough to take root and start a plant.
But I for one do not like to wait so I will try to speed along this process by fooling Mother Nature and processing the seeds myself much sooner.
I will decide on a target date that I want to plant my seed outside and that would be right after any worries about frost and that is June in most places. So then I would count backwards on my calendar 100 days and that would be some where around February.
Then I will take my seed and put it into a cup of nice hot water not boiling or anything like that but still hot.
I will then leave the seed over night and the seed that floats to the bottom is the seed that is most likely to be of use for planting. I discard the rest.
I will then take my seed and sprinkle it in a sterile planting medium wet it down good but not soaking wet. Now I will put my seed in my refrigerator in the crisper and leave it there until my target date of June.
I have now essentially fooled Mother Nature into thinking that a winter has passed and my seed should be ready to plant outdoors.
I would then pick a place in my garden and sow the seed on clean soil and cover about 3/8 of and inch with more soil and water good and wait. Let dry out between watering so as not to rot your seed before it gets the chance to germinate.
I wish you good luck with your cutting or your seed and if you do not succeed the first time keep trying you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Thanks for reading
©Copyright 2003 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me.
I have had many people over the years ask me the same question over and over and that is how I get maples to grow from starts. They tell me that when they try they do not have any luck.
Well let me see if I can explain how I do it and then perhaps you can too if your lucky.
I say lucky because there are so many different cultivars of maple and it seems at times that each one will have its own quirks.
I believe that there is a certain amount of just pure luck involved when you try to propagate these types of plants.
Maples can be started in a number of ways and most people will try to get them started from a cutting. This is a great way to get them started if you can really be on top of the watering or should I say misting.
The cuttings if you’re going to try your hand at getting some started in this manner should be taken in the month of June and that would of course be right now these would be called softwood cuttings.
You’re going to want the newest growth and of course that would be the new shoots that have just started this spring. These shoots will have not yet hardened
off and they will make good starts.
You’ll want the shoots to be around four inches in length and you will want the lower leaves stripped leaving perhaps a couple or so at the very end of the shoot.
You’ll want to plant them in a very course sand mix. I poke little holes in the sand with a pencil and then insert my starts and firm the sand down around each.
A rooting compound will also help and you can find either a powder type of liquid type in any good nursery or plant and garden store in your area. You would simply dip each cutting in the rooting compound right before sticking your cutting in the sand mix.
Another trick I try most all of the time is to very lightly scrape along the leaf stripped stem near the bottom and this will cause sort of a small type of wound and as the plant will almost always try to heal over this area it will then start roots where you caused the wound.
Another secret to getting cuttings started is to be able to keep them constantly misted however this is near to impossible without the aid of equipment and most people simply can not afford to invest in this unless they want to raise a whole lot of cuttings.
You could also get a lot of cultivars of maple started by the budding method and there is also grafting if your very experienced if not then just leave this method to the experts..
I will discuss some of these other methods in detail in yet another article at a later time.
You can also try seed and it should be collected once it has turned brown on the mother plant and then left to further dry out. The seed should be kept until your ready to work with it.
Most maple seed will fall off the mother plant late in the fall and most often simply just get blown away by the winter winds and such. But if a few do some how manage to get covered by some small amount of soil and other garden mulch then if your lucky they might sprout a couple of seasons later.
The reason is maple seeds have a really tough outer shell and they must lie on the ground and go through the entire process of a winter and if they survive then they might open up enough to take root and start a plant.
But I for one do not like to wait so I will try to speed along this process by fooling Mother Nature and processing the seeds myself much sooner.
I will decide on a target date that I want to plant my seed outside and that would be right after any worries about frost and that is June in most places. So then I would count backwards on my calendar 100 days and that would be some where around February.
Then I will take my seed and put it into a cup of nice hot water not boiling or anything like that but still hot.
I will then leave the seed over night and the seed that floats to the bottom is the seed that is most likely to be of use for planting. I discard the rest.
I will then take my seed and sprinkle it in a sterile planting medium wet it down good but not soaking wet. Now I will put my seed in my refrigerator in the crisper and leave it there until my target date of June.
I have now essentially fooled Mother Nature into thinking that a winter has passed and my seed should be ready to plant outdoors.
I would then pick a place in my garden and sow the seed on clean soil and cover about 3/8 of and inch with more soil and water good and wait. Let dry out between watering so as not to rot your seed before it gets the chance to germinate.
I wish you good luck with your cutting or your seed and if you do not succeed the first time keep trying you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Thanks for reading
©Copyright 2003 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Shohin Ligustrum: Here is a small Ligustrum started five years ago in training now for three years.
Posted by Hello
LIGUSTRUM LUCIDUM
LIGUSTRUM LUCIDUM
There are over fifty species of this privet and in some areas it is actually considered a weed and is totally ignored as anything you would want to grow.
However I think that the Iigustrum makes a wonderful bonsai material and I have worked a couple of these for my collection.
I have one Ligustrum that is five years old and it has been in training now for three years.
I’m training the plant as a shohin bonsai and it will eventually make a very nice specimen.
It takes a few years to develop the trunk for a shohin and so you must have time and patience.
The Ligustrum if left to grow outside the confines of a pot can reach heights of over thirty feet. It does well as a tree if trained to grow up right and in the style of a tree otherwise it is more of a shrub.
Most varieties have a glossy leaf and some to the point that they may look waxed. The variety that I have in my collection does not have the glossy type leaf and I’m still unsure exactly what variety that it is.
I have researched many plant books but have still not found this particular kind but of course I will continue to look. The plant can have creamy white flowers sometimes in April or May and even as late as June.
It does produce a berry but they are poisonous and certainly not for eating. I would recommend washing your hands after handling or cutting on this plant.
The origin of the Ligustrum is Korea, China, and Japan. They are very hardy and can even be a nuisance if left alone to grow unattended.
The Chinese have used this plant for medicinal purposes for many years, the berries are employed as a yin tonic in there medicine and used for many conditions.
This plant will do well indoors and can be trained in all manner of shape and style if you work at it. The limbs can get very brittle fairly fast so if you plan to wire this plant then you must start when the limbs are young and still pliable.
This plant has been used widely for hedge type separation of yards and has also been used as a common tree in street plantings for years.
Care of this plant is fairly straight forward; it can be encouraged to branch by continued pinching and cutting back of new growth. You’ll need to water your Ligusturm Privet often as they will dry out fast especially as bonsai.
Plant in a well drained soil to prevent root rot and faster draining of any excess water. The plant can withstand full sun or part shade, and you’ll need to repot this plant nearly every year as it grows fast and can get root bound in a hurry.
You can easily propagate this plant from softwood cuttings or grafting or from seed. Some times the cuttings will even root in just water.
A general purpose fertilizer will work for this plant just fine and you should feed it during the season from spring till early fall and then let it grow on its own until the next season before fertilizing any more.
Some of the pests for this plant are aphids and spider mites white fly and of course root rot.
The leafs of the Ligustrum will tend to droop and wilt fast if your under watering and after a while you’ll get the hang of its watering needs. Shohin bonsai are extremely prone to drying out fast as they are in very tiny pots in almost all cases.
The idea of a Shohin is to try and develop a very nice large trunk and still have the entire plant in a small pot and have the plant not over ten inches in total height.
I sometimes have to water my Shohin twice a day even inside. I keep a very close watch on these little plants and really love all of them.
If you decide that you would like to try your hand at growing one of these plants then you can most likely find a nice start at one of your local nursery or if you like you can take a look on one of the bonsai sites on the net and most likely find a nice one.
Thanks for reading and viewing. Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me.
There are over fifty species of this privet and in some areas it is actually considered a weed and is totally ignored as anything you would want to grow.
However I think that the Iigustrum makes a wonderful bonsai material and I have worked a couple of these for my collection.
I have one Ligustrum that is five years old and it has been in training now for three years.
I’m training the plant as a shohin bonsai and it will eventually make a very nice specimen.
It takes a few years to develop the trunk for a shohin and so you must have time and patience.
The Ligustrum if left to grow outside the confines of a pot can reach heights of over thirty feet. It does well as a tree if trained to grow up right and in the style of a tree otherwise it is more of a shrub.
Most varieties have a glossy leaf and some to the point that they may look waxed. The variety that I have in my collection does not have the glossy type leaf and I’m still unsure exactly what variety that it is.
I have researched many plant books but have still not found this particular kind but of course I will continue to look. The plant can have creamy white flowers sometimes in April or May and even as late as June.
It does produce a berry but they are poisonous and certainly not for eating. I would recommend washing your hands after handling or cutting on this plant.
The origin of the Ligustrum is Korea, China, and Japan. They are very hardy and can even be a nuisance if left alone to grow unattended.
The Chinese have used this plant for medicinal purposes for many years, the berries are employed as a yin tonic in there medicine and used for many conditions.
This plant will do well indoors and can be trained in all manner of shape and style if you work at it. The limbs can get very brittle fairly fast so if you plan to wire this plant then you must start when the limbs are young and still pliable.
This plant has been used widely for hedge type separation of yards and has also been used as a common tree in street plantings for years.
Care of this plant is fairly straight forward; it can be encouraged to branch by continued pinching and cutting back of new growth. You’ll need to water your Ligusturm Privet often as they will dry out fast especially as bonsai.
Plant in a well drained soil to prevent root rot and faster draining of any excess water. The plant can withstand full sun or part shade, and you’ll need to repot this plant nearly every year as it grows fast and can get root bound in a hurry.
You can easily propagate this plant from softwood cuttings or grafting or from seed. Some times the cuttings will even root in just water.
A general purpose fertilizer will work for this plant just fine and you should feed it during the season from spring till early fall and then let it grow on its own until the next season before fertilizing any more.
Some of the pests for this plant are aphids and spider mites white fly and of course root rot.
The leafs of the Ligustrum will tend to droop and wilt fast if your under watering and after a while you’ll get the hang of its watering needs. Shohin bonsai are extremely prone to drying out fast as they are in very tiny pots in almost all cases.
The idea of a Shohin is to try and develop a very nice large trunk and still have the entire plant in a small pot and have the plant not over ten inches in total height.
I sometimes have to water my Shohin twice a day even inside. I keep a very close watch on these little plants and really love all of them.
If you decide that you would like to try your hand at growing one of these plants then you can most likely find a nice start at one of your local nursery or if you like you can take a look on one of the bonsai sites on the net and most likely find a nice one.
Thanks for reading and viewing. Harold Yearout
©Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved
For more information feel free to Contact Me.
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