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DDMcKenna
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Juni's New House

Well, here it is! I only have a few minutes before I head out to work. But I got these shots last night. I picked two that could show what I built and how she fits in it. I also had some questions I typed out earlier so I may include them underneath.
0106e1.jpg
0108e1.jpg
I have a question about the “tray” that sits under the pot that you can see in the pics. This tray came with the original tree/pot assembly from the gift shop that delivered her to me. I suspect the tray is for ornamental purposes only but since it came with a bag of that pure whit gravel, I wasn’t certain whether it was also designed to add a little ventilation under the pot to help it dry out properly.

With all the rain we’ve gotten recently, I’ve had to drain the water out of that white gravel a number of times even though it isn’t in direct line of vertical rain, plenty of splash get a lot of water in it.

I also got some info from friends who tell me that Bonsai trees don't like to be moved. I always moved her to a spot off to the side of her house when I water her so she can drain properly. After she is done dripping for a few minutes, I put her back on the gravel bed which is that black tray you see in the pics.

Part of building her new home included the silicone in all the joints and cracks so I could actually water her “in place” without having to disturb her. But that would also require that I drill some drain holes in that black plastic tray and make sure it is elevated a eighth of an inch off the shelf to it could drain properly.

So, I'm wondering, it the tray just ornamental or does it serve a function. And would drilling drain holes in it be a bad idea or not?

tomc
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The good thing about a drip tray, is it may help keep surfaces clean.

The bad thing about drip tray is it can easily become a trough to drown your tree in.

If you can get your tree baby drained off after watering and not be held in a tub of water, a tray is an ok thing.

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Gnome
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DDMcKenna,

Such trays are often used as humidity trays in order to help keep humidity up for indoor growers. I doubt that it serves any purpose outside.

Norm

valley
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Hi, If your pot is sitting on the stones rather than in the them there is less chance for reabsorption. The one in the pictuer looks very healthy, you're doing something right.

Richard

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DDMcKenna
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I try to keep that white gravel in the tray "drained" as much as possible. And I keep Juni's pot up on top of that gravel, never down in the gravel. I thought that the gravel could act as very porous channel for air to circulate under the pot so I figured keeping it empty and dry was important.

I was just wondering if I drilled a bunch of small holes in the tray, and then I put some tiny stick-like things under the tray, if I could water her without moving her. Thinking all the water could drain away. I made her house pretty darn water-proof so aside from having to clean it occasionally, maybe it would make watering more convenient. But then, maybe the whole tray is redundant.

valley
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I kinda like the tray, as long as it isn't full of water so that it keeps the soil wet.

Richard

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My benches are all out of naked (pressure treated) wood. I water them directly on their bench, and water runs off-away.

So I don't think you really need the humidity tray.

That said, on the rare occasion that you do bring Juni indoors, she could be perched up on her tray then for presentation (and tidyness)

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If the plant is outside and you don't have an issue with dry air, just remove the tray. It would keep the tray though and the stones. The only time bonsai are meant to be brought in is for display or if you have to because of the weather. Then the tray becomes handy especially to keep your surfaces clean and to provide humidity. What you could do is add a wire shelf to the box and put the plant on the shelf with a tray on the bottom to catch excess water that can be drained off as needed.
If you make the shelf removable, then you can take it off in drier weather. The wire shelf will allow air to circulate all around the plant and prevent root rot the soil will dry out quicker too.

Plants in general do not like to be moved. If the direction has changed the plant will grow in a different direction. Ficus are more prone to issues with light changes. But plants moved for only a short time, won't matter as long as it is placed back in its original position. If the plant is taken indoors for display then it will need to be hardened off to the light again.

It is why I hate moving my orchids, the buds will turn and if I wire the spike late the blooms will be upside down.

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DDMcKenna
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Like Richard said, the tray "looks" kind of cool but I agree with Tom, I don't think it's really necessary. I used some really good paint on the wood so the water should run right off. I even used silicone sealer on the bottoms of the feet so the water won't be absorbed by the wood at all. And if I don't use the tray right there, I can water her without moving her. I'd definitely keep the tray and rocks for display purposes.

Humidity is never really a problem in Florida, especially here at the coast. It's usually very high, even in the winter. We'll occasionally get some "comfy" weather where it drops to 50% or so but 80 to 90% is not unusual either. So just about every time I watered her, I was draining the excess water out of those white rocks just from rain-splash.

So even though it looks good, I might try it for a while without and see how she does. So far, I've been moving her off her shelf to a piece of tile right next to her house for watering, (no tray), and she sits there for a bit till she's done draining and then I spray her down with water that has the liquid fertilizer in it. She seems to be happy so far.

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DDMckenna - References to Bonsai not liking to be moved refers to drastic changes of environment. Moving your plant to a sink for watering then back to it's home is not considered a move.

I would ditch the tray. You run more risk from excess water collecting in the tray - either from watering drip off or rain splash. Your Bonsai has a VERY small root system and can not tolerate excess water. In Florida you have sufficient humidity.

If you are serious about Bonsai you may want to consider joining a local Bonsai club. A few on line queries and you will find several Bonsai organizations in your area. The advantage is one-on-one, personal interaction with other Bonsai enthusiast. Many will be very experienced in the art of Bonsai. Bonsai is much more than just growing a small plant. It really is an art form requiring a great deal of attention to detail and PATIENCE!

Bonsai enthusiast on the forum will also give you lots of great advice.

Good luck!

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its getting to be time to start looking at other junipers. How do other people top prune their juni's? Look around. Visit places that display bonsai (like specialty shops or Disney werld).

Break out the pencil & paper and draw out what you want your newly groomed Juni to look like.

Spring housekeeping chores are right around the corner.

Have you collected new bonsai soil yet? hint-hint ;)

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DDMcKenna
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Thank you Liz, ( I hope that name's not insulting, it's easy to type), I have looked around close to me and haven't found anything yet. I'll need to do some online searches for Bonsai clubs or such.

And you're right Tom, spring isn't that far away and I haven't even considered where I'm going to find this kind of soil. I know it is similar to cactus soil but I'm willing to spend a couple bucks to find the exact right soil so Juni will do her best in it. And I've spent hours online looking at Juniper Bonsai trees and the way they are groomed. Some people obviously go to an amazing amount of time and effort to make their little babies look so cool. Right now, since I'm so new to this, I'm willing to settle for healthy first and cool later. So I'm going to look for some design that will require the least amount of trimming possible. I killed a tangerine tree by trimming it so I'm a little scared to do too much. I want to make sure whatever I do is something she likes. But I guess I need to start working on finding that soil first.

Oh, and thank you Liz for the clarification on "moving" it. I, pretty much, figured as much. I thought when people said "moved" they were referring to positioning it such that the sun shines on it differently. I only move it about a foot or two from her house to a little stand next to her house. And when she's done draining, it's right back in her house. And I also came within minutes of making a drastic change that was undoable. I even had the tray in my work room with the gravel out of it. Then I got tied up doing something else but I was going to drill about a hundred small 1/8 holes in it and then put it back under her with the gravel in it. Like you say, I don't need a humidity tray in Florida. But it does look cool and I would never have to worry about it collecting water after that. I could even water her in place and just allow it to drain through the tray. The only downside is that I would have to use an additional tray if I ever brought her inside to show my friends. So I may still do that.

OH, and I keep forgetting every time, my name is David

imafan26
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For soil I just used black cinder (crushed lava rock) and pea gravel strained through filters to get the size I need. Cinders can easily be crushed down to smaller pieces. You do have to wash the media since you don't want dust.

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Well, I'll take the lack of response as your indication that my use of short names for typing ease was not called for so I sincerely apologize and it will never happen again. But I do thank you for your helpful information.

And Juni seems to be doing well considering she is experiencing her first winter here, if you can call it winter. Longer nights and temps dipping into the 40s isn't what a lot of people would consider winter but Juni seems to be doing well. Watering has decreased to approximately twice a week give a day or so here and there.

I've yet to modify that tray and still keep it there, under her, simply because I haven't decided for sure what I want to do. I'm looking into buying some soil online because I'm guessing that's the most important things she needs right now. Of course, it won't be till spring when I use it but I want to be prepared.

her new house is a couple inches bigger than the old particle-board house I had her in previously. And she seems to be taking full advantage of the extra room. It's like she is just stretching out a little bit like she just getting comfortable. I think she'll be quite happy right where she's at.

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DDMcKenna
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@imafan26 If you would, can you tell me why the current soil that she is in couldn't be washed out or recycled in some manor? I mean, maybe you would need two batches of soil so you would have time to work on one batch while she was growing in the other. But I was just wondering if there wasn't some means of reusing the soil. I'm guessing it has too many chemicals in it that are a waste product of tree growth. But it seems that by now, somebody would have figured out a way to treat that and revitalize it for conservation. I know they rotate crops in larger environments to deal with a similar situation. So I was just wondering.

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DDMcKenna
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@tomc Hey Tom, would this be something worth considering?

https://www.amazon.com/Bonsai-Tree-Soil- ... +tree+soil

I hope that link works. It's two quarts of Bonsai tree soil that says it's supposed to have the minerals and nutrients that they say "any" Bonsai tree needs. It's fairly inexpensive so it seems like a good deal as long as it really is good Bonsai soil.

I got the liquid and pellet type fertilizer through Amazon and that stuff seems okay. I guess Amazon has a bit of everything.

Thanks, David

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Well, I did it.

It rained quite a bit last night. I wasn't worried because it wasn't windy, so I thought Juni's house would keep most of it off her. And it was bright sunshine when I opened the door to check her. It had been a couple days since I watered her and we've had some unusually warm weather. 80s on Friday. So I figured she would be thirsty. I found her tray just full of water.

So she didn't need a drink but still got her spray with the fertilizer water. And then I did it...
0110e1.jpg
Hundreds of small holes, big enough not to clog but small enough to keep the white gravel in. I put four plastic one-eighth inch high pillars under that to make sure there would be adequate air flow under the tray and now I'm hoping I can just water her without even moving her off her little shelf.

She didn't need any water yet so I'll have to wait to see how well that works but I like the way the tray looks under her. Since her house is gloss white, the black tray is a good contrast. And I have plenty of other trays if I need to bring her inside for any reason. Hope this works out.

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The longer you stick with bonsai the finikier you'll get. Your drilled out pan is only the beginning example. For this spring soil via Amazon (with free shipping) will probably do fine.

Next year, or the year after you'll want more control. Soil is a likely avenue.

Little trivia that goes with soil: some squares of screen with bigger than window screen holes (window screen is 1/16th inch). Some copper wire to wire screen to pot and or tree to pot.

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Hope this works out.
I think it should! Sounds like the holes in the tray is a good idea :D

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Grinning~ I thought for sure one of you was going to pounce on me because it was so obvious that I started out drilling all those holes in nice even tight rows and by the time I got fifty or sixty holes drilled, I was just drilling randomly. LOL, it was funny when I was doing it. I even nicked the cement under the tray a couple times when I got half way through so the drill bit got pretty dull. I think it was melting its way through by the last row.

It's exciting to do stuff that might actually work. I'm looking forward to this spring and some new look.

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DD, you are (or at least I'm thinking you are) planning to return gravels to your tray, so who's gonna notice the additional holes?

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(Smiling) Yeah, that's what I figured. Nobody's going to see it. It looks really nice with the white gravel in the black tray on the white shelf. Just the right amount of contrast to make it appealing to the eye.

I'm getting psyched about just how I want to trim her. I wasn't going to do the whole "wiring" thing but now, I figure why not. If I'm careful, I can make her look really cool. I have a bit of that copper wire that is used to reshape her baby limbs. It's so awesome working with a tiny little tree like that since I've never done anything like this before. I'm going to have to get myself a good set of tiny tools to do it right.

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Well, it's Juni's first winter. And unlike last year, they are predicting temps to drop to 30 degrees for an hour or so in the early morning, but 32 by midnight and for all night. So Juni has moved indoors for the very first time.

I must say, I'm petrified. It was time to water her. She's pretty dry and I wasn't sure how the shock of going from 37 degrees to 70 degrees was going to be on her. So I just misted her real good. I'll probably water her when I put her back out in the morning around 8 or 9 am. It's supposed to be back up to 38 or so by then. And I doubt we'll have any more of this.

She looks happy. So I took a couple snaps so you could see how she was doing.
DSC00116.JPG
DSC00117.JPG

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DDMcKenna ,

I'm glad that your Juniper is doing well. I do feel like you are being too conservative WRT temperature. My Junipers are outside right now and we are predicted to go to -11 tonight. I'll let you know in a few months how they do. :wink:

Norm

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applestar
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My wannabe bonsai junipers in nursery pots are also outside under the picnic bench, buried in snow.... 1°F ATM with windchill of -14°F, predicted to go down one more degree to nice even 0°F before the sun rises.... And today's high will be 17°F.

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The only maybe not of a juniper in its pot in the weather could be:

1. Frost and ceramic pots often don't get along well. More below.

2. Freeze-thaw cycles can be stressful to trees. Also more below.

3. The folks who stay with this hobby spend their morning coffee, thinking of the next thing their 'gonna do'.

I am not graceful. I walk, I fall down. Ceramic pots bounce even less well than they freeze. Mostly I have switched over to mica pots. YMMV

A box, even a cardboard box will have enough inertia to hold together with a nest of straw nesting trees out of doors in frost. If it worked for me in NH, I bet it'll work other places too. The deal is to keep thing once frozen, to stay frozen till spring is nearer.



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