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OceanFire
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Location: Tacoma, WA

Aralias and Semi-Cascade?

Hi everyone,
So I'm wondering if you can do a semi-cascade form with an aralia bonsai (or a schefferalas, since I was told I could treat my bonsai like one of them). I'd like to create the illusion that on of my trees is on a river bank or cliff, and has started to grow over the gap, but I haven't seen too many pictures of cascading deciduous bonsai trees. The trunk of the tree is pretty pliable - careful bending proves that it could, with some work, be grown into a downward curve. I'm just wondering if that will harm the tree. Thanks for answering yet another question! I've been reading books, but they all address the pine varieties.

kdodds
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Location: Airmont, NY Zone 6/7

You might want to pick up "The Beginners Guide to Indoor Bonsai" by Werner Busch, or "Indoor Bonsai" by Paul Lesniewicz. I may not have those titles perfectly or have perfectly spelled the names. Additionally, "The Complete Practical Encyclopedia of Bonsai" (or some lofty title of that nature) has some really great information, examples, etc. "The Living Art of Bonsai" by Amy Liang contains tons of great information and dozens of wonderful examples of masterfully created bonsai.

Creating a cascade or semi-cascade from a plant that has a trunk that remains pliable for so long may be a little difficult. The first thing I would caution would be to NOT use wiring to do this. You'll either want to use a branch/trunk bender (or rig something like it yourself) or use suspended wiring (weights) to pull the trunk into the desired position. If you're repotting at the same time, you can use the weight of the pot, running a wire through wiring or drainage holes, to hold the plant down into the desired position. Be sure to use raffia or some similar cushion, though, or the wire will cut into the plant. There is a bonsai grower in Hawai'I who specializes in Schefflera and I seem to recall a number of cascades on his site. For the life of me, I can not remember the name of the site or the URL, though, sorry.

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Gnome
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kdodds,
There is a bonsai grower in Hawai'I who specializes in Schefflera and I seem to recall a number of cascades on his site. For the life of me, I can not remember the name of the site or the URL, though, sorry.
Is this it?
https://www.fukubonsai.com/

Norm

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OceanFire
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Location: Tacoma, WA

So if I'm reading all the information correctly, I should probably make sure my bonsai is strong enough for training before trying anything. Since I mistakenly did a heavy root prune when I first received the bonsai, should I wait 8 weeks to start training to see if my Ming Aralia is healthy enough for it, or should I wait longer (like next year)? I noticed on the Hawai'ian website that damages to trees take a long to time to show up, but I was not sure about how long "a while" was. (I do know that trees vary and no definitive answer can be given, but I'm just looking for a guideline :D Thanks again for your help!

kdodds
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You definitely do NOT want to do anything until the tree has had a chance to recover. A good sign that a tree has recovered is that it is growing well, throwing out new shoots, and not losing old ones.

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Gnome
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OceanFire,
I should probably make sure my bonsai is strong enough for training before trying anything. Since I mistakenly did a heavy root prune when I first received the bonsai, should I wait 8 weeks to start training to see if my Ming Aralia is healthy enough for it, or should I wait longer (like next year)?
There is an axiom among bonsai enthusiasts that you should only 'insult' a tree once a season. Although this may not relate directly to your situation the principal applies. You will not go wrong by simply allowing it a recovery period.

Norm



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