Another newbie! Help with rosemary bonsai?

[madonnaswimmer]

Hey all,

Thanks for sticking with us newbie bonsai people! I really appreciate it.

Around 3 years ago I decided I wanted to try Bonsai. Despite everyone saying to start with a Ficus, I wanted to do things the hard way. I like the look of conifers better, anyway. Wanting to combine my love of herbs and my newfound interest in bonsai, I wanted to try Rosemary. Looked it up, found some other crazy wackos trying to do rosemary bonsai, and I didn't turn back.

Well, the first Rosemary I bought died over the winter. Thanks to these forums, I found some tips on keeping rosemary over the winter, and my second one actually survived! Yay! I brought it in during the winter, placed under fluorescent light, and watered it daily with some baking soda in the mix. I also misted daily as well.

Well, after being so ecstatic that it just DIDN'T DIE, I pruned all the dead branches and then put the plant outside. ...Then I kinda forgot about it (I got a new job, and I was working on starting up the rest of my garden). Now the rosemary is a little out of control and I feel I really need to prune it before it gets any further into summer. That's where I need help.

I live in Wisconsin, and have no idea how old the plant is.. it's at least 3 years, I presume. During the summer, it sits on my south-facing balcony. In the winter, I take it in and treat it as described above.

So... currently it is just in a regular pot with some regular potting soil, as I wasn't sure if it would even survive the winter, and I had wanted to give it the best shot. I am planning on mixing up some more appropriate soil using the helpful info on soil in the learning section of the forums. I am too nervous to switch entirely to inorganic soil, so I may do a 2/3 inorganic to 1/3 organic as mentioned in one of the links. What do you guys usually use for soil? Also, I am currently trying to find a Bonsai pot in my area that is less than $40. Where do you find them?

As far as design is concerned, where should I go with this one? Should I keep all 3 trunks? I would like to have more movement, but is it too late to do anything but a vertical tree? Moreover, is there a trick to bending the branches during wiring such that they don't just snap? When do you remove the wires?

I have photos below, taken while rotating the pot clockwise.

Thanks in advance!

#1 (I definitely think that this should be the front):
[img]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/madonnaswimmer/Bonsai001.jpg[/img]

#2 (looking at the front, right side of the plant):
[img]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/madonnaswimmer/Bonsai002.jpg[/img]

#3 (looking at the back, right side of the plant):
[img]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/madonnaswimmer/Bonsai003.jpg[/img]

#4 (what I think of as the back of the plant):
[img]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/madonnaswimmer/Bonsai004.jpg[/img]

#5 (back left):
[img]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/madonnaswimmer/Bonsai005.jpg[/img]

#6 (front left):
[img]https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/madonnaswimmer/Bonsai006.jpg[/img]

[tomc]

First I suspect yout rosemary is still in a nursery pot and in soil with way-way too much peat in the soil.

First get it out of the ceramic pot if there is no drain hole in it.

Better you pot up into a dafodil paper-white pot that you have enlarged drain holes, with very fast draining soil made of 50% inert (read stone).

I expect there is a sticky on one of these bonsai forums with a good monolog on what is adaquate soil for bonsai.

I'd try a search for photo examples of rosemary being trained as bonsai.

Look at some of those, and refer back to your rosemary and do nothing for a month.

You aren't going anywhere, the rosemary isn't either. The more times you look at others styling trials, and your tree the happier your going to be with the bits you do finaly prune off.

Some of the old guys used to draw out their trees (and possible fronts) and draw proposed pruning. Now a days you can photo-shop your experminets.

Have fun.

[kdodds]

Can't really give any styling advice with so much growth in the way. BUT, with the trunks being skinny (and likely to stay that way), some type of cascade or literati would be the only way to go. If you'd rather do another style, get it in a larger, grow out nursery pot, and step up every repotting as needed, until the trunk is about 1/6th to 1/9th the desired height of the finished tree.

[madonnaswimmer]

If you'd rather do another style, get it in a larger, grow out nursery pot, and step up every repotting as needed, until the trunk is about 1/6th to 1/9th the desired height of the finished tree.

Can you elaborate? I am not sure what you mean by this.

[kdodds]

The width of the trunk on a "finished" bonsai should be between 1/6th and 1/9th of the "finished" height. So, a 12" tall bonsai should have a trunk diameter at the base of somewhere between 1 1/3" and 2". Because the trunk will not gain appreciable girth once potted as a bonsai (in our lifetime, anyway), it must be grown out BEFORE it's potted up for bonsai. Since you have a tender plant, doing this in the ground (ideal) isn't really the easiest (or necessarily wisest) thing to do. So, you'll need to pot it up each year into ever larger pots as the root system fills the old pot. You should allow for a few inches all around for the root ball (including the bottom) when potting up.

[madonnaswimmer]

kdodds-- if I continue to pot it up to get the trunk to be thicker, won't the plant just get proportionately taller as well? What will I do then?

[kdodds]

You can cut back while it's growing to keep it managable (I.e. around 18-36" tall). When the trunk is thick enough, you chop t to about one third of the "finished" height of the tree, then start over for the second trunk section. This is what produces well exagerrated taper.

[madonnaswimmer]

Thank you so much!