I thought it would be quite fun to try and grow Bonsai from seed, so way back in march I purchased some seeds and sowed them as soon as I got them.
All has been going well and I know have(I think) a healthy collection of saplings.
The saplings I have are:
Canadian Sugar Maple
Californian Redwood
and Blue Colorado Spruce.
The question I have is the Redwoods and Spruces a still pretty small so are fine as they are, but three of the eight sugar maples I have are now on there way to being at least a foot tall, with a girth of just under 1cm which is slowly turning barky(no longer green and fresh). When would be a good time to start to train these as bonsai,
Do I:
Leave them as they are in there pots until next spring, when they can be either potted up or planted in the ground for that extra bit of girth?,
or do I:
Pinch out the growing bud now to promote branch formation?
Sorry for the long post and as always any help is greatly recieved.
-
Gnome
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 5122
- Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
- Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A
Adam,
Growing bonsai from seed certainly can be done and some feel it is one of the best ways to do so. A big advantage with this method is that you are able to put the effort into developing a good radial root system that is so often missing in nursery material. This will not be a quick or easy process and you may want to consider approaching bonsai from another angle in the meantime.
I am not sure how appropriate this species of Maple will be for bonsai, I suspect that this may end up being a rather large bonsai. How big are the leaves on this variety?
I usually leave my seedlings in pots for two years before setting them out in growing beds if I am going to do so. This gives you at least two opportunities to improve the root-spread that will become the future nebari. Next spring re-pot and remove the tap-root and begin to refine the other roots. The following spring you can further refine the roots before setting them out.
Actually I usually start my seedlings in small trays and their first transplanting is already done by this time the first year. So by the time I set them out I have worked the roots three times. Every time you re-pot is an opportunity to improve the roots of the tree.
It is a little late to work the roots hard now but you may want to consider a slip-pot in order to give the roots some more room to grow. I suppose it depends on what size pot you have them in now and if they are even getting close to becoming root-bound. Slide a few out of their pots and check the condition of the roots and then decide.
Here is a link that describes the process in more detail. Please note that he purchases his seedlings so his year one will correspond to your year two. When you get to the bottom of the page follow the link to the maple section.
[url]https://members.aol.com/okamigardens/Articles/seedlings.htm[/url]
Norm
Growing bonsai from seed certainly can be done and some feel it is one of the best ways to do so. A big advantage with this method is that you are able to put the effort into developing a good radial root system that is so often missing in nursery material. This will not be a quick or easy process and you may want to consider approaching bonsai from another angle in the meantime.
I am not sure how appropriate this species of Maple will be for bonsai, I suspect that this may end up being a rather large bonsai. How big are the leaves on this variety?
I usually leave my seedlings in pots for two years before setting them out in growing beds if I am going to do so. This gives you at least two opportunities to improve the root-spread that will become the future nebari. Next spring re-pot and remove the tap-root and begin to refine the other roots. The following spring you can further refine the roots before setting them out.
Actually I usually start my seedlings in small trays and their first transplanting is already done by this time the first year. So by the time I set them out I have worked the roots three times. Every time you re-pot is an opportunity to improve the roots of the tree.
It is a little late to work the roots hard now but you may want to consider a slip-pot in order to give the roots some more room to grow. I suppose it depends on what size pot you have them in now and if they are even getting close to becoming root-bound. Slide a few out of their pots and check the condition of the roots and then decide.
Here is a link that describes the process in more detail. Please note that he purchases his seedlings so his year one will correspond to your year two. When you get to the bottom of the page follow the link to the maple section.
[url]https://members.aol.com/okamigardens/Articles/seedlings.htm[/url]
Norm
Last edited by Gnome on Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cheers for the response, I have slipped a few out of the pot and most of the roots are ok, although I did trim the tap root back a bit on some of them as it looked to be getting too long.
I'm amazed at how little information you recieve when you purchase these seeds that are advetised as "Bonsai" seed. Nowhere does it ever say in the instructions to try and develop a good root system from the offset.
Although I now know where the priority is.
I'm amazed at how little information you recieve when you purchase these seeds that are advetised as "Bonsai" seed. Nowhere does it ever say in the instructions to try and develop a good root system from the offset.
Although I now know where the priority is.
-
Gnome
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 5122
- Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
- Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A
Adam,
Norm
There really is no such thing as bonsai seed. Seeds sold as such are really just seeds suitable for bonsai culture. It is not surprising that you received no information on technique, entire volumes have been written on the topic.I'm amazed at how little information you recieve when you purchase these seeds that are advetised as "Bonsai" seed.
Norm