Buxus japonica (Collected)

[Hector Johnson]

I took this tree from my garden about 8 years ago, when it had been in the ground around 18 years, putting it into a styrofoam box for a few years and gradually chopping away all of the branches that weren't bonsai.
Currently growing the foliage pads a little looser and bringing it into a fuller shape, rather than the overly preened shaped it had before this year.

The tree is about 50cm tall, in an unglazed Japanese oval pot. I'm a little proud of this one, so be gentle with me.

[Asus101]

What issues have you run into with this tree?
The last edition of Bonsai Focus has some stuff about a different form of boxwood and out lined a number of issues with collected material.

[Hector Johnson]

It is prone to some dieback in the foliage pads. Light, I expect.
The bark is very fragile, which makes it interesting to repot and root prune.
The wood is hard, damned hard.

Repot regularly. The roots grow like crazy, even if the top appears to be doing little but holding its shape.

[Asus101]

It is prone to some dieback in the foliage pads. Light, I expect.

Before mine died in the weekends record heat wave (it only had an initial styling and was just starting to respond) it didnt like much sun. It did better when I moved it under full shade.
Did you move yours into full sun? or less sun?
I just wonder if I did the right or wrong thing.

[Hector Johnson]

Mine are all out in full sun. They're trees, so they can take it. I don't do small trees, as they dry out too quickly.
If they can't cope with full sun I'm not going to grow them. I'm busy, so they sometimes have to fend for themselves.

Nothing on my benches is less than 40cm tall, or taller than about 90cm.
I move them by myself, so I have an upper weight limit of about 40kg.

[Asus101]

When pruning do you leave any foliage on the branch?

[anttal63]

hector i think once your done with restyling your pads this is a very nice tree. i love the pot just not sure about the colour with the tree.

[Hector Johnson]

It was the pot best suited in size to the tree. I had it in a shallower, broader pot and the foliage didn't do so well.
I've found it to be a hungry tree... it loves fresh soil and fertiliser.

When pruning I only take that foliage which is out of place, [Asus]. Not much at all.

[ozzy]

Hey Hector I tried to send you a PM, not sure if you recieved it or not its still in my outbox but also says its been sent, anyway got your PM and am working on that.

[63pmp]

Hi Hector,

Very nice tree.

Do you have any success in getting back budding on the trunks? I have an old buxus japonica and need branches down low on the trunks, but cannot get it to back bud. I'm thinking of grafting shoots on in spring.

For those interested, if you defoliate, leave 2 leaves at the end of the shoot, this keep the sap flowing.

In summer the tree gets shade from about 12 onwards, it is lot happier with that than full sun.

Paul

[Bretts]

I see that bottom pad as interfearing with the trunk a little too much. I am thinking it should be reduced so as to only just intersect the trunk if at all. Then the apex above this should be wired down to reduce the gap between branches. With some better growth it should look great.

[Steven]

Nice Bonsai Hector, I would like to see a little more movement in the LH trunk however I know how hard the wood is and the difficulty with bending it.

I purchased a 15 year old box hedge from eBay 2 years ago. There were 22 plants and I think I won the auction for $40. When I went to pick them up I found that the seller has already RIPPED them out of the ground and they hardly had any roots on them at all. They ranged in height from 600mm to 1000mm high. I potted them up and 18 survived. 63pmp, I cut 10 back very hard and they back shot nicely on the very hard old wood.

Harry Harrington has a couple of great articles on Buxus, you can read them on his site - BUXUS species / BOX or BOXWOOD and BOXWOOD IN-DEPTH.

Regards,
Steven

[PeterW]

Nice one Hector, i would like to see this one from a few different angles. That low folaige thats hiding the lower part of the left hand trunk, is there some movement in the trunk behind that? If so i think you would benifit from showing the movement more so then hiding it. There are a few too straight sections there. There certainly appears to be a very good bonsai in there though, well done.
Peter

[63pmp]

Thanks ausbonsai,

I've read these before which is why I'm confused about back budding. Maybe I haven't been cutting hard enough.

Paul.

[Hector Johnson]

They'll shoot back if you prune them pretty hard... say remove 1/2 to 2/3 of the foliage on a branch and it will shoot back below that branch.
The trouble is that it's hard with that much foliage to ensure you take out all of the terminal shoots so the tree NEEDS to shoot back.
If you leave too many terminal shoots on the tree it just keeps feeding them and doesn't bud back.