Buxus

[mickaus]

Hello everyone I have a little Buxus (Buxus Microphylla V. Japonica according to the label)

Anyway I'm not really sure what to do with it. Here is it recently, sorry about the poor photo quality:

IMAG0133.jpg

In order to try and get an idea of what I was doing I had an attempt at a sketch which I will put below.

I'm not happy with the sketch though, I would say that the sketch will be achievable but It doesn't look right to me. So I was wondering if someone else with some more experience could make some suggestions for me.

sketch.JPG

Thanks heaps

[Watto]

Mickaus,
You will probably get a bit of advice like put it in the ground or plant it in a bigger pot to grow it on for a few years so it will get bigger etc. That's good advice but I think you should aim to making a nice little mini, and to do this I would suggest where your sketch forks remove the entire right side and just keep the left hand part. That way you will have some movement and also improve the taper. Put it in your favourite small bonsai pot (probably in September) and fertilize a lot. By next year you could very well have a little stunner
Good luck with it.
Watto

[NathanM]

I'd remove the right side from the fork up also. Plant on more of an angle to get some movement
Keep that first shoot as a potential first branch.

[Handy Mick]

Hi Mickaus,
Some good advice from above
Good start at drawing your pic too, it would also be good to go with what you had originally drawn and see how you go.

Mick

[NathanM]

BTW I meant the first shoot on the right. But on closer look it might be a little too low?
** And while I don't mind your drawing either, I jsut think the alck of taper will be too noticeable, IMO

[kcpoole]

BTW I meant the first shoot on the right. But on closer look it might be a little too low?

Looks like there is 2 branches on the left almost together, If you leave the lower one, then 6the shooot on the right is good to use as the first branch

Ken

[mickaus]

Thanks for all the advice.

Putting it in the ground isn't really an option as I live in a unit, a bigger pot would definitely be an option though.

Just to make sure I have understood the advice correctly, I have done a quick and dirty virt:

virt1.jpg

If I go with this option shouldn't I be removing the lower left branches as they are on the inside of a bend?

And then would I need to shorten it quite a bit and hope for a new leader to emerge?

[mickaus]

I have had another attempt at a sketch here:

BoxSketch2.jpg

I can see this this plan will have more taper and trunk movement but as Nathan said I am also a little bit worried that the lower right hand branch is a bit low.

It is also a fairly "standard" design and I am worried that it might be a bit uninteresting.

Any Ideas?

[Chris Sirre]

Hi Mickaus,

I did a rough virt for your Buxus tube stock. This is just to show you how to create taper. Just feed it a lot to grow some side branches and you can have a nice little tree in a few years.

Enjoy.

Chris

[mickaus]

Thanks for that

I know it is a fair way away, I just want to be heading in the right direction.

[Jamie]

hi mate,

as you understand this will take sometime to get there. buxus are really fast at growing shoots, but really slow at thickening, especially in pots. just wanted you to be aware of this. the lower right hand branch is a bit low but if you go for a penjing inspired tree this will work fine.

chris has shown how to introduce taper. if you let this guy grow for a couple of years and play with it every now and again, in a couple of years you might find you want more for the tree than what you want now. but it is a good sublect to practice on.

jamie

[mickaus]

Thanks Jamie

I will do just that.

At this early stage of development should I be using a high nitrogen fertilizer on the basis that it will help with growth or something more balanced so that it doesn't get all leggy?

[Jamie]

hi mate,

a high nitrogen fert will give the tree lots of strong growth. leggyness wont matter to much at the moment as you do want it to grow and thicken. buxus will shoot readily from bare wood no matter what. if it was me I would concentrate on getting the tree to a size I am happy with. what I would be feeding would be a variety of things, have a slow release on the surface or in the mix. a liquid fert that is applied at least weekly. (I generally go a fairly balanced fert, there are ways around this though) I also use the likes of seasol and auxinone. these help with the uptake of nutrients. with fertilising you can go with the standard application rates. or if you wanted to experiment go with a weaker dilution more regularly. work that out by the dilution rates and the strength of the ferts.

jamie

[mickaus]

Thanks for the advice

I'm already doing the liquid fertilizer + the Seasol bit but haven't gotten any slow release on it.

I figured that if you had liquid fertilizers + slow release you would over do it, however, if this is not the case, do you have any brand recommendations for a slow release?