AusBonsai

alpine my ground grown tridents are just starting to turn now as is my large garden ginko tree. most of the bonsai are either coloured or finished already except some elms and a few tridents being watered and feed heavily.

Hi Mathew , mate i had to search the garden just to find a colourThis Zelkova is mighty confused .There is a layer on a layer .The base was layered 2 years ago and the top set last winter .The top has good colour and the bottom still growing on , the original base this came off is a shocker . Now that's confusing .My potted tridents are dropping the leaves without colour change, most have dried leaves as per a heavy frost , but we haven't had a good one yet .

Cheers Alpine

My ginko twin trunk in colour. Will be repotted into a bonsai pot this winter and rotated . If i get a low bud on the primary trunk one day ill let it go to thicken the primary trunk more. branches are developing quite well for ginko. Looks worse in the photos than it is. Never misses its colour.

Nice colour on the Ginko, mine is still green in the ground.

I am experimenting with the problem of Winter twig die back with Chinese tallows. Last year the tallow got frost burn before it coloured. This year I got a better result. It will now go under the veranda for frost protection. Next season I will see if I can rectify some design issues.
Oh and the Korean hornbeam has coloured up a little more as well

The English elm again

Very nice colour everyone most of my trees have been quite poor in colour, however this guy (not bonsai, just neglected old practice trident) I spotted has gone two-tone, I soon discovered it was as a result of some neglected wiring at the base of the branch that had cut in and deprived water and nutrients.
Jow, how did your fridge method go? Did it last more than one night?

Matthew wrote:My ginko twin trunk in colour. Will be repotted into a bonsai pot this winter and rotated . If i get a low bud on the primary trunk one day ill let it go to thicken the primary trunk more. branches are developing quite well for ginko. Looks worse in the photos than it is. Never misses its colour.

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Great colour Matt! If anyone was wondering why Ginkgo are grown as bonsai, given that the tall broom is probably the only style that they are shown in, then I think that benchmark Golden Yellow says it all.

Cheers,
Mojo

cre8ivbonsai wrote:Jow, how did your fridge method go? Did it last more than one night?

It lasted about a week. I am not sure if it was working or not. Some of the tips os some of the leaves started to take on flecks of red but not sure if this was just it changing naturally or not. I defoliated it yesterday and potted it up into a show pot for the AABC convention show as i couldnt risk it not colouring up and looking average. I guess i will have ot give the technique a go again next year to see if it really does show results or not.

Lovely Ginko Matt
Mine is the only real tree I have that has any colour on it so far. It has a few more years to go than yours mate, but will be styled the same flame shape tho.

The only other I have that I have no idea what it is this round leafed one. Only 2 leaves have colour on this tree, and the other one I have has none! anyone know what it is?

Ken

Hi Joe, were you taking the tree out of the fridge during the day and putting it back in at night?

Cheers,
Mojo

Matthew wrote:Jow im not sure if it has anything to do with trees but when putting bulbs in the fridge ie tulips its highly recommended not to have any fruit particually bananas etc in the same fridge? something about the gases given off causes problems with the bulbs? this all could be talk but thought id let you know and it maybe unrelated to trees etc.

Hi Matt, my boss at work tells me that Ethylene gas is widely used to ripen commercially grown fruit, including bananas, there is a chance that this could be released after picking. I'm not sure what the effects on bulbs or bonsai would be but we are reluctant to used gas powered forklifts, that also emit Ethylene, in the coolrooms for fear of over ripening our produce.

Cheers,
Mojo

Mojo Moyogi wrote:
Hi Matt, my boss at work tells me that Ethylene gas is widely used to ripen commercially grown fruit, including bananas, there is a chance that this could be released after picking. I'm not sure what the effects on bulbs or bonsai would be but we are reluctant to used gas powered forklifts, that also emit Ethylene, in the coolrooms for fear of over ripening our produce.

Cheers,
Mojo

Just did a quick search and found courtesy of Wikipedia:
"Ethylene is widely used in chemical industry, and its worldwide production (over 109 million tonnes in 2006) exceeds that of any other organic compound. Ethylene is also an important natural plant hormone, used in agriculture to force the ripening of fruits"

Cheers,
Mojo

Mojo Moyogi wrote:Hi Joe, were you taking the tree out of the fridge during the day and putting it back in at night?

Cheers,
Mojo

Yeah thats what i was doing. I dont know how long it should have taken to get the leaves colouring? The tree is bare now and looks good in its new home so i am happy that i defoliated for the show, it just took a long time and a bit of colour would have been a nice bonus.

I was under the impression that daylight hours had an important part to play... I think the temperature might be a lesser factor.

well i guess the fridge should have also reduced the daylight hours somewhat, as the tree was coming out into the light an hour or so after sun rise.

Dunno... i think the best way to get colour is to move to Yakandandah. Easy.