Hi All,
I have what i think is a species of cypress growing in part of our garden my wife's wants to redo and she is going to rip it out. I was thinking of turning it into a Bonsai but need some advice on how to style it and what it actually might be. I'm a little concerned as I'm not sure if it will bud on the old growth and if this is the case it might be a little difficult to do something with. Any advice on styling and species would be greatly appreciated. By the way its about 1 meter tall.
Thanks, Glen
Last edited by Pearso on August 16th, 2009, 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
G'day, WAY YEAH give it a go. dig up a deent root ball around it, try to then use the hose on soft to rinse out some old soil, repot into nice bonsai mix and ensure that the new soil gets all through the roots. water it up and away you go. they are usually a tough species. as far as styleing, whatever your imagination lets you do. they usually back bud quite easily i think. but only when the tree is in good health. anyway, go for it.
Pearso wrote:Hi All,
I have what i think is a species of cypress growing in part of our garden my wife's wants to redo and she is going to rip it out. I was thinking of turning it into a Bonsai but need some advice on how to style it and what it actually might be. I'm a little concerned as I'm not sure if it will bud on the old growth and if this is the case it might be a little difficult to do something with. Any advice on styling and species would be greatly appreciated. By the way its about 1 meter tall.
Thanks, Glen
First priority is to make sure the tree is healthy after you dig it up. Dig it up with as much roots and place it in the biggest plastic or foam box you can find. Make sure you leave some old soil in the container cause the new soil may shock the tree, for example if the soil is of different pH, also old soil contains established organisms. Prepare a good draining soil mix prefereably similar in pH to original soil mixed with some shreds of spagnum moss. Sometimes I use some weaker hormone rooting medium for the cuts down below. If you do cut alot of roots make sure you cut some of the unwanted top branches to compensate the balance of root loss. Leave it alone in a place with some dappled light and slowly over the weeks introduce it out to full sun. I wouldnt bother styling it until the following year or two or even three, depending on how fast it recoups, just until it shows vigor. Hope that helps. Oh by the way, its important to spray foliage regularly with water.Cheers Eddie
Last edited by Edward Scissorhand on August 16th, 2009, 3:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for the advice, is now the right time to dig it up and pot it or should i wait a few more weeks until we get more consitant warm weather here in canberra?
Ta,
Glen
Thanks for the advice, is now the right time to dig it up and pot it or should i wait a few more weeks until we get more consitant warm weather here in canberra?
Ta,
Glen
Glen, it should be fine as long as it hasnt shooted with alot of new growth. The aftercare is the most important. If you wanna be 100% sure that it will survive why dont you do it in stages. For example, for this year just cut half of the heavy primary roots whilst leaving it in the ground with the other half of of the heavy roots intact so that it would recover and then take half of the old soil near the base of the trunk and replace it with your bonsai mix so it could get use to it. You can dust some of the cuts at the base of the trunk with a light rooting medium and some put some spaghnum moss around it. The following year there should be some fibrous roots near the base and would be safer when you cut the rest of the heavy roots while lifting the whole tree up. Anyway if youre impatient then cross your fingers that the tree will recover well, I heard that theyre a tough tree so maybe it will be alright.
Thanks for the advice the other week. I decided to uplift this plant from its home in our garden and plant it in a box. Some photos are attached. Now i just need to keep it alive and we will see how I go.
Hiyah Glen.
When lifting a tree from the ground and removing some of the root system in the process, it is prudent to take off a similar percentage of the top growth to balance supply and demand. This reduces the stress to the tree and gives it a better chance of survival.
My name is Don. I'm a UK nutter and bonsaiholic but I'm on medication (when I can find the tablets)
Hi thanks, i did take a bit out of the top of it and a few lower branches. When i lifted it i managed to get most of the roots intact. I got it up with a root ball of about the same size as the pot. I then just trimed it a bit to get it in the pot. Ofter a year or so i'll remove most of the old soil and unwanted branchs at the same time. I'm a little reluctant to do this at this stage as i'm not sure how i want to style it. Any suggestings on styling would be greatly received.
Ta,
Glen
