AusBonsai

This photo is for those who are a bit hesitant of putting a stick in the ground to fatten up. This ash has been in the ground for two years and is four years from seed. I dig around it each year to keep the roots close. And to make it easy to dig out for collection when ready. I have 60 trees in the groung. All different types and all fettening up well. Give it a gothe one next to the beer is the same as the stick in the pot. The one on the right same age just growing a little slower.

Totally agree and nice collection in the ground you have there

Ken

Ground growing is certainly the best way to thicken trunks but...as you say you need to work the roots regularly and chop and regrow to get taper. I hate seeing good trunks ground grown but with reverse taper or little taper because they were just left to grow without any work. Nice collection you have and looking forward to seeing them develop.

Josh

Mate that looks like a glass of homebrew I can see!?
Nice ash tree. I have several that were collected, having been growing wild in the Adelaide hills area. However I have propagated around a hundred ash from seed this spring. I might just plant them in the ground now I've seen your photos.
Cheers,
Luke

I have been growing bonsai for a bit more than two decades. When I started out there was very little information. Importing books, travelling to the East was pretty much how we learned. For many years I grew sticks in pots. Eventually I realised that the Chinese and Japanese do not do it like that. Sure there are 'sects' of bonsai growers who believe that bonsai must be grown from seed, but generally, there were better ways. The best way to get good stock is to collect Yamadori from nature, but second best is collecting unwanted garden stock, especially Junipers. Failing that, an amazing bonsai can be created in the ground, as the Japanese have been doing for centuries.

Every year I grow from seed, make airlayers and make cuttings. A few of each species. It makes sure that I always have new stock and also allows me to have stock of different ages for forests and group plantings. As soon as they are big enough, the trees go into the ground. Within a few years a formidable tree can be grown. I have pine, olives, figs, brush cherry, Celtis, azalea, acacia, elm and maple in the ground. At last count it was about 170 trees, but I have culled some as I have so many that if they do not shape as expected, I rather create more space for other trees. I still have about 200 trees which I would like to get into the ground, but don't have the space now. In the meantime, I plant them in oversized pots so that they can continue to grow strongly in anticipation of being planted in the ground. I always keep a couple in smaller pots so that I can have smaller trees for mame, Shohin and smaller trees in plantings. My Mame I normally make from airlayers. Other than that the trees go into the ground. I like larger trees.

Sammy

How high do you do the trunk chop on your trees? It seems rather high. Obviously I'm not sure how high you intend growing the tree.

Yeah gerald some fairly high at the moment but will cut harder again next year maybe even this year. really just getting a base going and wiil cut hard when at size. Also still learning as to how they respond. quite often only when you look at a photo you realize could have chopped harder. I try to leave a small stubs on side of tree so that when I decide to grow branches plenty of buds will be there to choose from. Your stock sounds good will be good to see photos. Keep up the good work.

Sammy

I have over the years read a lot about what to do and how to do it. I believe it is good to read, but you have to develop your own technique. No two trees respond the same, nor bud in the same places. I tend to do the chop when the bottom is about 60% of the thickness which I want the final tree to have. Sometimes a bit thicker, depending in species. I then chop at about the height of the first third of the tree. As I visualise the final tree height likely to be. It is generally at the lowest branch, which I've kept for the purpose. Tie the new leader into place and leave it to grow. I do not chop the roots every year, every two to three years, depending on species. When the leader is 60-70% of the final girth, I chop it and tie up the new leader. When the final leader reaches 70% of it's girth, I remove the tree and place into large poly tray for a year or two. This is when I start with the branch structure for the first time. It then goes into a bonsai pot.

I do not over feed. I do feed while in the ground, but I want strong, but not unnaturally fast growth. I do believe, right or wrong, that it makes weaker trees if they are grown too quickly. I guess, my feeding regime is also fairly unique. My Koi Pond backwash flows into the field growing bed. Plenty of protein being fed to the trees twice a week.

It is not a science. I work by feel, visuals and experience to make the decisions. I'm no expert, just have done this for a while, so possibly have learned a couple of things which may be handy.

One thing you certainly have going for you is that you realised very early in the value of field growing the trees first.

Hi gerald. Thanks for your tips on the practice of feild grown trees. Sounds like wise advise and will save this post as a reference when ever I loose thought. Cheers again.

An update on the ash tree that was pictured.