Care of bonsai pots

[melbrackstone]

I wonder if anyone can give me some hints on how to properly care for good quality pots. I have both unglazed and glazed, but not really sure how best to make sure they look their best for display.

Some of the pots I've bought were oiled before they were sent.... (as an example...) Should I be doing that, and how often?

Questions such as this... any help would be appreciated. Ta

[Daluke]

Hi,

Great question. Peter Tea does a great video on pots on YouTube that I found helpful.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TQuCYtn2yVE

I hope this helps.

[melbrackstone]

Thanks for the link, hopefully it'll load sometime this year... I'll download it and hopefully be able to watch it tomorrow.

[wrcmad]

I wonder if anyone can give me some hints on how to properly care for good quality pots. I have both unglazed and glazed, but not really sure how best to make sure they look their best for display.

Some of the pots I've bought were oiled before they were sent.... (as an example...) Should I be doing that, and how often?

Questions such as this... any help would be appreciated. Ta

In the Japanese nurseries, they stack their pots under their benches - for aging and patina formation. They will tell you not to store your pots away in a cupboard or boxes (unless they are purely collector pots).

For display, glazed pots get a wipe down with a damp cloth, maybe some mild soapy water.
Unglazed get the oil treatment to bring out the rich colours of the clay. A wipe down with an oiled cloth a few days before a show will allow excess oil to soak in and evaporate so that the pot does not look "wet". The Japanese oils, like camellia oil, can be expensive and difficult to source here. I have found the best and easiest-to-source oil in Oz for this purpose is walnut oil.

Hope this helps.

[melbrackstone]

In the Japanese nurseries, they stack their pots under their benches - for aging and patina formation. They will tell you not to store your pots away in a cupboard or boxes (unless they are purely collector pots).

Ahh, I did wonder why the pots were stored out in the open! Makes sense. Thanks!

For display, glazed pots get a wipe down with a damp cloth, maybe some mild soapy water.
Unglazed get the oil treatment to bring out the rich colours of the clay. A wipe down with an oiled cloth a few days before a show will allow excess oil to soak in and evaporate so that the pot does not look "wet". The Japanese oils, like camellia oil, can be expensive and difficult to source here. I have found the best and easiest-to-source oil in Oz for this purpose is walnut oil.

I watched the video mentioned by Daluke, and yes, they did mention camellia oil and walnut oil. That's also a good help to know to do it a few days before a show. Thanks again.

It appears that the only care is done just before a show, otherwise they're left to gain their patina by being allowed to accumulate all the salts etc on the outside of the pots?

[wrcmad]

It appears that the only care is done just before a show, otherwise they're left to gain their patina by being allowed to accumulate all the salts etc on the outside of the pots?

Yes.
However, the white salt deposits are not desirable, and can be difficult to remove. The application of oil also serves to hide these white salt deposits to a degree.

[melbrackstone]

Cheers.

I guess it's a matter of not letting it get too advanced then. Reason I asked, I saw a Chris Xepapas post on facebook with a pot that had a severe dose of those salts... (It's a glazed pot.) That got me thinking about how best to care for pots that start getting so badly stained.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the help that's available here on this forum!

[Graeme]

When displaying Bonsai, I used to wipe the glazed pots over with a rag I'd sprayed Mr Sheen onto. The unglazed pots got a wipe over with a rag that had a bit of Baby oil in it. Leave the pots for a while, until the spray/oil is almost dry and buff over with a clean lint free cloth. Job done.

Anyone remember, or have those Tong Rae pots that were popular a while back? Now they were interesting to make presentable for showing

[melbrackstone]

I don't know the Tong Rae pots, but I see a lot of highly textured pots available these days. I suspect they'd be difficult to oil without leaving traces of cloth...

[Pup]

I don't know the Tong Rae pots, but I see a lot of highly textured pots available these days. I suspect they'd be difficult to oil without leaving traces of cloth...

Use a sponge they seldom leave marks. I find the good old WD 40 sprayed on a couple of days before works wonders on both glazed and unglazed and Tong Rae pots.

Cheers Pup

[melbrackstone]

Use a sponge they seldom leave marks. I find the good old WD 40 sprayed on a couple of days before works wonders on both glazed and unglazed and Tong Rae pots.

Thanks Pup!

[Graeme]

I don't know the Tong Rae pots, but I see a lot of highly textured pots available these days. I suspect they'd be difficult to oil without leaving traces of cloth...

Use a sponge they seldom leave marks. I find the good old WD 40 sprayed on a couple of days before works wonders on both glazed and unglazed and Tong Rae pots.

Cheers Pup

Yep bit of the good old fish oil (WD40) works wonders as well

[annaalic]

I wonder why can't we make use of garden bed for growing the bonsai. I have seen an article http://inthebackyard.ca/garden-beds-beneficial/ saying that they are quite good for producing more yields.
I thought to make a bonsai on a garden bed since I have one at home. Can I create an outdoor bonsai on a garden bed? Why is everyone recommending a pot for bonsai? Why can't we make it on garden bed?

[melbrackstone]

Well see, here's the thing....the word "bonsai" actually means "planted in a container...."

just sayin....


you CAN grow your pre-bonsai plants in a garden bed, but once you want to refine it and display it you need to put it in a pot.

[Kevin]

Hello Annaalic,

Welcome to Ausbonsai.

For the garden you have Topiary, O-Karikomi and Niwaki.
For the pot you have Penjing and Bonsai.

Kevin