AusBonsai

I'm looking for some styling advice on some trees i recently purchased from the nursery. In order of the pictures i have:

1. Juniperus Horizontalis 'Glauca' (Creeping Juniper)
2. Chaenomeles Speciosa (White Flowering Quince)
3. Chinese Box
4. Trachelospermum Jasminoides (Chinese Star Jasmine)
5. Melaleuca Linariifolia (Dwarf Little Red)

Obviously for the Juniper I'm going to do a semi cascade, but was looking for purning tips that would bring the best out of the tree. If the Chinese Box looks a little sickly, its cause it was in the bargain bin.

G,day Krusty is it possible to get you to reduce the size of the pics to say about 7or 8 hundred KBs so it does not take for ever to show them.
I do have broad band so it is not that I am in outer suburbs so we have a slow connection.

Cheers Pup

krusty mate... wow so many options on each tree!!! much contemplation for you!!!
Iv been learning that there is no solid answer to your question. ideas are ideas, his or hers... it all comes down to your squeeze of the branch cutters.
Like painting, understanding the fundamentals and making them suit your taste..
(sure someone more experienced can help ya, sorry i cant). Nice Stock to work on!!!!! Good Luck
cheers
luke

I have to agree with L.L. Dont rush into it, study them and study Bonsai and horticulture and they will present themselves

Download Faststone Photo resizer ... it's good stuff. I agree with Pup... takes forever to open your photos.

Can you redo your photos? Take the trees out of the plastic pots, rake away the soil at the base of each tree, enough to expose any additional wood of interest that could be buried and could completely change the style and then snap and upload.

I could make some suggestions about the melaleuca but not without seeing the full base. Same with the juniper.

Ok, i've reuploaded the pictures in this post as i can't edit my original post for some reason. Sorry for the large pictures, comes with being a graphic designer. They are all down to 200-300k now.

Download Faststone Photo resizer ... it's good stuff. I agree with Pup... takes forever to open your photos.

Can you redo your photos? Take the trees out of the plastic pots, rake away the soil at the base of each tree, enough to expose any additional wood of interest that could be buried and could completely change the style and then snap and upload.

I could make some suggestions about the melaleuca but not without seeing the full base. Same with the juniper.

I will do this in the morning and post the results.

I also had another question. Is the chinese box supposed to have yellow leaves, or is that because its sick? If it is sick, what do you think is wrong with it and how can i fix it?

Yes, think it has a deficiency of some sort, I would repot with fresh mix and plenty of fertilizer tomorrow, it doesnt look healthy. Dont do much in the way of styling with this one until it starts looking happy again.

Greth wrote:Yes, think it has a deficiency of some sort, I would repot with fresh mix and plenty of fertilizer tomorrow, it doesnt look healthy. Dont do much in the way of styling with this one until it starts looking happy again.

good advice, i would try it with a dose of seasol and super thrive or similar product to super thrive called auxinone. it looks like a deficency for sure, but it also looks like it might be a bit far gone.. not sure, water well, keep it in part to full shade for a while and see how it goes.

are the leaves crinkly and crumble when you touch them or are they soft? they like dry and crispy.

use your fingernail and scratch a bit of the bark away, if you see green underneath it then the tree is alive, if you dont, well its off getting styled by one of the great late bonsai masters!

jamie

Id still give it hope, but its in need of tender care for a while

Greth wrote:Id still give it hope, but its in need of tender care for a while

true, i didnt say it was dead, it just looks close.. the scratch test will definately tell ya for sure though mate, these are the probs with the bargain bin sections of nurseries, ya can find some great stock but sometimes it can be sickly or dying. but sometimes you get lucky and score a pearler for cheap as



jamie

You will find that the more expensive nurseries with bigger ranges of plants are better for clearance plants. They will have a better range stuff represented, and often more fussy, so that things will be reduced simply because they are out of season, or have lost a label. Can be good places to hunt hanging baskets too, look at the containers as well as the plants

jamie111 wrote:

Greth wrote:Yes, think it has a deficiency of some sort, I would repot with fresh mix and plenty of fertilizer tomorrow, it doesnt look healthy. Dont do much in the way of styling with this one until it starts looking happy again.

good advice, i would try it with a dose of seasol and super thrive or similar product to super thrive called auxinone. it looks like a deficency for sure, but it also looks like it might be a bit far gone.. not sure, water well, keep it in part to full shade for a while and see how it goes.

are the leaves crinkly and crumble when you touch them or are they soft? they like dry and crispy.

use your fingernail and scratch a bit of the bark away, if you see green underneath it then the tree is alive, if you dont, well its off getting styled by one of the great late bonsai masters!

jamie

I recently repotted it into a bonsai pot, and i can see that the leaves are starting to turn green. This was about 2 weeks ago. The leaves are soft and under the bark is green. ATM i only have fish fertiliser. Will that do, or should i get the stuff the previous poster mentioned? Also, how often should i fertilise it? eg, every 2 weeks until healthy?

You will find that the more expensive nurseries with bigger ranges of plants are better for clearance plants. They will have a better range stuff represented, and often more fussy, so that things will be reduced simply because they are out of season, or have lost a label. Can be good places to hunt hanging baskets too, look at the containers as well as the plants

Yeah, i got it from K-Mart, and i think your right, they are more fussy with their stock.

Older leaves are more yellow than new ones so it is probably nitrogen deficiency (starvation) so fish fertiliser should do the trick. I'd feed fortnightly with anything you have access to.
Why pot an undernourished plant (or any developing tree for that matter) into a bonsai pot? Any plant will develop much faster in a larger pot. Trees potted in bonsai pots mostly just stop developing and still look the same in 10 or 15 years. I know it is hard to be patient but training trees in larger pots pays off in the long run. It seems that all beginners need to have some plants in bonsai pots but try to also keep some trees in large pots and boxes and feed them like mad so they develop quickly and will give you much better trees to replace the earlier bonsai attempts in a few years.

i reckon that star jasmine could be chopped right back by half of its current foliage it may not look like much after you do it but it will hep with backbudding and you will be rewarded with a whole flush of new growth, from what i can see i would be going with a clump style


jamie

shibui wrote:Older leaves are more yellow than new ones so it is probably nitrogen deficiency (starvation) so fish fertiliser should do the trick. I'd feed fortnightly with anything you have access to.
Why pot an undernourished plant (or any developing tree for that matter) into a bonsai pot? Any plant will develop much faster in a larger pot. Trees potted in bonsai pots mostly just stop developing and still look the same in 10 or 15 years. I know it is hard to be patient but training trees in larger pots pays off in the long run. It seems that all beginners need to have some plants in bonsai pots but try to also keep some trees in large pots and boxes and feed them like mad so they develop quickly and will give you much better trees to replace the earlier bonsai attempts in a few years.

Thanks for the info. I potted the plant in a bonsai pot cause im happy with the size and shape of it right now. But yes, i am impatient and need to learn that i will get better results by waiting. I'm sure that once i kill a few plants i will learn my lesson.