rngbonsai

[rngbonsai]

Tree Doctor: Outpatient

Two weeks ago, I treated a nasty case of root gall that was inhibiting the growth of this juniper. I noticed brighter green tips growing all over the tree, so I decided to repot it today. The root gall was originally caused by a lack of drainage, so I don't want this tree to spend too much time in a soil that retains water like spaghnum moss does.

It looks like the roots have filled out a little, and there are no more signs of cancerous growth. Since nothing appears to be wrong with it anymore, I can freely pot it up and consider its future development.

After potting it up in a coarser soil, I decided that the juniper might look nice if I leaned it. One branch in particular is growing in the perfect direction to develop into a semi-cascade. When the weather cools down, I can start to wire the top and bottom branches into pads. The uppermost branches will also have to come off, but that will need to wait until the projected highs for the week dip below 80 degrees.

[rngbonsai]

Trash Trees In Bonsai Pots

Today, with the weather being inexplicably cooler than any other day this week, I decided to do some light work on one of my favorite projects. This is one of the nicest bonsai pots I own, and in it I'm growing two bittersweets. I have set them in the pot so their two root systems spread in opposite directions, and I'm trying to form a coherent canopy between the two of them.

Since this is the only day of relief in a long heat wave, I don't want to make any large cuts. So today, I did a little fine wire practice.

Even with my smallest wire, the kind they sell to wire tomatoes to their cages, only the bottom two branches on each were sturdy enough to wire this year. I wired each branch to arc upward, like a tree I've seen growing in my neighborhood. I've also spread the branches out to form an "X" shape, which serves the dual purpose of forming an equal canopy and diverting branches growing between the two trunks. I'm pretty happy with what I've wired, but displeased with most of what's above it.

The Future of the Project

The top of the tree has grown mostly bushy leaves. What branches it has grown up there are unevenly sized, so they're unsuitable for wiring at the moment. I'm also not seeing as much tapering as I'd like in a bonsai. I'm going to leave it as-is for now, because of the heatwave, but I'm going to make some changes when the weather starts winding down for fall. I think I'm simply going to chop off everything above the sections I've just wired and grow anew. I made the mistake of cutting off a lot of branches between the two trunks early in development, thinking they'd grow back. The bittersweet does not seem to backbud very well. It very much focuses on developing upwards. This time, I will focus more on wiring branches away from the center rather than cutting them. If I cut at the beginning of the fall, I should be able to see the new canopy by the end of next spring. Here's hoping!

[rngbonsai]

Paging the Tree Doctor

This is a juniper I bought a month ago to practice cascade bonsai. I gave it a heavy initial pruning, so I've been waiting for it to put out new growth before styling it further. Since the green tips in the photo above were the only growths this plant could manage in late spring, I had an inkling that something was wrong. Today has been overcast and cool, so I decided to give it a late season repotting. What I found while I was down there... may disturb you.

When raking out my tree's roots, I encountered a phenomenon known as "tree gall". When a tree gets a bacterial infection on its trunk or root, it causes abnormal growths. I've encountered it mostly as cancerous growths on the side of tree trunks growing out in the wild. On junipers, though, these growths have a reddish hue that make them look much more... visceral.

After I shook myself out of the Magnus Archives episode I found myself in, I got to chopping the root ball. Thankfully, this infection didn't cover more than 40% of the root system. I feel pretty good about the amount I had to cut, even this close to the start of summer. In a bid to nurse the plant back to health, I mixed in about 30% spaghnum moss to the tree's previous soil mix and put it in a smaller pot. When in doubt, I find that spaghnum moss helps out with most under-the-soil issues.

I'm going to leave it in this pot until it starts to show signs of growth again. Once the spagnhum moss does its job, I will choose another mild day this summer to repot the juniper in a coarser soil mix. This should prevent the moisture buildup that causes tree gall in the first place.

[rngbonsai]

Because I work with plants, every now and then I absolutely have to bring one home with me. It gives me a good opportunity to work with older material and really test my limits. When I found this Hinoki Cypress for sale, missing its guide pole, I immediately had a vision for what it could be.

In Star Wars video games, whenever we go to the planet Kashyyyk, we find an entire civilization of Wookiees living on tree house platforms like the above. So, I thought that I could make a Kashyyyk-style landing platform. In order to hold a round wooden platform, I needed to create a round crook in the cypress. This tree is larger than any that I've ever had in my collection, so I didn't have thick enough wire to properly wrap it. Thankfully, the frugal bonsai artist can simply use multiple strands of wire, if wrapped carefully.

It took THREE STRANDS of wire and two hours to bend this tree, but I managed to shape it. I want to make the tree look like one branch of a larger tree that holds a platform in a crook.

This is as far as I'm willing to bend it in one sitting. It's going to have to grow out a bit, but I can already see how big a platform I can put on this bad boy. I'll start working on that as soon as I'm sure this cypress has survived its initial styling. For now, this tree gets the spot of honor on the patio table and a healthy supply of root fertilizer.

[rngbonsai]

Starting off the week by highlighting another survivor from my early bonsai lessons. This is a 3 year old maple that I found growing in my garden just as you see it. I used the two protruding branches to practice pruning, leading it to be very bushy despite its scraggly trunk. Now, though, I am trimming down the branches to encourage back-budding further down the branch. I'd like the canopy to be made of smaller, more delicate branches to offset the other attractive feature I just discovered in this tree. As I was repotting, earlier this spring, I discovered how FASCINATING the roots look.

This alone made me fall in love with this tree all over again. I was reminded of a gnarled hand, clutching into the dirt. So, to encourage it to grow further gnarled, I exposed the hardened parts of the root and placed it around a rock. Hopefully those "fingers" will thicken up this summer.

Now, my goal for the future of this tree is to turn it into an eldritch horror inspired sculpture. I want to find a cool object (perhaps an orb) for the maple to clutch in its root "hand". I'm also going to be steepening the angle at which it grows to create contrast between the gnarled bottom and the (soon-to-be) delicate top. I'm excited to see how it grows this summer and if it changes my inspiration at all.

[rngbonsai]

This is one of my oldest works-in-progress, a three-year-old cottonwood that I found growing THROUGH a concrete drainage ditch. It's the hardiest tree in my collection, so I used to use it for pruning practice. Recently, I got the inspiration to form it into the shape of the Two-Fingers from Elden Ring.

Right now, the cottonwood is looking kinda leggy. I didn't know what I was doing when I started with this tree, so I allowed it to stretch out rather than develop a gradual taper. In order to fix this, I'm slowly clipping back the two lead branches. I'll prune the "fingers" back, then allow new branches to form and take over as the lead. Then, once the fingers are starting to look uniform in thickness, I'll chop them back further. This will allow me to fix my tapering, and it will also encourage the trunk to thicken up.

[rngbonsai]

Hello, World!

A hearty “hey-o” to anyone reading this! My name is Sterling and I’ve created this blog to document my experience as both a bonsai artist and a small business owner. I’m the sole proprietor of RNG Bonsai, a bonsai nursery in Maryland. Here, I seek to create art pieces and pre-bonsai stock out of trees that are endemic to my area. I’m also here to spread information about the hobby in order to create an accessible entry point. Follow along and we can discuss: the techniques of raising bonsai, the artistry behind the craft, and the fundamentals of running a small business.