Crushing Lava Rock

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As you may recall, bonsai need special special soil. They are picky little guys. Every bonsaist swears by their soil mix. Essentially, you need something that has good drainage. Sounds easy enough! Hahaha, no. It is almost political, the world of bonsai soil. If I was a professional, I would use akadama clay, from Japan, but importing it is very expensive. So, with the powers of the internet, I have found a soil mix that will be my first effort. I may alter it as I see fit. It is 50% NAPA #8822 (diatomaceous earth/rock. Used for oil spills traditionally, but it is just a great water absorber), 25% lava rock, and 25% peat moss. I have to sift the NAPA 8822 vigorously to get rid of all of the dusty, sandy bits. I need a good size granule, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch in diameter. But that is not what we are here for! We are here for lava rock!

You can buy thirty pounds of large lava rocks (1-1.5 inches) for about $5 at Home Depot. Or, you can order small crushed lava rock for about $15 per pound. Hey, I have a hammer and time, no need to spend all that money!

So I set out to crush rock. Early in the fall 2018 semester, I attempted this by running over the rocks with my car until they crumbled. This worked, but very slowly. A hammer was the more efficient way to go.

It really isn’t as complicated as is may sound. Hammer meet rock, rock get small. But, you do have to monitor size control and the amount of force you use. I have lost many a small rock that I wanted to split in half because I pulverized it into dust. But that’s the way it goes. So smash smash!

I have probably spent about 8 hours working on these rocks, and I still am not done. It is laborious, tedious, and hurts my hand and back. But I had the energy to show the process for my lovely and supportive fans as home. Enjoy the thrilling transition from big rock to many small rocks.

 

After about a dozen rocks, I get this:

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Oh, how I care for my babies.

I will transplant most, if not all of my plants into bonsai soil, even though they are still in training and aren’t true bonsai yet. My friends on Reddit say that this will help with growth and root development as a part of the bonsai process. And of course, during the growing season, I fertilize regularly because they are not many nutrients in the soil mix.

Feel free to comments or ask questions! I would love to interact with you guys and share my knowledge.

Winter Update

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Hello all! I have not posted in a while for many reasons. First, I have had quite the eventful winter break, and because the trees are in winter dormancy, there is not much exciting action.

Upon leaving my dorm for winter break, I have to take all of my plants from my third floor dorm to the ground floor. Thank goodness for elevators. It took me four trips of dragging a huge Rubbermade tote back and forth to get them all downstairs. It was much more than I thought.

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Here are all of my plants together. Pots are heavy. I put them here rebelliously- this is a university loading zone, but other people were doing it, so I took the chance. While loading up my car, two campus policemen walked by. I was nervous that they were going to scold me, but they simply were awed by my bounty.

So, on the trek to my Dad’s house, I skid on black ice, ran into a barbed wire fence, and totaled my car. It was a wild day, but everyone was safe and no one got hurt. Except for maybe a few plants, but as much as I love them, they were the least of my worries in the grand scheme of things. More on that later.

My sad smushed car.
My new car, after a stressful amount of car shopping.

Who knew a barbed wire fence could do that much damage? But alas, I researched tirelessly trying to find a new (to me) car. I replaced the 2009 Honda Accord with a 2016 Ford Focus. I am happy with it!

But my plants still had trauma. Many had been shaken out of their pots and chilled, barerooted, until they were retrieved from the tow yard. Here is some of the damage.

This will be a hard first winter for me. I am doing all I can to revive them, but the weather is still against me. In addition, the plants have this trauma. It will be hard to identify whether a plant dies because of trauma or improper winter care. Hopefully I will learn more next winter.

I will be okay if I have a few fallen soldiers. That is part of this hobby! It is just a shame that it had to happen this way. But alas, I have not lost hope!

 

Sweet!

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(that’s a honeysuckle pun.)

I wanted to give an update on my honeysuckle! It is truly flourishing. Leaves are adundant, and they are a neat color. I look forward to working with more honeysuckles in the future, as I know that they thrive in this area and take well to training.

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Bougie Wedgie

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Today I decided to tackle this bougie. I had some free time due to sweet sweet Thanksgiving break. So here we go!

I cleaned it up by removing those straight dead twigs and defoliated when leaves got in the way of wiring.

Even just bending branches to get an idea about what it just look liked snapped a branch. Whoops. I wrapped raffia around it as a cast (which I think I am just gonna start calling “raffiaed” for simplication) and hopefully it will heal. It seemed pretty snug, so I’m not too worried.

I wanted to try something new. I knew I wanted to shorten the branch I am pointing to on the left. It is too long for being a low branch, and I need it to backbud. But, I thought that few inches of branch could go to use. So, I attempted my first branch grafting.

I got my teapot bougie and found a place where I thought a new branch would be helpful. I cut the chopped branch like a wedge and cut a bit into where I wanted to insert the branch on the teapot bougie. This took some work to get snug, and even harder to wrap with raffia. The raw branch kept slipping; I really needed more than two hands to do this. I will probably call on my suitemate and good friend Bela to help me out next time.

It just wasn’t working. After unwrapping and and rewrapping it in place a few times, and it kept getting out of place, I gave up. I think this was too small of a branch to graft. The main branch on the teapot bougie even tore. I raffiaed that up though. Gotta learn through trial and error!

I continued to style the bougie in the curvy lid pot. I really need to name these guys, but I am afraid that if I name them, I will have a greater attachment to them and be even sadder if they die/I kill them.

Here is the before and after shot! I shortened the secondary left branch, gave it some curve. I also curved up some of the thinner branches. Finally, I guided the trunk upwards. I wanted to do some more dramatic bending, but I want to make sure that wound heals before I push it too far.

 

Seeds! Aren’t! Bonsai!

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One of the first things that you learn when you dive into the bonsai world is that those cute “grow your own bonsai” kits are complete hoaxes. First off, you do not grow a bonsai. You turn a plant/tree/shrub into a bonsai through styling. Secondly, bonsai need to be years, if not decades old in order to be respectable.

I wanted to grow seeds anyway.

My thought process was that, if I continue this hobby for a long time, I think it would be so neat to be able to say, “hey, I grew that bonsai since it was a baby, a mere twinkle in the seed’s eye.” Also, with seedlings, I have immense control over shaping as they grow. No stubborn, brittle branches for these guys (side eyes hollies). And hey, it if fails, it was $7 worth of fun.

I got common privet, Monterrey cypress, Utah juniper, banyan, trident maple, Chinese holly, and sacred fig seeds. These are all good bonsai species. What I didn’t know is all of the preparation the seeds need before planting.

Most of them needed cold stratification, which is where you wrap the seeds in a damp paper towel and place them in a fridge. Some needed a month, some needed two to three. This simulates winter so that the seeds want to sprout once you plant them.

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I love that I put them in day and month range.

The figs did not need any pre-care, and they are doing very well. I planted a few of each seed when I first got them, no pre-treatment, just for kicks. The cypress didn’t seem to mind the lack of stratification and starting growing a few weeks after the figs did.

Today I planted the rest of the junipers and maples. The Chinese hollies require a lot of treatment and I may just call those a wash. We shall see.

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Happy, cold Juniper seeds. Let’s see if they do anything. These seeds are easy to care for, and I love the daily dramatic change. I get to see new sprouts come up and tiny sprouts gain new leaves. No, they won’t be bonsais any time soon, but they are still my cute little babies.

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Baby’s first air-layering

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Remember when I said that air layering is typically done in the spring? And it is currently late fall? Yeah, I am going to try it anyway. Texas winters are not that bad.

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Here is what you need- sphagnum moss, knife/carving tool, plastic, and wire (and a tree). This is my first project post blog release, so I actually took pictures of the whole process. Higher quality!

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I am going to be air layering this branch on my Big Boy Juniper. Why did I choose this one? Well, it it way too close to the base of the trunk. It will eventually be chopped off anyway. And, it was the thickest of the base branches. So it would make for the best tree.

 

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Once you have identified the branch, you start to carve off the bark all around the branch. This stresses out the tree, thinking it is gonna die, and so it sends roots to that area to help recover. Then, I will be able to chop it off and have a new plant! This carving job isn’t perfect. I should not have make it so long. But it should be fine.

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Next, I apply honey all around the wound! Some people dust it with rooting hormone. I don’t have that, and my research had shown that honey works just as well. It helps ward off bacteria, (insert science here). Some people also used crushed up aspirin, but I just used my lovely friend’s honey. Thanks Bela 🙂

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Finally, you wrap damp sphagnum moss around the wound, and above the wound. The roots actually grow above the wound, not on it. Why? *science*. I use plastic and wire to hold the moss in place. My favorite blogger, Adam of Adam’s Art and Bonsai uses aluminum foil. Apparently that helps increase root growth, but I don’t have any, and with plastic, I can see if/when the roots start forming. I shouldn’t have to add any water, but I will check it periodically to make sure it is still damp.

Roots should form within a few months. If they start to poke out, I will consider that an all-clear to do all of the other air layers I want to do! Hooray! What a gorgeous plastic bag of moss on that branch. Sometimes you need ugly before you get to beautiful.

Crepe Myrtles

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Isn’t that a fun sight. Oh, the days where I didn’t care about before and after photos. This is all I have of how my two crepe myrtles looked when I first bought them. They were on sale at Lowes for $5, originally $20. Score. Yeah, the leaves are sad, but leaves grow back, I would chop them off anyway, and it is still alive. Time to detangle those roots!

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Sorry, guys, it’s time to split up. I know it’s hard.

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I have yet to style these guys, but they have wonderful potential. Whenever I get a hankering for wiring, expect a new post!

Parsley Aralia

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I recently visited Shades of Green, a magical local nursery. It had such variety, and I could have bought a cart full of children. Alas, I restrained myself. As I wandered around, a worker asked if I needed any help. Overwhelmed with the selection, I told him I was here for bonsai material. He gave me a full tour and pointed out what would be good material. It was very helpful.

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It was love at first sight. Look at those ruffly leaves! It’s so charming! I had to snatch one. I have yet to do any work on it. It doesn’t really have one main trunk line, so I will have to choose one. That’s tough and I don’t want to rush it. I am content with the beautiful view.

What are you covering up in that picture, Claire? It is my failure.

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The aralia had a few shoots surrounding the main plant, and being the thrifty gal I am, I slapped some raffia on those bad boys for trunk fusion. They did not like that. Two of the three started to shrivel up. I cut off the raffia to free the one that was still alive. Live and learn.

 

 

Mame mia!

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Hehehe, that’s another pun title. You will get it soon.

So I got these tiny tiny guys at Shades of Green. They are great bonsai species, and very trainable, so I figured I could try my hand at mame. Mame is a type of bonsai that is extremely small, usually under four inches. This is only logical considering the girth of these trunks, which is thin. Might as well make them short so that the trunks are of a more realistic proportion.

Here is the Crepe Myrtle. With some chops and wire, here is the transformation! It isn’t perfect, but it is something. I’ll see how branched grow in and go from there.

I decided to go all out for the serissa/ white snow rose. Shout it with me: trunk fusion!

I couldn’t decide which of the lower branches to keep, so I kept them all in order to bulk up the trunk. With some wire, we have movement. Claire loves her trunk fusion. Well, she loves the idea of it. She has been doing this for four months. Who knows if it will work. But she is hopeful!