Raisio Bonsai

Change to my bonsai soil material

2011-09-02T23:57:00.002+03:00

I mentioned briefly at the end of last year that I have a new soil mix. Originally I had been using cat litter and pine bark for my bonsai mix and this worked well. The cat litter retained the water that it could hold and any excess simply drained out the bottom of the pot. But whilst scouring the various blogs of other bonsai enthusiasts I came across an article by Walter Pall about ‘baked loam’. Walter is one of most highly respected professionals in the bonsai world and regularly travels to give training and demonstrations. Walter has been using inorganic materials for some time and with this he is producing top class bonsai that regularly win awards. So I thought what must work for Walter must surely work for me.

Walter is using a product made by Maxit and even though the product code is different here in Finland the product is still the same with particle sizes of 2-4mm coming in 25kg bags. Unfortunately I was unable to purchase this from any store locally so I had to order a pallet of 18 bags directly from Maxit and have it delivered. At least now I have enough to keep me going for a few years.

I am not using this Maxit product neat; I am still making a mix using 7 parts Maxit, 2 parts cat litter, to add some different colour and because I still have some bags available, and 1 part pine bark, to add some organic matter to the mix. As with the cat litter earlier it is important to water and feed the bonsai on a regular basis. I am watering everyday regardless if they need it or not and feeding every couple of weeks. This type of bonsai ‘soil’ requires that you are daily tending to your bonsai but the end result is healthy trees and a higher survival rate.

Zelkova #1

2011-08-29T23:10:00.005+03:00

During the summer holidays I visited Helsinki. This gave me the opportunity to again visit the Bonsai and Japanese garden located near there. This time I decided to buy a Zelkova (Japanese Elm). Looking at the tree it was clear that it was a little overgrown but it had a decent size truck and some potential to be good bonsai.

Ideally I wanted to re-pot the tree into more my own soil mix but with spring some months behind I am a little reluctant to take that risk now especially when it seems to be growing well. Instead I decided to at least give it a trim for the summer. Zelkova react well to trimming at this time of year and it is good to prune back to 1 or 2 leaves to keep the shape and maintain the small delicate size leaves that Zelkova have. This pruning also helps back budding and since my pruning this is starting to become apparent.

The next battle will be to see it through the winter. Apparently there are two varieties of Zelkova, one that is grown for outdoors and one for indoors. I am not sure what type this is or how to tell the difference but I am reluctant to keep this tree indoors during the winter because this can have a more negative affect than having the tree go into cold winter dormancy. I will put the tree in my pavilion during the winter months to protect it from the wind and extend the growing the season a little because of the higher temperatures created by the glass windows.

Ficus - Air Layering

2011-04-25T00:44:00.011+03:00

I had brought this ficus tree already last year from IKEA of all places. It was on offer in the sale section for only 40€. The condition of it then was much the same as it is now with growth at the top and the obvious lost branch at the bottom. The tree has many faults but the size of the trunk was the main reason I decided to buy it and then see what I could do to correct those mistakes.

The main faults with the tree are the clear marks in the bark made by the wire that was used to shape it, the unnaturally looking shape, which is not what I like personally, and then the large untreated cuts.

I was originally planning to repot the tree in a more shallow pot so that I could replace the soil with my own bonsai soil mix, but I have now decided to leave that until later in the year and instead start with phase one of my plan to turn this ficus into a better looking bonsai.

This first phase is to remove the top section of the tree that is clearly out of style with the lower part of the tree. I could simply just cut the top section off and throw it away but this straight section offers the possibility for me to get two bonsai from this one tree. To achieve this because of the size of the truck I would need make an air layering. This requires me to remove a section of the bark and then surround this area with a plastic bag filled with moss so that the new roots can grow.

I wanted to remove as much of the straight section as possible so I made a cut quite close to the join with the lower part of the tree. There was a untreated cut in that area that I removed before making two cuts approximately 2 times the diameter of the trunk.

Then using a sharp knife I removed the bark completely. It is important to remove all the underlying cambium layer, which is the green material under the bark. Failure to remove this completely could result in a lack of roots and therefore an unsuccessful air layering.

After the plastic bag was placed around the cut it was filled with moss and then the top closed. Small holes were made in the top in a few places for me to water the moss. During the next 6-8 weeks I will need to keep the moss nice and moist.

Once the top section has been removed I will review again what is the next phase. Personally I do not like the look of the unnatural bends so if my first attempt at an air layer is successful then I may do another to remove another section by cuttin the trunck as shown in the photo below. Let's see first how the first one turns out.

Sumo Bonsai Fertilizers

2011-03-25T22:15:00.004+02:00

This year I will start to use fertilizers and other soil additives manufactured by SUMO BONSAI ®.

Organic fertilizers SUMO BONSAI ® are known to provide health and vitality. Indeed, the organic fertilizing matter is above all restabilizing, and ensures a natural nutrition according to the Yin Yang cycle, universal law of assimilation-regeneration which bonsai are also subjected to.

An organic nutrition recreates in the pot, a true natural environment needed for the plant's health, its harmonious development and its natural immunity.

I purchased these products at the end of last year and the range includes;

Bio-C1, Micro-Granular Fertilizer
Bio-C1 is perfect for all indoor bonsai and can also be used on outdoor bonsai during the spring.

Bio-C2, Micro-Granular Fertilizer
Bio-C2 is a new technology fertilizer supplying high quality nutriments to bonsai fertilization and is suitable for all outdoor bonsai.

Orplus, Liquid Organic Fertilizer
Orplus is a liquid organic fertilizer specially adapted for bonsai cultivation.

OE70 Foliaire, Leaf Trace Minerals
OE70 Foliaire is a nutritive, stimulative and protective foliar solution specially design for the cultivation of bonsai.

Naturel Compost, Vegetable Compost
Naturel Compost softens the substrate and reactivates the baterial environment. It can be used on all bonsai species, indoor and outdoor.
Naturel Compost maintains the quality of the soil and reinforces the organic fertilizers' assimilation.

T.O.N.U.S V, Natural Plant Fertilizer
T.O.N.U.S V stimulates the multiplication process of root cells.
The macro and micro nutriments provided by T.O.N.U.S V strongly aid the recovery of roots after repotting and strengthen the nutritive natural cycles indispensible to bonsai.

I will try to monitor how the trees repond to this new range and hopefully I am presenting nice photos of my lush trees by the end of the season.

All these products are available from our webshop Raisio Bonsai and Garden.

Spring is coming

2011-02-01T00:53:00.011+02:00

This is always an eagerly anticipated time of the year when the days start to visibly get longer and the feeling of spring is just around the corner. Unfortunately that feeling may last for another month or so but I hope it will not be as long as last year when it was already April before spring really started.

This winter has been a little backwards with much colder weather during December, which also affected many parts of Europe, and a "warmer" January compared to other years.

Soon it will be clear which of the outdoor bonsai trees have survived the harsh Finnish winter. This year I have used our pavilion to house some of the trees and I hope that the protection from the frost and the hard winds has done the trick.

As you can see from the photos I apply snow to the top of the soil. This snow is not designed to protect the plant but it is a means of keeping the soil wet. On good days the temperature inside the pavilion could be above zero and the the snow will slowly melt and "water" the plant.

The spruce trees that I collected last year have remained next to the house or next to the garage. Because of the amount of snow that we have had all the trees next to the garage have been covered already from the beginning of the winter and this should have helped to protect the trees from the frost and wind.

European spruce #5

2010-10-22T00:48:00.007+03:00

The European spruce has many larger branches growing in many directions and it will be interesting to see which will stay and which will be turned into jins. The important thing, as with many of my collection at the moment, is to just keep it alive in this first year and then I can start to plan the styles later. Unfortunately this bonsai hobby requires a high level of patience to give time for your trees to recover from the various tasks that we perform year in year out. This is one of the reasons to have many trees if possible so you always have something ongoing.

European spruce #4

2010-10-22T00:38:00.006+03:00

This spruce has more growth and the truck was a nice size. Once I can start to style these, hopefully next year, I hope to find hidden a nice bonsai. This is an art in itself trying to find the bonsai within a piece of material, either collected or purchased from a regular garden centre.

European spruce #3

2010-10-22T00:22:00.004+03:00

I have already collected two European spruce trees (Picea abies) during the spring this year and couldn't stop myself from going back to the same area and seeing what other potential bonsai were hiding on the side of the road. I managed to find three more that have had the same treatment of being trimmed year on year by the verge cutter.

This spruce I like for the lack of growth. It sounds funny to say but the style of the tree is already heading in a clear direction and the broken branches will make for some good jins.

Flowering Quince #1

2010-09-30T22:23:00.009+03:00

Flowering quince (Chaenomeles) is a very colourful tree in the spring with an abundance of flowers appearing all over the tree.

This tree was purchased in the spring from a garden center near Helsinki. I repotted the tree in August because this is the recommended time for this tree, and not in the spring.
This late repotting time is acceptable because it will not be spending the winter outside. Quinces (Ruusukvittenit) do not like anything less than 5°C so I will be moving it into my house for the winter in the coming weeks when the temperature starts to get colder, for now I have moved it in our glass pavilion so it still get good sun light and stay warm at the same time.

Below is a photo of the root ball when first removed from the old bonsai pot.

The bonsai pot that the Quince came in was very nice but I wanted to put it into a more shallow pot. I decided still to use a round pot but one with less height. The roots were just perfect to fit into this pot and were nicely spread with many fine roots.

Even though they do not like the very cold temperatures they still need a level of temperature change to ensure that flowers come in the spring. I hope this will be good enough before the really cold temperatures arrive here in Finland. We shall see in the spring if it worked.

In the below photo you can see a close up of the soil mix used. It was a mix of the new fired clay with some cat litter and pine bark.

Rhododendron #1

2010-08-20T00:01:00.011+03:00

Rhododendron and Azaleas are a common shrub used for bonsai making. The flowers in the spring make them a nice bonsai to have in any collection.

A small leaf variety makes for better bonsai material but finding these are not always so easy. During the spring I came across Rhododendron ferrogineum 'Puncta' (Karoliinanalppiruusu) in a local garden centre. The leaves are much smaller than common garden Rhododendron so I decided to take this and give it a try.

The plant didn't come in any container, it was simply planted into sandy soil and had to be slightly dug out of the ground and placed into a paper bag to bring home.

I immediately set about putting it into a pot and decided that I would try to fit into one of my available bonsai pots rather than putting it into a training pot. The pot I chose was an oval shaped pot with a blue glazed finish. The oval shape in combination with the blue colour suits well the feminine side of this tree especially when it is in flower.

The original soil was quite difficult to remove and some was still attached to the underneath of the plant when I placed it into the pot. The soil mix that I used is the light weight 'gravel' that I have starting using recently mixed with approx. 30% pine bark.

As with all of my bonsai they will need some serious styling to be started next year, but the main thing now is to let them grow and establish roots after their repotting to gain the needed strength firstly to survive winter and then be ready to be chopped and pruned.

European spruce

2010-07-16T01:01:00.009+03:00

Spring soon came and went and because of other commitments I didn’t do all that I wanted to do to my collection of bonsai trees. I have also not posted anywhere as many posts to my blog has I had planned, but hopefully now I can get back on track and start to spend more time on my own bonsai collection. Even though I was busy with other things I still found time to search for some yamadora to add to my collection. I wrote last year of a great source for some potential bonsai material and these could be found on the roadside verges. From this exact type of location I managed to find two or three pieces of material that could turn into a good bonsai. To my surprise two of the pieces I came across were European spruce (Picea abies) that have been repeatedly cut by the verge cutter, which has resulted in thick trunks to form but the height has remained low.

I potted the trees into ‘training’ pots but I could have put them straight into a normal bonsai pot because the main roots were near to the surface. I also potted them into a new bonsai soil mix I am starting to use. This material is lighter than the cat litter I have been using and the dark brown colour looks better than the lighter colour of cat litter especially when it starts to dry. I mixed about 10% pine bark as spruce like a drier soil mix. This type of soil needs real commitment each day because the soil can dry very quickly, especially with the hot temperatures we have been having here in Finland the last week or so. I am watering my bonsai daily and feeding every 10 days. You can see from the one spruce that this is already working well.

You can see clearly in the photo below the effects that the verge cutter had on the tree with the top completely horizontal. With some removal of certain branches and shaping of others then this has excellent potential because the main trunk is already quite thick and does not need any work.

I will continue to water and feed this year and allow the trees to grow freely and then next year I will start to shape the trees.

Mycorrhizal fungi

2010-06-21T00:38:00.005+03:00

Failed again! The two pine trees collected last year again failed to survive the winter. I am not exactly sure why but it must have something to do with the roots and soil combination. We all read how important retaining some of the existing soil is important because of mycorrhizal fungi that are needed by pine trees to extract nutrients from the soil. I kept quite much of the old soil but maybe the problem the problem was that I kept too much old soil and not enough mycorrhizal fungi. My excessive watering program was maybe too much for the roots when the soil was heavy and remained wet for long periods. Pines need a dryer soil mix especially if you want to water on a daily basis.

So the problem exists how to have a dry soil mix but retain the mycorrhizal fungi. Not easy but one-way around this problem is to add mycorrhizal fungi to your own soil mix. This is possible because mycorrhizal fungi are harvested and sold in packets to use. After many years scouring the Internet looking at different websites related to bonsai I came across many different products and one of these products were packets containing mycorrhizal fungi. In my next attempt of collecting a pine tree I plan to use this harvested mycorrhizal fungi in my own soil mix. I will remove most of the old soil and only add the tips of any cut roots back into the soil. Mycorrhizal fungi grow from the tips of the roots so these should also contain the important mycorrhizal fungi.

At first I thought that mycorrhizal fungi were needed only for pine trees but further reading and research about this product I know understand that mycorrhizal fungi exists in over 90% of all plants in the world. Mycorrhizal fungi already exists in the ground and it can take nature up to 5 years for mycorrhizal fungi to find its’ way to young or newly planted plants. This number of years is simply too long to establish a replanted tree but with a sprinkle of mycorrhizal fungi it is possible to have them growing from the roots within 2-4 weeks.

I have already purchased this product in readiness for when I again go collecting pines in the autumn. The product I have purchased is manufactured in the UK and is called rootgrow™.

Because of the benefits that mycorrhizal fungi has to nearly all plants I have also decided to purchase this product so that I can sell it through my Internet shop. Time will tell how well the product works but all I can say at the moment is that it comes with many recommendations and references and is fully endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in the UK which must mean something.

Fukien tea #2

2010-05-11T00:37:00.015+03:00

I couldn't resist it, sitting there shouting at me to buy it. That is this Fukien tea tree (Carmona microphylla). I saw this on a visit to Ikea here in Raisio, Finland and after the recent loss of my Fukien tea tree I had to buy it to see if I can keep this one a live. It has a split trunk which is already quite thick at the base. Everybody has to have at least one Fukien tea tree in their collection as they are a very common indoor tree that can be purchased from many garden centres or large supermarkets.

My son Alex with the same tree. Hopefully another budding Bonsai enthusiast in the making.

As usual with Malsai trees purchased from this type of shop there are some clear areas that needed immediate attention. This tree came in a standard plastic pot, not in a bonsai pot for some reason, so that was the first task to get the tree into a pot, or at least try depending on the root structure. The other areas that needed immediate attention were the cuts on the side and top of the tree. I believe this type of untreated cut was one of the reasons why I recently lost one of these trees.

I chose a light brown unglazed rectangular bonsai pot with a motif for this tree. The rounded edges of the pot gives a slightly feminine feel that goes well with this tree that normally shows masculine features in its trunk, but has a feminine side with small white flowers appearing if water is restricted for a short period. The size of the pot is 19cm and the height of the tree 29cm, matching the 2/3 'rule' for pot to tree ratio.

The depth of the pot is 4cm, almost matching the truck diameter of 3.5cm, and was perfect to fit all the roots without having to do any cutting. There are two larger roots that now are shown as nebari (surface roots flaring from the base of a tree) but more work is needed for the other areas. The lack of bigger roots also meant that I had to wire the tree into the pot using the base of the trunk. I will need to keep an eye on this and may need to repot again next year and try to position the wire away from the trunk.

The tree will now be given time to settle in and I will allow the top to grow unrestricted for a while before starting work on shaping the branches.

You may just make out the grey area in the above photo. This is the same area in the earlier photo showing the cut. I completely removed the cut and shape the trunk to follow the rest of the surrounding area. The grey colour is cut paste applied to help with the healing process.

As you can see it now as a slight slant. This was mainly because the tree sat this way better in the pot. It definitely added something to the final outcome than just having the trunks positioned upright. I need to take some better photos when it is warm enough to take the trees outside for some natural light.

Weeping Fig #2

2010-05-01T21:52:00.015+03:00

I recently purchased this fig (Ficus Benjamina 'Wiandi'). I believe the type to be 'Wiandi' because of the very brittle branches and roots. I wasn't aware of this brittleness when I purchased the tree and it was only a few days after I had purchased it I was looking at potential shapes for my next bonsai challenge when a branch located near the middle simply snapped off in my hand.

I then searched the Internet for the types of figs with brittle branches. Two names came to the front, Ficus Benjamina 'Wiandi' and 'Rianne'. After reading about these figs on the Internet it was clear that I would not be able to wire this tree. One job less I suppose :). The good thing about this fig is that the branches grow in all directions with plenty of leaves and the the trunk and branches grow in a twisted pattern.

The first thing I wanted to do was repot the tree into a more shallow pot. I had no idea how much of the existing container the roots had developed but to my surprise the roots where fairly compact and located near the surface.

I decided on a red oval pot for this fig. The height of the tree is approx. 40cm high and the pot size is 25cm.

Because the branches are so brittle then the same relates to the roots. This made it difficult to apply wiring around the base to keep the tree in the required position in the pot. I broke a couple of the larger roots that I wanted to keep because of this brittleness.

I was a little afraid that the tree would loose many leaves because of loosing so many roots but apart from a few leaves, mainly from the lower branch, it has kept all of it's leaves. I watered the tree everyday during the first week or so to maintain a good supply of water. I also feed the tree the same day it was potted and then again a couple of weeks later.

Bonsai pots

2010-04-22T00:03:00.005+03:00

The rain is falling and the temperatures are finally increasing so it looks like spring is finally here. In the coming weeks once the buds have swollen with all that energy from the roots it will be time to repot some of my trees.

As you may have already seen many of my trees are in deep plastic pots, either because they were brought from a garden centre or because I planted then into these when they were dug from the ground. With some of the trees it takes time to prepare the roots to fit them into a shallow pot.

Once the roots have been prepared to fit into a bonsai style pot then the next step is to find a pot that best suits the size and style of the tree. Unfortunately it isn't so easy here in Finland. There are many places that sell bonsai trees, mainly malsai type in 15-20cm pots, but nothing else is available from these places. The only possibility to obtain different pots is to purchase these online from another country. There are many online shops in many countries supplying pots, tools and other accessories but the biggest problem with this is the high delivery costs when shipping to this part of the world.

With this in mind, and to cater for my own needs, I decided to start an online shop back at the end of November called "Raisio Bonsai and Garden" ("Raision Bonsai ja Puutarha" in Finnish) selling bonsai pots, tools and accessories. I understand that the demand here in Finland is not very high compared to many other European countries, and this has much to do with the population of just over 5 million and the harsh climate we have in this part of the world, but there is still a demand so the company has now become part of my interest in bonsai.

Even though my initial stock wasn't very big I still tried to purchase many different shapes, sizes, styles and colours of pots. I myself was looking for bigger pots than those that come with bonsai trees normally available in garden centres. This meant that most of my pots at the moment are 20cm or bigger, but soon I will be receiving more pots and many of these will be covering the smaller sizes.

Choosing the correct pot for you bonsai

Choosing the correct pot to achieve the maximum effect for your bonsai can be a challenging decision, especially when first starting to make bonsai. The basic guide below is my conclusion from many guides that can be found on the Internet and is what I try to use when choosing the correct pot.

Size of the pot depends on the size of the bonsai tree.

Pot depth = Trunk diameter
Pot length = 2/3 the height of the tree (Oval / Rectangle pots)
Pot diameter = 1/3 the height of the tree (Round pots)

Shape and style of the pot depends on the type and style of the bonsai tree.

Rectangular pots = Masculine trees such as Pines and big Maple trees.

Oval pots = Feminine trees such as Maples (Japanese) and flowering trees. Oval pots are also suitable for forests or where the tree has many trunks.

Round pots = Feminine trees such as Pines and Maples with tall narrow trunks. Style of the tree tends to be literati.

Colour of the pot depends on the class of the tree, masculine or feminine, and the type of the tree.

Dark brown / Red / Unglazed brown = Pines and other conifers.

Light brown / Creme = Maples and other similar tree types such as Birch and Oak.

Green = Maples and other similar tree types.

Light blue = Flowering species.

Dark blue = Pines and Maples.

There are many different shapes, sizes, styles and colours of bonsai pots available that means that the mix of pot and tree could potentially be whatever. At the end of the day it is what you feel happy with and what looks pleasing to the eye, but I hope that my basic guide helps to give some ideas.

Still waiting for spring

2010-03-21T20:46:00.010+02:00

Last weekend I decided to move my deciduous trees back outside as the night temperature had been only minus 2-3°C for a few days and the day temperatures a couple of degrees above zero. On this basis I got excited at the prospect that spring was finally coming, but sod's law that very evening the night temperature was then back down to minus 15°C.

Fortunately the trees are placed next to the house so I hope it wasn't too cold for them. All winter they have been in the garage and even on the heater bed I made, which was turned on when the temperature inside the garage got close to minus 10°C, and then in one night I could have undone all of my hard work. Even today the snow is still coming but I hope soon that it will change quickly so I can start to do the repotting jobs that I have planned before the buds start to open.

On most of the trees it is clear that the buds are starting to swell, but the buds on the Amur maple (Acer tataricum ginnala) are not yet showing any signs of swelling.

I hope that it is just too cold for them to start appearing yet and not that the tree has died. I like the look of this trunk and it would be a pity to loose it. This tree was repotted last spring so this year I was planning to cut back the long thicker trucks to develop more smaller brackets. I will do this in the next week in readiness for spring when the energy starts to transfer from the roots back to the brackets for generating the new leaves.

First casualty of the winter

2010-03-19T23:09:00.010+02:00

This winter has been a very long and cold one this year and we are still waiting for spring to start, but I must confess that I have already had my first casualty of the winter period. Unfortunately this has nothing to do with the 50cm or more snow or even the -15°C that we have had for most of the winter. No this casualty is one of the trees that has been snuggled up nice and warm inside my house. The Fukien Tea tree (Carmona Microphylla) has decided that this was the time to go. I am unsure of the exact reason but my theory is that the untreated cut, which is common for malsai bonsai, was the start of it's decline.

As normal for this time of year the inside of modern homes are quite dry when there are freezing temperatures outside and this dryness means that there is very little humidity in the air. This, I believe, has resulted in this untreated cut drying out and then slowing working itself down the tree. The leaves from the higher brackets fell from the tree first and the lowest branch was last to loose its leaves.

I have a cutting of the Fukien Tea tree taken a couple of years ago from another tree that also died, but fortunately this is still growing well leading me to believe it died because of the untreated cut and not the dry air during the winter months. If anybody as any other reasons why my Fukien Tea tree died in this way then I would be grateful for the information.

More snow

2010-02-22T00:54:00.006+02:00

This is the winter holiday (talviloma) week here in Finland and is traditionally the coldest week of the year. In the past few years this has not been the case but this year this has come back with a vengeance. We have had temperatures of minus 17°C for the past few days and more of the same is expected for the coming week. Along with the cold temperatures has come some more snow. We had already quite a lot and are now struggling to find a place to put it all.

At least the more snow helps to cover my Pine trees. I have not completely covered them because they are also positioned close to my house, even though I could easy do so with the amount of snow that we have had.

The deciduous trees are still in my garage on the heater bed. I have had this on a couple of times to relieve the temperature a little, but the good thing is that the garage is keeping the temperature some 8-10°C warmer than the outside temperature. As you can see I have placed some snow on the pots which will slowly melt into the soil to prevent the soil from drying out.

Winter protection

2010-01-05T23:33:00.007+02:00

As mentioned in my earlier post the winter can get quite cold in Finland. We have recently experienced temperatures of -25°c only last Saturday. My bonsai (potensai) collection at the moment is quite small so I am able to offer more protection for the deciduous trees by placing them in my garage and on the heater bed I made, but the two pine trees I have left outside.

The pines, as with all evergreen species, require some light during the winter period as photosynthesis still takes place. I moved the pines closer to the house to get some protection from any strong winds, we could get during the winter, and to remove them from the direct sunlight that we can easily get on a nice winter's day. Exposure to direct sunlight during periods of sub-zero temperatures can cause damage.

When the first heavy snow fell I covered the boxes that the trees are planted in with the snow. This helps to keep the temperature under the snow a little higher than the actual outside temperature and protect the trees from any heavy frost. Now we wait patiently for spring to see if all of these various techniques for protecting the trees during the winter period have paid off.

Heater Bed

2009-12-26T01:22:00.010+02:00

Winter in Finland can be quite cold with temperatures going down to minus 25-30°c. In the south of Finland where I live the temperature tends not to be so cold but can still easily be more than -15°c. These low temperatures mean that protecting the outdoor bonsai during this period can be a challenge.

I have a garage where I place the deciduous trees that will protect them from the frost and the cold wind, which is one of the main culprits for killing the tree because the wind can dehydrate the tree during this period of dormancy, but this does not protect them from the really cold temperatures. The garage already keeps the temperature a few degrees higher than the outside temperature and in general temperatures down to -10°c are ok but anything more than -10°c it is advisable to provide some extra protection. The garage has electric floor heating installed but this costs a fortune to keep on, as I found out to my horror last year when the electric bill arrived, so this year I thought I would build a small heater bed for the trees to sit on that I can put on when needed without costing a fortune.

The heater bed consists of a wooden frame with a thermal insulation base on top of which are two layers of sand. Sandwiched between the layers of sand is a heater cable attached to a metal grid.

The following photos show the step by step build of the heater bed.

Step 1. Wooden frame
A wooden frame was made as shown in the image below. The size of the frame was approx 120x60cm. The width of the frame matched the width of the thermal insulation material I would use. I attached a large sheet of plastic to the sides and bottom to help to retain the sand from falling through.

Step 2. Thermal insulation material
On top of the sheet of plastic I placed a piece of thermal insulation material. This material is about 4cm thick and very stiff. I could of used some type of board to form a firm base to hold the sand but this is what I had available and I thought it would help in maintaining some of the heat.

Step 3. Heating cable
The heating cable, which can be obtained from a local electrical shop, is specially designed to be used outside and for keeping things warm. Normal use of this cable is to warm water pipes, either the main water coming into a house or attached to drain pipes to prevent the water from freezing during the winter. The temperature output of the cable is approximately 10°c and uses 10 watts per metre. The length of cable I have used is 10m meaning that the power consumption is 100 watts. The cable is attached to a metal grid the size of the area with cable ties. I attached the cable on both sides of the metal grid at equal distances to try to get an even distribution of the heat. The cable is already fitted with a standard electrical plug as seen in the bottom of the image.

Step 4. Sand
The finished cable was taken out of the frame and a layer of sand approximately 2-3cm deep was added on top of the thermal insulation material. I then placed the cable on top of the sand and then proceeded to add more sand to cover the cable. I was not sure how much sand I needed so I started with another 2-3cm. The reason I wasn’t sure how much sand to add on top of cable was because I didn’t know how warm the sand would get when there was power to the cable. I wanted the sand to get warm but not to too warm and even though the temperature output was only 10°c the fact that I had looped the cable close together meant that the combined temperature could be more than that. As it turned out the difference between the ambient temperature and the temperature at the top of the sand was about 10°c. Because I am planning to use this heater bed only when the temperature is really cold the sand will never get above the magic temperature of +10°c, temperature that would start to represent that spring was here, so this difference is fine. If the temperature had been too high I would have simply added more sand to absorb more of the heat. In the image below you can see a thermostat to the left hand side. The thermostat takes the ambient temperature and a sensor, normally used to take the outside temperature, is inserted at the top of the sand to give some indication of the temperature of the sand.

Step 5. Placing the trees
We have been blessed that during November and the beginning of December the temperature had been quite warm for this time of year with temperatures even reaching +8°c on some days. But as can easily be the case here in Finland the winds change direction and we go from +2°c to –12°c overnight. This happen one night a couple of weeks ago and then that was the time to move the trees inside the garage and on to the heater bed. I didn’t actually turn the heater bed on because the garage was protecting the trees from the frost and the ambient temperature was only -6°c. Winter really started to come after this day with daily temperatures of –10°c to –16°c. During one of these days I turned on the heater bed as the temperature inside the garage was now –9°c. The out come was that the sand warmed to a nice temperature of +2°c. Perfect to keep the toes (roots) warm of my small collection of bonsai (potensai).

Cat litter as inorganic soil alternative

2009-12-07T20:30:00.001+02:00

I mentioned earlier about my own bonsai soil mix. This isn’t as scientific as it first sounds. As many of you may already know bonsai enthusiasts throughout the world have been turning to cat litter (kissanhiekka) as an inorganic soil alternative to Akadama. Akadama is expensive and can be difficult to obtain here in Finland, often only available by mail order from another country. Cat litter is of course much cheaper and can be purchased from any supermarket. I have tested a couple of brands to establish if it retains its shape when wet and frozen and found that the brand ‘Rainbow Kevyt Kissanhiekka’ is the best cat litter that I have come across at the moment. I have used this cat litter for over a year for all my bonsai, indoor and outdoor, without any problems. The soil mix can be 100% cat litter if you require, but you can also mix it with other ingredients for specific tree types or to suit your own personal preferences. For example you can add some grit for a drier mix used on pines, junipers etc. or some pine bark to retain more water.

When using any material for bonsai soils it is important to remove the small particles and this is also the case with the cat litter. I have found with the brand that I am using that the largest particles are ok and remain in my mix but I sieve out the smaller particles less than 2mm. These small particles are not needed in the mix, as they will not allow the water to run through as easy.

My own bonsai soil mix has been made up of roughly 50% cat litter and 50% pine bark. The pine bark is also purchased from any local garden centre and then I run this through an old food processor to cut into smaller pieces. Again, as with the cat litter, I sieve out the smaller pieces and this time also remove the larger pieces that are bigger than 5-6mm. This bonsai soil mix I have used especially on my indoor bonsai because it helps to extend the time between watering that can be problem if using 100% cat litter.

Two of the most important tasks that need to be performed correctly for your bonsai to grow, watering and feeding, have been made easier by using cat litter.

Watering

Watering of my bonsai was a job that was a little difficult to understand in the beginning with questions like How often should I water? and What different watering schedules are needed for different trees? All this is now history when using cat litter. If required I could water my bonsai everyday, this can easy be the case in the summer, without any problems because any excess water not retained by the cat litter simply runs out the holes in the bottom of the pot or container.

Feeding

The use of cat litter has also changed how I feed my bonsai. As with the watering I was constantly reading about different feeding systems for different types of trees, but now I feed during the growing season every 10-14 days with a balanced feed knowing that the daily watering regime during this period will wash away any excess fertilizer before the next dose.

Conclusion

Cat litter is a cheap, easily obtainable alternative bonsai soil that will help to keep your bonsai growing vigorously with regular watering and feeding regimes.

Yamadora collecting

2009-11-07T00:15:00.012+02:00

There isn't many jobs that can be done this time of year, especially when your collection of bonsai is as small as mine is at the moment. The indoor bonsai need normal attention, watering, light trimming etc., but the outdoor bonsai are already starting to prepare for the winter. Protecting them from the cold, especially the cold wind, will be my priority during the next month to 6 weeks. After this more protection is needed for the outdoor bonsai but I will return to this matter nearer the time to show how I prepare my trees for the cold temperatures that we get here in Finland.

What this time does give me is the possibility to search and identify potential bonsai (potensai) in the form of yamadora that can be collected in the spring. One source of bonsai material that I have noticed is simply sitting next to many roads and tracks. Here in Finland there is a trench / ditch along the side of the road for the rain water to run into and for the snow to be pushed into during the winter months.

Trees grow in these trenches which are cut each year by the verge cutters that come along to cut the grass and weeds. The continual cutting of the tops of the trees produces thick trunks that is the heart of any bonsai.

Any type of common tree in our area can be found growing in the trenches as shown in the photos. The most common tree in the photo was Aspen (Populus Tremula) but there was also a Scots pine.

I know that Aspen is not a common tree for bonsai material, but if nothing else it will allow me to continually improve on my bonsai skills. Now we wait for the spring to see how some of these trees look when removed from the ground.

Japanese maple #1

2009-10-26T23:29:00.004+02:00

The cold nights are starting to come now in this part of the world. These nights start to turn the leaves on the trees all different colours. We have some big maple trees in our garden and the tops of these turned almost bright red. Maples are of course very good at showing off their colours and Japanese maples in particular display such wonderful colours at this time of year.

This is the same tree I purchased from Bauhaus that will need an immediate repot next spring, but you can already see that in a few years once the canopy has developed further this should be a nice tree.

Scots pine #2

2009-10-22T01:33:00.000+03:00

This Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris) was collected a couple of weeks after the first Scots pine.

This was located on the side of a rock and again the roots were all on the surface of the rock, making it easier to collect. Bringing along as many roots as possible, not forgetting the Mycorrhizal fungi, helps to make the survival rate of pine trees higher.

The photos below show the sort of location that these potensai can be found. Places exposed to the weather where the wind can blow strongly and the tree is attached by only a little soil are ideal conditions for nature to make the sort of tree bonsai enthusiasts are interest in.

Scots pine #1

2009-10-22T01:10:00.000+03:00

The truck on this Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris) is one of the reasons I broke my back to collect it. The shape and size of this tree takes years to establish and is clearly one of the reasons why the best bonsai material (potensai) can really only be found from mother nature herself.

The tree was found on top of a hill and completely exposed to the elements. There was not much soil around the tree and, fortunately for me, all the roots were growing on top of the rock that made up the hill.

Once it was collected and back home I made the wooden box, I have learned that planting the tree back into the ground is not the best solution long term, that will be it's home for the next 2 years. I started immediately feeding the tree and continued to feed every 2 weeks with a balanced soluble feed. This it seemed to like because new needles started to appear in many areas, even areas that were almost without any needles. Now I need to nurse it through the winter and then wait patiently for next spring to see if I have learned something from my many hours of studying.

Scots pine yamadora

2009-10-21T01:15:00.000+03:00

Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris) is one of the most common trees found in Finland. A couple of years ago I collected some Pine trees and planted them into the ground at my old house. These continued to grow in the ground without any adverse affects. When moving house last year I had to remove them from the ground and plant them into large pots. Unfortunately because of my lack of experience these died over the winter period because they had so little time to recover. I had planted them into the pots too late in the year and with little to none of the original soil.

I have since been reading many hours of information available on the internet about the collection of Pine trees and armed with this information went about collecting a couple of trees at the end of summer. This period is the best time to collect or even repot this type of tree because the roots are more active during the autumn than earlier in the year. I also collected much of the surrounding soil containing the all important Mycorrhizal fungi. This fungi helps to get the nutrients from the soil through to the roots and can take many years to grow. Retaining this fungi in the collection or repotting process is very important for the survival of Pine trees.

Japanese maple #1

2009-09-27T15:58:00.001+03:00

This Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) I purchased recently from Bauhaus here in Raisio. It was on offer at the time and cost only 20€. This price isn't bad if you think that it is already in a pot measuring 20x14x7cm.

The only problem is that the soil the tree is planted in is quite heavy. Ideally this should be changed to allow me to water and fertilize the tree like the others I have in my collection.

Unfortunately this isn't the time of year to start repotting trees. I will take extra care of this tree during the Autumn and Winter months, especially with the watering, until I can change the soil in the spring.

Fukien tea

2009-09-08T00:24:00.000+03:00

This fukien tea tree (Carmona microphylla) was purchased already as a bonsai from a local store. It was on sale at the time so I brought it. If nothing else it gives me an opportunity to practice bonsai techniques on this tree.

I have earlier had fukien tea trees and they have all died. I think this was mainly due my reluctance then to change the soil fearing that I would kill the tree that was growing so well at the time.

This time I knew that if I didn't change the soil then it would go the way of the other trees and die. I repotted this in the spring a few weeks after I purchased it, this gave it time to acclimatise itself to my home. It has since been growing well in my own soil mix of 1/2 fired clay and 1/2 pine bark.

Bougainvillea # 1

2009-09-08T00:07:00.000+03:00

This bougainvillea was started from a cutting. It had been growing in a standard plastic pot for 2 years.

The bougainvillea was planted into this pot in the spring. I have yet to decide how I want this bougainvillea to look so I have allowed it to grow and only cut back the long shoots once they have reached approx. 5-6 nodes.

Weeping fig

2009-09-07T23:39:00.000+03:00

This fig (Ficus benjamina 'natasha') was purchased from a garden centre. All three figs were included in the same pot.

I repotted these figs in the spring. The roots were quite tangled together being potted in the same pot, but I managed to separate them enough to plant in this pot. The figs now need some wiring to improve the look, this I will do in the next couple of weeks.

Norway maple # 4

2009-09-02T01:01:00.000+03:00

This maple had already been growing for a few years at the bottom of our garden and has a very interesting shaped truck.

When I dug this up from the ground I had already decided that I wanted to place the exposed roots over a rock. I used clear cellophane to wrap the roots to the rock and separate this area from the soil so that the roots would grow downwards. I then planted the tree and rock back into the ground.

I also buried a slab in the ground and placed the tree on top of this slab to force the roots to now grow sideways once they were out the bottom of the cellophane.

The image above shows the portion of the tree that I have planned to keep. This will mean that I will remove the long branch from the final design. I have left this to grow at the moment as this was the only section that had leaves plus it helps to thicken the truck and roots while allowing the tree to grow unrestricted.

Norway maple # 1, 2, 3

2009-09-02T00:11:00.000+03:00

Norway maple (Acer platanoides) is a very common tree in the south of Finland. There were two big maples in the garden of our old house and each year new shoots would start to pop up all over the ground underneath the big trees. A few I took and planted into the ground and left to grow there for 3 years. During the winter the rabbits would come and eat away the brackets. We moved house at the end of last year so had to dig them up if I wanted to bring them with me.

The size of the leaves are quite big and I am told that they are not easy to reduce, but I will at least work on them and let's see what happens. If nothing else it will be good practice doing the normal tasks (trimming, pruning, repotting etc.) that is required to make a normal tree into a bonsai style.

The tree below is possibly the variety "Crimson King" which has dark purple leaves. Believe it or not the tree had been the ground the same amount of time as the above two maples but has only grown 10 cm in height.

All these trees were removed from the ground in October 2008 and potted into these pots. I understand that this would not be recommended to do so late in the season, but it was either that or leave them for the new owners to maybe dig up and destroy anyway.

Yellow birch

2009-09-01T23:41:00.000+03:00

This birch (betula alleghaniensis) was also purchased from a garden centre.

This tree is probably not one of the best trees to have as a bonsai because the size of the leaves are quite big, but it was the truck that attracted me to this tree. Good nebrei can also be seen which is always an important aspect of making a good bonsai.

It was repotted in the spring and I found that the roots where shallow enough for me to be able to place it straight into a bonsai pot.

Amur maple

2009-09-01T00:25:00.001+03:00

This maple (Acer tataricum ginnala) was purchased from a local garden centre.

What attracted me to this maple was the thick trunk and exposed root. The original height was over 1/2 metre and the was reduced at the end of last year. The tops of the branches can still be seen through the leaves. These will be further reduced or removed completely once all the leaves have fallen and I can have a better idea how the new branches are forming.

The tree was repotted in spring in my own bonsai soil mix of fired clay and pine bark roughly 1/2 and 1/2. The maple had to be repotted into a deep pot because of the size of the roots. It was not possible to remove all the big roots until some finer roots have started to grow closer to the surface.

Welcome to Raisio Bonsai

2009-08-29T23:02:00.000+03:00

Welcome to my blog where I will inform and show my ups and downs of making bonsai here in Finland. I will post pictures of my current bonsai / potensai (potential bonsai) and in future show the various steps to try to turn my various trees into bonsai.