DiscoStu Posted January 25, 2015 Unknown this looks like elm trees? are they deciduous? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Cursive Posted January 25, 2015 Good question! I will ask my mate!Any help with ID'ing this will help. What Elm do you think it is, if it is deciduous? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted August 31, 2015 How is everyones bonsai? I hope their all starting to wake up after a long cold winter. Do any of the newer members have any tiny trees you would like to show off, please add some pictures I realized i haven't added any pictures, so i went outside in the sun and took a few pictures This was collected from the melbourne shrine when they were redesigning some of the gardens there Chinese elm waking up Japanese black pine. (Has so many new back buds) Bonsai bench 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Strontium Dawg Posted August 31, 2015 I've got a nice Moreton Bay fig that I started when I was 12, so it's about 30 years old now, but it's at my mum and dads place. Next time I'm down there I'll get a pic. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted August 31, 2015 That would be cool glaukus. I have a port jackson fig in the last picture. Its only a few years from seed so it would be tiny compared to something with 30yrs growth Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Strontium Dawg Posted August 31, 2015 I can't really take the credit for looking after it in the last 20 years! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) okely dokely, after 2 years here's where we're at, i need to start training the branches now to cover up the gaps but we're getting there front side DSCN0813.JPG back side DSCN0815.JPG top view DSCN0814.JPG edit: going for a shape like this kind of shapesie.png Hey disco,You should use that top branch as the new leader and let it grow a few feet tall and then see what structure you have to work with. If it were mine i would let it grow to atleast 1m tall and then chop it to not much taller than you have it now. Then start again and let it grow over 1m tall again. That is the slow way but you would end up with a tree with taper from base to tip to die for Edited August 31, 2015 by DeadStar 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Change Posted August 31, 2015 a few years back i was lucky enough to receive this oak bonsia from a lovely old lady that wanted to share out her bonsai collection before she passed away. She told me in 1972 she went on a holiday to Katoomba and picked an acorn off an oak tree and took it home to plant 43 years later i now cheerish that bonsia About 6 months ago a fern sprouted out the trunk which i think is really cool, but ive noticed this weird fungus underneath it. Does anyone know what it is and if i should be concerned ? Springs just arrived, so it only started shooting fresh leaves a few days ago, ill post another picture in a month when the foliage is out in full glory 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bogfrog Posted August 31, 2015 Pretty sure that 'weird fungus' is actually a root from the fern. I could be wrong but it looks a lot like it. Hare's foot ferns put out very similar above ground roots, surely many other ferns do as well. See if you can establish if its connected to the fern or a solo operator. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Change Posted August 31, 2015 Thank you for your advice you were correct, after having a closer look and a little fiddle with it, Im quite certain its not fungus as i originally thought, its the root system of the fern 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
incognito Posted August 31, 2015 No way u are 42 glaukus..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Strontium Dawg Posted August 31, 2015 I'm just warming up. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DiscoStu Posted August 31, 2015 Hey disco, You should use that top branch as the new leader and let it grow a few feet tall and then see what structure you have to work with. If it were mine i would let it grow to atleast 1m tall and then chop it to not much taller than you have it now. Then start again and let it grow over 1m tall again. That is the slow way but you would end up with a tree with taper from base to tip to die for not sure what you mean, you mean cut off the lesser branch and keep just the main one letting it grow? can you draw a crappy picture in ms paint or something? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted August 31, 2015 (edited) not sure what you mean, you mean cut off the lesser branch and keep just the main one letting it grow? can you draw a crappy picture in ms paint or something? You could leave the lower branch there and it will help thicken the trunk below it but i would leave the other branch to grow as tall as you canThe reason i say let it grow and then chop repeatedly is with time it will give a more exaggerated taper to the truck. Without the repeated chopping you get a tall tree with more of a telephone poll look to the trunk. Because figs have big leaves you need a tall bonsai to help it look like a small tree I hope that helps. Im bad at explaining myself Edited August 31, 2015 by DeadStar Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theuserformallyknownasd00d Posted August 31, 2015 No way u are 42 glaukus..... +1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DiscoStu Posted August 31, 2015 you mean like this? or this? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted August 31, 2015 More the first one now i have been thinking about it. The branch on the right in the picture could be left as the first branch. The branch on the left in the picture would be left as the new leader to grow 1m and then chop that leader back about 50cm 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DiscoStu Posted August 31, 2015 i see so the idea behind letting the leader grow and cutting it back is to get the branch/trunk thick enough to support the larger leaves Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted August 31, 2015 Not really. Letting the leader grow and then the chop back is only to help the trunk taper from the base to canopy and not look like a up and down telephone poll. With bonsai you want to give the illusion that you have taken a fully grown tree, shrunk it and put it in a shallow bonsai pot. With a tree that has large leaves like figs do, you need a taller bonsai so it doesn't look like you have giant leaves on a small tree. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flora Posted September 1, 2015 bogfrog i'm guessing your 'unknown favourite' from way back (2013?) is a juniper Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bogfrog Posted September 3, 2015 (edited) I have a sad bonsai tale.. I had a lovely little blue tree I got from a bonsai show about three years ago, it was in a training pot so I switched it into a nice green ceramic dish, the contrast of the dusky blue foliage and the rich green of the pot was gorgeous. But it was a pretty small dish. Recently I had a little 4 year old boy hanging out with me in the garden one sunny day, and he looked at this bonsai tree very intently for a few minutes then turned to me and said ' you have to repot this tree. It doesn't like being in the little pot. It wants to go into a really big pot so it can grow big and strong and then it can protect your house. ' I kind of knew what he was saying, and felt a bit bad for the tree. But I didn't listen. About a month later the foliage started turning brown and I tried to pamper it back to health, but it just went downhill very rapidly from there and died. I didn't listen and I lost my favourite tree. Think I am going to stick to medium sized and extra resilient trees from now on. Accidentally killing them through human folly hurts your green thumb. So sad. Edit: nawwww yea Flora that's the one in my story now. Gahh. Edited September 3, 2015 by bogfrog Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ Posted September 3, 2015 is that real life snow? and did you put that poor plant out in the cold just to get a snap what brand of tree is it? hi there sorry for the long assed time till replying i dont often get all of my notifications and just browsed over this and saw your question a moment ago for the first time ... It's a chinese elm (ulmus parvifolia) and it's [ttbomk] the most versatile and easiest tree to bonsai of em all .. can be evergreen or deciduous and [afaicr] i think i put the tree indoors well before the snowy season, just put it out for a magickal photo of it with some snow on .. Here it is at the moment I've tried whizzing up some moss in a coffee grinder .... and sprinkled it over the cracking bark ..... and with a good gentle spray misting very often .... might just yield me some epiphytic enhancements yet = ] fingers x'd if it works i might try again with lichens too 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) I have a sad bonsai tale.. I had a lovely little blue tree I got from a bonsai show about three years ago, it was in a training pot so I switched it into a nice green ceramic dish, the contrast of the dusky blue foliage and the rich green of the pot was gorgeous. But it was a pretty small dish. Recently I had a little 4 year old boy hanging out with me in the garden one sunny day, and he looked at this bonsai tree very intently for a few minutes then turned to me and said ' you have to repot this tree. It doesn't like being in the little pot. It wants to go into a really big pot so it can grow big and strong and then it can protect your house. ' I kind of knew what he was saying, and felt a bit bad for the tree. But I didn't listen. About a month later the foliage started turning brown and I tried to pamper it back to health, but it just went downhill very rapidly from there and died. I didn't listen and I lost my favourite tree. Think I am going to stick to medium sized and extra resilient trees from now on. Accidentally killing them through human folly hurts your green thumb. So sad. Edit: nawwww yea Flora that's the one in my story now. Gahh. Sorry to hear you lost your favorite bonsai bogfrog. I hate lossing any plants or seedlings. Juniper can be hard to save once the leaves start to brown off. It usually means they have dried out and died weeks earlier. P.s we dont listen to the little ones enough. Some of them are really switched on :-) Edited September 4, 2015 by DeadStar 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Strontium Dawg Posted September 6, 2015 Some figs. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted September 6, 2015 ^^ I love the airial roots on the first picture Share this post Link to post Share on other sites