Advice about installation of outdoor bonsai stands

[chicago1980]

Has anyone on the forum installed post in the ground for their bonsai trees.
If so would you share the process?
I live in zone 5B with heavy snow, ice, heat, and rain.

We are having our backyard renovations this year and I will be building my Bonsai area.

The area I am building out receives 10-12 hrs of full sun.

Please share photos and give advice.

 

[JudyB]

Dig a hole and use a fast set quickcrete mix. Just make sure you call to make sure there are no power lines if you are not in a rural area... It's really as simple as that. Also use a treated wood.

 

[Woody Carverton]

They are covered in snow right now or i would take pictures for you, but i can tell you being in zone 5 myself with heavy snow and wind over winters that cement is your best friend, and surprisingly cheaper than some wood alternatives also more decorative. Just go to home depo and get some sono tubes (http://www.homedepot.com/p/SAKRETE-12-in-x-48-in-Tube-for-Concrete-200077374/100324386). they come in 8", 10" or 12" get the size according to your "top" we went with 12" for durability. use some rebar, then you can make a cement form to make cement tops as well. the coolest thing that sold us on it was the dye and effects you can add to concrete. You can even make it look like marble. youtube is your friend.

 

[chicago1980]

They are covered in snow right now or i would take pictures for you, but i can tell you being in zone 5 myself with heavy snow and wind over winters that cement is your best friend, and surprisingly cheaper than some wood alternatives also more decorative. Just go to home depo and get some sono tubes (http://www.homedepot.com/p/SAKRETE-12-in-x-48-in-Tube-for-Concrete-200077374/100324386). they come in 8", 10" or 12" get the size according to your "top" we went with 12" for durability. use some rebar, then you can make a cement form to make cement tops as well. the coolest thing that sold us on it was the dye and effects you can add to concrete. You can even make it look like marble. youtube is your friend.

Please post a photo when you have one. I have considered pouring a form and adding a cement dye. Thanks for the advice.

 

[chicago1980]

Dig a hole and use a fast set quickcrete mix. Just make sure you call to make sure there are no power lines if you are not in a rural area... It's really as simple as that. Also use a treated wood.

How deep a hole?

 

[Woody Carverton]

Please post a photo when you have one. I have considered pouring a form and adding a cement dye. Thanks for the advice.

It will be April here before the snow melts enough to see the ground. were at the foothills of a mountain and even the 70 degree heat of spring takes a few weeks to a month to melt the 5-15 foot of snow we get in a season.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Please post a photo when you have one. I have considered pouring a form and adding a cement dye. Thanks for the advice.

You won't need a cement colorant if you use treated wood and have your cement footing slightly below the grade of your decorative soil covering. This would assume that you use something like gravel under your bonsai so that there is no dirt up against your treated wood. Even treated wood will rot (eventually) if kept perpetually wet.

 

[abqjoe]

On the quick and cheap you can get these from Home Depot for $17 each. As you can see I painted the exposed portion a color to my liking and I'll be using a redwood 4x4 post and redwood to build the top with too.

 

[choppychoppy]

I use stands with a base so they can be moved if needed. I've never had one even sway in the wind or had a single tree move and I live in florida and get major thunderstorms with wind regularly and during both major hurricanes this year I never moved a single tree and never had a problem.

 

[fh05]

View attachment 129503

I use stands with a base so they can be moved if needed. I've never had one even sway in the wind or had a single tree move and I live in florida and get major thunderstorms with wind regularly and during both major hurricanes this year I never moved a single tree and never had a problem.

Can you please give the measurements of the stands. Thanks

 

[jeremy_norbury]

Bench. No concrete, movable, efficient...

 

[rockm]

This greatly depends on the size of the trees you will have on the stands and the amount of wind exposure.

If you have larger trees, say between 25-150+ lbs, stands planted in the ground are a very VERY good idea. I have larger trees, most over 35 lbs some as large as 150. I put in four "monkey pole" stands for a few of them years ago. I used 4"x4" deck support posts that were about seven feet long. Buried the lower 3 1/2 feet or so in the ground, with the rest above. I constructed platforms from 1 1/4"x 1 1/4" deck rail pickets, as well as cross support underneath them attached to the upright post. The platforms were planned to be eight inches wider and deeper to accommodate my biggest bonsai's pot.

I don't use cement in the hole. Two schools of thought on that--concrete can hold water against the wood and rot wooden posts more quickly, posts without cement have to be buried deeper. Also cement in the hole makes replacing posts a gigantic pain in the ass, as you have to dig up 200 lb cement blocks along with the post...

A couple more things...

I have seen disasters with posts that simply sit on the ground. I won't use them for anything.

Wind is a big factor in using free standing posts. A big wind can cause heavy heavy drag on tree foliage, even on smaller trees. A good thunderstorm can mean big problems for posts that aren't sunk into the ground. Even if the tree is strapped down tight to the platform, wind can drag the entire thing over.

If you sink the pole into the ground, make sure you've dug deep enough. Nothing like having a post topple over a week later as the weight of the tree on the platform slowly pulls the pole to one side.

 

[rockm]

Extra platform on top is a turntable

 

[JudyB]

I don't have any shots of the digging part but here is how we did ours. @rockm is right about issues with weight and wind. That's part of the reason we made ours interconnect. Solid as a rock...

 

[jeremy_norbury]

I'd have 2000 trees with this much space.

 

[chicago1980]

Thank you everyone for you advice and photos! These responses have been thought-out and on topic. Thank you again.

 

[JudyB]

I'd have 2000 trees with this much space.

I do- lol,- but they are mostly landscape trees. I actually started doing bonsai because I ran out of room to plant trees on the property and still have open field space...

 

[crust]

Use wood treated specifically for ground burial. Its not much more. I suggest 6x6 buried 3.5 ft.

 

[sorce]

Nice...

You been getting it on!

Feel free to PM me whenever...
You're welcome by anytime!

I put mine in this year.



Glossed twice with Heilsmans, (spelling)
I put a couple stainless screws half way in around the bottoms for grip.

Then I dug this bucket down into the ground packed and made the form.
I got some cracks with the ground moving from the weight.

So next time....

I will let each one set up INSIDE the bucket....
Then transfer to the ground.

Or get one of the 10" post setting forms from HD. $=nope!

I would hold a rule of keeping the base twice as heavy as any tree on top of it.
Full overkill!

I might run a router around mine for a pretty bevel.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Oh and @JudyB ....

So serene...

Magnif!

Sorce