Search results

I have too many seedlings this year. All of the below were grown from Sheffield's stock and germinated this year. They include: -Japanese black pine (4) -Scots pine (3) -Dwarf Mugo Pine (3 or 4) -Sakura (24) -Chinese quince (one whole flat) -Arakawa (4) -A few mystery plants that I forgot to...

Looking over my pine seedlings this morning and found this. It is just on the one tree and it wasn’t there yesterday. What is it?

Some people hate sifting components, but I enjoy it quite a bit. What I don’t enjoy is my sifter. As I switch out the various screens, they eventually bend and leave gaps. I came up with this trick earlier in the week, and it’s made a big difference. Below is my old sifter: Like many of...

What is the general practice among seed growers? I have an assortment of seeds that have germinated in large tubs of decomposed pine bark. I plan to move them to 4" nursery pots once they are large enough. This is mostly a space saving measure as the tubs take up my whole driveway. I...

I went crazy at Sheffield's before all this started and have a little bit of everything waiting to pop. 43 different varieties. So far the only ones to peek above the soil are: siberian crab, mugo, jack pine, and arakawa, but every few days a new group makes an appearance and I freak out...

Starting a ton of different seeds this winter, and as I've been researching, several different sources recommend occasionally spraying a fungicide inside the ziplock bag while the seeds are stratifying in the fridge. Any reason why I couldn't/shouldn't use the one pictured below? Cheers, Paul

Finally getting comfortable doing big chops. I was never in love with this S-bend elm; it always felt more like a caricature of a bonsai, but I like it a lot more after the chop. Hopefully I can build a better branch structure after a few years. Did I make a mistake doing this? Before: After:

Getting a new 8'x8' greenhouse to protect some of my more delicate trees from the upcoming Michigan winter. I had a clear vinyl one years back for veggies and so forth, and I was pretty happy with it, but now I'm seeing a lot of translucent green ones for sale as well. Any difference...

Problem#1: Although my JBP, scots, and mugo seedlings can handle the sun, several of them were roasting in the UV-absorbing black nursery pots, even with twice-a-day waterings. Problem #2: The dollar store where I used to buy my 8” colanders stopped carrying them. Solution: These… There...

Not sure if non-beginners are allowed to post about Carmonas, but I'm going to toss out my line anyway and see if I get any bites. -swish.....plunk!- So I have this hefty Fukien that I DIDN'T get at either the mall or at Wall-Mart, and before you ask, YES, it has the requisite big ol'...

I'm really looking forward to the show tomorrow. Although I've been into bonsai for quite a while now, I haven't been to an event since the one in Grand Rapids back in 2013, which inspired me to get into the game. For the people who go to this one every year, what are the "don't wanna miss"...

So I got this monster JM for a song and put three layers on it at different points back in mid May. All three of them have calloused over nicely, and two have put out roots...one more than the other. What is the smart move here? I'm inclined to separate the stronger one now so it has time...

A friend gave me some vintage bonsai books as a gift a while back and one of them had these two newspaper clippings tucked away in the flyleaf. The first is from 1992 and features John Naka, and the other is from 1986 and features Murata. Both are from an Orange County paper. @Rafael...

So I had one of these when I first got into bonsai five or six years back and ended up losing it in a flood. I've been trying to find another for quite a while and the Bonsai House in Westland, Mi. called me and hooked me up yesterday. I know this species might not be for everyone, but the...

Below is my BRT. I've had if for about eight months now, and I love it, but I'm not in love with the roots. I was hoping @LanceMac10 or one of the other BRT people here could chime in on whether or not this would be a good candidate for an air layer. I would hate to lose this tree if I were...

The heated exchange regarding bonsai instructional videos got me thinking...who are your top three favorite presenters? I'm hoping to pick up a few new names to add to my rotation, so please chime in. I'll go first: 1. Heron's (Peter Chan)...prolific output and soothing (if you ignore the...

I've had these stands in my mind for a while now. Finally had a chance to build them. The ponderosa is just for aesthetics, BTW. It lives outdoors year round.

Okay, technically this was a project from a few weeks back, but it fits with today’s other posts, so here it is. Everything rusts in my garage, so a few years back I began making oilcloth hangers for my woodworking tools. Problem solved. This is heavy-duty canvas from the hardware store, dyed...

Hi Gang, I think most of us can intuitively grab the right diameter wire when we need to bend a branch, but I found that when I ran out and needed to order a new coil, I was squinting at my old standard unit micrometer and trying to convert my scraps to metric, because I wasn’t 100% what size...

This has been on my to-do list for a while. I was sick and tired of tripping over my wire coils and lugging around three or four plastic totes. The walnut was leftover from an earlier commission. Carnauba wax over shellac.

I spotted a gorgeous 5 ft Acer P. for a reasonable price yesterday. I'll probably get it either way, and I plan to layer it into several trees. Am I waiting until next March/April, or is it not too late in the season? Michigan is still in the 40s at night. Apologies for not having a picture:)

Hi Everyone, I’ve posted in dribs and drabs since coming back to Bonsai this year, and now I’d like to put everything I’ve got going out there and see what you all have to say. Any advice and criticism would be most appreciated:) This first pic is a scotty I grew from a seedling my first...

Still trying to decide whether to cover both sided with lattice overhead or to leave the right in full sun as it is.

On impulse, I just ordered a bunch of Japanese maple seeds. I have some very limited experience stratifying seeds from my first bonsai go-round many years ago, but that was with pines. If I roll the dice and try to germinate as many as I can this year (wit, what would you recommend in terms of...

So I'm finally getting back into the hobby after a five year break. I still have a few of the trees from my initial bonsai explosion, but most didn't survive me. To those hardy souls I have added a bunch of new indoor trees that I hope fare better than my first round. I want to take them...