2021 Dwarf Chrysanthemum Bonsai Thread

[Pitoon]

This is my confusion. I understand that the plants themselves can be long lived, but how long can they be kept as trained bonsai? What conditions are required to keep the bonsai form for multiple years?

Like any other bonsai you have to maintain them. Pruning, repotting, wiring... all applies like any other bonsai. When they get long you cut back, wire to shape...etc. The one thing I can say is that you have to check up on them a couple times a week since grow really fast. Wire can cut in fast and you have to shape the branches when they are green otherwise once they get woody they snap.

 

[penumbra]

I am pretty dense when it comes to finding this info online on developing Chrysanthemum bonsai. I sat here looking over the suggested website and blog long enough for my tea to go from boiling hot to barely warm and found nothing. Does anyone here have a link to what it has been suggested that I might find? I am very much interested in learning more about this. I have several of the mums from Pitoon and have done minimal work on them to date.
Being in my early 70s, the idea of something that can be developed as fast as these mums is a fascinating prospect.
Time to re-heat my tea.

 

[Michael P]

My problem exactly! Many different websites give dribbles and hints, often contradictory and often fragments quoted out of context from Bill Valavanis. My first question: is it possible to maintain a chrysanthemum bonsai in bonsai form for more than 12-18 months? How does one over-winter a trained chrysanthemum to retain its form? Pitoon, thank you but I undertand that they require frequent maintenance. What exactly is that maintenance after training is "finished" or do you always start over again with root sprouts?

 

[Pitoon]

My problem exactly! Many different websites give dribbles and hints, often contradictory and often fragments quoted out of context from Bill Valavanis. My first question: is it possible to maintain a chrysanthemum bonsai in bonsai form for more than 12-18 months? How does one over-winter a trained chrysanthemum to retain its form? Pitoon, thank you but I undertand that they require frequent maintenance. What exactly is that maintenance after training is "finished" or do you always start over again with root sprouts?

Training is never finished. To maintain the desired shape/style you will always have to prune back. All bonsai at one point or another either need to be trimmed back to keep the current size or move up to the next larger size group. Overwintering depends on one's locale. I overwinter mine out back in a hoop house with 3mm white opaque film during winter. You may be just fine leaving yours on the bench. The key is to keep them from really hard freezes which will kill trunk. Mum's are fairly hardy and if this happens and the roots are still alive they will send out sprouts from below the soil in spring.

Chrysanthemum's are a photoperiodic plant which means you can control them with just light. If you want them in flowering mode you can trigger this by ensuring they receive at least 10+ hours of darkness. Reduce the dark hours and you can revert them back into growing mode. This is how you can buy flowering mums in summer as the grower had grown them in a controlled environment. So technically if one wants them to revert back to growing mode now just provide more light. However giving them a break after flowering is recommended as flowering does use up quite a bit of energy.

Since there seems to be a decent amount of interest on the dwarfs, and after seeing Bill's trio at the show I think it would be beneficial to write up an article/how to next year.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

On Bill Valavanis Blog - April 27, 2020 he wrote about Mums.

Mary (Bonsai Mary) published several articles. One was written by Dale Cochoy

Another was written by John Capobianco