Best bonsai pot shape for a maple tree (Mikawa Yatsubusa)

[Bonsai Planet]

What's the best bonsai pot shape for a Mikawa Yatsubusa maple?
What shape is considered feminine and what shape pot if more masculine?
Thanks

• Lotus-shaped: the potting medium works well with a bonsai that has populated or round foliage.
• Round bonsai pot: your tree will look taller than it is.
• Rectangular: these work well with trees that do not have a lot of curves and work well with flowering trees for depth.
• Squared: if you love flat shapes, this is the bonsai pot to have.
• Wide and shallow: the pot works with most bonsais to create a miniature garden.
• Corner-rounded rectangular and ovalled: the pot works well with curved trunks.

Want to move it out of this plastic pot

 

[penumbra]

I am just seeing a very nice tree in a growing container with no hint towards how it is going to be trained. Personally I wouldn't yet put it in a bonsai pot and I would let it grow out and thicken up. After I had a plan I would consider the pot. The style of the tree should be reflected in the pot.

 

[Bonsai Planet]

I am just seeing a very nice tree in a growing container with no hint towards how it is going to be trained. Personally I wouldn't yet put it in a bonsai pot and I would let it grow out and thicken up. After I had a plan I would consider the pot. The style of the tree should be reflected in the pot.

I believe all that you are saying and was looking ahead when I re-pot the maple, just a little anxious and bored on a Saturday afternoon I guess
So I should let maple tell me what pot to get later in it's life
Thank you for your advice

 

[BrightsideB]

I put some smaller trees on a little 6x6 inch concrete paver in the ground. It will thicken up much quicker. But once it is in a small pot it will be slow going on trunk thickness. I would put it in the ground in spring and air layer it. Then you have more trees at low cost to help with that boredom. I have like 140 trees only several are starting to be trained as bonsai.

 

[Bonsai Planet]

I put some smaller trees on a little 6x6 inch concrete paver in the ground. It will thicken up much quicker. But once it is in a small pot it will be slow going on trunk thickness. I would put it in the ground in spring and air layer it. Then you have more trees at low cost to help with that boredom. I have like 140 trees only several are starting to be trained as bonsai.

I live is southern California and most of my yard is in full sun and I need to figure a place where I can give it some afternoon relief and putting it in the ground sounds good
Thank you for the help!

 

[BrightsideB]

Cool, I’m from Whittier. But now live on the east coast. Shade cloth may be your best friend with that. Jm’s do well in part shade earlier day sun. I don’t know how well they do in your area though.

 

[Bonsai Planet]

Cool, I’m from Whittier. But now live on the east coast. Shade cloth may be your best friend with that. Jm’s do well in part shade earlier day sun. I don’t know how well they do in your area though.

House of Bonsai in Lakewood sold it to me and the Mikawa Yatsubusa maple is one of the successful maples that survive in southern California according to there success and failures.
Could I grow it in a 24 gal pot or should I put it in the ground and what kind of soil should I surround it with, my soil has a lot of clay in it
Thanks again!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

What's the best bonsai pot shape for a Mikawa Yatsubusa maple?
What shape is considered feminine and what shape pot if more masculine?
Thanks

• Lotus-shaped: the potting medium works well with a bonsai that has populated or round foliage.
• Round bonsai pot: your tree will look taller than it is.
• Rectangular: these work well with trees that do not have a lot of curves and work well with flowering trees for depth.
• Squared: if you love flat shapes, this is the bonsai pot to have.
• Wide and shallow: the pot works with most bonsais to create a miniature garden.
• Corner-rounded rectangular and ovalled: the pot works well with curved trunks.

Want to move it out of this plastic pot

Japanese maples are typically considered feminine trees, and usually look best in glazed, shallow oval pots.

Some reading material for you…

Pot School

So I've been deep into studying what makes a pot work with a tree, and how to pair them successfully. Firstly there is masculine and feminine, concepts I understand, and I get the basics of that. Sharp corners, deep pots, strong lips -all masculine traits. Rounded, shallow,curvy -...

www.bonsainut.com

Teach me about pots

I need to learn about pots. Not quality or makers but color and shape, what pairs with what trees and why. I know conifers usually go in unglazed pots and you wouldn't want matching colors like a orange blossom quince in a orange or coral pot. Besides that, what are the generally accepted rules...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Bonsai Planet
Your list if uses for different styles of pots is not really accurate, nor complete. Square pots are often used for cascade and semi-cascade trees. Lotus shape are often used for flowering trees.

Read the articles suggested by Brian van Fleet, and remember that there are few rigid rules when it comes to pairing a pot with a tree. Yet there is almost nothing more important in bonsai than the pairing of pot and tree. It is a serious and important step in the progress of a bonsai.

The pot sets the stage, suggests the location, the glaze can echo some trait or complement or highlight by contrast some aspect of the tree. Wide shallow pots suggests an open field. A square pot can be more suggestive of a ledge on a cliff. A flat rock slab is quite literal in suggesting a ledge of a cliff. The color of the glaze can mirror the color of flowers or fruit. Some will plant forsythia in yellow pots, because the yellow flowers are ephemeral, the pot will remind the viewer of the flowers out of season. A crab apple might be in a blue pot because the blue contrasts the scarlet red fruit, making the fruit "pop". And so on.

 

[Bonsai Planet]

@Bonsai Planet
Your list if uses for different styles of pots is not really accurate, nor complete. Square pots are often used for cascade and semi-cascade trees. Lotus shape are often used for flowering trees.

Read the articles suggested by Brian van Fleet, and remember that there are few rigid rules when it comes to pairing a pot with a tree. Yet there is almost nothing more important in bonsai than the pairing of pot and tree. It is a serious and important step in the progress of a bonsai.

The pot sets the stage, suggests the location, the glaze can echo some trait or complement or highlight by contrast some aspect of the tree. Wide shallow pots suggests an open field. A square pot can be more suggestive of a ledge on a cliff. A flat rock slab is quite literal in suggesting a ledge of a cliff. The color of the glaze can mirror the color of flowers or fruit. Some will plant forsythia in yellow pots, because the yellow flowers are ephemeral, the pot will remind the viewer of the flowers out of season. A crab apple might be in a blue pot because the blue contrasts the scarlet red fruit, making the fruit "pop". And so on.

Great explanations, thank you!

 

[Bonsai Planet]

Japanese maples are typically considered feminine trees, and usually look best in glazed, shallow oval pots.

Some reading material for you…

Pot School

So I've been deep into studying what makes a pot work with a tree, and how to pair them successfully. Firstly there is masculine and feminine, concepts I understand, and I get the basics of that. Sharp corners, deep pots, strong lips -all masculine traits. Rounded, shallow,curvy -...

www.bonsainut.com

Teach me about pots

I need to learn about pots. Not quality or makers but color and shape, what pairs with what trees and why. I know conifers usually go in unglazed pots and you wouldn't want matching colors like a orange blossom quince in a orange or coral pot. Besides that, what are the generally accepted rules...

www.bonsainut.com

Thank you for the clarification !

 

[james]

Shallow oval, or soft rectangle. Glaze usually intended to compliment foliage.

 

[Bonsai Planet]

Wow! very nice

 

[james]

Here is another variation, this time arakawa. Bark and styling more masculine for Japanese maple, so I went with a rectangle.



Much of this is subjective, and the feeling one wishes to convey. The first image is in a cream oval that I was using as a trainer, a bit deep. Second up is a shallower oval in cream, which makes the trunk look thick, maybe too thick (over powers the pot). Next up is a rectangle in blue, a reasonable choice. Yet I thought baby blue a bit youthful, so I tried a more rugged light green rectangle. It looks nice too. Yet, I settled with a larger darker green rectangle, which has some glaze elements that play nice with the rugged bark (for a maple). So that was my choice.

 

[Bonsai Planet]

Here is another variation, this time arakawa. Bark and styling more masculine for Japanese maple, so I went with a rectangle. View attachment 459538
View attachment 459537
View attachment 459540
View attachment 459539View attachment 459541
Much of this is subjective, and the feeling one wishes to convey. The first image is in a cream oval that I was using as a trainer, a bit deep. Second up is a shallower oval in cream, which makes the trunk look thick, maybe too thick (over powers the pot). Next up is a rectangle in blue, a reasonable choice. Yet I thought baby blue a bit youthful, so I tried a more rugged light green rectangle. It looks nice too. Yet, I settled with a larger darker green rectangle, which has some glaze elements that play nice with the rugged bark (for a maple). So that was my choice.

Love how you documented it, the last one dose look right, amazing bonsai

 

[Pixar]

Go for the rectangle in blue

 

[Bonsai Planet]

I'll be putting the Mikawa Yatsubusa in a 24 gal in the front of the house with morning light and partial the rest of the day, may be in the container for a year or more to thicken up the truck ? and I need to learn air layering too
Will take pictures of the re-potting and placement tommrow
Is this a good air layering kit? Mosser Lee ML0300 Airlayer Grow-Kit, 224 cu. in.
Thanks again

 

[Bonsai Planet]

Here she is in a 24 gal + ceramic pot, morning sun then shade, how long should it be in this pot before I going smaller again?
Thanks

 

[penumbra]

It is fundamentally a great move. I have a number of JM in large ceramic pots.
But I do have concerns about your soil. It looks like topsoil.

 

[Bonsai Planet]

It is fundamentally a great move. I have a number of JM in large ceramic pots.
But I do have concerns about your soil. It looks like topsoil.

Just a little to top it off, Fox Farm Ocean Forest (3 cubic) below and 4 lbs Fox Farm Japanese maple fertilizer next to the Mikawa Yats