Harunobu's "Azalea 20-25 Contest" entry

[Harunobu]

I think I should really enter this context and try my hand in some 'proper' bonsai artistry.

I am starting out with a cutting I rooted in 2019. So I doubt I will be able to win because I need exceptional artistry to make this plant stand out in 5 years.
The cultivar I will be using is putatively named 'As-12-01' and I grew the mother plant from seed collected from 'Asahi no Izumi'.

So for the schedule, I had this in mind:

June 2019: Cutting was taken from the main plant.

April 2020: Repotted the cutting as an individual in a single terracotta pot with 100% kanuma.
April-September 2020: grow cutting as tall as possible.
August-September 2020: Wire main trunk at the end of growing season. Reduce shoots in each node to just 2 (one is a branch, the other the trunk).

April 2021: Cut back to main trunk and prune all foliage to trigger backbudding. Might consider repotting.

April-September 2021: Let the new buds grow freely. Remove excessive buds growing from the same place (reduce to 1) to prevent reverse taper. Hope for as much growth as possible. No pruning to shorten shoots at all.

April 2022: Consider repotting if not done so in 2021:
April-September 2022, let the tree grow freely, but prevent reverse taper. Cut back long branches higher up in the tree if they elongate too much, so to focus more energy on the lower part of the tree. Hope for low branches that can be thickened a lot to encourage good taper of the trunk.

April-June 2023: Definitly needs a repot now if not done the two years before. Give the tree a hard cut to set up the final branches. Probably the main branches are cut back into hard wood, into the growth of 2021. Consider leaving (a) low sacrificial branch(es) intact to thicken up the trunk.
June 2023. Prune new shoots to 2 branches with 2 pair of leaves each.
August 2023: Consider wiring up the new shoots to set up foliage pads.

June 2024. Prune new shoots to 2 branches with 2 pair of leaves. Apply wire to set the branches grown in 2023 if not done so August 2023.
Autumn 2024, prune to select the final branches. Remove sacrifical branches if some were kept completely. Don't prune the final branches at all, as that would prevent flower bud formation. Apply wire to set branches grown in 2024.

Late April 2025. Repot in the final bonsai pot selected for the display picture.
May-June 2025: Remove bad flowers and take competition display photo. Consider removing some new shoots that obstruct view of flowers. (Though personally I love the look of new shoots.)

 

[Harunobu]

Five years from cutting to bonsai is quite short, so this schedule is a bit rushed. I think one really wants to add 1 year in two places if this wasn't a competition. And with those 2 to 3 more years, the end result would still be a semi-stick in a pot. So I guess it will definitelyl be a stick in a bonsai pot with some flowers. But we'll see.

I think I will do some paint thing about how it might look in 5 years, just to see how close it will actually get. Current height is about 13cm. Flower diameter is 3cm. So I have thinking 4 cm empty space between soil to first flower. Then first flower on branch 1. So that is 7 cm. Then 3 cm empty space to branch 2, then flower of branch 2. So that is 13cm. Then 6 more cm for some empty space and the flower in the apex of the final tree. So a final height of 19 cm. So with that I think I can away with not growing vertically after August 2020. And then instead work on thickening the trunk.

Pretty sure the long shoot with the leaf almost touching the upper edge of the first photo will be the main trunk. I will want to wire that branch and make it bend stronger with the base of the trunk. I think I will want the main trunk to move away from the viewer, which can be done by planting at an angle, and then the bend should go to the right and upward. Not sure if I want to wire soon, or later this season. Of course, azalea get britte very quickly. So if I wait too long, it will no longer be possible to wire the main trunk.

(Why can't I put everything in one post? Bonsainut.com even timed me out for like 20 minutes while it was still online for others. Like I get a 20 minute DDOS ban or something after making wordy posts.)

 

[Harunobu]

Made this GIF to kind of outline the plan described. It is a bit off because it actually grows the longest shoots in the first frame. I also plan to replant it so the first trunk section is at an angle, but if I rotate 6 degrees in Paint, it messes up the picture. I think I actually have half a season of leeway. And the flowers are probably larger than in the final frame. Also, probably the first two branches would need to be bigger. And in the picture, removing the first branch and having the actual first branch at the first trunk bend seems better. And probably the trunk will be thinner than in the picture as well. Just curious how reality will follow this prediction. I do see I removed a maintenance 2 shoots 2 leaves prune from the earlier plan. I think the summer of 2023 will require some maintenance pruning, but trying to let it grow freely as much as possible. So I could get an additional level of ramification. Level 1 the main backbone. Level 2 the shoots grown in April to June 2023. Then level 3 grown in June to Sept 2023. Level 4 From April to June 2024. And then level 5 from June to Sept 2024. Maybe 4 levels will be enough, following the GIF. Also, in 2022 it will grow much more than in the picture. Hence the leeway.

 

[fredman]

Gotta love a man with a plan
I take it you don't know what the flowers will look like...?

 

[Harunobu]

So I already decided to slightly deviate from the original plan, and wire it up a bit now, rather than wiring it completely April 2021. I suck at wiring and I am afraid that in late august, maybe it will have lignified and be too brittle for my large hands. I put two copper wires that are kind to too thin. And weather is going to be cloudy but warm for the next week. I realize a thicker alu wire would have been preferred, more tightly wrapped. So I decided to pair the main two shoots, who are both candidates for the apex. And a main branch pointing outside of where the main trunk bends is desirable. In the past, my noob self would try to wire up the main trunk itself and try to bend that. Then I figured out bonsai artists always pair two branches together. But at least now I can set the first trunk movement and I don't have to worry about something perfectly straight down the road. Not sure how long this can stay on. Even if it cuts in a bit now, it will probably be gone in 2025. I'll think about removing it before that happens and maybe reapply new similar wiring. If it is set in mid August like this, and I remove the wire, it will straighten out quite a bit eventually.




When people say I don't know much about bonsai, the are correct. I can parrot what is said about wiring, but don't let me wire your tree.

Somehow, after the repot this spring, and comparing now to 20th of may, it doesn't seem to have grown much. Hopefully that means it has been growing roots. Before the picture in the OP, these cuttings had all shared a pot of peat for a long time, in the same pot where they originally rooted. Then I left for abroad for half a year and during the summer drought, someone else watered them. And they seemed perfect this spring, as they were waking up. So I planted them all out. It kinda looks worse now than on the 20th of May. Hopefully, there isn't this slight but gradual decline for a 5 year period.

And relating back to the GIF, the wired branch pointing to the left is supposed to become the second trunk section in the GIF, which also bends to the left.

Oh, and about the flowers, yes I do know what the flowers are like. But it will have to be a surprise, I think. There is no flowering in my schedule until 2025. As for the name, I am open to suggestions, as it doesn't currently have one.

 

[Pitoon]

@Harunobu How's it looking now? Any new growth?

 

[Harunobu]

Not much. I may be running into an unforeseen problem. This one is a cutting from one of my own seedlings. Not all plants grown from seed propagate well, I have been told. But I assumed this was mostly an economical issue for a nursery mass-producing. And since the mother plant grew so well and the cuttings rooted at a high success rate, and these cuttings looked so healthy, I saw no problems. All I did is separate the very healthy looking cuttings and put them into maybe slightly too large 100% kanuma pots. One, I put in the full ground. The roots were kind of intertwined when I separated the 5 cuttings, nothing that serious, though. Tried to avoid damaging/pruning them. And none of them are growing noticibly. Since I have pictures, I will take a new one in a few day at the same angle and see the change.

So my theory is still that they are growing roots. The problem is, I have other cuttings that I rooted at the same time, also shared a pot, and were transplanted in 100% kanuma as well. And they are taking off.

The only two differences are that 1) those are established cultivar, and 2) that because they rooted less well, they had to share a pot with 2 or 3 (because the other 3 or 2 cuttings didn't root), and their roots must have been intertwined less. But for my new cultivar, all the cuttings took root. So they were 5 in a single pot.

Actually, 2 of the other 3 cultivar I rooted 2 years ago flowered this year. And all other 3 are taking off. So if it is really a genetic issue with my new cultivar, I may have to swap in one of the other cuttings.

So I might be losing a year, when I was already 2 or 3 years behind almost everyone else. Oh well. I just have too many azalea to buy a new one and chop it up. And everything else I have were set up to be bonsai earlier. And I kind of wanted to do a time lapse starting from a cutting. But these ones are breaking the rules by not growing when they should be (because the other slower growing cultivar are outgrowing them by a lot).

 

[Forsoothe!]

Actually, there are already a zillion buy & chops in this contest and watching a seedling grow into (probably) a mame worthy of a contest would be welcome. Stay the course.

 

[Harunobu]

It is not a seedling, but a cutting from a seedling mother plant. There might be something about the genetics and physiology of this plant that throws up a hurdle in terms of asexual propagation. It might also be that it doesn't like growing in kanuma soil. All my seedlings were grown in peat or peat-based garden soil, which is why I put one of them in the full ground. But none of the cuttings from this variety are growing like the other cuttings that were taken at the same time and given the exact same treatment. That's a bit peculiar. I expect it to pick up growing eventually. But one of the reasons I picked this cutting is because I expected it to do better and grow more,than the other cuttings from Japanese satsuki taken at the same time. Not worse.

I have a 'Hekisui' satsuki cutting that was smaller in mid may and had two flower buds. But now that one has about 5 shoots that are now 2 cm that grew from the base of that flower bud. Very idiosyncratic growth for azalea that would make it ideal for educational purposes. I expected this thing to do the same. But it didn't, and neither did any of the sister cuttings. It is a bit strange. I kind of hoped that the vigorous growth of the mother plant would translate to the cuttings as well; a satsuki that grows like a weed and is less temperamental. So far, the reverse seems to be the case. Let's see and wait. In terms of root pruning when I repotted these, I think I only had to use a scissors to cut two of the cuttings apart from each other when separating the 5 cuttings. So maybe they are growing roots and they will catch up and overtake the other variety cuttings taken at the same time. Otherwise, I have to blame the genetics. This is kind of a test and evaluation of this variety as well, and it is kind of failing that test right now.

So I might decide to swap in the 'Hekisui' one. Not sure how that works rule-wise. That may eventually lead to a better time lapse. Maybe I'll just go create a thread for the Hekisui one in he Flowers section. And then make a new msPaint for that one.

 

[Harunobu]

One month later, 4th of July:


So it literally didn't barely grow at all in two months (since the repot). The new leaves do have some chlorosis. They came out a really pale green and then darkened up unevenly. Strangely, some of the other cuttings of this variety have new leaves with red sectors, like there is no chlorophyll anymore and it is going into dormancy. Some chlorosis on cuttings is not unusual, and they will grow out of it.



Maybe they had a bit too much water, despite them being in 100% kanuma. It was really sunny and dry and these pots were among my azalea section of the garden. So I watered every other day to keep the garden soil from drying up. Now weather has cooled with some showers so I don't need to watering them at all. Let's see if it was the roots and now the low stress but warm nights weather will help them pick up. It is probably the root pruning I had to do to separate the cuttings and me overanalyzing and paying too much attention to them right now. I went back to the firust picture just after the repot of the closeup of that one shoot (second picture in this post). And it did add 4 small leaves to the apex.

'Hekisui' cutting of the same age given the exact same treatment (repot, fertilizer, soil, watering, sun/shade):




Those 5 shoots coming from the apex is what it grew this year, most of it after the repot. So I will probably open a parallel thread on the Hekisui one in the Flowers forum.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Hi Harunobu!

Hmm... the new leaves still look a little tender, like they haven't harden up... but I can clearly see what you are talking about. They all that look serious at this point. Also, I can't see any sign of overwatering effects on the leaves.

Just a thought.... What's your fertilization regime look like for young azaleas in kanuma? (I've been using a 6 month slow release 15-9-12 with micro nutrients on mine coupled with Miracid every 10-14 days to good effect, but dont know if either is available in your neck of the woods.)

I think they will perk up.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Pitoon]

@Harunobu if the cutting dies you can replace it with a new entry. I agree with @Forsoothe! stay the course and show us what you can make out of it.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Hi Harunobu!

Hmm... the new leaves still look a little tender, like they haven't harden up... but I can clearly see what you are talking about. They all that look serious at this point. Also, I can't see any sign of overwatering effects on the leaves.

Just a thought.... What's your fertilization regime look like for young azaleas in kanuma? (I've been using a 6 month slow release 15-9-12 with micro nutrients on mine coupled with Miracid every 10-14 days to good effect, but dont know if either is available in your neck of the woods.)

I think they will perk up.

Cheers
DSD sends

Sorry, I meant to say they don’t look all that serious at this point...

 

[Harunobu]

Yeah, it is not dying. May just be that this one has genes that make it not respond well to asexual propagation.

I added some osmocote and few sprinkles of organic fertilizer on top of the kanuma. Since it was now in kanuma and it looked a bit cholorosis-like. The overwatering issue could be that it caused mild chlorosis, as it was very rainy early spring. You see it sometimes in cuttings and then it just goes away when the weather warms up and they grow more, regardless of fertilizer. In hindsight, it wouldn't have needed that. I expected 2cm shoots on all hese branches by now. We will have to wait and see how it looks this time 2021. So the hard prune will have to wait.

 

[Harunobu]

Added a tiny leaf, and maybe a bit less veiny (and probably all the leaves are a bit larger as well).

 

[Pitoon]

View attachment 317857

Added a tiny leaf, and maybe a bit less veiny (and probably all the leaves are a bit larger as well).

This one seems to be a slow grower?

 

[Harunobu]

It's just being stubborn.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

It's just being stubborn.

Hi @Harunobu et al...!

Sorry about your azalea growing slowly. It looks a bit healthier. Thought these ideas might help provide food for thought!... or reinvent the wheel...!

So I've got this hypothesis forming in my mind on why certain Ericaceous plants fail to flourish at first, then get better, or die off entirely, especially when planted in non organic soil, like kanuma, kitty litter, pumice and lava etc, despite some "container soil" being included in with the roots. Some important background data.

• First, the Azaleas are prominent members of the Ericaceous Family (Heather, Heath, Huckleberry, Rhody) all plants with rely upon creating and maintaining a continuous Ericoid Mycorrhizal Fungi = EMR interface with mainly with Helotiales (ascomycetes) fungi.
• In forming the interface each surface rootlet cell is separately colonized from the soil by fungal hyphae which invade by penetrating the cell wall and grow inside, with the plant cell membrane folding back around the hyphae.
• The enzymes of the ericoid mycorrhizal fungi acquire nitrogen and phosphorus etc for their plant hosts by breaking down organic residues of plants and animals in the peaty soils and....
• The Ericoid plants provide the fungi with sugars from photosynthesis. The fungi partnership enables plants to acquire mineral nutrients from insoluble organic residues.
• This symbiosis with the hair root lasts only a few weeks until the roots thicken on other outside.
• New interfaces are formed with new cells as the roots grow.
• A widespread population of suitable soil fungi is essential to maintain the continual root recolonization, which is a key feature of ERM.

In short, as the root grows, the EMR interfaced root cells turn woody, ending the symbiosis in that plant cell. However, as new cells form, the ever present fungi in healthy Ericaceous soil continually create new interfaces... Keeping both the azalea and the fungi happy!

So say you take a healthy azalea, cut the roots down and clean them off a bit.... and maybe severely cut back its solar panels? Then you plant the azalea in a new, non Ericaceous soil. For example kanuma, or some other non organic mix - kitty litter - pumice and lava etc (with the bit of container soil on the azalea's roots).

The first thing that happens is that the remaining root tips, (Which could be/or not be adversely impacted depending on the nature of its growth and the cutback - bottom & edges), are handling the whole load of the nutrient uptake for the plant, have to get nutrients to keep the plant photosynthesizing. The rootlets first hope is to keep getting a healthy supply of fungi to their roots keep up the EMR interface.

Yet, the entire population of fungi in the soil has been somewhat diminished by the whole process. Even that's not so bad.... after all, there are lots of fungi in a teaspoon of soil. However, the azalea is being put into a non organic soil that has minimal nutrition for the fungi at best.

This organic-less mix dilemma could and in my opinion likely will, put the entire plant at risk for lack of nutrition... slowing new root growth, nutrient uptake, thus impeding the rate of photosynthesis until somehow the population of fungi can find a way to thrive again. Or not... and the plant dies

....Or the plant can get a replacement for the Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and micronutients from an outside source...

So here's the kicker. It is often said not to fertilize plants that have been newly potted (and repotted).

I don't think that should be the case for Ericaceous plants. I'm thinking it will stunt the growth of the plant worse that originally intended. The whole idea is to bootstrap the pot's ecological system back into gear. Get the EMR Interface healthy.

So what do you do? Feed it a weak solution of Miracle Grow for acid loving plants.... good for the plant not good for the EMR interface. Put cottonseed/blood meal chunks on it - much better, but its a slow release fertilizer that takes time to get things moving. Too slow for the system in this moment in time.

So my thought is to feed a weak, maybe 1/4 or 1/2 strength, organic liquid fertilizer like Alaskan Fish fertilizer right away and at regular weekly intervals, slowly increasing the strength over a period of time, depending on the plants growth rate. In other words, provide ingredients to build up the entire microbiome in the media.... while also providing both the azalea and the fungi nutrients.

Say for two or three months or so .... adding in whatever you choose for slow release from the get go.

Later, once the systems back into balance again and the pots microbiome is intact, you should be able to use most any kind of liquid fertilizers that supply the ammonium form of nitrogen, like MiracleGro.... since the media has now changed and built up a thriving microbe metropolis. Or alternate with the liquid organic fertilizer.

Last thought. Re potting an existing bonsai is a slightly different story.... then you might follow the old master's advice and include some of the old soil in the new potting soil.... and organic weak liquid fertilizer.

Hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it! Any thoughts?
Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Harunobu]

I believe in the whole root microbiome thing. I think the more we learn, the more symbiotic relationships we find between fungi and bacteria (like bacillus subtilis). But I also believe that if we do not understand these relationships well, we cannot micromanage them. I trust in nature to take care of things and fore the spores of the fungi and the bacteria to fall in my otherwise sterile soil-less media of kanuma in this case.

Like I said before, I am testing the 100% kanuma on these cuttings. But the cuttings from the other Japanese registered cultivar do well in kanuma. And this specific cutting from my own plants somehow don't. I planted one of the cuttings that was in kanuma back in soil, just to compare the results. It is an N=1, but so far it seems to do better.

The roots probably had their microbiome in peat when all cuttings were in the peat/perlite medium that I used to root them in. And it was still there when I planted them out in kanuma. Kanuma as a growth medium must be able to provide azalea root systems with the proper microbiome. Might it be that there is a change in the preferred microbiome when going from peat to kanuma? Probably. But it seems like a very complex and academic issue.

At this point the only thing I am thinking about is trying out Fe-EDDHA on some of my chlorotic azaleas, including one of these cuttings (not this specific one), to test if they have a direct effect on pale green leaves.

When I returned from a half year visit to Vancouver, I found that some of my peat potted azalea had severe chlorosis. Not the initial kind, but the progressed case. I put these in full soil of the garden in a sheltered place. And they are still not recovering. Second or third stage chlorosis looks pretty weird. Both of them flowered normally, but they are not well. I think overwatering from rainy winter weather on old spend peat with too much moss on top is a possible cause. Maybe combined with low NPH salts concentrations. I want to try the Fe-EDDHA on those as well. I think I should take some picture. I had a cutting like this years ago and after a long time, it died. I have not seen this version of chlorosis documented online.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Perplexing, to be sure!
Some Fe-EDDHA won’t hurt. My guess is that things will pick up over time.
Cheers
DSD sends