Bonsaiformeatheads
Seedling
Hello fellow nuts!
After being inspired by leatherbacks recent YouTube video I took it upon myself to find trees around me that other people want dug out of their garden. Thought I’d make a bargain getting these for free but damn it was hard labour doing this on my own.
Needless to say I was way in over my head but I managed to dig them and pot them up and I’m curious to see whether they survive.
Turns out: both trees looked significantly smaller in the images than they do now.
Sadly I couldn’t take any proper photos when I was potting them up because it was already dark by the time I got home.
Number one: This beautiful Lilac
This beauty grew in pretty muddy conditions so the majority of the roots were really big and it did not have many fine fibrous roots. I just pruned (with a saw, lol) away the really big roots so it fit in this 60cm diameter pot and planted it up as high as I dared.
It is now sitting in a mix of 2:1:1 Pumice, lava, (fired) clay based substrate.
The second one: a big Hazelnut shrub
This big boy did not fit any kind of pot I could find. It was an odd one tho: my guess is this one planted itself on a piece of “anti weed sheet” (don’t know the correct name) and started growing from there. There was hardly any soil close to the trunks itself except for fine mulch. This resulted in an extremely flat and fine fibrous root base close to the trunk - if I had a big enough shallow bonsai pot I could’ve put it in there without any trouble. The exception are the fat roots you can still see in the picture. The tree was surrounded by a clay based soil I have not seen before yet. It was completely solid and not a single root entered it which resulted in these fat roots forming and even circling around below the tree - it was absolute hell digging this one.
It is now sitting in a deep “pot” (a mortar tub) i had sitting around. Just drilled Holes in the bottom, put coarse substrate in the lowest Parts and it’s sitting in 2:1:1 p,l,c as well. I shortened all trunks significantly (up to healthy buds, with space for dieback) but have not yet removed any completely (except for some suckers) since I’m sure some won’t wake up come spring.
Since I have Never done anything like this before is there something I should do in the following months to make sure they thrive in spring?
I‘m open to any and all hints and tips since I really want them to survive - even if they will probably never be show level bonsai it was so much fun already and I look forward on working with them.
After being inspired by leatherbacks recent YouTube video I took it upon myself to find trees around me that other people want dug out of their garden. Thought I’d make a bargain getting these for free but damn it was hard labour doing this on my own.
Needless to say I was way in over my head but I managed to dig them and pot them up and I’m curious to see whether they survive.
Turns out: both trees looked significantly smaller in the images than they do now.
Sadly I couldn’t take any proper photos when I was potting them up because it was already dark by the time I got home.
Number one: This beautiful Lilac
This beauty grew in pretty muddy conditions so the majority of the roots were really big and it did not have many fine fibrous roots. I just pruned (with a saw, lol) away the really big roots so it fit in this 60cm diameter pot and planted it up as high as I dared.It is now sitting in a mix of 2:1:1 Pumice, lava, (fired) clay based substrate.
The second one: a big Hazelnut shrub
This big boy did not fit any kind of pot I could find. It was an odd one tho: my guess is this one planted itself on a piece of “anti weed sheet” (don’t know the correct name) and started growing from there. There was hardly any soil close to the trunks itself except for fine mulch. This resulted in an extremely flat and fine fibrous root base close to the trunk - if I had a big enough shallow bonsai pot I could’ve put it in there without any trouble. The exception are the fat roots you can still see in the picture. The tree was surrounded by a clay based soil I have not seen before yet. It was completely solid and not a single root entered it which resulted in these fat roots forming and even circling around below the tree - it was absolute hell digging this one.
It is now sitting in a deep “pot” (a mortar tub) i had sitting around. Just drilled Holes in the bottom, put coarse substrate in the lowest Parts and it’s sitting in 2:1:1 p,l,c as well. I shortened all trunks significantly (up to healthy buds, with space for dieback) but have not yet removed any completely (except for some suckers) since I’m sure some won’t wake up come spring.
Since I have Never done anything like this before is there something I should do in the following months to make sure they thrive in spring?
I‘m open to any and all hints and tips since I really want them to survive - even if they will probably never be show level bonsai it was so much fun already and I look forward on working with them.
