Make rocks for bonsai pot displays...

Bolero

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I use Chinese Ying Rock that is carried by Bonsai House in Westland, hundreds to choose from large and small and cheap, don't tell them you know me or they will raise the price....
Chuck
 

Forsoothe!

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I use all kinds from everywhere, including Ying from there.
 

Forsoothe!

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Here, as a portable file.
 

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  • Make Rocks for Bonsai Pot Displays s.pdf
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Boscology

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Good trick for the epoxy on stone. I know adding things to your tree's pot is highly questionable to most but I also know many (my dear mother included) that just love adding a certain accent piece like a rock to their pot.
 

Tieball

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I’m not quite following yet.
Does the rock attach to the bottom of the pot and become a permanent part of the pot? And......Tree roots grow around it? Is a post used so the rock is not just plunked down on the soil surface subject to shifting or falling over.....because it now has a post stuck to the rock base?

Why wouldn’t someone just put the rock on the surface and slightly bury it with the substrate?

Not negative.....just trying to follow the idea.
 

Bolero

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Tieball, I almost always place my rock on or just below the soil surface, easier to change when if I change my mind....larger rocks, as in my Bonsai Landscapes, I usually super glue to the pot bottom for stability....All Ying rock here....Koyo Hime 005.JPG
 
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Forsoothe!

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I’m not quite following yet.
Does the rock attach to the bottom of the pot and become a permanent part of the pot? And......Tree roots grow around it? Is a post used so the rock is not just plunked down on the soil surface subject to shifting or falling over.....because it now has a post stuck to the rock base?

Why wouldn’t someone just put the rock on the surface and slightly bury it with the substrate?

Not negative.....just trying to follow the idea.
The post keeps them from tipping over and are just anchors for temporary embellishment, like for a show. It allows you to use a rock that is not big enough to partly bury and/or you don't need to have the space to hold a rock. Most trees have very little soil above the roots, just a scrim of soil that barely supports moss, and certainly not enough to partially bury a rock, even a flat one. I can use a very flat rock less than a quarter inch thick that gives the impression of a large buried stone, or of an escarpment, especially effective immediately adjacent to a surface root. They won't just sit there, you need to anchor them and this helps them 2020_0116Rocks0002.JPGnestle down into the moss. It contributes to the reduced scale of the whole display. I lean towards the "miniature landscape" of penjing as opposed to "this is a tree in a pot" bonsai camp.
 

Adair M

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I lean towards the "miniature landscape" of penjing as opposed to "this is a tree in a pot" bonsai camp.
All right, then. If that’s your goal, carry on.

If the tree was potted more in the center, just barely off center, in a shallower, wider pot, there would be no “feeling of open space that needs to be filled”.

The tall pot “lifts” the tree up into the air. It makes it look like it’s “a tree in a pot”. If the pot were wide and relatively thin, it makes it look like it’s growing in a field, and is “grounded”.

Here are a couple examples of what I’m talking about:

07114AE8-4916-4565-91F7-AAF6189E66E7.jpeg

134BFBB2-7D4C-4478-B844-558738144F7C.jpeg

The thin pots of the two trees above contribute to the feeling they’re very stable in their environment.

This one, displayed at the Nationals last September, is planted a bit more off center:

B99CE702-5845-47F8-9964-DCB66C8914BF.jpeg

But, the pot is still relatively flat. It doesn’t need anything filling the void under the left side.
 

jaco94

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The aesthetic result is more natural and harmonious when the tree is slender and feminine with shallow pots but watering becomes more problematic , there is less margin for error in hot weather .

As a precaution , i avoid taking very shallow pots , i think they are more for experts . :)
 

Tieball

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The post keeps them from tipping over and are just anchors for temporary embellishment, like for a show. It allows you to use a rock that is not big enough to partly bury and/or you don't need to have the space to hold a rock. Most trees have very little soil above the roots, just a scrim of soil that barely supports moss, and certainly not enough to partially bury a rock, even a flat one. I can use a very flat rock less than a quarter inch thick that gives the impression of a large buried stone, or of an escarpment, especially effective immediately adjacent to a surface root. They won't just sit there, you need to anchor them and this helps them View attachment 279599nestle down into the moss. It contributes to the reduced scale of the whole display. I lean towards the "miniature landscape" of penjing as opposed to "this is a tree in a pot" bonsai camp.
Ahhhhhh........Thanks. Now I’m following and understand.
 

Adair M

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The aesthetic result is more natural and harmonious when the tree is slender and feminine with shallow pots but watering becomes more problematic , there is less margin for error in hot weather .

As a precaution , i avoid taking very shallow pots , i think they are more for experts . :)
Actually, a wider but shallow pot retains more water than a less wide and deeper pot.

You can prove it to yourself:

Take an ordinary kitchen sponge, and saturate it. Set it flat on the counter top. Let whatever water seep our. You may have to move it around a few times, but eventually, water will stop seeping out.

Now, take that same sponge, and be careful not to squeeze it, set it up on a side, and see what happens.

Water will seep out!

@markyscott can explain all the science, but the fact is, for a given volume of soil, having it wide but shallow holds more water than narrow and deep!

To combat the surface evaporative effect, a thin layer of chopped spaghnum moss on top of the soil can help.
 

Bolero

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Forsoothe! and Adair I applaud the two of you for Sharing (and with pictures) all the Wonderful and Useful information
that you provide, it is Worthy.....
 
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