My trees progression

eryk2kartman · Jul 4, 2019

Hi Everyone,

I was thinking a lot before i decided to post my own tree progression tread, its more to keep the track on them and get other people advice, we always learn something everyday.
So im in Ireland, i started bonsai good while back but had a break for couple of years, most of my trees died during house move etc but im back for around a year now.
Started growing some seeds last year as well as collecting, expanded during the winter as well as i got a lot of bare rooted trees also planted large number of seeds. So here i want to keep the track of them, maybe not all at the same time but will add them in future.

I dont have any tree yet that i could call Bonsai

Any critic and feedback is most welcome.

So lets start from the small ones:
1. My smallest tree - Some kind of oak, i collected it last year, wired and transplanted into mame pot, it took a while to get back to life but i hope it will make it

2. My 2nd smallest oak, got it this year winter as bare rooted, Its Quercus palustris or Quercus cerris if i remember correctly, not sure about the age, also it took a while to bud but it seems to be happy now. btw - that long branch is dead, i will remove it on some stage.

3. Maple 1 - collected last year, repoted and root trimmed this spring( it grew a lot of new roots since collection) i want to keep it small, will see how that goes

3. Maple 2 - also collected last year, root pruned and repoted this spring, it bounced back nicely,

eryk2kartman · Jul 4, 2019

Maybe some seeds and seedlings now

So here is my Albizia seedlings, i planted them last year 2018 in June, they sort of germinated quickly and ratio was good also how ever they did not grow well, i kept them indoors but i guess there was not enough light, so i moved them outdoor on the bench with small plastic cover on them, they seems to not like too, grew a bit and were dropping leaves, ver slow growth, however i could see small branching happening there, a lot of them died, i think i ended up with maybe 10 left from 50+ seedlings. During last winter i set up a greenhouse in the backgarden and they landed there in February i think, so since they are there, they grow nicely. they even survive small frost we had which is huge surprise.
So i decided to root prune them and put them into the bonsai soil, i left couple untouched to see the difference in growth, so the ones in the round pots are the ones left alone, they seems to be much bigger and thicken trunk compare to the root pruned ones. Time will show real difference.

2. Some locally collected pine seeds - i thought it was Scotts pine but its way different than other, only 3 or 4 pines like that in entire small forest, the cone was huge, nearly size of 2 tennis balls, they germinated fast and with high ratio, growing strong

3. Stone pine - Pinus Pinea, very big seeds, seedling quite big too, i have more but didnt take photo of another container

More to follow....
I didnt have a chance to take a photos of my bigger projects.... its all to follow

Tycoss · Jul 4, 2019

Those look fun. I like some of your pots. I’ve just started playing with seedlings myself in the last couple years. They will take a long time to develop, but you will be able to control their every stage of development.

eryk2kartman · Jul 5, 2019

More seeds and seedlings

1.Prunus armeniaca - 99% germination rate - im very happy with this one, planted in February 2019 in the grennhouse, so far they are flying i think

2. Sakura Japonica, only 1 seeds germinated out of 10, not great but growing strong

3. My Cypresses, 1 pot is Italian Cypress but dont remember which one is which and what the other one is, i guess time will tell, they look cute in small pots, both germinated last year, this is their 2nd year

4. This is Thuja Accidentalis i believe, it grew itself in one of the pots

5.Baobab - my South African friend gave me a seedling last year, he collected seeds himself in Botanic Garden in Johannesburg

i know i know

It was growing nicely and quite tall last year, so i thought i will snap the top to get more branching as it was only a stick, so i guess plan worked but during the winter it was kept indoors and with the light i get in Ireland, he wasnt happy, lost all the leaves, but bounced back in the greenhouse this year, so im glad its alive

eryk2kartman · Jul 5, 2019

Couple more

This is heather, grew itself in one of other pots, i like it, it looks very dramatic, even trunk is quite skinny

Larch - locally collected lat year, probably around 3 years old, got new pot this spring and also seems to like to be in the greenhouse

Lonicera Nitida - got it this winter, potted in new soil and styled a little, this will be clump, now it needs to grow....

My little forest, i think this is sort of Myrtus, i took cutting from my friends shrub and rooted them

Wires_Guy_wires · Jul 5, 2019

Those pines with the giant cones are most likely pinus nigra.

namnhi · Jul 5, 2019

Looks like you are having fun.

Orion_metalhead · Jul 7, 2019

Love the Heather. When my wife and I travelled to Ireland we hiked Hornshead and got lost among the endless sea of Heather there. It was incredible. Please do a dedicate thread on the heather and tag me. Id love to see how that progresses and may want to try it myself. There are a ton of woody, low growing species that could make great bonsai which I feel are neglected.

eryk2kartman · Jul 9, 2019

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.
Ohh yes heather here grows like a grass on the hills, the best is in around September when they all flower

so i have real Purple Hills

I dont think my heather is good enough for separated tread but i will see how it progress, it will post photos here for now.
I might go to the some farmer on the hill side and ask him if i can dig up a big one, they usually burn the whole gorse/heather fields in spring.

eryk2kartman · Jul 14, 2019

Wires_Guy_wires said:
Those pines with the giant cones are most likely pinus nigra.

Me and my wife went for a walk today, we were passing the trees i got cones from, here are photos, not sure if you can see real size, they are very tall, very rough bark, and really long needles

And this is local Scots pine,

eryk2kartman · Jan 21, 2020

2020 update

So another spring is coming shortly so a bit of movement in the back garden also, the winter was very mild so far with average temp probably around 8 degrees C.
Usually is still dark when i get back home from work so i only have a chance to see the plants during the weekends, so far all looks good but some plants already shown some spring signs, so i had to start working on some of them
First, i had a lot of larch seedlings, 1 year old, they are either Larix gmelinii var. principis-rupprechtii or Larix olgensis

potd got mixed up

so to my surprise some of them already had a green tops, i think around 19 in total, maybe some a little earlier than needed but i knew next time will be next weekend and for some could be to late if weather stays like this, i trimmed tap roots on them.

The next one was Spindle Euonymus europaeus, i had 3 in one pot, im planning to have them in shohin sizes, will see how that goes, i really like the white bark on them

eryk2kartman · Jan 21, 2020

2nd and 3rd one

eryk2kartman · Jan 21, 2020

And this one might be slightly to late but i missed it last year so decided to go ahead with the Quince repot too

I hope i didnt go to hard core on the roots but i hope it will recover,
All of them are now in the greenhouse, nicely protected.

Thats all for now

eryk2kartman · Jan 26, 2020

Another busy weekend, more plants think its spring

so i had to deal with that.
For starters more Larches - 23 this time, all root pruned

eryk2kartman · Jan 26, 2020

The next one are Crab Apples, i collected the seeds in Autum 2018 from the tree in my neighbour front garden. planted outside November 2018, they germinated in spring 2019 without any stratification, some root were quite big

They were in one big tray with other seeds so i had to pull them from there.
14 in total, all root pruned.

coltranem · Jan 26, 2020

eryk2kartman said:
planted outside November 2018, they germinated in spring 2019 without any stratification, some root were quite big

If you planted outside and they stayed outside all winter that is stratification

eryk2kartman · Jan 26, 2020

Next two are Loniceras - Nitida i think, i saved them in Summer 2018 when councilor was fixing the path, i had few more, all of them had very small root system and they were bare sticks, im glad they go strong now.
So the first one, smaller one, i styled it a bit but still not sure about final design.

eryk2kartman · Jan 26, 2020

This is the second one, bigger but it was much more damaged, some part are already hollow as i think they have very soft wood,
I have no idea about how to style it, i will let it grow and see what happens. i think some carving might be involved but lets see, time will tell....

0soyoung · Jan 26, 2020

We're having fun now!!

It is more about about the journey than the destination, IMHO.
The hard part is deciding exactly where you are going with each one.