RoR for First Bonsai?

DrTolhur

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Howdy, y'all. I'm just getting started into bonsai and recently picked up my first tree: fukien tea. Unfortunately, it has a large and very prominent root that loops up out of the soil and back down. (I tried to attach photos, but they kept failing the upload process. Maybe they're not necessary given my points below.) I was thinking I might try making it a root over rock and arrange the rock into the root, but after reading through this forum a bit, I'm questioning that direction for the following reasons:
1) This is my first bonsai, and RoR might not be the best idea for a first.
2) The root looks already quite thick and woody, so it probably wouldn't meld onto the rock much if at all.

What are y'all's thoughts on dealing with this root? Am I right that RoR is not the best course at this time? Should I just cut it off? Any other creative ways to make use of such a silly root?
 
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DrTolhur

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Uploading is working now, so here are the photos.
2020-04-18 Pot.JPGIMG_1749.JPG2020-04-18 (3).JPG
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Fukien Tea, is not the easiest of trees for its horticulture. If you are already comfortable with the horticulture of an array of houseplants, Fukien tea should be easy for you. But if you are new to raising plants in general, especially in pots, Fukien tea will be a challenge.

There are plenty of Chinese examples of Fukien tea being used in root over rock plantings, usually as Penjing, rather than Japanese style Bonsai, but essentially similar in terms of horticulture. So it certainly can be done.

But for someone new to the hobby, ROR can be a bit "tricky".
How about a photo of the rock? Tree and rock side by side.

One mistake is often those new to the style use too small a rock.

So welcome to what can be a life long hobby. Always something new to learn.
 

Shibui

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A rock added just to disguise an ugly root is almost always a mistake. It just looks like someone added a rock to disguise a bad root. There's nearly always spaces between rock and root which doe not look good.
Good root over rock needs to be planned and grown from young so that the roots look like they grew there.
If you can find just the right rock that will fit and look just right you may be able to make it work. Otherwise don't bother.
Any chance the root could be pruned off? Now or in the future?
 

DrTolhur

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Leo, what about fukien tea would make it challenging? Is there more to be aware of than proper watering, sun, and fertilizer? I don't have a specific rock picked out. I had one I thought, but my aforementioned research also showed me that it was too small. But if there are more concrete reasons why root over rock might not be a great idea in this case, then I won't bother looking for one.

Shibui, I don't know if the root can be pruned off. Still brand new, so I don't know what might be harmful to the tree since it's so large and developed. I'm assuming that's an option, though.

Sorce, it does obviously come down to that at the end of the day. I'm just looking for feedback from more experienced people on my two points above. The main thing I want to do with it is not fail. I'm unwilling to have it die or really even just do nothing. So my top priority is getting it to generally work as bonsai. I like the idea of root over rock, but I'm unwilling to try it if it means a reasonable chance of failure on my first tree and one I purchased. I'd be more interested in trying RoR on a free tree if it might not succeed. And again, if the root is too developed to look good as a RoR, I would also look elsewhere, but I don't yet know how adaptable the root(s) may be in this condition.

At this point, I'm kind of leaning toward just playing it safe and conservative, let it grow out and see that the tree does on its own after a couple of months. It's still in the pot it came in, and I'm not sure it's the best long-term soil, so I'm planning to repot it into a slightly larger pot and with better draining soil in the next day or two. Then I can see the whole root situation and maybe have a better idea of what to do more long-term.

Thanks for the input.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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You did not answer my question about whether you have experience growing plants in pots. It helps knowing how much experience someone has. Filling in location on your profile also helps. Much of the tree specific advice requires knowing what the outdoor weather is like. This is an international forum, it makes answering posts easier if you know whether someone is in Atlanta, Kansas City, Anchorage AK, Christchurch, New Zealand, or Singapore. We have members from New Zealand and Singapore, It is early autumn in New Zealand. They are getting autumn colors on their Japanese maples. If you are growing indoors only, or under lights only that could be used as a location, as it makes a difference.

The problem with Fukien tea, is that they do not show visible signs of problems, until some days past the beginning of the problem.

For example, if you grow Coleus in a flower pot, when the soil approaches being dry, the leaves wilt, and the wilt is very obvious. If you water the coleus the minute you notice the wilt, the plant will be fine, it will perk right back up. If you wait another 24 hours the coleus will still perk right back up. If you wait even longer, the leaves might die, but the succulent stem of the coleus will keep buds alive, and it will produce a new set of leaves, in 4 weeks you will have a coleus with fresh looking leaves as healthy as can be.

With Fukien tea, you dry the soil out, and it needs water today, you may not notice any visible wilt to the leaves. It might be 3 days before the leaves show that there was a problem. If you caught the fact that the soil was dry on the first day the soil was dry, the tree will be fine. If you wait until you see wilted leaves, you will be 3 days too late and the tree simply won't recover. So the problem with Fukien tea is not that it needs anything different than a Coleus, it is that it does not give obvious "early warning" of problems arising. Often you won't notice anything wrong until it is too late to fix it.

Some people find them easy to grow, some people find them difficult. The reason is they are a "difficult to read" tree. Some people are sensitive to the minor changes that are cues to the tree's health, some are not.

One additional piece of advise. Don't base your appraisal of Bonsai as a hobby on just one tree. It is best to have a collection, as a beginner, maybe plan of 5 to 10 trees. A mix of species would be ideal. Often the advice will be "let it grow". Patience is not easy when "letting it grow" is the only thing to do. A collection of 10 or more trees means there is a better chance there will be a tree that needs to have something done, something that will make you feel like you are "doing bonsai". For those of use who are "all in" on the hobby, we average between 25 to 150 trees in various stages of development. A large collection is easy if you are growing outdoors. If you are growing only indoors, a large collection would be anything over 10 trees.

But the key to patience with bonsai is buy more trees, if you are "caught up" on bonsai chores, you don't have enough trees. This makes it possible to set a tree aside to grow for 2 or 3 years without being impatient to work on it.

Hope this helps.
 

DrTolhur

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Sorry for the non-answer. I wasn't entirely sure how to answer. I do have some experience with potted plants, though. I'm in lower Michigan, and I grew a pineapple plant over the course of 5 years before it fruited. Another plant I'm trying to turn into bonsai is a jade that I started from a coworker's leaf that fell. It's a little over 4 years old now and starting to have some bonsai considerations. Other things have all been either flowers and/or food plants, but I've until very recently been in an apartment with just a balcony and very little sunlight (north facing apartment).

I currently have a number of other seedlings, saplings, and cuttings growing that I'm hoping to play around with some too: white pine, whatever maple is growing in my yard, some other unknown deciduous tree from my yard, and hydrangea. I'm just really hesitant to go out and spend hundreds of dollars all at once on bonsai trees at the outset. I like to start into hobbies more slowly and build up once I know what I'm into. I'm mostly just playing it by ear for the time being to see what develops (both in the pot and my own head).
 

vonklutch

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I'm a noob and have no basis for opinion, but as a guy who likes gnarly twisted looking trees, i dig the root, i'd find a way to use it as a feature.

That second picture, that root looks so cool.
 

Crawforde

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Fukien tea is tough in Michigan.
Low light and dry indoors in the winter, not very many months where it will be happy outside with nighttime temps high enough.
And they hate being moved.
Not impossible though. I had one for a couple years, but had lights and humidity in a small heated greenhouse for the winter, then I moved a few zones south, and it grew better. Then I moved to south Florida, where they should be happy, and I killed it. I do have some live cuttings from it though.
Welcome and enjoy!
 
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