The "Laying of Hands"

[BuckeyeOne]

I just came in from watering and making sure the "childrens" where all good.

How many of you carry a pair of scissors and do a cursory inspection and trim as needed.

It took me 2 hrs!!

 

[penumbra]

Just used mine on three of my tropicals.

 

[sorce]

Only twice a year.

I keep a lighter the rest of the season. To burn pests.

Sorce

 

[penumbra]

Only twice a year.

I keep a lighter the rest of the season. To burn pests.

Sorce

Not surprising.

 

[sorce]

Not surprising.

That I prune when Appropriate?

Shouldn't be!

Sorce

 

[penumbra]

You no longer have the capacity to surprise me.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I have a holster that holds a scissors and a tweezers for weeds. I carry when I'm outdoors. Every day.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

I'd like to, but my weekly schedule is such that I have barely enough time for thorough watering. I try to make mental notes of each tree needing work and then get to it en masse over the following weekend. If it can't wait that long then I just bring the plants into my workspace in the house that evening and address the issue.

 

[MrWunderful]

Sunday morning with coffee is when I drag some tools around. During the week its watering only and pest inspection.

 

[Anthony]

Watering is watering.
A room was put aside and as the house shadows the land
trees that need work come in. Often after lunch.
This is why 15 inches or less in height or width is good for
Bonsai.

Proud to say insects etc. are just grasshoppers or the leafcutters.

Most of the trees don't taste very nice.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Forsoothe!]

I don't carry the scissors intending to do major work while watering. I use them to clip that one bull twig sticking out of a canopy, and that will keep growth evenly distributed instead of that one lousy twig getting out of bounds. I believe the Japanese teach that you should touch a tree every day. The tweezers is for weeds that are too small for fingertips. It gets used more often.

 

[Anthony]

Here is a - secret - that mix we use,--- doesn't encourage weeds.
We can go for months and nothing springs up, save the moss
from a nearby tree.
Good Day
Anthony

* To water - by hand - we always observe.
But touch is in the room.

 

[BuckeyeOne]

It seems that even though I'm not looking for things to trim, it's just that all my trees are pre-pre-bonsai.

When I'm doing my rounds, I always find something that needs a trim or a tweak! I guess that's better than making radical changes first without seeing how what I've already done has effected the design. I may never achieve great bonsai as I'm a little reluctant to make huge reductions all at once.

It also is kind of relaxing when I touch each of the trees and look for potential pests or problems. I think they appreciate the extra attention!

 

[Cadillactaste]

I just came in from watering and making sure the "childrens" where all good.

How many of you carry a pair of scissors and do a cursory inspection and trim as needed.

It took me 2 hrs!!

I feel it's good to allow them to gain health and strength by allowing them a good shaggy growth period. My ROR winged elm you can't even tell there is a rock in that mess. Lol I try to randomly allow ones to run a cycle where they all have a chance to be messy...and a few reasonable.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Here is a - secret - that mix we use,--- doesn't encourage weeds.
We can go for months and nothing springs up, save the moss
from a nearby tree.
Good Day
Anthony

* To water - by hand - we always observe.
But touch is in the room.

Are you trying to be inscrutable? You're living on a jungle island and the jungle doesn't encroach upon growing-friendly surfaces? What, pray tell, is your magic formulation? Weeds come from a variety of avenues, including the birds that my neighbor feeds Thistle, corn, Sunflower, et al. about 20 feet from my benches. Birds process seeds and deposit them, surrounded by fertilizer, everywhere they go. Cottonwoods and Mulberries spring up everywhere, too. There are too many weeds to list that come in with nursery plants. You don't have weeds in your plants. Yeah, sure.

 

[penumbra]

Are you trying to be inscrutable?

When was Anthony not inscrutable. He seems like a nice chap but I almost always skip his posts because I don't understand what he is trying to say.
Sorry Anthony, but I just don't understand you, though I have tried.

 

[leatherback]

I do not continuously prune my trees. I will let them grow for a number of weeks in spring. Then comes a rush to over the course of another few weeks trim and wire. And then continuous every weekend cheking wires, branches setting etc. But real pruning.. Mostly a few concentrated moments per year. My trees are allowed to look scruffy.

 

[penumbra]

I do not continuously prune my trees. I will let them grow for a number of weeks in spring. Then comes a rush to over the course of another few weeks trim and wire. And then continuous every weekend cheking wires, branches setting etc. But real pruning.. Mostly a few concentrated moments per year. My trees are allowed to look scruffy.

I do both depending on species. I trim and direct my cotoneasters frequently. My maples seldom but my elms frequently. My ficus very frequently and many of my plants hardly at all. I listen to my plants and do as I am directed. Not for everyone I agree.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I keep scissors on my benches...

 

[leatherback]

I keep scissors on my benches...

Don t they get rusty?