The menial ------------- weeding and watering

[Anthony]

So we discuss the Menial,

when I weed I cut to the zone where the weed cannot regenerate.

Why -------- ???

Years ago [ early 80's ] a few books and periodicals from Rodale came into the house.
Soon the Bonsai practice became the dreaded hippie beaded long hair practice.

In Estonia, the growing of crops is done on non tilled land.
Weeds are allowed to grow and then cut down before planting.
The idea is the weeds plough for you and also bring in nutrients.
Much like green manuring, save there is no planting of say ----- soybeans.

So you have killed the weeds, they rot, provide compost, nutrients and leave
air spaces, so your soil is now more freely draining.

What do you try for in your Bonsai soil ?

Additionally, you have provided the soil with a covering, that rots and becomes
compost. [ we add back teaspoons of aged compost ]

With bonsai, pulling weeds, disturbs the soil and breaks the fine feeder hairs,
plus removes nutrient from your soil.

Explore [ read ] the idea, see how far down the rabbit hole you can go.

As to watering.
When you heavily prune a tree in a bonsai pot or defoliate, you have to pay
attention to how wet your soil is. Same for repotting.

We do the defoliation, heavy pruning, repotting during different times of our
dry season, but it is because we can control the watering.

Plus, it is a more intimate connection with your tree, than say a sprinkler or
garden hose.

There is a reason for why they say ---- Bonsai are the playthings of the rich --------

[1] They can hire a gardener to tend, or leave it at a gardener's house for individual
care.

[2] Or they have the time to water by hand, because they can.

So he who sits in the cinders is not necessarily an idiot.
Boots befooled the king.
Good Day
Anthony

* Boots is an old European tale.

 

[Waltron]

I enjoyed reading this.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

I like the idea of watering by hand, and I do, as it allows me to inspect each tree and is a relaxing way to unwind after work.

I don't think that weeding has a effect on the roots of the tree, unless maybe the pot is really shallow. Weeding also helps open up the soil. I think that if your weed problem is so heavy that the roots provide fertilizer for the plants, then you are not pulling enough weeds. Also, most of weeds that I am familiar with have very fine roots that would have little or no chance of aerating the soil. The mix that I use is very porous anyway and the roots of weeds don't even fill up the space between the particles.

 

[Shima]

So you have killed the weeds, they rot, provide compost, nutrients and leave
air spaces, so your soil is now more freely draining.

This reminds me of the classic revolutionary book, The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka. A treasure to be sure.

 

[Shima]

So we discuss the Menial,

when I weed I cut to the zone where the weed cannot regenerate.

Why -------- ???

Years ago [ early 80's ] a few books and periodicals from Rodale came into the house.
Soon the Bonsai practice became the dreaded hippie beaded long hair practice.

In Estonia, the growing of crops is done on non tilled land.
Weeds are allowed to grow and then cut down before planting.
The idea is the weeds plough for you and also bring in nutrients.
Much like green manuring, save there is no planting of say ----- soybeans.

So you have killed the weeds, they rot, provide compost, nutrients and leave
air spaces, so your soil is now more freely draining.

What do you try for in your Bonsai soil ?

Additionally, you have provided the soil with a covering, that rots and becomes
compost. [ we add back teaspoons of aged compost ]

With bonsai, pulling weeds, disturbs the soil and breaks the fine feeder hairs,
plus removes nutrient from your soil.

Explore [ read ] the idea, see how far down the rabbit hole you can go.

As to watering.
When you heavily prune a tree in a bonsai pot or defoliate, you have to pay
attention to how wet your soil is. Same for repotting.

We do the defoliation, heavy pruning, repotting during different times of our
dry season, but it is because we can control the watering.

Plus, it is a more intimate connection with your tree, than say a sprinkler or
garden hose.

There is a reason for why they say ---- Bonsai are the playthings of the rich --------

[1] They can hire a gardener to tend, or leave it at a gardener's house for individual
care.

[2] Or they have the time to water by hand, because they can.

So he who sits in the cinders is not necessarily an idiot.
Boots befooled the king.
Good Day
Anthony

* Boots is an old European tale.

Farmer is plowing land in the new world. Native American walks up, picks up a hand full of soil and says, "upside down." and walks away.

 

[Wilson]

Depends on which trees I am weeding. My trees in very porous mixes, the weeds come right out. My trees that have a more organic mix require more time. Then my collected trees have their on little ecosystem, lichens, mosses, and some wild flowers.

 

[Rambles]

Hi Anthony. I wanted to offer my take on it, for what it's worth.

"weed" in just another name for "plant I don't want"

Weeding vs plowing under: Here It's a matter of scale. The hydraulic and chemical interactions that play out across on open field are different than in a pot where the amount of space we need for roots is limited. If you want to emulate that tilling process, it seems a better idea to weed, then compost the weeds, and then use the compost.

Weeding and hand watering: Honestly, this is just part of the daily care of all my container-grown plants. Inspect > Water > Remove unwelcomed guests. I do it this way because it is part of my daily structure. It is something both creative and meditative, that demands mindfulness.

Playthings of the Rich. Yeah, you can spend a lot of money and time on bonsai. But that can be the case with any hobby. For me, it's ultimately about the doing and the learning. Can't pay somebody else to experience life for me.

 

[twisted trees]

I have a lot of trees. I may prune 600 to 1,000 trees a week. Every tree in front of me is the most important tree for me at that moment. Some trees spend more time in that zone than others yet I try and connect to all of them.

 

[twisted trees]

Playthings of the Rich.

Money wise, I'm poor. Bonsai wise, I'm rich.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

I have a lot of trees. I may prune 600 to 1,000 trees a week. Every tree in front of me is the most important tree for me at that moment. Some trees spend more time in that zone than others yet I try and connect to all of them.

Now, that is what I am talking about.

 

[Anthony]

Folks,

I wanted to say thank you for ideas, etc.
You will get neither yes, or no from me as this is a practice we have had since the Rodale
situation and I am just sharing.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Wilson]

This year I have hardly needed to water my trees, if anything I have moved some under a roof! So much rain, almost a daily thing. If I hadn't used slow release fert on the substrate, it would have been tough to fertilize at all. Weird weather...

 

[Anthony]

@Wilson,

With regards to the need of fertilising [ especially developed trees ]

Further reading on compost gave confusing views, the S.L.university [ Louisiana ] stated that compost
gave up it;s nutrients in 2 months [ which we could see as 1 month for us ]

We use a compost mix that is the equivalent of Rabbit Manure [ 2N... ] but now I have found information that
compost feeds for almost 2 years.

So as we already have the N as 12 and P and K much lower, applied once a week for say March, April, May and
sometimes June [ depends on rain ] we stopped fertilising after the rains came and they finish around December 1st.
We used to use an osmocote type for the rainy season designed for use at 30 deg,C [ 86 deg.F ] in the rainy
season, but noted that the trees grew even more rapidly with rain/moist air.

The above deals with refined trees.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Anything in the ground [ growing trough ] does not need fertiliser after the rains start.

The use of compost alters the responses in plants dramatically, and only this year we found out that compost holds
20 times it's weight in water. We used to think peat moss at 15 times was thirsty.
So our maximum use is 1 compost to 2 inorganic [ by volume ] to as little as 1 compost to 9 inorganic.
The local willow ficus type we have needs little organic and pots are 1 inch [' 2.5 cm deep ]
Humidty goes from 80 to 50%
Thus far everything has remained LUSH or Healthy.

We were told years ago not to push a tree to exhibition standard [ takes 3 to 5 years to do so ] unless actually
exhibiting, or we could kill the tree. So a general shape is given and the inside branching is kept clear.
Now due to some information from Sifu [ Adair ] we also thin the tops.

Here is an example of what we call Lush or Health and the ramification we get.
Apologies, for the second image we cut the needles since we cannot presently get them to grow out
smaller.

By the way, just sharing.
Good Day
Anthony

Lush -



ramification and sadly cut needles.

 

[chansen]

View attachment 153839

View attachment 153840

Just curious, how long has this tree been in development?

 

[Anthony]

@chansen

Christian,

It is from an English seed company around 1993 -------- say 24 years or so.
The shot done of the cut needles in sunlight, I believe was last year.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[GGB]

I'm glad you touched on your soil mix again. I think I'm switching to sifted compost and sand/grit next season. Hoping my climate doesn't doom me

 

[Anthony]

@GGB ,

I believe what you have to watch is your air temperatures, remember we just cross 90
and max out at 93 deg,F for half an hour to 10 minutes.

Try the soil mix like this, 5 mm non porous inorganic and x organic.
If you are wet, use less organic, dry you may need more.

+++++++ Please test on cuttings or other, not your mother plants.++++++++++++++

Also ask an expert about leaching from stone that has sodium or potassium in the make up.
We tested Canadian granite on Tamarinds [ high acid tree - fruit is a 4 on the scale ]
they didn't like the granite.
Good Day
Anthony

* Our soil mix was I believe number 2 on the survey done in the 80's by I believe
the American Bonsai Society.

 

[Anthony]

@GGB ,

I wanted to add on this -

[1] When we take acutting, it is usually placed in the smallest container of soil, often a seed tray cup.
Cuttings are removed when they have so much root, you can lift the plant out with all of
the soil. It is then placed in a slightly larger container.

Each stage of potting up, is into a container that is only slightly larger.

[2] Most cuttings down here easily form surface roots, and as you prepare the plant for
ground growing or if a mame' [ 6 inches / 15 cm ] you can gently guide the roots you want
while removing the others. Often no need to bare root.

[3] We have taken to growing in saucers, up to 3 inches deep so the root spread is naturally
outwards.

But the key situation is the plant only has to adapt to so much soil.Thus rainy weather
does not really affect it. There is no case of too much water.

This is also why we repot in the Dry Season, does two things, after removal of soil, repotting
for established plants or if need be bare rooting of a cutting.
We can control the watering, and the tree grows into the fresh soil, so when the rains
arrive, it can easily handle the extra water.

A tree in a large container of soil, free of feeder roots can get very ill.

Additionally, 6" of pot depth [ more often 5" ] is the limit of pot depth we use,
and as I stated before, saucers, we can get them [ they are pot saucers ] up to 2 feet
in a UV resistant plastic. Just drill or melt holes into them.
They have elevations moulded into them so they do not sit flat on a surface, and
the water is easily able to drain away.

Unfortunately, this practice requires a good deal more space, than a regular pot.
If I remember anything else, I will return to type some more.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[GGB]

Thank you