Another piece of collected material into the workshop for a basic first design. With Shore Pine I find you have to hedge your bets. It can take 4-5 years from collection and a first post collection repot before you can be certain what branches are going to be retained by the tree. Good health doesn’t mean the tree won’t drop branches, in fact with vigour they can shed lower branches as a result. If you over fertilise or over pot they can also fatten too fast and shed the old bark that has taken many years in hard growing conditions to create. Keeping on top of stronger upper areas in the first few years is critical in maintaining as many lower branches as possible. All that said they are a fantastic tree with bark and character to die for.
Tree before workAfter
Thinned out that strong upper growth, thinning needle mass, opening out structure by wiring primary lines, retaining and wiring up tips of all lower branches, all steps taken for health and to aid budding next year. The design has made the three trunk lines work together and shows off the wonderful bark. However at this stage with too many branches and a need for ramification, it’s far from the finished article. A long term project for someone to take forward and in the meantime I’ll help it on it’s path as best I can.
I’m trying to work my way through some raw stock here that since collecting has established a good rootball and now needs work or they will fast become green blobs.
This lodgepole Pine was collected beside Lough Corrib a few years back. a tall slender tree with subtle movement perhaps not as noticeable in the photo. It has gotten very strong and I wanted to put the tree to work back budding and create a first basic structure. Many would shorten the tree or perhaps bend it into a more dramatic if unnatural shape but I wanted to embrace the tall elegant pine image. Perhaps not making it an old image but that of a tree reaching maturity and starting to show the pressures of maintaining all those branches.
First job was a good clean out removing yellow needles and then balancing the foliage to the same level throughout the tree. I also removed any triple bud tips back down to two.
After needle thinning
And then to work. I’m sharing this time lapse more to show how I work. I have issues with my neck and shoulders so be comfortable when I work is important. This scissor lift table allows me to position the tree just right distance and height wise for me.
And the tree after work. The lower hanging branch was actually split slightly from the trunk to get a better angle. there’s a few branches too many at this point but I like to leave options on first styling to allow for future changes. The hanging branch for that matter may be removed or jinned in a future styling. Leaving options for the next owner is always a wise move. Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea. Some will say it’s too tall or not dramatic enough. Not to worry there’s plenty of those twisted tree makers out there. I like to go with what the tree offers and what made me collect it in the first place. It’s only the first step on the road to becoming a bonsai.
This Chamaecyparis Pisifera plumosa dumosa attracts algae to the bark and was in for yet another clean up. My little Japanese power washer was one of the best purchases I ever made and made short work of it.
It’s also a tree that creeps along growth wise and needs work several times a year to keep definition in the foliage mass. Cleaning the underside of branches and keeping subtle space is important or it reverts to a green helmet very fast. It was dewired in the Spring and over the year the bottom pads had crept up a little. I applied some structural wire to reinstate the spacing.
After workThe infamous bottle of Guinness for scaleFoliage detail
Had this Hawthorn for quite a few years now but 2020 saw it repotted at a more acute angle giving it more of a windswept feel.
A few reasons for doing it. 1. I love windswept Hawthorn in nature. I think they are one of the most “Irish” representative tree images and are a common sight along our coastline. 2. After several repots and root workings I’m just not able to deal with the heavy root running along the front of the tree right to left. Normally they chase back and allow for a more compact root system. This one is connected to one of the main feeder paths running up the tree and has yet to product any significant backrooting after 15 plus years. On this tree the more acute lean right to left has allowed me to drop that root deeper in the pot and hide its ugliness.
I still need to deal with the ever creeping moss running up the trunk, but while working the tree I noticed tiny little mushrooms popping out of the little ecosystem along the upper trunk line. I think laying it over has helped create it’s own little world on top.
Running along the top centre of the trunkline is the beginnings of a natural Shari. The tree is pretty much split into two main live veins with the dead patch in the middle. Instead of going in there and clearing it out, I’m just going to let it decay at it’s own rate for now and enjoy watching it change year to year.
This Pine had an average year with some difficulty getting water into the root mass. There’s loads of soil mass in there but a narrow opening into which it’s planted.
Possibly as a result, the lower extending branch to the left got weaker to the point were it was unlikely to bounce back. This was a branch that I was 50/50 on keeping anyway design wise and combined with Shore Pines trait of dropping lower branches, was unlikely to have stayed the course long term.
Before branch removal After removal the little trunk to the left comes into its own more. Another angle
A long way to go in development but a few years in I’m happy with the result so far. I’m planning a better option for watering next year.
This tree belongs to a friend but was in my care until it sold. During the last storm it took a leap off the bench and smashed its training pot. I’d always said it needed an angle change and with permission from the owner I removed a few unnecessary branches and placed some primary and secondary branches to set a structure for the future. I worked the deadwood stumps as well. They aren’t to my taste but I’ve left them on for the new owner to decide what their tastes are.
The tree wasn’t actually potted into the grey pot, just set in there during work and a tighter brown oval selected for the final pot. Even then I didn’t remove roots just adjusted to the new angle. The tree can be repotted properly Spring 2021/22.
We all know that getting the right soil mix for our bonsai is important, and the idea of encouraging mycorrhiza is our pots has been around for a while. I found an old Bonsai Mart Catalogue the other day from over 20 years ago with many products relating to soil health. Have a look below.
However in recent years a more targeted approach has been sought as our knowledge of soil science has increased. The relationship between roots, soil, mycorrhiza and bacteria has been studied and now is being applied into agriculture and horticulture with exciting results and gives us the ability to reduce the use of chemicals for fertilisation and pest and disease control.
However, transferring this knowledge over to bonsai isn’t as easy as you’d think with our soil mixes being very different from that of open ground and also the containerisation of out trees adding an extra element to deal with. Research has been carried out on many fronts with the most notable being Bonsai Mirai with Ryan striving to push the limits of what we can do with bonsai soil to make our trees healthier. The ‘Compost Tea Experiment ‘ would appear to have its issues with a shotgun approach of giving the trees a myriad of bacteria to chose from but some proving to be detrimental to certain species. In the last Mirai podcast on the subject here was talk of a more targeted approach.
So this leads me to my latest adventure which started in 2019. It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I have a close friendship with Peter Warren of Saruyama Bonsai. I have also been working with Michael Guerin and Ray Egan from Counties Limerick and Clare in Ireland and we all have a similar approach to bonsai. Like attracts like in bonsai and we have a good friendship built on trust and trees. Michael has the highest quality bonsai collection in Ireland, and that’s no coincidence. He strives to gain every percentage point he can in making his trees better and I’m delighted to have played a small part in that. Bearing that in mind, he met Dr Karen O’Hanlon a few years ago at a horticultural event in Ireland and after discussing Bonsai and soil health with her, he applied one of her Probio Carbon soil health products to his trees with very positive results. Jump forward to this year and after further discussion between the 5 of us, Dr Karen produced a three strain live bacteria inoculation specifically aimed at improving the soil health of bonsai and increasing resistance to pests and diseases. All this without producing unwanted strong growth. In fact shorter inter-nodal length and production of back buds seem to be one of the outcomes of this three strain product.
If you have read this far, well done. I now want to add a reality check. This is not a miracle product claiming to be the answer to our bonsai dreams. (yes I dream about bonsai 😂 ) We’ve all seen Superthrive type products come and go. Most have been shotgun approaches with a little of everything thrown in hoping something sticks. This product however in intended to be used as a sniper rifle specifically targeting the desired outcomes.
“probio Danu Bonsai is a new product developed in 2020 specifically for the Bonsai community. This is a 3 strain mix containing live bacteria chosen for their anti-fungal, induced systemic resistance, siderophore production and plant signalling characteristics. This mix will encourage the trees to build natural plant immunity and will not induce a massive increase in yield.”
If you want to know more details about the product and Karen’s approach to soil health then please watch the two Youtube videos below. Peter Warren interviews Karen live on a stream about the product and indeed speaks to anther bonsai enthusiast who has been working towards improving soil health in bonsai. In the second video, Peter goes a little deeper into how to apply Danù to the trees and discusses its impact on trees live on stream with Michael Guerin.
Still reading? Ok, I’ll outline my personal experiences so far. I treated most of my trees with Danú back in February/March. I applied it via sprayer initially, especially the bigger trees, but followed up by dunking some trees in a strong solution to speed up the population of the rhizosphere with the bacteria. This I feel allows the bacteria to establish a foothold in the pot faster and is a far more economical way to apply.
My trees are in the whole already healthy so when looking for change following application, I wasn’t expecting to see any major swing. Between March and June I saw some positives in the collection and, more importantly, zero negative impact. My Escallonia, normally a slow grow being a very old tree, was looking lush in colour, extending well and even flowered for the first time in 4 years. My 3 Taxus produced tighter foliage than in any previous year under my care with no other variable. A Japanese White Pine on it’s own root stock produced its best flush of growth yet under my care. There was flowering but I think everyone experienced that this year. Satsuki, Hawthorn and Japanese Maples all looked more vibrant.
A larch that was repotted this Spring into Akadama/pumice/lava and was treated with Danú has shown evidence of a massive increase in Mycorrhizal activity with the fungal bloom at the soil surface as seen below and excellent growth. There is extension growth but as the tree is in development this was encouraged with fertiliser and was desirable.
Another positive for me was one of my problematic trees, a Japanese Flowering Apricot. I have street trees outside my home that are Prunus and I always seem to have trouble with fungal issues with all my prunus in the garden as a result. Dr Karen heard about this and suggested a fungal treatment with a spray and dunk of a three strain product she is trialing. This is not identical to Danù but does contain Basillus subtilis a crossover over between the products with anti fungal properties. So much so that Bayer have a product listed as a fungicide containing this bacteria. There were other variables in the treatment with the application of a lime sulphur wash after removal of infected leaves and application of sulphate of iron. Both these had been used previously on this tree.
The tree back in May
After removal of infected leaves
Video showing dunking of tree into Probio Carbon Fungal treatment solution.
Spraying of fungal treatment onto foliage were its left to dry.
Tree now six weeks on from defoliation.
Leaves looking in great condition.
Even back budding onto old wood on trunk!
It’s also worth pointing out that Dr Karen’s strains are all Irish in origin and have been carefully selected from the environment for their strength and robustness. From what I understand this makes them rather unique. More on this product to come in the future I would think.
Lastly, you’ll be glad to hear, is another product from Probio Carbon that I will be using mostly at repotting season. Her Olive Stone bioichar that has been enriched with Bacillus subtillus is a perfect size for added into your potting mixes allowing the bacteria to populate quickly and giving other desirable bacteria a perfect place to attach when introduced via Danú.
To finish I just want to add that I have ‘no dog in the hunt’ regarding this product other than to try and advance the benefits of soil science for bonsai. I do not profit from any sales. My hope is to be able to offer this to those working with me at retail price as per Probio Carbon website without them having to pay postage. All orders outside of that should be done via Dr Karen’s website. Ordering biochar and Danú together also makes financial sense with regards to delivery. Those who give it ago are encouraged to document their finding and share it with us. We are looking at doing a scientific trial to nail down the specifics of what the product is doing in Bonsai soil media but this will take time.
Any queries can be directed to Dr Karen O’Hanlon directly or via Saruyama Bonsai who will shortly have a FAQ page on his website regarding Danú. Please watch the videos first though as this will answer a lot of your questions.
For those who follow me on Instagram you’ll know that back on day 1 of lockdown in Northern Ireland I decided that it might be fun to do a daily post there and, thanks to Facebook global domination, share it their as well.
Here we are 100 days later and I’ve decided it’s a nice round number to stop at. I’ve enjoyed doing the posts but time to resume my more chaotic posting system. As you can plainly see I’m also trying to breath life into this blog. As usual I’ll get carried away and no doubt I’ll slow it down to a drip 💧
As I posted precious little here during lockdown I thought I’d add a gallery as well of some of the trees etc that I posted over the last 100 days.
Bonsai Eejit 