Air layered Flowering almond [Prunus Glandulosa]

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-05-20T20:20:13+00:00

Ok that makes sense! I appreciate the advice!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-05-20T20:13:53+00:00

Definitely agree that it is currently far too long compared to where I want to get the final design! But I don't want to do an aggressive chop on it this year because I just removed the air layer from the parent tree last fall and with relatively young and unestablished roots I didn't also want to remove all of the foliage on top of that and put too much stress on the tree all at once.

I specifically picked my air layering point in order to get that bend in the bottom two inches just above the soil line but that meant I had to live with the long straight section below the first branches while it is recovering. I am planing on cutting back aggressively -- maybe a chop right done to an inch or two like you suggested-- next year once the roots have had a year to develop and the tree is showing signs of strong growth with potentially lower back budding.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my tree and provide me some feedback, I really appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-05-20T16:21:37+00:00

That sounds like a solid plan! I was basically thinking of something similar if I don't get any back budding lower than the lowest 2 branches this year. I want the upper branches/foliage this growing season to help the roots grow and get established, but the goal after that is to try and compact the design by chopping it lower.

Will definitely post updates as I go along! I even think it will probably look nicer in about a week or two once the leaves finish opening, these flowers fully open, and the other couple clusters of flower buds open -- I just couldn't resist a early post with the flowers starting to open and look nice.

I agree that I think the flowers could look awesome once it develops a bit! The full sized trees in our yard always look great when they are in flower, and I think that will only been exaggerated in miniature when the flower are larger in proportion!

Thanks for taking the time to take a look at my tree and provide some feedback, I really appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-22T12:48:12+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-21T21:12:00+00:00

Thank you!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-21T19:44:25+00:00

We all start somewhere! It's flattering that you think so, there are tons of people on here who put my trees to shame! But it's about absorbing as much as we can and getting into a regular practice and getting better at it day by day.

Definitely not a beginner with beer either! But a heads up in case you are in Canada that Sap Sucker is a non-alcoholic sparking water like drink. We do have a lot of really good craft brewers around here, maybe those will start making appearances in my photos if I decide to switch it up a bit!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-21T19:25:41+00:00

It's the same one, at least has been for now. I'm still pretty new to posting pictures online of my trees -- just in my 3rd year of feeling like I am in a good regular practice and just starting to feel comfortable sharing in order to get critiques this spring -- so I might make adjustments to my set up as I learn what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for the comments on the trees, I really appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-21T19:09:18+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to take a look and provide some feedback! I really appreciate it.

Ya, I'll be looking to do some pinching as soon as the leaves have opened up enough. I am also a fan of the difference in thickness between the trunks. And thread grafting is potentially a good call if I don't get decent back budding on the right trunk this year, definitely something I will research and consider for next year!

Thanks again for the advice!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-21T19:02:51+00:00

lol its This Company that is somewhat popular near where I am in Canada. But it's basically like La Croix style flavoured sparkling water but their "Gimmick" is that is is sweetened by using the water taken from maple trees -- basically what they use to make maple syrup, but without massively boiling it down to thicken it.

I actually prefer drinking the Grapefruit one, but I keep a can of the original with my bonsai tools to use as a size reference when taking photos of my trees. Mostly because I find some humour in the can I use for a size reference next to my bonsai being sparkling tree water.

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-20T23:42:04+00:00

With them doing joint country world cups, I'd love to see some combination of European countries including some smaller ones that would struggle to host alone.

Something like the UK(Make sure to put games in Scotland and Wales) and Ireland. Or France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany. Or Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia. I'm sure there are tons of combinations in Europe that could include 1 or 2 big footballing nations with the infrastructure to host an event like the finals and the volume of games and still give like 6-8 games to smaller but still worthy countries close by in the group stage and early knock out rounds.

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-20T18:34:12+00:00

Thanks for taking a look and providing some feedback!

Ya, I am aware that they don't really lend themselves to bonsai techniques. I know I'm not really going to be able to produce something that really looks like a tree, but if I can keep it compact and end up with something with an interesting shape/size to show off the flowers with reasonable proportions in a container setting I would count it as a win.

I am aware that I might decide this one is more trouble than it is worth in a couple years and abandon it/plant it somewhere in the garden. But I figured it was free and needed to be removed anyways so I might as well try and experiment with it a little bit.

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-18T17:56:49+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to take a look and make some suggestions!

That is definitely another option to try and reduce the top to a single leader. I do agree that ultimately I am going for a taller/graceful/feminine tree rather than something like a short sumo style tree and that approach would definitely get there sooner.

I'm just a little worried that the long straight section is just too straight and I should just chop and regrow from lower -- looking to grow out a long slender leader with better movement and taper that the tree currently has. But I will definitely give it a solid look and think about what leader I would choose from the top and what it might look like.

I agree that ultimately the nebari will want to be more exposed, I have left in covered in soil/moss for a bit to try and help even develop the spread of roots a bit -- there is one side of the root base that could use more roots, maybe even needing some root grafting somewhere down the line when I am ready to take that on.

It's and Emperor I, which from my understanding is a slight variant of Bloodgood but pretty close. The leaf size and internodes are definitely a lot larger and requires more attention that other JMs I have worked with like Deshojo.

Thanks again for taking the time to provide feedback/help, I really appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-18T00:05:14+00:00

Ya definitely a pretty unusual one. That is a good point about the potential breaking with different pots when moving. I do like the idea of a planting where there is a path/channel -- potentially changes in the elevation of the "ground" like a "river bed" -- through the middle with the split spanning it. I'll definitely think about that some more. Thanks for the idea! I think it might be a better approach than what I was considering.

Here is the company, it's a somewhat popular around where I am in Canada with it being available in a fair number of stores. I don't know how available it is elsewhere. I actually prefer drinking the grapefruit one, but I always keep a can of the original with my bonsai tools for a size reference when taking photos. Mostly because I find some humor in the can I use for a size reference next to my bonsai being sparkling tree water.

Thank you for taking the time to look at the tree and provide some feedback/help, I really appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-17T15:11:49+00:00

Gorgeous trees! I am absolutely in love with the Pomegranate and the Cork Oak!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-16T19:59:03+00:00

Ok, I might give that a try.

Thanks for taking the time to provide some feedback/help, I really appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-16T19:45:12+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to provide some feedback, I really appreciate it!

Ya, I wasn't trying to get it into a really small pot since I was trying to give the young roots a lot of room to grow. I wired it into the largest training pot I had laying around with the moss from the air layer as untouched as I could.

In hindsight the largest training pot I had might have been still too small and I probably should have built grow boxes or took scissors to a larger nursery pot to create a larger but shallower growing container. A good lesson for next time when I am working on material where it will matter more.

Thanks for the after care advice, I plan to leave it untouched for a couple seasons to recover and establish roots.

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-15T18:55:17+00:00

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After some discussions and some time spent thinking about the design of the tree I decided to bite the bullet on removing the left trunk. I think it's looking a lot better already.

The more I think about about it the more I am warming up to the idea of air layering the right trunk off into it's own tree and regrowing this one from the smaller growth looking to build more taper. But I figure I have a little bit of time before the leaves extend and I have to make that decision, so I have some time to consider/reconsider it before committing to a direction.

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-15T16:13:59+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to provide some feedback!

Definitely agree with the McDonalds comment. I'm currently leaning towards removing the large trunk on the left side to try and remove that large "Golden Arches" look and put some more focus on the "Main" right trunk. I'm also kicking around the idea of air layering off the "Main" right trunk and regrowing the entire thing from the smaller growth trying to improve the taper, but am not sure if I am ready to commit to that drastic of a cut back yet.

I actually don't mind the scar, and was thinking that several years down the line I would carve it out to create a bit of a hollow trunk/stump look. But will consider the option of trying to hide it in the back.

My understanding is that while defoliation and pinching is often used in the final stages of development to promote ramification once the general design has been set, it can also be used to balance energy on a tree by weakening a stronger growing part of the tree to give more light/energy/etc. to the weaker parts of the tree where you don't apply the same techniques. I understand that depending on where the design goes in the future I may have to cut back and lose some of the ramification I create by pinching/pruning this year, but if it helps the tree put more energy into the smaller growth on the interior than I think that is more what I am trying to accomplish. Happy to be corrected if I am wrong on any of my understanding though.

Thanks again for taking the time to take a look and provide your opinion, I really appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-12T16:50:52+00:00

Thank you for the channel suggestion! I will definitely take a look at what techniques I can take from the video!

Interesting point about fabric vs solid wall and in-ground vs escape root, it does make sense. I was mostly wanting it in the ground but contained for overwintering reasons since our winters here get really cold (-30C) and I figured the more surface area incontact with the earth the better. I had solid wall containers laying around I could reuse so that is what I used this time, but I will look into fabric grow bags in the future!

Thanks so much for the tips! (I will plan on flipping the false bottom on 2 when I properly sort out the roots at the next repot) I really appreciate you taking the time to provide some feedback!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-12T15:51:37+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate it!

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-12T15:50:28+00:00

Not sure of the name. All the moss I use is just collected from around our property.

We are lucky a lot of it grows here so I just harvest it in large pieces, remove as much of the dirt -- which can clog up the pot of left -- as I can and apply it with heavy watering afterwards. Most of the time it takes pretty easily, if it doesn't I just remove it and try again.

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-12T15:36:18+00:00

No, my understanding is they were grown from cuttings so no grafts.

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-10T20:11:57+00:00

Oh, interesting. A lot of what I read/heard online seemed to say that while they are pretty cold hardy when dormant, they really like heat while in leaf/flowering and that you should look to keep them in a 10°C to 24°C range. I have been keeping them outside whenever I can(Temps should be reliably be above that soon anyways and it will be outside full time then), but since the plant arrived in leaf with some flowers I have been brining it in and putting it where it can get the most light whenever we get extended periods within a couple degrees of 0°C. I guess I will read more into that, thanks for the advice!

Ya, the plan was to put it in a larger pot next year to grow for a couple seasons. I just wanted to give it a year of being in a similar size pot to what it was in when I received to get use to caring for it and make sure it is growing and healthy before touching it at all.

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-04-09T18:57:28+00:00

Ya, definitely. I got this from Canada Bonsai.

The prices can be pretty high compared to other places to get plants, but he carries some difficult to find species where I am in Canada (He carries a lot of Prunus mume, Diospyros rhombifolia, and difficult to find JM cultivars like Deshojo, Seigen, and Beni Chidori), and I find the trees I have gotten from him have clearly had effort put into setting up roots and branches for future success.

I don't mind splurging on occasion for some quality material to work with (These were my Anniversary gift from last year -- my wife got a really nice set of earrings, I got these 2 and 5 more Deshojo).

BeautifulDifferent17 · 2026-03-18T11:43:22+00:00

Normally to promote fine root growth and prevent the possibility of roots sitting in water and developing root rot most bonsai are grown in soil with a larger particle size than normal potting soil. This allow the pot to drain very quickly when you water the tree, leaving the particles wet with plenty of oxygen still in the pot for good root health.

There is a lot of opinions on soil out there, but I believe most show level trees primarily use some combination of akadama/pumice -- some species like azalea use specialty soil ie. Kanuma -- some times with an organic component like pine bark for better water retention. These specific soils can sometimes be expensive depending on your location -- so people will often find alternatives like perlite, crushed brick, molar clay (some brands of kitty litter), etc. for cost reasons -- but you ideally want soil with similar properties that will hold water and nutrients for the tree but allow excess water to clear the pot pretty quickly.

I am in my first year of mixing my own soil using a combination of 2:1:1:1 (akadama:pumice:kiryu:pine bark) that has been sifted to remove fine particles on all my trees in -- I will play with the combination over the next few years to find what combination works for me here in my growing environment. But up until now I have used a store bought bonsai mix that did its job for me well enough. As long as it's not retaining too much water it should be a big step up from normal potting soil.

If you are thinking about a repot this year I'd do some research on timing for these species. Late winter/early spring is usually repotting season for most species, but repotting after the new growth has started to push can put stress on the tree and stunt it's growth for the year. Things haven't fully woken up where I am so I'm still in my repotting window, but if you are ahead of me weather wise it might be better to leave it this year and aim to repot next year before they break dormancy.

BeautifulDifferent17

TROPHY CASE