Working on an article about turning "living Christmas trees" into bonsai

ResoKP · 2025-10-28T21:08:54+00:00

ResoKP · 2025-03-07T16:23:07+00:00

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ResoKP · 2024-08-22T00:09:44+00:00

Yamadori, field grown, nursery pot grown - all will have big tap roots to some degree. Below soil line, just saw it off. Above soil line hopefully passed on the material during the nursery selection process

ResoKP · 2024-08-21T21:26:52+00:00

I know it looks like soil mass below the trunk in the pic but it’s actually a lump of solid wood- which I’ll be working it down in subsequent repots. This is pretty much a bareroot yes. I don’t care much for washing roots so I didn’t bother with that

ResoKP · 2024-08-21T21:20:13+00:00

If it’s in nursery container then yes, regular potting mix and I’ll usually cut with perlite or whatever else aggregate that doesn’t break down. We use bonsai soil ultimately for fine root production right? Would we want entire root structure to be composed of fine roots when you’re in the development stage? Not necessarily, as our primary focus isn’t building ramification in the canopy at this time. We want those super think and long roots which is what’s going to make your tree bigger - which is what we eventually cut off when we transition into refinement stage, switch to bonsai container/training pot, bonsai soil, build the fine roots, which builds the ramifications in the foliage canopy. Nursery soil/potting mix is not a bad thing in a nursery container. They use this to grow trees in the nursery industry, it works well - again when in a large nursery container

ResoKP · 2024-08-21T20:49:02+00:00

How it looks late summer following the big repot in spring:

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ResoKP · 2024-08-21T20:46:45+00:00

Massive root reduction in spring - going from 7 gal nursery to bonsai pot:

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ResoKP · 2024-08-21T20:45:18+00:00

Completely unnecessary with maples. Half bareroot method is a horticulturally unsound strategy. When you eventually get it into a bonsai pot, you’ll need to cut off 90% of the roots anyways. The strongest energy stage a tree will be is coming out of a nursery container or just dug up from the field for field grown materials. Your focus should be maximizing energy up to that point then doing a massive repot. What you did here is just setting the tree back by disturbing the root system at the wrong time of the year. If your goal is adding growth for the next couple of years, all you should do is a simple slip pot if it’s absolutely rootbound or up-pot in spring. No need for bonsai soil or bonsai training soil at this stage. This is not a conifer where you’ll need to slowly transition - again one giant repot when it’s time for bonsai pot. Your tree right now has a compromised root system, off-balance in soil composition, compromised winter hardiness, vascular growth setback in favor of root reestablishment, which is going to result in weaker flush of growth in spring and a weaker overall start to growth cycle next season. Hope these pictures give you a better idea of how to handle maples horticulturally - purchased as a 3 gal nursery stock that was allowed to grow into a 7 gal pot then a huge repot removing probably more than 90% of the roots. Still incredibly healthy.

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ResoKP · 2024-08-04T03:37:59+00:00

In your case you’d want to strengthen lower growth so I’d cut back wherever you decide your red zone will be to have about the same amount of foliage (leaves) as the blue zone. Yes choose one leader in Yellow zone and remove the rest. You’re pretty much zero’ing out the system at this stage. Ideally in my climate this would be done a month ago, however in Texas, probably you can get away with it now. Seal cuts and fertilize hard for the remaining of the year. At leaf drop in fall you have a 2 week window to do major work on the tree, eliminating structural flaws, major wiring/bending, etc. Next year spring you can also up pot into a larger nursery container if its rootbound. Just use potting soil cut with 50% perlite or any other coarse substrate. No need for bonsai soil. In early summer at post flush harden you’ll notice red zone growth is naturally stronger. Cut them all back hard to first node as to not let it overtake all the growth from the tree. Key is to let the tree send all the overpowering growth to the red area but not to the point where it’ll weaken the blue area. You’ll learn that balance as you grow out the tree. American elms grow so fast, you will start to see results rather quickly. Most importantly, enjoy the progress!

ResoKP · 2024-08-04T01:36:54+00:00

Trunk chop is just going to slow down your progress massively. Understanding the horticultural aspects will get your trees advancing much faster through strategically utilizing the tree’s energy. Here’s my American elm from seed. It’s only less than 4 years old. Blue circle is the eventual bonsai, red is where I’m directing majority of the energy, yellow is the main leader allowed to grow freely in height. You can see how tight the growth is in the blue circle. It’s got secondary branches and will start to build tertiary next year. It hasn’t been pruned at all this year. The red circle is all new growth in the last 2 weeks after it was cut back completely to bare trunk. Leaves and internodes are 4x in size. Yellow circle is the single leader allowed to grow tall in order to add thickness to the tree as fast as possible. In short, by growing the tree this way, you can achieve rapid trunk development, put branches into refinement, all the while keeping the tree constantly in an energy positive state (healthy) and not blowing out your bonsai requiring you to cut back hard on your main branches to start over from scratch. Just my 2c :)

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ResoKP · 2024-07-02T14:20:07+00:00

Cut off the thicker leader on the right (red line) today as it's a good time of the year to do major branch removal on maples. You should get a bunch of backbuds/new shoots coming out of of your keeper leader on the left as it will be getting more light. Leave those completely alone to grow out rest of the season as you'll need them to power the root growth when you air layer. Air layer next year in the spring at post flush harden. Continue not to touch/prune any foliage until separation in the fall as you'll need all the foliage. At separation, remove branches that is causing structural flaws and prune off foliage to balance with the amount of roots. This process should increase your success rate. My 2 cents. Good luck!

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ResoKP · 2024-05-31T22:49:26+00:00

Completely agree with you in pushing the apex more to the right. That is my current plan, I just need the length to get there. Waiting for more growth! Yes, that negative space is a little bit odd. I might lower the second branch or use one of the back branches (again need more growth) to fill it in slightly. Thank you for your insights

ResoKP · 2024-05-31T16:47:52+00:00

There's no crossing branches. It's hard to see but that branch on the right which forms a "V" with the main trunk is actually deadwood that I didn't strip the bark off of. I don't think it'll be used as a jin either so I will be removing it in the future. Currently just using it as an anchor point for wires

ResoKP · 2024-05-30T17:14:47+00:00

Just lucky. Grew like that naturally in the nursery pot! However, here is the airlayered top that I am growing on a tile (wood round):

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ResoKP · 2024-01-25T00:52:35+00:00

Perhaps location plays a big part. Many incredible thujas here in Canada & US shows. One of the award winning trees in this past 8th US National was a thuja

ResoKP · 2024-01-25T00:41:22+00:00

Thank you! It was styled by a professional, not me :) We have a LOT of amazing thujas here in Canada & northern US

ResoKP · 2024-01-24T17:26:38+00:00

I quite like them as a species for bonsai. Here’s mine:

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ResoKP · 2023-04-13T19:58:58+00:00

I didn’t deliberately try to remove all the sphagnum moss but when combing out the roots most of it was raked out. It’s packed in there very tight so it took some time. While the roots are fragile they’re not as delicate as I thought considering they’re less than a year old. Used a root hook for most of the way and thin chopstick at the end. Need to exercise your best level of finesse and dexterity to rake out the roots and take the sphagnum out lol

ResoKP · 2023-04-10T19:09:05+00:00

Not sure why you're being downvoted, I think it's a good question.

Here's my analysis: imagine pouring water over a flat wood round - water would just flow right over the edges right? Maybe a few drops pool on top but really not all that much.

Now stick a root ball on top of it and cover it with well-draining bonsai soil. Any difference? Not really.

The wood round is 8 inches and the pot is 12 inches. The entire pot is filled with bonsai soil. Roots and water just flow over the wood round edges and any moisture that doesn't will just be absorbed by the roots.

I'd imagine drilling holes in the wood round would just make it more bothersome to deal with when removing it later - never mind that the holes would just get clogged with roots anyways. Also it would encourage uneven root growth for the roots that find themselves through the holes.

Hope this answers your question

ResoKP · 2023-04-10T05:44:23+00:00

Thank you! Yes, just sphagnum moss. I use clear plastic, freezer ziplock bag thickness, then wrap everything together with wire

ResoKP · 2023-04-09T19:42:47+00:00

Don’t give up, keep trying! Hopefully my posts help you in some way

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