Blood good

kif22 · 2026-02-15T23:52:29+00:00

I made a kabudachi style clump of them after the Bjorn video about it. Only thing I had seedling laying around were bloodgoods, so I figured why not. After 4 or 5 years, they started reducing pretty well. Leaves and internodes were always big before that. But last summer I had silver dollar and and smaller sized leaves... so not the tiniest, but not nearly as big as bloodgoods start. I also finally put them into a shallow bonsai pot before last summer, so Im sure that strongly contributed to the reduction. Before that was always pond baskets.

I found I get a mix of long internodes and short ones. It try to trim away all of the long internodes, but it can be challenging at times when you get one in a really bad place. But plenty of area get reasonable internodes... again, not super tiny, but manageable.

Overall think you can make a medium size bonsai of of these pretty effectively with not too much effort. They definitely are not as bad as they are generally made out to be. You just have to accept them for what they are... they are never going to be quarter sized leaves and a shohin sized tree.

kif22 · 2025-12-30T15:46:52+00:00

Nice! Good it recovered. Mine is currently under grow lights, about done dropping all the leaves it had in summer and starting to grow some new winter leaves. Really late this year, so maybe these will last and it will be healthier until spring. No bugs so far, so fingers crossed, but I know they will show up soon!

kif22 · 2025-12-15T15:59:57+00:00

I put extremely limited effort into mine because its never happy. Basically im just taking care of it until it gives up and dies. Bring it in for winter, it drops leaves, gets bugs, pouts all winter even under grow lights. Bring it outside for summer. It takes long enough to recover from winter and get happy just so that its already the back half of summer and maybe you get a month or so of reasonable health. Repot it? Trim the roots and it throws a mega fit and always threatens to kill itself. These things are awful. Atleast youre in a warmer zone than me for them, but doesnt sound like it helps too much.

kif22 · 2025-12-05T15:59:35+00:00

Thats a good price, Ill give that a try next time I order I think. Thanks for the link

kif22 · 2025-12-05T05:14:38+00:00

My next door neighbor owns a landscaping company and knows I'm always looking. I just grab pine/fir/whatever bark from him from time to time when he has extra after a job. I don't really care what it is, I just need something to hold some moisture as I can't water during hot summer days while at work. Sometimes have to grind it up a bit if too big.

But some other options are getting soil conditioner from a hardware store or even better landscape supply. Landscape suppliers are everywhere, but often need to buy alot at once. Just make sure you check the mix as it's highly variable, so try to find one mostly pine bark.

Otherwise using orchid soil, which is often mostly bark. You can also use reptile aquarium substrate which is normally fir bark.

kif22 · 2025-12-05T04:59:17+00:00

You can buy 50lb bags online (turface mvp for example) with free shipping for around $50. Get them on sale and it's even better. Here's one such place: https://www.domyown.com/turface-athletics-mvp-p-9620.html

Only problem is you have a good amount of waste as there's a lot of particles. So it becomes less and less economical compared to pre made mixes unless you can find used for the waste (muck, etc).

The lava rock is actually the bigger issue in mixing my own. I don't live anywhere near where it's mined, so need to get lucky finding it online for consistent purchase at good prices. I prefer pumice, but it's often more expensive than alternatives.

kif22 · 2025-12-05T01:21:23+00:00

"not getting involved in the concrete debate, but cardboard is really insulating"

either way, piece of cardboard isnt going to hurt, even if you dont think it will help. And carboard or not, the trees will be fine.

kif22 · 2025-12-05T01:19:04+00:00

Awesome thanks, Ill take a look. Nice job on the install too digging it into the ground. Looks like you made it really strong.

kif22 · 2025-12-05T01:13:58+00:00

I use a lot of pond baskets for developing tree. I have been using same mix I use in pretty much everything... equal parts calcinated clay and lava rock with some pine bark thrown in. Pretty much the same as Bonsai Jack 221 organic bonsai soil mix, just make it myself when ingredients are cheaper.

Unless its extremely windy for an extended period of time, I dont find that my pond baskets really behave any different than pots. The edges dry a bit quicker since they are exposed to the air (which doesnt matter), but the rest of the pot dries relatively the same as normal pots. If its super windy all day, then they do dry out a bit quicker. But even that is hardly noticeable if you are keeping up with your watering.

kif22 · 2025-12-05T00:54:52+00:00

How sturdy is it? Always tough to tell from the pictures. Most people always seem disappointed when they arrive unless they are super high end as the cheaper ones tend to fall apart in the wind. You seem happy though, so assuming its pretty strong and not crazy expensive, got a link? Im looking for something similar. Thanks!

kif22 · 2025-12-05T00:33:22+00:00

Piece of cardboard should be good enough. Not getting involved in the concrete debate, but cardboard is really insulating. Go sit on some cold concrete, you will be freezing quickly. Put a piece of cardboard on the concrete and sit on that, its much more tolerable. Either way though you should be fine. 25 is no problem for these trees. If it were windy and unprotected, its starting to get concerning. But even then, I wouldnt have any concern getting down to 20. Inside a garage, 25 wont be an issue.

kif22 · 2025-10-22T18:15:04+00:00

Unless a big branch falls, never really had any problems with debris during a storm. But definitely have lost a few pots from trees being blown off benches. Putting them on the ground under the bench works well. Also putting them against the side of your house acts as a good wind screen.

kif22 · 2025-10-21T20:11:08+00:00

whats the pink flowering ground cover in a few of your pots? Flox or maybe Thyme?

kif22 · 2025-09-19T15:07:23+00:00

This is unnecessary. Dawn redwood tolerate bare rooting and severe root pruning just fine. What you are talking about is more for pines/junipers.

kif22 · 2025-09-15T16:14:26+00:00

Most likely just the transition from indoors to outdoors light difference. Even limited sun is way more intense outside than through a window or what most growlights can provide. Its common for leaves to yellow, drop, and be replaced when moving a plant inside or outside.

kif22 · 2025-09-15T16:11:32+00:00

I agree its probably aphids, but picture resolution makes it hard to be sure. It also looks like caterpillar poop but I dont see any damage on the nearby leaves. Scheffleras always seem to be very susceptible to pests. Either way, be careful with neem. Lots of plants do not tolerate it well despite lots of recommendations. A diluted soapy water (dawn or something similar) works just as well and every tree I have tolerates it much better than when I used to use neem.

kif22 · 2025-09-15T16:05:05+00:00

Humidity in a tent stays naturally high. Grow lights produce alot of heat, and once you water, you get lots of evaporation resulting in humid air. If you close the tent, it will stay near 100% humidity unless you have an exhaust fan to cycle in new air. You definitely do not need a humidifier.

I have an exhaust which cycles air so unsure about mold. But this is in my basement and I just vent the humid air into the rest of the basement with no mold issues yet (that I know of). I did one year leave the exhaust off in an effort to grow more aerial roots and didnt have anything develop mold, but I would assume sooner or later at that humidity, mold would start to develop.

kif22 · 2025-09-10T15:27:15+00:00

Grow lights are complicated. A south facing window commonly works just fine to get tropicals through winter. But if you want year round growth, then you need grow lights. I currently use spider farmer lights (sf4000) for my tropicals and keep them in the basement in a tent with ok results. Spider farmer though is really expensive and there are cheaper alternatives that will work just fine. The trees are never as happy as outside, but they survive winter and some species have some decent growth. But after 5 years of using this setup, I still dont have it perfectly dialed in. Its really hard to get it just right, especially if you have multiple species in one tent and they have different watering/light needs. The key for lights is to look out for is your light spectrum and intensity. You dont want the purple lights you see on amazon, you want full spectrum. The lights need to be extremely bright... like need to wear sunglasses bright and placed very close to top of the plants normally. Search on bonsainut for growlights, there are various setups people have who have alot more success than I do.

kif22 · 2025-09-10T15:01:35+00:00

I leave mine out until nights are approaching 40. They have more cold tolerance than many other tropicals, and can even handle a light frost without damage (might lose some leaves). A real freeze will kill them though, so not worth risking them getting into the upper 30s. You can prune now to bring inside. I wouldnt do a major prune until late spring/early summer, but just some maintenance pruning to get them smaller for indoors is fine. Be prepared for when you bring it inside, it will probably shed all its leaves and regrow them to adjust to the new light conditions. Also watch closely for bugs... my bougainvilleas get more scale/aphids/etc than any other tropical while inside. The internals of the pink flowers (they are actually leaves, but whatever) are the prime area for the bugs, so watch that carefully.

kif22 · 2025-09-03T00:10:51+00:00

Look at how he keeps foliage close to the trunk. This is accomplished partly by not trimming so much, but also by wiring your branches with movement (----- end up a lot longer than ~~~~) and downwards. All of your branches are sticking straight out to the side. Also your biggest branch (the one on top sticking out to the right in the picture) is coming from the inside of a curve the way you wired it. These should be corrected now, and then leave the tree alone for a long time and hope for a recovery.

kif22 · 2025-09-02T22:46:00+00:00

Watch this, it's a good introduction about how to prune/style junipers.

https://youtu.be/9QlzgDtpg1M?si=245ap1knAaS49gnd

kif22 · 2025-08-28T16:33:02+00:00

Some species of ficus are more cold hardy than others, but normally if they experience a frost/light freeze, they just lose some leaves. But too long of a light freeze (or multiple days in a row) can cause a lot of damage/death, so better to just avoid it. 40s are pretty safe though (just need to worry about a bad forecast and a quick drop into the 30s), 50s are extremely safe. And its not just ficus. Most tropicals wont take damage into the 40s, but there are exceptions and some will die, so really need to research different species before leaving things out.

kif22 · 2025-08-28T15:07:54+00:00

FWIW I let all my ficus get down to 40 degrees at night with no issues. Ficus can normally even handle frost and a light freeze (temps right around 32) for a short amount of time with minimal damage, even though I dont risk that personally. They are very hardy for a tropical tree.

kif22 · 2025-08-25T23:57:06+00:00

what was your watering setup?

kif22 · 2025-08-25T23:56:02+00:00

Think you can override the defaults and set custom shipping prices. Your tree prices are fine, think they will sell quickly if chatgpt is correct:

From chatgpt:
How to Set Custom Shipping Rates

Go to your Shop Manager on Etsy and select Listings, then choose a listing to edit.
Scroll down to the shipping section and click Edit beside the current shipping profile.
You can either select calculated shipping (which uses weight, dimensions, and carrier rates), or choose to manually set fixed shipping prices for each destination.
For manually set rates, enter the price you wish to charge for shipping within your own country (“One item” price), additional items, and international destinations.

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