Air layering technique

Cutting taken from branches that have grown as thick as your fingers stand little if any chance of taking. They have to be rooted by a technique known as air layering, whereby the roots of tne new plant develop while it is still attached to the original plant. The young plant is removed from the trunk of the original tree only when it si self supporting roots atached to the parent plant. You can prune it and wire it if necessary. It is a method that can produce a lovely mature looking specimen quickly.

Select a particularly attracitve branch from your plant. Several weeks may go by before any new roots appear. Keep testing that the moss is still moist. and if necessary, add a bit more water to the polythene sleeve from above but it is depending on the species of plant, enough new roots will have formed after six to eight weeks for the new tree to live itself. The branch now can be sparated from its parent plant by cutting it of beneath the original point of incision. Plant is immediately in a pot, without removing the moss of peat or you can put it straight into a suitable bonsai pot.

Root over the rock style

The impact of a rock planting is of course enhanced by the choice of rock or stone. Keep your eyes peeled when you are out for a walk and you may well find some attractive and unusual ones. The size of the rock and its relation to the plant will set the mood for the scene you will end up creating. If you want to give the impression of distance, for example, put a small tree on relatively large stone. You can really let your imagination run riot - after all, in nature almost anything is possible, every conceivable shape and proportion.

A very exotic and interesting effect can be created with rock plantings using tropical three (ficus tree) whose aerial roots are trained to run along the outside of the rock and down into the soil. The combination of roots and aerial roots lends a highly unusual charm to the whole arrangement.

After a rock planting has been set up, it will need time to recover. Keep it out of direct sunlight and spray with water frequently. Do not give any fertilizer for several weeks. With rock plantings the plant and rock from a single unit and should always be repotted together.

Another type of rock planting is one where the plant is rooted on the rock itself and has no contact with the soil in the pot. This allows the rock to be placed on a tray containing water or sand to create the illusion of an island or mountain. The bonsai tree themselves will grow in hollows and crevices in the rock, making it important that you find a suitable rock in the first place.

For the novice like me, rocks suitable for this style can be found in nurseries with a good range of rock garden plants or in specialist bonsai nurseries. You may also find rocks that seem appropriate in the wild.

Choose a roughly textured stone since it will have a desirable weathered looks, and also because it is easier to establish a plant on surface that can both hold soil and give roots something to grasp. Also, choose a rock withe surface that is appropriately flaffened on its bottom most plane. Use a hacksaw and sandpaper to smooth out bumps and projections, if necessary

When to add fertilizer

Unlike its lager counterpart in nature, bonsai has only a very limited amount of soil from which to obtain its food. That is why is is very important to replenishing the soil with nutrients. For a plant the most important mineral are phosphorus, potash, sulphur and nitrogen.

Do not use the same feed all the time during the growing season. You can alternate between powder and liquid versions. Need to be reminded that not all bonsai need the same amount of nutrients. As a general rules young and growing tree need fertilizer more often then the old one. Fast growing tree must be fed more often than the slow growing ones. Most tropical bonsai will grow all year round.

Do not add fertilizer shortly before and during the flowering period. The increased vigor would go into the shoots, and the tree would shed its buds and flowers. Once fruits have formed, resume feeding. Fertilizer nor encouraged after repotting and after root pruning. The root system has regenerate. Suspend feeding for about four to six weeks.

Santalia-7 years old

Bonsai is the art of growing miniature trees

Bonsai is, as I’m sure you know, the art of growing miniature trees. But just because they’re tiny doesn’t mean they’re less hardy than their full sized cousins nor does it mean they do not live as long.In fact, many of these dwarfs often outlive their fully grown counterparts.

There is something extremely therapeutic about creating bonsai trees, and at the same time it is an art which requires little in the way of expensive or specialist tools. The trees are a living art – with no two exactly alike – and they can change with the seasons and the years. Deciduous bonsai grown outdoors, for instance, lose their leaves in winter just as normal trees do, then they grow them back in spring. For added visual effect you can choose bonsai trees that flower such as azalea or white star jasmine.

The easiest way to start is to buy a tree already trimmed and in a pot. It has usually already been shaped, often with the sculptor using wire to give it a unique, twisted appearance. But it is up to the keeper of the tree to trim leaves and branches as the years go by, deciding which to keep and which to cut. Bonsai masters, those that are involved with bonsai trees care, attempt to create not just an aesthetically pleasing shape, but a spiritual sense of age, beauty and timeless endurance.

You will need to know how to prune the trunk and roots of your tree as well as the branches. It may sound rather daunting but, as I have said before, all that’s needed is the right knowledge to know what to trim and what to leave.

Another very vital factor for bonsai trees care is watering. Because they are in shallow pots and have less roots than normal , bonsai trees are particularly vulnerable to dehydration. But give them too much water all at once and it’s like subjecting them to a 100 year flood! Watering needs depend on the humidity, type of soil, size and shape of the pot, the type of tree you have and whether it’s inside or outside.

Bonsai do need to be re-potted and the roots pruned but when depends entirely on your particular type of tree and how vigorously it is growing, but it is most often done, as with normal gardening, just before spring when the plant is in a reasonably dormant state.

Bonsai generally need a loose fast-draining soil – It does depend on where it is sited, the pot and the type of tree. Pots come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. The pot should complement the tree in both colour and shape and is considered as much a part of the art-form as the tree itself.

Bonsai trees care is not particularly onerous if you have the right knowledge. They don’t require a lot of effort or expense, neither are they particularly time consuming. Bonsai trees can die very quickly – it they do not have the proper care.

With the right knowledge you will not only create something that will give you hours of pleasure but also a treasure your family can pass down from generation to generation. By understanding the principles of bonsai trees care, you can grow a living treasure to pass on to your grandchildren, which in turn, they can pass on to their children with the duty of care for bonsai trees handed down through countless generations, outlasting most other forms of legacy.

Ficus benjamina – Approximately 13 years old and 13 in high.

Creating bonsai from ficus tree

Bonsai were first created in Ancient China and Japan. The life force of the plant, and the artists skills, work together to produce an article of great beauty. Bonsai plants are very old. It takes decades to grow a bonsai, but that’s not a good reason for not growing one. When you pass the plant on to your children in future, it will be a constant enjoyment for them, as well as being an object of great value. In Japanese, bonsai can be literally translated as ‘tray planting’ but since originating in Asia, so many centuries ago – it has developed into a whole new form. To begin with, the tree and the pot form a single harmonious unit where the shape, texture and colour of one, compliments the other. Then the tree must be shaped. It is not enough just to plant a tree in a pot and allow nature to take its course – the result would look nothing like a tree and would look very short-lived. Every branch and twig of a bonsai is shaped or eliminated until the chosen image is achieved. From then on, the image is maintained and improved by a constant regime of pruning and trimming

My first upright ficus bonsai.It was created in early 1990s, it stand only 12in high. Photo by: Iymrond Gene Qaboox

For Bonsai enthusiasts, the ficus tree is the tree of choice. It is easy to grow, cultivate, and shape compared to most exotic species and does well when “miniaturized.”
Of course, the ficus is not the only tree used when making miniature Bonsai, but it is the favored one. They just have distinct advantages over other types of tree. They are generally more resilient than other species, they take to “miniaturization” well, and they are fairly easy to trim and manipulate during the art of Bonsai.
Choosing a good ficus to start with is important, whether you’re a master or a beginner. Getting a good tree from the nursery will start your Bonsai experience right. A strong, healthy tree is paramount to success and the people at a reputable nursery can help you. Their job is knowing plants, so if you need a good one, they can point it out. When you’ve got the right ficus tree to being with, you can then start the Bonsai process.
Your first order of business once you have a new ficus tree is to re-pot it. Transferring it to its new, permanent home is where the Bonsai art begins. Find a pot that is the right size for your intended use of the tree (very small for table top use, larger for corner or shelf display). The size of the final container will decide the size of the tree, with a smaller container restricting the ficus tree’s growth to the size you wish it to be. The pot will also need to match the décor of the room it will be in as well as facilitate proper watering and fertilization of the ficus.

Santalia forest grouping bonsai – approximately 6 years old, stand about 13in high-Photo by Iymrond Qaboox

The Flame of the Forest is a medium sized tree, growing from 20 to 4O feet high, but from January to March it truly becomes a tree of flame, a riot of orange and vermilion flowers covering the entire crown. These flowers, which are scentless, are massed along the ends of the stalks–dark velvety green like the cup-shaped calices–and the brilliance of the stiff, bright flowers is shown off to perfection by this deep, contrasting colour. Each flower consists of five petals comprising one standard, two smaller wings and a very curved beak-shaped keel. However it suitable for bonsai growing.




Flame of the forest-approximately 18 years old, it stands 12in high