beginner's bonsai

[Mark Cooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by keokoi Hi Mark! yes, The wife and I know Peter and we met him through Marco Invernezzi student of (Masahiko Kimura) LOL the ""Chief"" that cracks me up. We asked why the chief. He said calling him master makes him seem like the B*tch. I said Peter but you are He began to whine... LOL Yes Peter told me he will be in the UK with the Chief. Kimura also told us he will be in San Diego in October. Its a small world for sure... I was gonna take Nancy and Frank there but Brian spent all day in the back half of All Japan filming ( oh brother) LOL Joe

Hi again Joe

It's an even smaller world than I thought !!...... I know Marco too and have seen him and talked to him several times (a very talented guy). He often stays with my sensei Dan Barton when in the UK.
Ritta (my wife) and I have also been lucky enough toi visit Kimura san a few years back...this guy is a real innovator. He has a sort of koi pool too in a traditional setting, now with grass carp in it. He was fascinated by the photos of our koi pond and garden..he kept the photos as a souvenir !

I belong to a small bonsai study group, and we have a website with some of our trees and the case histories which you/ others may be interested in (?) http://artisticbonsaicircle.co.uk/

Our local koi enthusiasts here also have a website http://www.koicymru.co.uk/ which I contribute to.

[Dwight]

Yea , in Dec. I don't have the whole story but I think this guy is collecting from an area that is to be cleared , either for grazing or development. He grabs abd runs basically and holds the material for as little time as possible. The price was right so I thought it worth taking a chance. I do realize that it is probably doomed but due to the small change in altitude , location and conditions it might just have a chance. I'm misting it three to four times a day and holding off on water till it really needs it. I'm also using a root activator by Miracle Grow. We'll see soon enough I think. If it makes it till nezt fall it might make a nice tree.....not as good a Gary's , butt ??????????

[MikeM]

Thoughts solicited:

In my area the only native trees I think appropriate to consider for bonsai are the deciduous Bald Cypress and Swamp Maple. Both require constant moisture. If I try bonsai, I would like to do a mini-forest of 5 or more. I'm thinking that without an automatic misting system, I would need to have the pot of cypress/maples sitting within another more shallow reservoir ... like an island in a lake. (I get swamp maples germinating every Spring where the seeds have blown into the water-containing cups of bromeliads, but not elsewhere. Really wet soil is important until the roots can grow so deep that contant moisture is present. Bald Cypress thrive in water and along lakeshores where they are inundated year-round.)

[Dwight]

Actually there are more than that. Look here

http://www.miamitropicalbonsai.com/

Dwight

[keokoi]

Quote: Originally Posted by jdfloyd45 Yea , in Dec. I don't have the whole story but I think this guy is collecting from an area that is to be cleared , either for grazing or development. He grabs abd runs basically and holds the material for as little time as possible. The price was right so I thought it worth taking a chance. I do realize that it is probably doomed but due to the small change in altitude , location and conditions it might just have a chance. I'm misting it three to four times a day and holding off on water till it really needs it. I'm also using a root activator by Miracle Grow. We'll see soon enough I think. If it makes it till nezt fall it might make a nice tree.....not as good a Garies , butt ??????????

I am suprised so much foilage is still on it. But anyhow. Try wrapping the bag in plastic. This will help it retain some moisure while also warming up the roots to stimulate them. The other thing I would do is. If you can add another pot next to it with the same type of soil. Its kinda like a dummy pot. So you can check that pot to see if the soil is dry. If dry add water if wet then you know not to water.

Most of all. Good luck...

Joe

[keokoi]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mark Cooper Hi again Joe It's an even smaller world than I thought !!...... I know Marco too and have seen him and talked to him several times (a very talented guy). He often stays with my sensei Dan Barton when in the UK. Ritta (my wife) and I have also been lucky enough toi visit Kimura san a few years back...this guy is a real innovator. He has a sort of koi pool too in a traditional setting, now with grass carp in it. He was fascinated by the photos of our koi pond and garden..he kept the photos as a souvenir ! I belong to a small bonsai study group, and we have a website with some of our trees and the case histories which you/ others may be interested in (?) http://artisticbonsaicircle.co.uk/ Our local koi enthusiasts here also have a website http://www.koicymru.co.uk/ which I contribute to.

Very small world.

When I was going to Niigata from SFO I ran into shinji suzuki at the airport. I went up to him and told him I loved his trees. He was suprised I even knew who he was.

Marco stayed at my house in October. He barely looked at our trees and was more interested in the koi. He would sit there and stare... LOL
We can say after he stayed with us we were very tired. He is a high energy guy. we live in a college town so he was quite busy checking out the scenery

Joe

[MikeM]

Dwight: Nice link. A lot of what they are showing are tropicals and non-native plants. We see a lot of Ficus, schefflera and such sold as bonsai around here. They are landscape plants that have been whacked back and allowed to grow out for a month or so and then sold for 3 times what the landscape item cost. They never look like miniature trees. Some of the others shown on that website are interesting subjects.

[keokoi]

Mike, If it was me. No better looking tree than Bald cypress for you area. Dont get me wrong. There are some nice trees. But the Bald Cypress is native to your land and easily collected minus the gators.

Joe

[greerhw]

Marco gets around when he is here in the states. He will be here in Oklahoma in April and I hope to get him for a day or two to work on some of my trees. He is a very talented guy.
We have to deal with some extreme conditions here with the heat and the wind. I posted a picture of my shade house that protects my trees in July and August. I have 10 trees, all imports but one cedar elm. If it wasn't for bonsai I would have some really nice koi and vice versa. I added a picture of my favorite JBP.

Harry

[kingkong]

NICE PINE sweet as they come

stay out of the swamp...Gators will swallow you in one bite!