Can you make a fruit tree bonsai

I want to know if you can make a fruit tree bonsai and will it make fruit and stuff. and what fruit trees are good for bonsai

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MushaMan

Yeah of course you can make Bonsai fruit trees. This stems back to the original "There are no bonsai trees, only normal trees trained as bonsai" Usually fruit trees with smaller fruits are more suitable for bonsai, because the fruits will fit into proportion with the shrunken leaves etc. For instance, Crababble rather than Apple. A small bonsai with full size fruit would look silly, and defeat the purpose of bonsai altogether, as it would ruin the proportions. Cherry trees are fairly common as bonsai. Hopefully some others can give you some more suggestions.

Robert

Sure, you can make bonsai with fruit trees. There are lots of bonsai plums, cherries, etc. Many of these are just flowering, and don't necessarily produce fruit. I think you might be thinking of those which do produce fruit. Apples are quite popular....The fastest way to get a fruiting apple is to air layer it fro,m a mature tree. Otherwise, you might have to wait some years for the fruit to come. With an air-layer, it's as old as the parent tree, and probably produce fruit the next year. Be aware, however, that apples, and other fruiting trees, produce fruit at the normal size....not dwarfed fruit. For instance, an apple tree 18 inches tall might produce a regular sized apple...perhaps 3 inches in diameter...it gets heavy, and does look VERY out of proportion.
I have some catoneasters which produce berries, and they look like small apple trees with fruit IN proportion.....but, of course, they're NOT apples.
Incidentally, this is the first time I'm replying to an inquiry on bonsaitalk....it's a new experience for me.

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ripsgreentree

JJ: Here is an importiant point to remember about fruitting bonsai. If the fruit..say an apple is the size of your fist and you make this tree into a bonsai the size of the apple on your bonsai will be the size of your fist and not look correct at all. But if you choose a wild apple that is the size of your thumb or smaller and you make a bonsai out of this tree the fruit on your bonsai will be in much better preportion to the size of your tree. So when you are looking for fruit trees to make bonsai out of look at root stock as it is usually wilder material and will comminly have much smaller fruit. Also there are many materials to choose from. Good luck!
ripsgreentree

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TreeBay

I thought this photo might contribute something to this thread, and then I realized that there is no clear scale in the photo other than the shingles in the background, and perhaps knowing that about 20" of tree is visible here.

This is an apple that Kathy bought at Santa Cruz Bonsai Kai's show this spring. We haven't done anything with it yet, but I will probably look at doing a layer after we harvest her "fruit."

Anyway, this photo illustrates what you might expect if you use a garden variety apple as a bonsai. The fruit will be nearly, but not quite full scale. These apples are a little more than 2/3 size what you'd see in the store.

Yes... there was a worm in one of those apples!

Regards,

Matt

Attached Images

applefruit.jpg (45.2 KB, 180 views)

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Tony

Or if you are not necessarily interested in the fruit you can clip off the blooms as they occur. Crab apple, for instance, make some nice bonsai on their own right. Even without any fruit.

Tony

KZitzewitz

Fruiting bonsai can come in more than just apples, crab abbles and such. June Berry Produces fruit, dwarf oranges, pomegranites, some ficus, lots of plants, so don't just limit yourself to what is being said. There are also some great cultivars of current plants that are named that make great bonsai in my opinion... Lollipop Crab apple is great from what I have seen, I have not seen them in bonsai, but the nursery stock shows little appls the size of a pinky fignernail (1/4 to 1/2 inch) and leaves that are not all to be, maybe an in and a half... Cotoneaster produces 'fruit' its a berry that is read, and there are dozens of great varieties. Hawthrone.. look around in your local nursery, you might be supprised what can be found...

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