field grown bonsai

funkybonsai

hi,

im new to bonsai and need some help and/or tips on how to field grow bonsai (eg grow them in my garden until ready to pot).

[move]Can any1 help??[/move]

Thanx

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KZitzewitz

my personal thoughts are unless you plan on leaving them there for about 10 years to not. I like the idea of oversized pots, that way, incase you move, or something happens, they can come with you. Now if you own a bunch of land, and want to do it, this is what i would do.
First till the ground just to break it up a big, go as deep as you can.
the trees you wnat to be planted, I think should be no closer then 1.5 feet from each other, more if you want a bigger tree and let them grow. to keep height down, when long shoots occur, making a new leader will keep thickness going and height down a little, after about 3 to 5 years, dig around the plant until you can lift it out, clean up some of the area, fill with some newer soil, clean roots only slightly, and replant, rinse, wash, repeat. Keep up fertilizer and water, watch for bugs and I would train shapes while they are being feild grown. Just my thoughts.

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funkybonsai

thanx, I will keep to the oversized pots.

Your help was appreciated

Tony

Well, it's kind of a trade off and coin toss and somewhat dependent on what species you're talking about. The quickest way to a large trunk is indeed to plant it in the ground and pretty much just let it grow but that will lead to thick long roots with most of the feeder roots at the ends. Chopping the roots back every few years as MK suggests will help keep them closer in, but there again, that will slow down growth also. A tree liffted from the ground is going *to take a few years in a training pot to get the roots ready for the final bonsai pot. *On the other hand, trees grown in large pots with good bonsai soil will develop a nice fiborous root system from the start and will be easy to put into a bonsai pot when your trunk is the size you want, but the development time will be longer. I'd say if you are growing conifers and wanting large trunks then ground growing is a must, since they are slow growing anyway [raised beds are excellent]. Fast growing deciduous trees you could go either way.

That's a long winded way of saying it's six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Tony

TreeBay

There are some links to articles on field growing in bonsaiTALK Links

Try clicking here for a direct search on field growing, and look towards the bottom.


Matt

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ripsgreentree

Funkybonsai: Field growing bonsai is what I do and I do it in central california. As with all advice environment and soil make all the diffrence in the world. I would also be interested in what specie of tree you wish to grow and how many? Generally speaking We create our own soil by combining sand and humis or compost to the clay soil that already exists in out fields. Nothing is left in the ground for more that two years then it is lifted and procesed and planted back down into the field. Growth is very fast so plants may be pruined three to four times durring the summer to keep trees under control. Field growing is the very best way to create correct roots and exelent nebari and trunk size. Growing pots will help you to create exelent limb structure and a finish pot will help to create ramification. Each technique has its value the problem arizes when someone says only field grow or only in a pot. Its all about method and results if you are working on foundation field growing is best, if you are working on limb structure growing boxes or pot will help you and if your tree is at a stage where it ready to be finished then a bonsai pot will do the best job. As always the best advice is do what works best for you.
ripsgreentree

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Entling

Hey Rips,

Thanks for that info! I was starting to think I did the wrong thing by planting the seedings I got last weekend from plantranch.net (pardon me while I give him a shameless plug! I stopped into his greenhouse since I was in the area, and he let me pick my own seedling, and threw in a couple extra for free. His prices are rock bottom and the seedling look quite healthy.) I was hoping to leave them in the ground this year to bulk them up a bit before training.

wirralbonsai

funky the idea of growing them is fine if you have a bit of land thaty you can use, there is always more potetial as you can still control the way they grow and if you do not keep to many you can keep them nice and neet. i have a few about where i live that i planted and i keep coing back to trim the roots and if you do this for a few sesions you can start to train a large tree down to what you want. the uk is a good place to keep tree's as we have a moderate climat so go and do it if you can. there is always room for trying
Scott Mside
Whats the web site going to be

Tony

Entling, You need to lengthen you time frame. Your seedlings will spend the first year getting established in thier new home in the ground. The next year they will start growing and the year after that they will really take off. Plan on 4 to 5 years at least in the ground. One year just wouldn't be worth the trouble.

Tony