How to "train" a young tree for bonsai?

kompik

Since there aren't any specialty bonsai shops in my area, nor public mountain or desert lands to scavenge for yamadori, I'm left with what I can buy at local nurseries. On the positive side, I can often find inexpensive small ornamental trees that could some day be useful for bonsai, but I need to learn how to get them that far.

I read a lot about people going to nurseries and buying "trees grown for bonsai" (the very idea of that kind of luxury makes me drool), but I'm not sure what that means exactly. How does one grow a tree to become a bonsai?

For example, I have a few 6" to 12" tall shimpaku, hinoki, and cypress trees, as well as endless cedar seedlings that pop up in my yard every year. I know enough to plant these in the ground* to let the trunks thicken up, but other than than, I'm unsure about what to do to encourage good nebari, trunk movement, etc.

So, if anyone has any suggestions or can point me to book or articles to read on the subject, I'd be most appreciative!


*Actually, I might have a problem with that since our soil has a pretty heavy clay content. (Water pools up in our yard any time we have a heavy rainfall.) Would it ever be wiser to grow this kind of young material in a grow box rather than the ground, or is the ground always preferable?

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Jay

Greetings, OK I'm going to 'asume you are in Columbus OHIO. if so...http://www.columbusbonsai.org/ is the web site of your local club, or one of them. I'm sure they will be able to direct you to a Bonsai Nursery in your area. If not, you could try evergreengardenworks on the net. Brent's trees are grown for Bonsai and though they may cost more than the Wal-Mart trees....they are actually a better value. They will be YEARS ahead of the bigbox trees in lots of ways....

Jay

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Brent

Kompik

I could write a book about that subject, in fact, I practically have. Most of the articles at my website are geared toward people being able to grow their own bonsai.

I suppose the most basic tenet is first to understand what a bonsai is. That is, understand what makes a bonsai a bonsai, and especially what makes a GOOD bonsai. Unless you have a strong conceptual feel for these design principles, you cannot possibly create training conditions to create them. Then you could literally spend a lifetime developing training techniques. I still discover things each year in this quest.

You need strong horticultural skills too. Knowing how plants grow will guide you to manipulate growth in ways that you want. These skills are equivalent to the carpenters tool box. Of course, how you grow plants will also depend a lot on where you live, climate is a huge variable. Species knowledge is another important part. Different species will require different techniques.

I know this isn't answering your immediate need, but hopefully it will get you thinking in the right direction so that you can seek out the answers to the most important and basic questions pertaining to your desires and situation.

Brent
EvergreenGardenworks.com
see our blog at http://BonsaiNurseryman.typepad.com