Western Hemlock

Cognitive

I am new to bonsai. Rather than go to a nursery and buy a pre-fab tree, I am trying to nurture a few seedlings into young trees.

The species I am using is Tsuga Heterophylla (Western Hemlock.) I am wondering if this is a good choice of tree and if there are any special considerations to raising them. They are very abundant in parks here in British Columbia and I would like to start a few from near-scratch and shape them over the years into bonsai. So my questions are:

1) Are Western Hemlock a viable bonsai species?

2) How long should I expect to nurture a few seedlings (3-8 inches tall) before I can replant them as bonsai?

3) What is a suitable age or size for rearranging the roots around a rock or deadwood?

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Boondock

hello Cog,
I've seen pictures of Western Hemlock as bonsai. and I've asked about Western Hemlocks in the chatroom here. I was informed they respond well to pot culture.

here's a link to hemlocks on another website.

I'm planning to collect one from the wild. I began by trenching half-way around the tree last year.

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Washington Native Plant Society
USDA national plant database
Conifers.org

bonsainotwar

Forget seeds,start with a good 5-10 gallon nursery plant.

md4958

hey cog,
welcome to the wonderful world of bonsai. I would start with this link. Brent has written some wonderful articles for beginners. Start at the link and work your way throught the rest of the articles...http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/bonsaip.htm

Starting trees from seed can be very difficult for beginners...not the propigation, but rather the patitence in growing the tree into something useful. good luck with your trees.
-Moe

Joanie

If you plant your seeds, and then learn how to let them grow in the ground, you will be very fortunate in five or six years to have good trees to work on. In the meantime, between planting and caring for the little ones, you can buy some nursery stock and play with it to learn further techniques.

The links you were provided are excellent and a very good pointer toward a happy, fulfilled future in bonsai.

Good luck!
Joanie

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Vance Wood

By all means start with the seedlings to gain experience, and have some fun. But if you can get a larger tree as mentioned in a 3 to 5 gallon nursery container this is the best place to start. Your seedlings are going to take twenty years to develop to a point you can make a believable bonsai of them.

You really don't learn much about bonsai from cultivating the little stuff. What you do learn from the experience is the ultimate conclusion that you should have started with bigger stuff. Most good bonsai are not grown up into bonsai from smaller plants. You really don't grow a tree into a bonsai. What is really done is cutting down larger trees into bonsai forms, this even applies to collected trees. This is the real secret of bonsai not often mentioned.

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The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

Chadguay

The secret is out as it should be. That is excellent advice for beginners who go out and spend bits and pieces here and there and often times end up with only bits and pieces. Though as we all know, sometimes a little treasure comes out of those trees too.