The Art of Watering - Craft Meets Art

Walter_Pall

Fish,

sure I understand what you meant. But what you are saying applies only to finished bonsai which are going to be exhibited soon.
I have about a dozen which are candidates for the Gingko eshibit. These are watered individually somehow. Some get less because I do not want the needles to grow. Some get more, because they need a bit more foliage before the exhibit. But this is an exception this year. Otherwise WE have about 500 trees in training.

I only have trees in development really. To develop a tree it must grow because I want to cut off something and I want it to accept the new form.
This watering advice that we are given ONLY applies to finished trees.

Most of the general bonsai advice comes from the day when someone asked this Japanese master: 'What do I have to do to keep this masterpiece alive and just in the shape that it is now?'
Answer 'pinch off eveything that comes out immediately, water as little as possible, feed as little as possible'. They never assumed that we are ever willing or capable of developing our own. They assumed that this is what THEY did.
Commercial bonsai nurseries have everything for sale. Everything must look good enough any time. Therefore they are NOT the example for us.

We have an entirely different situation in our garden. There the question shuold be: 'How do I treat my bonsai collection which is ALL trees in development?' The answer would be: 'I assume that you want to know how to treat bonsai in general. I assume that you want to develop your trees like just about everybody. Well, water them as much as you can, feed them as much as you dare. Let them grow for a while and then cut back severely. Do this for many years until they are finished. Then be much less generous with everything and come back to my previous advice. But you have thirty years to go before that.'

Seriously, I am told by people who were apprentice there for a long time, trees in Japan are watered and fed aggressively.

We know the wrong things about bonsai!!! Not only is the artistic information mainly old-fashioned and not artistic at all, but also the horticultural information is misleading and even wrong quite often.

__________________
best regards
Walter Pall
http://walter-pall.de
I don't design bonsai, I design trees.
Tradition is not the custody of ashes but the propagation of fire.
NEW: The endless bonsai diary
http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/

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zube

E. Fish, great thread! Mr. Pall, a very thoughtful and informative 2nd reply it seems to me.
zube

Ashbarns9999

I have just come in after watering my children and conclude it is an instinctive act, you just know. But i do give them a complete dousing with overhead spray. At the end of the day watering is dependent surely upon climatic conditions and not some mystical equation. Though i do follow the regime for black pine if only for my satisfaction. So if you want to hear 'thank you' sighs instead of screaming be bold and WATER. Good health Ash

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Walter_Pall

'Though i do follow the regime for black pine if only for my satisfaction.'

Ashbarns,

what eactly is this regime?

Do you know that black pines in development in the big Japanese development nurseries are aggressively fed and watered. They water them 'as often as possible' , sometimes several times per day.
Why do we 'know' this cannot be? Because the result is abundant growth. Overabundant to most. Far too long needles.

Did I not say 'development'? Long needles and lots and lots of buds are great during devleopment. The tree will thicken enormously and you can choose from many new branches. When the tree is 'ready' for show of for selling to a retail nursery the watering and feeding gets slowed down and in the next year the tree can be shown or sold.

Are your black pines ready? Or do you just believe what somebody told you who has heard it from somebody who has heard it from an old gardener who was answering the wrong question? Or who would have liked to keep his trade secrets for himself?

The Japanese by and large NEVER hat the intention to teach us the development of bonsai as is the practice now in the west. They alwys felt that this is THEIR job and we should just buy the good trees from them.
Even those who teach don't really do it in a way that is very helpful to westerners.

__________________
best regards
Walter Pall
http://walter-pall.de
I don't design bonsai, I design trees.
Tradition is not the custody of ashes but the propagation of fire.
NEW: The endless bonsai diary
http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/

Ashbarns9999

Walter, Walter, Walter, where are you leading me? I am but a humble peasant living in Victoria Oz not a commercial grower and certainly not in pre-sale mode. The regime of withholding water as you know contains needle growth. I have also found out that over watering my yatsubusa causes yellowing of the needles. I have since administered chelated iron. As far as your conspiricy theory of the Japanese withholding information well you answered that. This was in the past and we have moved on now. Whatever the motives we can rise above all this and maintain our dignity. Upwards and Onwards. My very best respects to you Walter. Ashley

__________________
Better to procrastinate than lose sight of the objective by rash deeds.

http://www.bonsaivault.com

Will_Heath

Walter,

Thanks for sharing the wisdom.

Great thread, Fish.


WIll

bonsaikc

Watering is less the art than choosing the correct soil composition for the tree. My scots pine and collected fir and spruce get less water because they use a much larger particle size than the black pines. That way they all get and keep what they need. But I water from the hose, and all the trees get watered the same, since it is so much easier to control that way. I don't test soil dryness, no chopsticks, etc. It's been 100 degrees or close to it every day this week, so the trees get watered first thing in the AM, then I go home in the early afternoon and water again. Loose soil (zero organics), lots of feed, lots of water, lots of sun.

Of course, I have no bonsai ready for display yet. It's funny, really, I thought when I got serious about bonsai and started formal study, I'd have great trees to show for it. Yet, my conception of great trees and my estimation of my trees has readjusted so much, that now all I seem to have is trees in development. Hmmmmmm...

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Chris Johnston
"She was a critic, and lots fo critics who aren't called to do what they write about grow jealous and mean and small in their disappointment." - Stephen King, Duma Key
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Arnie

Walter,

In this post and others you often mention your heavy feeding regime.
Have you written any articles on this that I can find?

Regards
Arnie

rockm

For what it's worth, watering needs of bonsai vary greatly from climate to climate and species to species. Germany with its relatively cool summers might not take the skill that someone in the hot sunny southeastern US or water challenged Southwestern US might require...

Free draining soil is nice, but such a mix can dry out pretty quickly if the temperature is over 90 and the wind is blowing.

Perhaps it"s more learning the local climate and its requirements than it is learning to water