My 1st forest

L5171180

Hi, my bonsai friends,

Awhile back, I really want to create my 1st forest. Finally, I did it with rocky mountain juniper seedlings thursday night. These're very young seedlings and I plan to let the root grow for a month or 2 without disturbance. After that, I'll start to do some leaf pruning. Right now, I'm just keeing it under a little shade to avoid any direct sun. I custom made a growing box for it (16x12x3.5). Soil mix: 50% akadama, 40% soil, 10% coarse sand.

Let me know your opinion and any advice is appreciated. I'm still a new-comer to Bonsai and I'm loving it. Thanks in advance.
:-)

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L5171180

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L5171180

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L5171180

wow, 81 views but not a single reply. Come on guys :-)

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soonami

Well, I will offer my comments then

I think that when you are planting a forest, the general practice is to plant trees that are almost "finished." That is, they've achieved desired caliper and have been wired. It would be better to grow each tree separately until each on is ready instead of developing them all in a grow box as a forest because the former would allow the trees to grow faster.

The major deficiencies that I have found in your forest are that the trees are the same size, the positioning does not reflect mush depth or perspective and each tree is not ready for a bonsai pot. You should read the many availible articles, book chapters, forum discussion, etc. on choosing trees for a forest, positioning, and preparation.

I hope that I do not discourage you from trying more forest plantings, but it would be a disservice to you to be anything but forthcoming. I do commend you for trying to and submitting your planting to the judgment of others, that shows that you are really willing to learn.

good luck

TreeBay

I don't see any problem with developing a forest from seedlings. Indeed that's a very common practice to use to develop material. And the trees can grow much faster with room for their roots to spread than they might in individual bonsai pots

Caliper differences can be achieved by managing the growth of the trees, through the use of selective pruning and escape branches.

I think that particular variety of juniper has foliage that is very difficult to work with, though.

Regards,

Matt

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L5171180

Thanks for the advice. I'm intended to prune and cut short some of the trees after it has a more stable root growth. I believe some trees will grow bigger than others due to their location in the growing box and how much sunlight they received. The height is not really a concern, I'll trim them short as I see fit.

It's my 1st forest planting, what the heck, i'll just give that a try. Thanks for the advice. :-)

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