New guy from Texas

candywhitevdub

Hey all, my name is Matt from Texas. I've been here for alittle more then a year. I moved here from Maine where I was first introduced to Bonsai by my brother who had a little company. I helped him a bit with the care of them but I know VERY little about growing Bonsai in the Texas weather. Im used to growing Pines, Oaks, and Maples. About a month ago I decided to get back into Bonsai. I purchased a Fukien Tea that has already been shapped and potted at Central Texas Bonsai in Wimberly, TX and I also got a couple of nursery trees that im trying to figure out how to shape. One is a Schefflera that has GREAT potential for a nice forrest with some airroots (but im on the fence about pruning it to get it to a smaller/tighter shape) and I also had a Dwarf Yaupon Holly that caught my eye. Any input on styling and care would be much appreciated. I have noticed that quite a few people are from the San Antonio area on here.
pictures of the trees:










-Matt

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bonsaimeister

Matt,

Nice to have you here, but your embedded pics are taking up alot of bandwidth. You can either reduce them so that they can be popped open or warn people in the thread title that you have embedded pics. Believe it or not, but there are still some people with dial up here. I am glad to see you have once again found bonsai, and I think that your bonsai adventure will be enhanced by the knowledge of forum members here.

regards,

bonsaimeister

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Jay Nolen

Hello Matt,
Welcome to Texas Bonsai! You just missed the December meeting of the San Antonio Bonsai Society. Glad to hear you have met Pat and Chuck Ware at Jade Gardens in Wimberly. Yes there are some challenges to growing bonsai here in central Texas. Check out the link in my signature block below, it is the link to our club web site. 2008 is an exciting time for Bonsai here in San Antonio, for we will be hosting the American Bonsai Society Annual Convention.

I hope to see you at the January meeting.

Jay

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Not to have a method is bad; to stop entirely at method is worse still.
One should at first observe rules severely, then change them in an intelligent way.
The aim of possessing method is to seem finally as if one had no method."

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San Antonio Bonsai Society

candywhitevdub

I would but I dont see an edit post button


I have actually looked into the San Antonio Bonsai Club and I would LOVE to join but unfortunatley I am going to be taking classes at Northwest Vista on thursdays. It seems like that would be the best bet on getting some help on taming these trees and getting them the way I want them.

-Matt

lagunamadre

Hi Matt. Welcome to Bonsai AND to TEXAS. It's good that you got to meet Chuck. Didn't get the Scheff. from him I suppose. He has some great maples and cedar elms, so I'm wondering, do you prefer tropicals? I assume you are keeping the Sheff inside. I'd put that in a shallow but much wider training pot for now, with some good soil. Could have gotten some soil from Chuck. Then in the spring, you could cut it back drastically and place it in FULL sun, so the new leaves come in much smaller. Good luck with that holley. Never had the patience to convert them from nursery pot to shallow bonsai pot. If you can't join a club, maybe you could get to go along on a dig this winter with a local club. Collected trees make the best bonsai and your native cedar elm are very easy to collect. Good luck, Larry

candywhitevdub

Thanks Larry, I didn't get the Schefflera from Chuck. I got it from a local nursery and I instantly picked it up due to the rooting. Im a person thats used to having primerally Evergreens (due to Maine) where we would care for them alot durring the summer and put them in the basement or leave in the greenhouse durring the winter.
The Schefflera has been either in the window of my roofed porch or outside getting some sun for a little bit. None of the trees have been outside when its lower then 60 degrees. I have pruned it to keep it in a relatively controlled shape. The Holly has been pruned quite a bit and is just going to be in a broom style (even though its one of my least favorite styles) until i get some ideas for a different style. Any idea as far as the soil i should use until I get it into a bonsai pot? im sure the pot should be pretty wide and just plant them a few inches deep. should I split them out or keep them the shape they are in now? i was thinking of trying to make them either kind of half moon or just bunch them up and try to get them to air root out a bit for a nice Banyon look.
As far as the collecting trips, name the time and place and im there. I've been very interested in finding places to go look and try to find something to dig up and take home. Are there any bogs or anything that might have some bald cypress or anything similar too?

-Matt

p.s. sorry for all the reading

lagunamadre

Hi Matt. If you're talking about " splitting out" the scheff, I wouldn't recommend it. If you want a mostly horizontal banyan type, I'm reminded on one I started three years ago this February. I got 6 plants, scheff, cut them very short, bare rooted them and jammed them in pot of about 6x9x1/2. In less than three weeks they started growing. I planted the trunks at various 45 degree angles to get a spread out banyan type. The second year it grew 6 roots down from the branches, and it is now in a flat marble slab. It was a fun project.
As far as collecting, I do what I can as there is no bonsai club near here, the nearest being about 4 hours.
As far as soil, in a pinch, I have used double sifted pine bark mulch, but may hold water too much except for a shallow potted tropical. A favorite soil/additive of mine is 1/8" lava rock. All of this is of course, if you can't get back to Chuck for soil. I have, at times ordered from www.bonsaimonk.com, if you don't need a large amount.
Have fun, Larry

lagunamadre

By the way, I forgot to ask, What year is your " candywhitevdub" ?

Bonsaifreak

Welcome to the area!


Nice purchases at Wimberley. Will keep you busy for a while!

Jorge

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