Somerset Bonsai Society is our absolute favourite Bonsai Society in Somerset. We love them so much that whenever they visit us, we treat them to a bin bag of damaged reject plants covered in mud
And local bonsai enthusiasts ingeniously turn these trees, which had been destined for the compost heap, into beautiful bonsai.
Young beech, native field maple, Japanese maple, elms, and wild plum are especially popular.
How do you turn a deciduous bareroot tree into a beautiful little bonsai?
Bareroot trees are grown straight, and there isn’t much taper in the trunk.
For bonsai, you want flowing movement (bends in the trunk, basically) and taper, so the first action is to chop the trunk down to 30-45cm or less, preferably to a side-shoot or bud, which will form the new leader.
Next, pot it up in a plain old plastic pot, large enough to take the roots: don’t bother with a proper bonsai pot yet.
- Trim off long, straggly roots and gently fill the pot with potting soil. Free-draining bonsai potting media is preferable, but a standard potting mix is fine at this stage.
- Try to spread the roots evenly round the pot.
- Sprinkle a little Rootgrow directly onto the roots as you fill the pot.
- Put it outside in a sheltered position, out of the sun.
Once it is growing strongly, it can come out into the sun. Put plenty of tree/shrub fertiliser around it and keep it well watered, but not sitting in water.
This stage is all about fattening the trunk. Let the leader and any side shoots grow freely. Don’t be tempted to start trying to “bonsai” it yet, but if the leader grows really long, pinch out the tip to encourage side shoots.
After a year’s growth to establish, you can start to apply standard bonsai techniques.
There is a wealth of books and websites to teach you the art of bonsai. Speaking as a lady of accomplished years, I learn best from a handsome younger man with a nice deep voice, such as Peter Chan of Heron’s Bonsai:
We’ll just cover a few key points here.
The first few years are mostly about developing a tapered trunk with interesting changes in direction, known as “movement”.
That requires a cycle of spring repotting, summer growth, then cutting back side shoots.
- Wire can be used to create gentle bends in the trunk and branches.
- An easy way to speed up the process of creating movement is to set the trunk at an angle, rather than vertical, during an early repotting.
At each repotting, inspect the roots and remove crossing or tangled ones. Always try to get an even root spread around the developing trunk.
Most side shoots should be left in order to help thicken the trunk, until it achieves the desired form. Only then should you choose the branches you want and remove all others.
How to make a bonsai as fast as possible
Bonsais aren’t made overnight, but the fastest option is a mini forest, generally known as yose-ue.
Straight trunks with no taper look dull as a standalone bonsai, but come alive when grouped into a little forest, so you don’t need to spend so many years developing an interesting trunk shape.
Pot them up as above, and if they have grown sufficiently in the first year or two, it’s usually possible to remove them from their plastic pots in early Spring, and pot them together in a large tray.
- Aim for a range of trunk sizes and heights.
- Crucially, place the largest trees near the front to take advantage of perspective, tricking the eye to make the forest seem bigger than it really is.
This blog was possible thanks to the help of Adrian at Somerset Bonsai Society, who generously provided all images, apart from this one:
