Bonsai Journal 2024

2024-01-11

There was a tiny amount of snow on the trees this morning.

2024-02-25

The Chinese quinces and the Acer palmatum katsura are leafing out already.

2024-03-13

The blackthorns are flowering.

2024-04-13

I reassembled the bonsai tables and moved the trees that were on the ground over the winter onto them. I also moved the wintering (olive, privet, chojubai) trees out of the greenhouse.

2024-04-18

I received 111 seeds of Pinus thunbergii (2g) from Semences du Puy and I put them in a glass of water.

2024-04-20

Most of the seeds (108) fell to the bottom of the glass so I discarded those that were still floating and put the rest in a bag with a bit of wet moss that I moved to the fridge.

2024-04-21

It was freezing this morning (-0.9 C) and this destroyed the leaves of the wisteria growing in the ground.

2024-04-24

I repotted 60 black pine seedlings from 2022 that were growing in the same pond basket into individual containers with a 2:1 mix of pumice and lava. I should have done it last month, or last year, but I didn't have the time for it then. I have 4 or 5 more pond baskets but it was too late for them because they are growing more vigorously. I'll see how much of the seedlings will survive because they don't look very healthy. Next time I'll repot much sooner.

I also transpotted my two chojubai into the next size of pond basket. The oldest one was in the smallest pond basket size and the more recent one was still in its original container. I left the former in the first pond basket stacked on top of the bigger one, and removed the container of the latter without disturbing the roots.

This second chojubai was quite yellow. I'll see if this improve the issue or try to give it some iron. I will also try the iron on my oldest olive that also have new leaves since last September of the same color.

2024-04-25

I stacked one of the itoigawa on a bigger pond basket and will try that on a few other to see if they will grow faster than the rest.

I received 4 big unglazed pots from Bonsaischule Wenddorf that had a really good packaging to prevent them from breaking. I'll repot my big hanazono satsuki on one of them after bloom.

2024-04-27

I ordered some PH test strips to measure my tap water because it could be too alkaline. I also looked at what kind of pump I could buy to put on top of the rain tank in the bonsai area and reconnected it to the gutter at the corner of the house.

2024-04-28

I watered the chojubai, olive, and Japanese black pine trees that had yellow leaves with a few grammes of 6% of chelated iron (by filling the scoop to the first level numbered 5) and diluted it in 3 liters of water. The solution was a dark rust in color so when I was done I washed the watering can with 3 more liters of water and cleaned up the leaves of the dark rust solution to avoid leaving any marks.

2024-04-29

I reconnected a 1000 liters water tank to the house gutter to catch rainwater and got 200 liters after 10 mm of rain.

2024-04-30

I received 10 Japanese black pine seedlings that I transpotted into a pond basket without disturbing their root mass. I then wire them to put a bit of movement into them. I should have ordered them much earlier but it's better to do another small experiment rather than waiting another year.

I also removed the Japanese black pine seeds from the fridge and planted them in a dozen pond baskets with a lava and pomice mix.

2024-05-01

I took 5 cuttings of itoigawa shoots and planted them on a pond basket with a lava and pomice mix.

I also collect nettle and started a nettle tea in a 10 liters bucket with rainwater.

2024-05-02

There's some subtle signs at the surface of all buckets containing the Japanese black pine seeds indicating that an animal may have eaten most of them. Next time I need to protect them with a wire mesh.

I cleaned up the ficus trees that are indoor below a powerful grow light and above a tray of water positioned on a heated matt. They are doing well with some aerial root formation but less than when they were inside a tent with high humidity.

The 8 ficus trees from my 2021 experiment are getting really fused now after a couple of years of free growing. I might start chopping some of the trees to prevent the branches they will be from growing too much compared to the main trunk. I'm also thinking about making a cutting of the biggest chop and later planting it on top of the current trunk.

It'll also soon be time to remove more branches from my 2004 ficus around where I chopped it in 2022 to avoid inverse taper. It is growing well and will need to be repotted this summer.

2024-05-11

I put an organic liquid fertilizer on every trees. I diluted 3 times the recommended dosage (in rainwater) because the box is a few years old.

The chojubai that was yellow is now a much darker green, almost like the other one. The olive tree that was yellow is also looking greener but not as good. So the chelated iron seem to be working. I'll do another application soon and include the gingko trees that are also quite yellow.

The black birds have started to remove moss from many pots.

2024-05-12

I added organic solid fertilizer on most young trees.

2024-05-17

I removed the wire of one of the itoigawa but at this point it's starting to be too late for the others. Also the soil level went up with the fertilizer applications over the year and a part of the trunk had rooted and got bigger than the base of the trunk. Not very good.

2024-05-18

I watered again the chojubai, olive, and some Japanese black pine trees that had yellow leaves with a few grammes of 6% of chelated iron (by filling the scoop to the first level numbered 5) and diluted it in 3 liters of water. I also watered the gingko trees and some mapple with a more diluted solution.

2024-05-24

I sprayed the leaves of the oak trees with potassium bicarbonate to prevent or reduce powdery mildew this summer.

2024-05-25

Something ate the pine sapplings so I added a mesh on the pots to save the few survivors.

2024-05-31

The largest satsuki has a few flowers.

2024-06-06

I moved the ficus trees to the greenhouse.

2024-06-13

Decandling time. I cut the candles of the Japanese black pines and more on some of them like the biggest one where I trimmed a lot of excessive growth on the bottom branches that I'll keep, and the remaining needles were cut in half.

I also trimmed some lateral growth on the sacrifice branches, but not all of it. I'll cut the rest in Spring.

2024-06-16

The chinzan azalea is starting to show its pink flowers.

2024-06-28

The big azalea is in full bloom but it was probably too much in the shade and some flowers are already done while other are just starting to open up.

2024-07-11

I removed the flowers of the azaleas.

2024-07-30

I sprayed potassium bicarbonate on the oaks.

2024-09-20

The leaves of some maple are turning yellow or red.

2024-10-02

I moved the ficus trees inside before a cold spell where the temperature went as low as 4.5°C but I could have moved them 2 weeks ago already because the temperature went down to 2.8, 3.3, and 2.6°C for a 3 days. The coldest time of the day was just before sunrise so the cold didn't last long, especially in the greenhouse, still it was a bit too low for this species but they didn't show any signs of it. During the days the temperatures went as high as 21.4°C outside the greenhouse so this probably helped.

2024-10-03

The leaves of the Chinese quince are turning yellow or red.

2024-10-08

The leaves of some maples are turning red. The Chinese quince are fully red.

2024-10-17

Most of the itoigawa cuttings I made are looking good. The leaves of most maples are reds.

2024-10-25

I pruned the branches of my largest trident maple, of the 3 or 4 largest oaks, one large blackthorn, and a few other trees. All the leaves of the Japanese maples are red but they have not fallen yet.

I also removed all the things that were in the greenhouse, tilled the soil, flattened it, put some geotextile, and emptied 3 bags of gravel on it, just enough to fill the South side of the greenhouse where I'll assemble a table for the Mediterranean trees.