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Chapter 4. For Bonsai Beginners

Kan Yashiroda

The problems of wiring, watering and winter care, suggestions on containers.

Bonsai for Enduring Interest

The author, holding two miniature bonsai

I am not a young man—59 years; I want to start with some interest that will hold throughout the rest of my life, and. in my introduction to bonsai trees I feel sure I have found it.

When a Japanese speaks thus to other Japanese, he is very often told he is growing old, in a cynical tone—or is it an utterance of envy? Be it cynicism or envy or anything1 else, he is entering into a pleasant continual activity in growing and training bonsai, and at the same time doing something good for his health, to keep him mentally alert and physically sound. He is not entering upon the pursuit "simply to waste time."

The author of one of the articles in this issue (page 59) is an actor by profession, like the man who expressed the above conviction; similarly, too, he lives in a big city. If this man will follow the example of the Japanese actor, he can grow, train, and enjoy many miniature bonsai in his New York apartment, in his two very tiny glass houses, one holding twenty-four 2-inch pots and the other, thirty-eight. Mr. Nakamura grows all of his miniature bonsai on shelves on the roof of his house in Tokyo.

Again and again in Japan one comes across a moving van piled with goods and chattels and carrying on the top some bonsai, which are troublesome goods to move. In many cases those bonsai are not worth a dollar in money; but the owner will tell you that he has cherished this one for the last fifteen years, that he collected that one on Mt. So-and-so and has kept it in the same container for thirty years, and so on. Enduring beauty and renewed interest in training and trimming those bonsai every year enchant him indefinitely.

Containers

What about selecting the proper containers, and should they have drain holes?

All containers have one or more drain holes; otherwise the trees will not be healthy but will look sickly and finally die.

On page 132 there are suggestions about choosing containers, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Women's Auxiliary offers many kinds (from Japan) for sale. As to drain holes and their importance:

A basin (for holding water) is a different thing, used for a different purpose. It is never used for growing bonsai directly. Sometimes grasses and rushes are grown on clumps of dead organic material in water-holding containers. If you have a tree that does well in soil saturated with moisture, such as bald cypress (page 80), you may place the container in which it is growing in a basin of water. Bonsai trees growing on stones are sometimes put into basins of water; but many such trees have their roots spread into soil in the containers, as shown on the opposite page; these containers are the regular ones with drain holes.

E. Satomi

180-year-old flowering apricot (Primus mume). This venerable bonsai spent its first 120 years in a garden and is now in its 60th year in a container.

What proportion between tree and container do you advise?

What is generally considered the ideal or artistic proportion is the tree 80 per cent and the container 20 per cent; or for dwarfer shrubs or low spreading trees, the plant 60 per cent and the container 40 per cent. In general, the smaller containers are better.
 
In a shallow oblong or elliptical container, the tree should be planted at a point 70 per cent of the distance from the right or the left end, according to the spread and shape of the branches, as shown on the preceding page. In a square or round container, the plant is placed in the center, except cascade forms; these are planted toward the edge, as illustrated on page 43

E. Satomi

Flowering apricot. When containers are square or round, the trees are placed approximately in the center

Pruning

I need information on pruning, both theory and practice.

Both root pruning and proper pruning of branches are important elements in dwarfing bonsai. The constant renewal or re-growth of the root system is essential to the proper health of the trunk and branches above ground. The root system will itself remain healthy only if properly pruned. This operation is associated with transplanting, and detailed directions will be found on pages 24 and 94. The fundamental virtue in root pruning is to keep the root system "happily" within the limited dimensions of a container. There are two basic reasons for pruning the branches of bonsai. Many species that make splendid bonsai would grow into huge trees if not constantly pruned. It is chiefly by proper pruning that the artistic shape of bonsai is achieved.

Cascade - style Japanese white pine (Pinus parvi flora). Even in round containers, trees trained in this style are planted toward the edge.

I procured ten specimens of Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens glauca) two years old, which had been transplanted twice. They were about 8 to 10 inches tall, with a good root structure. I obtained them in the fall and put them into 4-inch pots, but none of them survived the winter. What was the cause of the failure?

I think you pruned off many roots in order to plant the trees in 4-ineh pots, and there was not enough time for the formation of new rootlets before winter came.

If you cannot wait until spring, prune lightly and pot early in the fall to give ample time for new root formation.

Still better, plant in slightly larger pots than the ones in which you desire to grow and train the trees; the following spring or early fall, prune the roots and shift into the smaller pots.

It is a general rule that whenever ordinary nursery-grown stocks are intended for bonsai, they are first kept in a specially prepared bed for a few years. Bending and shaping may be started while plants are in such a bed, using copper wire as illustrated on page 90. They then are shifted into containers, larger ones at first, smaller ones finally.

Another way is to plant nursery-grown trees in larger pots than one thinks necessary, and gradually shift them into smaller and smaller ones over a period of several years.
Thirty-year-old Japanese white pine planted in center of round container

Suppose I find a tree 3 feet tall at a commercial nursery that has healthy low-growing limbs and other qualities that would make a good bonsai. Shall I buy it?

Yes. But understand that it will need special culture. When you get home with it (assuming that it was balled and bur-lapped at the nursery), here are the main steps to take: 1) Pot it in a container large enough not to disturb the root ball. This may be a large commercial clay pot or a small wooden tub. Better yet, make a square or rectangular container, 6 to 8 inches high and just wide enough to accommodate the root ball. Fill in with additional soil around the root ball, and press firmly. Leave an inch at'the top of the container to facilitate adequate watering. 2) A tree 3 feet high is too tall for a good bonsai. Cut off the terminal 1 ½  feet (approximately). Make the cut just above a side branch that can then be wired into the terminal position. Trim the new terminal branch as seems indicated, also the side branches. 3) After 2 years in the container, with appropriate and continuous pruning and wiring of side branches, as needed, the tree should be transplanted to a container of smaller dimensions, both shallower and smaller in diameter.

After a year or two in the smaller container, transplant to a still smaller authentic bonsai pot, and you are on your way!

Certain varieties of Japanese maple have small leaves which makes them especially desirable as bonsai. This specimen is 80 years old.

Leaves Out of Proportion

Is there any way to avoid having the leaves out of proportion with the size of the dwarfed tree?

Reduction in size of leaves does not usually parallel the degree of the dwarfing of the tree: in the course of dwarfing, the leaves show little evidence of becoming smaller.

We select smaller-leaved varieties or clones for bonsai in the first place. Many trees used as bonsai have shorter- or smaller-leaved varieties or clones in one district or another; this is true of Japanese zelkova (Z. serrata), beeches (Fa-gus), elms (Ulmus), Japanese white and black pines (Pinus parviflora and thun-bergi), Sargent juniper (Juniperus chin-ensis sargenti), Yeddo spruce (Picea jezo-ensis), and many other trees.

One may think that such a problem does not concern needle-leaved trees; but Japanese bonsai fanciers recognize several clones or strains of the trees mentioned above, and are careful to secure their material from the particular district in which the desired clone or strain grows naturally. I cannot describe the distinctions scientifically, but I can clearly identify the different clones or strains at a glance.

In American trees, also, a keen observer with artistic taste in color and form may find some clone or strain, which botanists do not consider worth separating but which is more suitable for bonsai. The distinction may be a minor one; but when 'these trees are grown as bonsai, it is the minor distinction that makes one-tree predominate over its fellows.

Trees that have been cultivated for centuries have many varieties and forms, and generally some of these are smaller-leaved or dwarfed in nature. Many varieties will to some extent do away with the complaint of the disproportionately large size of the leaves when the trees are dwarfed. Such varieties exist particularly in Japanese maples (Acer), heavenly-bamboo (Nandina domestica), pomegranate (Punica granatum), magnolias, camellias (C. japonica and C. sasanqua), Ku-rume and Satsuki azaleas (Rhododendron obtusum amoenum and _B. indicum), Japanese flowering apricot (Prunus mume), and flowering quinces (Chaenomeles).

In certain kinds of broad-leaved trees, sometimes all the leaves are pinched off when they are practically mature. This causes new leaves to be formed which are smaller and which will be brighter in autumn color in such trees as trident maple (Acer buergerianum) and other maples.

In other cases, the growing branches are cut back to dormant buds to induce these to become active and the resultant leaves may be smaller. The new sprouts are regulated by pinching the strongest ones off entirely by reducing them to one or two leaves; then a third sprouting, with smaller leaves, may be expected from the axillary buds or dormant buds.

The leaves of bonsai are healthier, brighter, and neater in appearance when the plants are kept in a sunny site, are not allowed to become water-logged, and are properly fertilized. It would not be a good idea to give no fertilizer at all o-r to use a fertilizer without nitrogen.

When the size of the leaves is incommensurate with the size of the tree from an aesthetic point of view, thinning of leaves is practiced; this relieves the feeling of disproportionateness to some extent.

Whenever large broad-leaved trees are trained as bonsai, the branches are greatly reduced; with a few branches the bonsai is formed into an artistic shape and the place each leaf fills is carefully considered. In other words, when the leaves are fully expanded, each leaf takes the place of a branch from the aesthetic point of view; and so the leaves do not seem so greatly out of proportion.

In Japan one often sees pine needles cut in half to remedy an untidy appearance, but this does not look so nice, and I have never wished to try it, myself.

Thinning the needles, taking off the older ones on each shoot to relieve the heavy feeling, and shortening the needles by cutting off the upper half or so, are general practices with pines in Japanese gardens and as bonsai.

Kurme azalea (Rhododendron obtusum amoenum), with small leaves and small flowers

Water

Should one deprive the little trees of as much water as possible?

Bonsai should be kept drier than ordinary ornamental plants in pots; but if the object is to dwarf the trees or to keep them dwarfed, it is no use to make them bone-dry. Want of water only makes them stunted or unhealthy.

If there is such a thing as a fundamental principle in watering bonsai, it is this: water liberally but be sure that the soil drains amply. In most cases, it does not matter how many times a day bonsai are watered if the soil has perfect drainage and does not hold the slightest excess of water. This explains why many bonsai growers are kept busy , with watering, particularly in hot dry weather; and why bonsai kept outdoors are never water-logged even in the rainy season in Japan, though the rain pours down day after day.

This fundamental principle may be modified to suit the individual case, according to the kind of soil obtainable, the  climate,  the  kinds of  trees  grown, the containers used, and the amount of time one can spare each day for bonsai.

Black and red pines trained as bonsai in the districts around the Seto Inland Sea, where the climate is sunny and dry, generally become longer-needled when brought to Tokyo or thereabouts; the reason is that it is less sunny and the air contains more moisture.

I once told a New Yorker: "If New York's air is saturated with spirits (as an American lady in Italy said) or saturated with any other moisture, you must always keep your containers drier than usual. If you keep them on the wet side, the leaves will be in hopeless condition—large, thin,, and untidy."

The New Yorker has corrected my view by saying: "The only thing that saturates this city's air is dirt and soot." Dirt and soot are also troublesome and dangerous to bonsai. Unless the leaves are always kept clean, the branches become weak; gradually the smaller and weaker ones die, leaving only the upper, stronger ones and the bonsai  become spindling  and  unsightly.

A Japanese white pine bonsai on which the wires have been painted white to make them show in the photograph

A 10-year-old Yeddo spruce (Pieea jezoensis) showing how the wires are placed for training

Wiring

How is the tree trained with wire?

The accompanying photograph shows the way better than I can describe it.

The amount of water given daily should be reduced for two or three days before the operation takes place; this puts the tree into better condition for the wiring by making it somewhat limp and pliable.

Copper wire is prepared for use by being burned in a fire. In Japan a rice-straw fire is always used because it does not become too hot; wire thus annealed and slowly cooled is easy to bend. However, once bent, it hardens in a short time, thus holding a bonsai trunk or branch firmly in place. If the wire is burned too long in a fire that is too hot, it becomes dry, brittle, and difficult to coil. If the wire is heated in a gas flame, it should be brought only to red heat—then allowed to cool.

One end of the burned copper wire is inserted deep into the soil near the base of the trunk to be trained. It is then coiled upward but not in firm contact with the trunk or branches. To avoid damaging the bark or leaving the marks of the wire on it, the trunk is often covered with hemp bark before the wire is coiled. The bark of a cryp-tomeria tree, rice straw, pieces of split bamboo, and the like may be used in place of hemp bark. For delicate and soft-barked trees and shrubs such as azaleas, the wire is covered with cloth, paper, or the like, before it is used.

The photograph on the previous page shows a 10-year-old Yeddo spruce {Picea jezoensis) ; just before the buds opened, the branches were thinned and the trunk and branches were trained with wires.

When the coiling is finished, the bending begins. Holding the base of the trunk in the left hand and the upper end of the wire in the right, bend the trunk into approximately the desired position. Then make the more minute and delicate bends, one by one. The training of the branches follows.

This technique is suitable for slender trunks and small branches. With stouter trunks, bending must precede wire coiling.

One could easily take the upper half of the trunk of the tree in the photograph, and bend it horizontally in a moment. The principle of wire-coiling, however, is that after the trunk is bent into the desired shape with the hands—very cautiously and patiently—wire coiling follows to fix the trunk in that shape.
 
Whenever the trunk has once been bent, it must not be restored to its former position but must be held in the bent position until the wire coiling is finished to fix it that way. If a thick trunk or branch is bent sharply, the soft inner tissues on the outer (or convex) side of the curve are greatly damaged; but similar tissues on the inner (or concave) side of the curve are uninjured and continue to function and promote the healing of the damaged part. However, if the trunk is restored to its former position after it is once bent, all the inner tissues are likely to be damaged so that the tree will die.

Let me repeat: before bending or wiring, the trunk or branch should be protected with hemp-palm rope, manila rope, cloth, bark, or the like; paper will do for very slender branches.

For a very thick trunk, which cannot be trained with wires, the expert uses a vise; but that is not good for the tree.

An azalea grown upright in a nursery row, like the one in the sketch, or any azalea, with its branches thinned till it looked like this, could easily be trained into the curve shown in the sketch in an hour or two. Azaleas grown in greenhouses are better for training.

Sectional view of deep cold frame suitable for the winter storage of bonsai in cold climates. The frame should be situated in shaded area completely free of winter sun (lath house shade is satisfactory). Plastic covered sash on top should fit tightly. As many as 30 plants can be stored in a 5- by 6-foot frame.

Winter Care

What do I need to know about winter care?

Winter care differs for hardy and non-hardy or tender plants.

Hardy plants are those that can live outdoors in the coldest weather without danger of winterkilling. They are not house plants but are real outdoor plants. Typical examples are many kinds of pine, spruce, yew, retinospora (Chamaecyparis species), hemlock, cedar, larch, holly, maple, privet, flowering crab-apple, hawthorn, rock spray, etc. These plants need winter cold to remain healthy and grow well. But be cautious!

Hardy species growing in bonsai containers present a special problem if left outdoors in below-freezing winter weather. Soil in the containers will freeze, and the containers will break. Moreover, it is impossible to properly water bonsai growing in firmly frozen soil.
 
If a sun porch or cold but light room is available where the night temperature never falls below about 36°F., this would provide a good place for over wintering hardy or semi-hardy bonsai.

Here is another suggestion for over wintering hardy or semi-hardy bonsai in a freezing climate: keep them in an insulated deep cold-frame. It should be shaded by a lath house. The soil in bonsai pots, with such protection, should never freeze if the night temperatures do not go much below 0° F. The bonsai should be watered as needed, and on warmer non-freezing winter days, it is well to remove the protective covering and give the plants full air. Be sure to replace the covering sash before sunset!
Many non-hardy or tender species trained as bonsai will grow satisfactorily if treated as house plants. In a loose sense they might even be called "house plant" bonsai. Typical plants in this group would include tender azalea, camellia, gardenia, bix, dwarf pomegranate, fire-thorn, rosemary, and any other tender species with small leaves, flowers and fruit that might lend themselves well to bonsai training.

Kinds of Plants

What kinds of small trees or shrubs might I buy at a nursery that could be grown in pots and trained as bonsai?

It is not necessary to have the dense, symmetrically branched young trees which are nice for foundation planting. Young trees irregularly branched but not stunted, having a broadly pyramidal outline, generally suit the purpose well enough. In other words, it is preferable to have a very stout or the stoutest branch at the base, and one nearly as stout, or equally so next above the base. If the lowest branches are not the stoutest, they will become weakened in the course of years of dwarfing and will eventually be in very poor condition or die. Thus the tree will lose its good proportions and aesthetic shape and become top-heavy and spindling.

The spirit of bonsai is well portrayed by this Japanese maple (Acer palmatum). An ancient tree growing in nature would have the same gnarled limbs and roots left bare by soil erosion.

Opposite branching is avoided in bonsai. However, when young trees are selected for training, it is not necessary to avoid the opposite-branched ones; these can be changed into alternate-branched trees by cutting off one of the two opposite branches.

In the nursery rows, one should select young trees that have been well transplanted and root-pruned, especially those with spreading shallow roots, which are better suited to shallow containers. Trees having some stout roots near the surface of the soil are easier to keep dwarf and healthy. The roots and rootlets in the lower part of the container can easily be renewed; and bonsai of certain trees, such as maples (Acer) and Japanese zelkova (Z. serrata), feature roots on the surface of the soil, as shown here.

Gray-barked elm, or Japanese zelkova (Z. serrata)

For making a miniature forest from one tree, as shown on pages 2, 17, and 74, avoid a young tree with stout lower branches and choose one with branches as nearly as possible equal in vigor and length. The latter is more likely to produce uniform growth of the branches which are eventually to look like independent trees.

Aside from restraining the roots in a small container, what do you advise to dwarf Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis) ?

I am growing in my Acclimatization Garden, some tall trees of palms—date palm (Phoenix), coconut (Cocos), Washington palm (Washingtonia), palmetto (Sabal), and some others. From seeds which have fallen from these palms, seedlings are growing naturally and abundantly, thousands of them close together. Seedlings growing thus show very little development, except those at the margin of the colony; yet I have never seen any dwarfed one worth cultivating.

Windmill palm (Trachy-carpus- fortunei) is one of the fey palms suitable for bonsai.

The only palm I have come across which is worthy to be called bonsai is the windmill palm {Tr achy car pus for-tunei). The photograph shows a number of plants in a shallow container, from my deceased uncle's collection. The palms have been in the same container not less than twenty-five years and show no increase in size. Why, I do not know. Zamias, from tropical America, will make a similar bonsai, as they grow very slowly in pots.

Tools used in bonsai culture includes small special knives, various scissors, pincers, and clippers

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