How to choose bonsai tree stumps in spring? A detailed guide to selecting stumps for cultivation
The art of stump bonsai. Old woody plants are planted in pots and, after years of pruning, wiring, fertilizing and other artistic processing and meticulous management, are turned into a work of art with a vigorous, powerful trunk and lush, green foliage.
When buying stumps in spring, master the following key points: First, look at how long ago they were dug up; if it has been a long time, the bark will be dry and wrinkled and they will not easily survive. Second, check that the bark is fresh and tender; scratch the surface with a fingernail and see whether the exposed layer is tender green, with a full sense of moisture, which means it will easily survive. Third, the more fibrous roots, the easier it is to survive. Fourth, they must be pruned again.
After choosing the stumps, the most important thing is planting and cultivating them:
1. After buying the stump, if you feel it is somewhat dried out, soak it in clean water for 4-6 hours so it absorbs enough moisture, then take it out and let it dry slightly.
2. Mix soil with water into a slurry, coat the roots of the stump thoroughly with the slurry beforehand, then plant it in a pot using growing medium.
3. Water it thoroughly.
4. After planting, place it in a warm room to keep it warm until it can be moved out around Grain Rain, and keep the potting soil moist. If you do not have a warm room, coat the stump with slurry and plant it in a wind-sheltered, sunny spot, mounding the soil 30 cm above ground level to prevent waterlogging and root rot.
5. After planting, scatter loose rice straw over it, covering both the stump and the soil surface; this keeps it both warm and moist, and when the sunlight is strong at the turn of spring and summer it can also provide shade. Afterwards, just spray water on the straw frequently, and the survival rate can reach over ninety percent.
6. During the initial survival days and the growing period, spray alternately with dichlorvos and carbendazim every 10-15 days; only in this way can it grow lush branches and leaves. 7. After autumn, keep the superior branches and remove the inferior ones, thinning out an appropriate portion to avoid consuming nutrients, promoting vigorous growth the following year and laying the foundation for various bonsai shapes.
Bonsai cultivation of forsythia
Forsythia (Latin scientific name: Forsythia suspensa): a deciduous shrub, commonly called "a string of gold" in Hong Kong, China, and a plant of the genus Forsythia in the family Oleaceae. Forsythia blooms in early spring before the leaves appear, the flowers have a faint, vivid fragrance, and the branches are covered in golden yellow, gorgeous and lovely; it is an excellent early-spring flowering shrub. The plant is about 3 m tall, with clustered branches; the branchlets are yellow, arching and drooping, and hollow. The leaves are opposite, simple or trifoliolate, ovate or ovate-elliptic, with toothed margins. The corolla is yellow, with 1-3 flowers borne in the leaf axils; the fruit is ovoid, ovate-elliptic or long-elliptic, the apex beaked and gradually pointed, with sparsely scattered lenticels on the surface; the fruit stalk is 0.7-1.5 cm long. The flowering period is March-April, and the fruiting period is July-September. Forsythia blooms in early spring before the leaves appear, with branches covered in golden yellow, gorgeous and lovely; it is an excellent early-spring flowering shrub. It is suitable for planting beside houses, by pavilion steps, in wall corners, under hedges and along roadsides, and is also suitable for planting by streams, beside ponds, and at the foot of rocks and rockeries. Because of its well-developed root system, it can be planted as a flowering hedge or as a bank-protecting tree.Forsythia can be propagated by sowing, cuttings, layering or division. After the seedlings survive, first plant them in clay pots or in the ground and cultivate them for about three years to encourage the trunk to thicken. During this time, initial shaping such as bending the plant and pinching out the tips can be carried out, and attention should be paid to developing transitional branches so that when the bonsai takes shape the proportion in thickness between branches and trunk is harmonious. In addition, you can also dig up old forsythia stumps in the wild or use old forsythia stumps discarded by landscaping departments to make bonsai, which has the advantages of a clear, unusual, ancient and elegant form and of taking shape in a relatively short time.
Generally, transplanting is done during the dormant season from winter to early spring. First shape the stump, cutting off branches not needed for the design, then plant it in a larger flower pot or in the ground to "raise the rough"; the potting soil should be a loose, airy, well-drained sandy soil. After planting, firm the soil, water it thoroughly, and place it in a wind-sheltered, sunny spot for care. After it survives, water according to the principle of "do not water until dry, and when you water, water thoroughly"; both waterlogging in the potting soil and excessive drought are detrimental to plant growth. During the growing period, pay attention to removing buds and cutting out surplus branches.
In spring, forsythia is covered in yellow flowers, bright and brilliant, while in summer and autumn the leaves flutter green. Common bonsai forms include the straight-trunk style, slanting-trunk style, curved-trunk style, waterside style and cascade style. For artificially cultivated plants, the trunk can be wired during the seedling stage, while for old stumps that have grown for many years, attention should be paid to developing and shaping the branches, and the trunk need not be treated too much. The shaping method can combine wiring with pruning; because the branches are relatively long, the growing tips should be pinched during the growing period to control branch growth and encourage side branches, forming a compact and dense crown. Around June, when the new branches are about sixty to seventy percent lignified, wire them to adjust the tree's vigor.
Forsythia has a well-developed root system, and the roots can be raised as needed to make them gnarled and intertwined, adding to the bonsai's mood of age and antiquity.
Forsythia likes a warm, humid environment and plenty of sunlight, tolerates partial shade, and also tolerates cold and drought, but fears waterlogging. During the growing period, it can be placed outdoors in a sunny, well-ventilated spot for care; even in the high heat of midsummer it should not be shaded, but the soil must not be too dry. Normally keep the potting soil moist but not waterlogged, and pay attention to drainage in the rainy season to avoid root rot caused by waterlogging in the potting soil. Promptly cut off surplus branches and remove surplus buds to keep the tree form graceful. In spring and autumn, apply a decomposed, dilute liquid fertilizer or compound fertilizer once every fifteen to twenty days; in summer, stop fertilizing; in autumn, you can also spray the leaves with fertilizers relatively high in phosphorus, such as potassium dihydrogen phosphate, to promote the formation of flower buds. In winter, overwinter it in a cold room, or bury the flower pot outdoors in a wind-sheltered, sunny spot to overwinter; control watering and keep the soil from freezing, and it will overwinter safely. Before flowering, shape the plant once, cutting off branches that affect the tree form so that it has a graceful tree posture when in bloom. Repot once after flowering every one to two years; the potting soil should be loose and fertile with good drainage and air permeability, and carry out a pruning together with repotting, cutting overly long branches shorter and leaving enough bud positions so that new branches grow, so that it blooms more the following year and the crown form is perfected.
Grape bonsai cultivation
Potted fruit trees are a cultivation method in which fruit trees are planted in pots so that they flower and bear fruit, while fruit-tree bonsai, building on potted fruit trees, inherits and carries forward the shaping art of China's traditional stump bonsai and, through artistic processing, forms works of art with high ornamental value. Both are rare gems in the flower and bonsai industry. Because of the unique beautifying effect of potted fruit trees and fruit-tree bonsai, they can decorate large hotels and restaurants, and can also be made into sky orchards, miniature orchards and so on, and are all the more beloved by flower and bonsai enthusiasts. Potted fruit trees mainly include species such as apple, hawthorn, pear, persimmon, grape, peach, plum and apricot; with their unique charm of graceful spring flowers, dripping-green summer leaves, brilliantly colored autumn fruits and tough, vigorous winter branches, they have a distinctive appeal and have been praised by garden experts as living art that "integrates the new, the novel and the wonderful".
Grape bonsai
Potted grapes have varied forms and each berry is exquisite, carrying the meaning of a thriving business. The leaf color is attractive: new leaves are pale green and tender, still retaining their childishness, while mature leaves are glossy green, steady and seasoned; the fruit clusters are half-hidden, like a maiden's face. Viewing them in spare moments is refreshing and pleasing, truly an excellent ornamental item.
So how do you grow this kind of product? Today we will introduce to you a cultivation technique for grape bonsai.
Using cuttings or layering, grape branches are designed into bonsai shapes such as a curved dragon form, flower-basket form or fan form, which can be used both for viewing and to obtain delicious, purely green fruit. In 2003, the pilot testing center of the Dong'e agricultural product deep-processing project in Shandong Province carried out field factory-style cultivation using a new ultra-early-maturing potted grape variety; layering was done in early spring, and when the fruit turned red in mid-to-late June it was sold on consignment by flower shops in cities such as Jinan and Shijiazhuang, selling for 30-40 yuan per pot, with a comprehensive cost of only about 3 yuan per pot and a per-mu benefit of as much as 30,000 yuan. Its cultivation technique includes the following aspects:
First, choose the soil and select the variety. Grapes can adapt to all kinds of soil except heavily saline-alkaline soil; the soil must be deeply plowed and given plenty of organic fertilizer to improve fertility. For the grape variety, choose early-maturing, large-fruited varieties suitable for potting.
Second, open-field cuttings. In our northern region, grape cuttings can be taken in mid-April. When taking cuttings, the cuttings should be inserted slightly tilted, fully inserted into the soil, with the upper bud eye 1 cm from the ground. The grape rows should run north-south, with a plant spacing of 17-20 cm and a row spacing of 130-150 cm.
Third, field management. After the cuttings sprout, keep one main vine per plant for growth and remove all other side shoots. When the seedlings are 30 cm tall, to prevent lodging, a trellis must be set up with wires, and the grape seedlings should be evenly tied to the wires. When the seedlings are 80 cm tall, pinch out the growing tip of the main vine. After pinching, leave 4 side shoots at the top to grow, and pinch out the growing tip of each side shoot after it grows 5 leaves. After entering June, spray Bordeaux mixture at 200 times dilution once every 15 days. To prevent and control insect pests, after the grapes sprout, except during the 10 days of the flowering period when pesticides must not be used, spray a low-dose, high-efficiency, low-toxicity, low-residue pesticide once every 10 days.
After the leaves fall in winter, dig a deep trench 33 cm wide and 33 cm deep in the exact middle between the rows, then apply pond sludge, cake fertilizer and farmyard manure, and cover with soil after application.
Fourth, pressing into pots and shaping. For the pots, it is best to choose ceramic pots with a mouth diameter of 35-50 cm and relatively good water and air permeability, and the potting soil should be rich in organic matter. Before the grapes sprout in spring, first bury the pots in the soil in sequence along the rows at a spacing of about 35 cm, with the pot surface slightly lower than the ground. Gently pull down vines with plump bud eyes and the ability to bear fruit, with a vine length of no less than 80 cm, press them into the pots, fill with soil and tread firm. Leave 4-5 plump bud eyes above the potting soil, then insert a thin pole 120 cm long and tie the vine to it. Twenty days after the grapes sprout, girdle the vine inside the pot to encourage it to root early and root abundantly. The girdling site is inside the pot at the end close to the plant's root, and the girdling length is 2 cm, with the bark layer completely removed. After the inserted branch bears fruit, pinch out the growing tip leaving 5 leaves above the fruit cluster, so that the plant in the pot is lower than 120 cm. Leave 4-6 fruit clusters per pot. Before flowering, remove half of each cluster as well, to ensure the clusters are neat and the berries uniform.
Fifth, fertilizer and water management. After the grapes sprout, water immediately. To make the root system in the pot well developed, the potting soil must be kept moist at all times. If the weather is dry, water thoroughly once every 4-6 days, and after watering cover the pot surface with wheat chaff or rice straw to retain moisture. After the grapes drop their flowers, combine watering with a topdressing of nitrogen-phosphorus compound fertilizer at a concentration of 3%-5% applied inside the pot once every 15 days.
Finally, cutting the pots for sale. From sprouting and flowering to berry enlargement, grapes generally need 60-70 days, at which point the root system in the pot is very well developed and the pot can be cut. Five days before cutting the pot, spray the leaves twice with a 2%-3% wood-ash extract. One day before cutting the pot, remove some young, tender branches and leaves to reduce water evaporation. Cutting the pot should be done in the evening after watering thoroughly; use scissors to cut the vine outside the pot near the plant's root, and when the grape leaves do not wither at noon on a sunny day, it can be put on the market for sale.