A Detailed Guide to Practical Management Techniques for Bonsai Fruit Trees
As the saying goes, good seed gives good seedlings. Now that the seedlings are well chosen, how do you make them grow well? There is a lot of know-how involved here. For fruit trees in the open field, as long as you do a good job of water and fertilizer management and pest and disease control, you will certainly have a bumper harvest. But for bonsai fruit trees, you not only need them to bear more fruit and good fruit, but also to make the branches graceful and varied. To achieve all this is no simple matter.
How can the tree be made graceful and colorful, delicious and good-looking?
Hu Zhonghui, agronomist at the Tianjin Institute of Pomology: We need to keep the fruit's edibility good, and its nutritional value must not differ from that of open-field fruit, or even be higher. Its fruit must be beautiful, neat and well shaped. Fruit tree bonsai uses the fruit to adorn the entire tree shape, and you also have to consider next year's shaping. In this respect, cultivation differs from open-field cultivation, and the key word is “diligence.” Every task must be carried out according to standard: do the work when the time comes, and do not miss the timing. Water and fertilizer management is the number one key in potted fruit trees. Especially in the hot summer, water in the fruit pot evaporates easily. At this time you must observe frequently, adjust the water amount promptly, and keep the soil in the fruit pot gradually drying and gradually moistening. Do not let the fruit tree die of dryness. Normally, keep watering twice a day. During the flower bud differentiation stage, you should also pay attention to withholding water, letting the leaf tips reach a state of water shortage, and then water again. This is more conducive to flower bud differentiation. Hu Zhonghui: Fertilizer management must also be “diligent” and quick, because the nutrients in the fruit pot are not like those in the open field; the supply is limited. So you must promptly supplement some nutrients, and in combination with spraying water on the leaf surface, spray some nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Generally, supplementing once every ten days is suitable.
Pruning, pinching and shoot twisting are the biggest differences between potted fruit tree management and open-field fruit tree management, and they involve a great deal of skill.
Hu Zhonghui: If you do not prune in time, it will compete for nutrients, flower buds will form poorly, and this will directly affect next year's growth. This tree will bear about a dozen fruits; if not controlled well, next year will be very unsatisfactory. Pruning is a crucial part, and it must be done at any time, not just once or twice, and may even need to be repeated 3 or 4 times. Pinching means removing the tender shoot tips. Generally, when branches grow to more than 20 cm, pinching should be carried out to control the fruit tree's nutrients and prevent waste. Shoot twisting means twisting relatively straight shoots. This work is generally done in the early stage of branch growth when the shoots are semi-lignified. This not only allows flower buds to form in better positions, but also controls the fruit tree's nutrient distribution. When twisting, the force must be moderate; do not break the shoot tips or fail to twist them properly. In addition, in the management of potted fruit trees, some shaping treatments such as wounding, notching and branch bending must also be carried out.
Although bonsai fruit trees do not deliberately pursue a set shape, it is still very necessary to shape according to the tree, create scenery according to the situation, and carry out some artistic technical adjustments. Take this wounding, for example: making a scar on the bare trunk will, as it grows, add a sense of vicissitude to the fruit tree. Notching means making a cut with pruning shears on a branch that has not yet sprouted in the early stage. This can promote the sprouting of branches and buds, control the position where branches sprout, and make the branches grow foliage and shoots that are beneficial to shaping. Branch bending means flexibly adopting shaping and cultivation management measures according to the needs of shaping and in combination with the aesthetic demands of market consumers. But it does not require uniformity; it requires giving play to the grower's subjective imagination.
Another point that makes potted fruit trees different from open-field ones is fruit thinning, so that the limited nutrients in the fruit pot are supplied to the fruit to the greatest extent, producing larger fruit.
Zhao: Generally leave ten, eleven or twelve fruits, but not too many. If there are too many, first, the load is too heavy, which affects next year's fruiting and also affects this year's quality. Because with limited food, when there are many people eating, they cannot eat their fill, and the fruit cannot grow large.
The main function of potted fruit trees is to extend their ornamental period and enhance their ornamental value. So how do you extend the fruit-bearing period?
Zhao: The usual method is: before the fruit's abscission layer forms in August, spray with naphthalene acetic acid so that the fruit cannot form an abscission layer, does not drop after ripening, and its ornamental period is extended.
In this way, the fruit-bearing period can be extended to December, and even by the Spring Festival you can still admire the beautiful fruit on the bonsai tree.
Zhao: For ornamental fruit trees, merely extending the ornamental period is not enough; you also need to enhance their ornamental value. After the fruit ripens, spray some edible wax to enhance its color and glossiness and prevent water loss, so that the fruit does not lose water or wilt, enhancing its ornamental value. For bonsai fruit trees that have completed their ornamental task, they should be gathered together promptly and buried in the ground for insulation and overwintering, to avoid the fruit trees being left outside and damaged by freezing, which would affect their survival the following year. Bonsai fruit trees, as the name implies, must not only have beautiful fruit; a graceful shape is also a choice that cannot be ignored. Therefore, short-branch Fuji apples with compact tree shapes and beautiful fruit color are the preferred varieties for bonsai fruit trees. This is also why gardening enthusiasts and experts like bonsai fruit trees.
What Are Dwarf Fruit Tree Bonsai and Points to Note in Daily Care
Everyone must be very familiar with fruit tree bonsai; it is a kind of plant decoration that people love very much in home decoration today. But everyone also knows that many fruit trees are very tall. In order to maintain the beauty of their posture, people usually adopt dwarf cultivation to grow them, forming what we often call dwarf fruit tree bonsai. So what exactly is this dwarf fruit tree bonsai, and what points should be noted in daily care? Let us take a look at dwarf fruit tree bonsai together below.
What Are Dwarf Fruit Tree Bonsai
In the natural world, the fruit trees we commonly see are relatively tall trees or shrubs. So when people want to make them into bonsai, they use a cultivation technique called dwarf cultivation. This technique can make plants shorter than they would be under normal conditions, and the fruit tree bonsai made through this technique is what we often call dwarf fruit tree bonsai. The shapes of this kind of plant bonsai are mostly very classical and elegant, simple and beautiful, so this kind of bonsai has long had relatively high ornamental and practical value and is deeply loved and welcomed by people. Moreover, this kind of bonsai can also reduce unnecessary nutrient consumption and better promote the growth of fruit trees.
Points to Note in the Daily Care of Dwarf Fruit Tree Bonsai
1. Because this is a kind of plant bonsai, there are quite a few things to note in the daily care process. The first is the preparation of the potting soil. Usually, soil suitable for fruit tree growth is neutral soil, and individual fruit trees may need slightly acidic soil. At the same time, nutrient-rich sandy loam or sandy soil rich in humus is also suitable soil for fruit tree growth. So during care, you can mix potting soil yourself, using matured garden soil, river sand and plant ash, etc., in proportion. However, everyone should note that when using the culture soil, it must be disinfected beforehand, so that toxic molecules and pest risks in the soil are eliminated.
2. Plant growth requires sufficient nutrients and water, so in the daily care of dwarf fruit tree bonsai, fertilizer and water management is a problem everyone needs to pay attention to. Especially because when a fruit tree is potted in a flowerpot, the fruit tree can only absorb nutrients through the soil in the pot, so the nutrients in the soil are not enough for the plant's growth needs. At this time, fertilizing the bonsai requires applying some organic fertilizer. Before the plant sprouts, apply quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer and phosphorus fertilizer. For ordinary fertilization, applying once every half a month is enough. In terms of watering, you can do it specifically according to the water requirements of the particular fruit tree, but keeping the potting soil moist is generally necessary, and the potting soil must not be too dry.
3. If dwarf fruit tree bonsai are to maintain a beautiful posture, attention must also be paid to the pruning and shaping of the fruit trees during daily care. You should know that as time passes, plants will gradually grow and spread, and at this time the shape of the fruit tree will change. In order to maintain the fruit tree's simple, classical and elegant shape, pruning and shaping work is indispensable at all times. And this work must be analyzed according to specific problems, because the specific situation of each fruit tree may differ. In addition, when the nutrients in the bonsai's potting soil have been largely consumed, do not forget to repot. That is, dwarf fruit tree bonsai need to be repotted promptly every 2 to 3 years to keep the soil fresh and fertile.
Conclusion: Dwarf fruit tree bonsai are a kind of indoor plant decoration that people love very much today, but in daily care everyone still needs to put in effort, otherwise even if the plant is easy to grow, many problems will still appear.
Bonsai Cultivated on Fruit Trees Brings the Simple, Down-to-Earth Image of Nature into People's Lives, with Prospects and Also "Money" Prospects (Photo)
The photo shows a bonsai cultivated on an apple tree.
My name is Zhou Wangen. I am a villager of Beiliu Village, Huangzhai Town, Yangqu County, now 71 years old. I have long been engaged in the cultivation and management of fruit trees, and have studied and explored the art of cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees for 22 years. I have now summarized some not very mature but effective operating procedures and methods, and I am willing to share them with everyone.Filling a Gap in Northern Fruit-Type Bonsai
With the improvement of living standards of urban and rural people, people living in busy cities increasingly yearn for a quiet and comfortable pastoral life. Fruit tree bonsai, with the rustic flavor of nature and a simple, down-to-earth image, has entered people's lives and satisfied people's beautiful wish to be close to nature and return to nature.
Fruit tree bonsai originated from tree bonsai, but is more difficult than tree bonsai. It must not only have a unique and elegant shape, but also abundant and attractive fruit. It has the characteristics of a small and compact tree body, an outward-reaching and free form, beautiful flowering branches in spring, and abundant fruit in autumn. It is a perfect work combining superb fruit tree cultivation techniques with exquisite bonsai craftsmanship. Fruit tree bonsai take a long time and consume a lot of energy, which is a major bottleneck for entering thousands of households. Cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees precisely solves this problem and fills the gap of no large-scale fruit-type bonsai in northern China.
The Cultivation Method Is Not Difficult
Cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees means taking the auxiliary branches and water sprouts on fruit trees and, according to the shaping principles of bonsai, using means such as pruning auxiliary branches, bending, pinning, curving, tying, ring-barking and wounding to train them into various shaped branches that meet the specifications of medium-sized fruit tree bonsai. This not only promotes the auxiliary branches and water sprouts to shift their vigor and bear fruit and promotes the growth of the fruit tree, but also cultivates a large number of shaped branches for fruit tree bonsai.
As the tree age increases and branches and leaves multiply, the tree becomes dense with branches and leaves, and light is insufficient, affecting the fruit tree's yield and fruit quality. To resolve this contradiction, in the past one could only gradually remove year by year the auxiliary branches and water sprouts that had contributed to the young tree's early yield; now, after the shaped branches bear fruit, according to the degree of their influence on surrounding branches, in the order of the heavier ones first and the lighter ones later, roots are cultivated year by year at suitable positions at the base of these shaped branches. If roots are cultivated in spring, then after roots emerge, cut them off with fruit in autumn and pot them, and that is a fruit tree bonsai with a beautiful shape and abundant fruit.
Process Flow and Social Benefits
1. The entire process of cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees is carried out on the tree.
Because the mother tree supplies the shaped branches with sufficient nutrients, there is no need for a dedicated site, no need to water, no need to fertilize, no need for pest and disease control, and no need for overwintering protection. Compared with cultivating fruit tree bonsai in pots, the investment is very small, and it grows faster, is easier to shape, and bears fruit earlier than fruit tree bonsai cultivated in pots.
2. Cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees has developed new resources for fruit tree bonsai.
1. Using auxiliary branches and water sprouts to cultivate fruit tree bonsai on trees can not only turn waste branches into fruit tree bonsai for sale on the market and increase fruit growers' income, but can also completely change the past bad habit of piling pruned auxiliary branches and water sprouts around the orchard, reduce sources of pests and diseases for fruit trees, and extend the life of fruit trees. In cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees, because the tree body is a living entity, it can be renewed in alternating cycles again and again. This can not only form an industry, but also last a long time.
2. In the comprehensive management of fruit trees, especially pruning and shaping, most fruit growers are experts, but as for bonsai management and shaping, fruit growers are laymen. However, the management of the two is very similar. As long as you go to the site where bonsai are made to see the actual operation and invite bonsai masters for systematic training, you can quickly master the core production techniques.
3. Cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees can form batch production. It will not only bring a new highlight to increasing the income of farmers in fruit-growing areas, but also cultivate a large number of high-quality and inexpensive fruit tree bonsai for society, laying a solid material foundation for fruit tree bonsai to enter thousands of households.
Great Market Promotion Potential
The market advantages of cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees are mainly four: first, it has ornamental value with a beautiful shape and green leaves and red fruit; second, it can improve poor air and fully display green and organic environmental protection value; third, it has practical value with sweet fragrance and delicate taste; fourth, it has economic value with a long life and easy care.
Cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees can become a long-term project for the sustainable development of fruit-growing areas and a local traditional economic project, because the high technical nature of cultivating fruit tree bonsai on trees and the constraints of various conditions determine that the project itself cannot be rushed into en masse. It can only be developed in fruit-growing areas with suitable conditions, and only then does it have the capacity for sustainable development.
If calculated per mu, with a planting density of 3 m x 6 m spacing between plants and rows, 37 trees can be planted per mu. Each tree keeps two main branches extending toward the row spacing, and each main branch keeps three side branches, so the whole tree has six side branches in total (that is, the main positions for cultivating shaped branches in the middle and later stages). This kind of tree has no central leader, so the upper layer of branches and leaves does not shade the lower ones. It belongs to a high-light tree form, and all branches and leaves of the whole tree can receive sufficient light. It not only produces a large quantity of fruit with good quality, but is also very suitable for cultivating fruit tree bonsai.
In the early stage of the fruit tree (3-5 years), shaped branches are cultivated on auxiliary branches; in the middle and later stages (after 5 years), shaped branches are cultivated on the back of position branches. According to the degree of influence of these two kinds of shaped branches on surrounding branches, in the order of the heavier ones first and the lighter ones later, choose suitable positions at their bases to cultivate roots. After roots emerge, wait 10-15 days until the roots turn yellow, then cut them off with fruit and pot them, and that is a fruit tree bonsai. In order not to affect the normal growth and fruiting of the fruit tree and to maintain the basic balance between aboveground and underground growth of the fruit tree, only two shaped branches are taken from each tree each year (with a crown diameter within 67 cm). Per mu, (37 x 2) 74 shaped branches (fruit tree bonsai) are taken each year. If each pot of fruit tree bonsai is priced at 500 yuan, the income can be 500 yuan x 74 = 37,000 yuan.
Zhou Wangen, Beiliu Village, Huangzhai Town, Yangqu County
Source of this article: Shanxi News Network - Shanxi Farmers' Daily. Responsible editor: Huang Huan_NN1650