A Detailed Guide to Succulent Pruning and Bonsai Styling Methods
If you are used to colorful succulent assortments, you might want to take a look at succulent bonsai featuring a single succulent as the star. Although they are just very simple common varieties, the owner's care plus the passage of time, together with suitable accessories, cannot help but catch the eye. Succulents are deeply loved by plant enthusiasts for their adorable appearance, taking up little space, and not requiring too much attention to care for. Many plant enthusiasts often joke: “Once you fall into the succulent pit, it is as deep as the sea.” In fact, there is no need to pursue rare varieties; as long as you put your heart into shaping them, “common varieties” will also shine brilliantly.
To make succulent bonsai, square, rectangular, or oval pots are commonly used, and the size of the landscape is determined by the size and depth of the pot. Because succulents are drought-tolerant and need very little water, you can also use various containers around you, including cute coffee cups, transparent glass covers, and so on. When making it, first spread an appropriate amount of growing soil in the pot. Common granular soil and akadama soil on the market are beneficial for succulent drainage. Then, according to the composition, place mountain-shaped stones in the appropriate positions, and then plant the succulents.
When choosing plant materials for making succulent bonsai, it is best to use varieties that are short in stature, natural in form, and robust in habit. You can plant a single species as a single specimen, or plant multiple species and several plants together in one pot, but there must be a clear distinction between primary and secondary. The layout mostly adopts a natural style. According to the strange stones or other accessories to be embellished, the focus should be highlighting natural wild charm. Do not put together plants whose growth habits are too far apart.
For Crassulaceae succulents selected for making bonsai, the plants are required to have peculiar and aged forms, obvious main trunks, and branches, able to show the grandeur of a large tree in miniature. Commonly used ones include Jade Plant (including its varieties Gollum Jade, Mini Jade, Golden Jade, Sunset Jade, Tricolor Jade, Universe Wood, etc.), Kume no Mai, Hongzhilian, Blue Beans, Honghuazhuang, Xiaosonglü, Xiaoren zhi Ji, Cooperi, Yohenzuki, Aeonium arboreum 'Zwartkop', and so on. Materials are usually obtained through cuttings propagation, generally carried out in the growing season. You can cut robust and plump branches, let them dry for 3 to 5 days, and after the wounds are dry, insert them into well-drained soil, then keep it slightly moist; they root and survive very easily. In addition, you can also look for old material that has grown for many years and has an aged form to make bonsai. Some species, such as various jade plants, Hongzhilian, Honghuazhuang, etc., although leaf cuttings can propagate successfully, grow slowly and take a long time to take shape, so they are not recommended.
According to the characteristics of Crassulaceae succulents, the styling can be made into many forms of bonsai, such as forest style, formal upright style, slanting style, semi-cascade style, cascade style, literati style, and so on. It can also express the plant ecological landscapes of foreign deserts, mountains, and other places, to show the diversity of nature. When styling, you should base it on the characteristics of the plant itself, combine bonsai techniques, enhance strengths and avoid weaknesses, and create bonsai with a unique style.