First Bonsai

  Hello Everyone,

I'd like to introduce myself and my husband, Lynn and Chris Hutchison.  We are originally from the Buffalo, NY area and have (surprise) moved to Florida in our retirement!  The reason for Florida....Disney of course!  Chris and I go to the Flower and Garden Festival in Epcot yearly.  We have both fallen in love with the Bonsai displays there.

This past spring while in Epcot I causally asked Chris if he would like to find a bonsai class in our area and see what it's all about.  I received an enthusiastic yes!

In June of this year we found a bonsai class about an hour from our home.  It was the Penjing Bonsai Garden in Malabar, Florida.  Our host and teacher, Feng Gu, he had everyone call him Gary, was very knowledgeable and a lot of fun. 

This is our story:

Upon arriving at the Penjing Garden class we were warmly greeted by Gary.  He showed us his greenhouse and began explaining the different types of plants that he had for bonsai.  Gary explained that when creating bonsai certain plants can be worked on all year and others you have to wait for them to be dormant.  He also explained which  plants are best suited to beginners.  Gary explained about the trunks on your plants.  You look at the trunk under all the foliage and look at the movement and see if it speaks to you. And the plants do speak to you.  It's like a siren song when you find the right one.

Chris and I each chose a ficus. Unfortunately, neither of us remember which species.  Which is one of the reasons we are creating this blog.  To remember what we did, how we did it and what plants we are using.

Back to the class....

Gary explained the process of creating bonsai.  After you choose the plant you would like to bonsai you remove it from its pot. We all had small tubs in which to work over so we didn't make a huge mess.  You then use a wooden or metal chopstick  and clean all the soil away from the roots and base of the plant by poking it ALWAYS holding onto the base of the trunk to support the plant.

When the roots have been cleaned you use  very sharp, clean scissors and cut the larger thick roots away. This includes the really cool looking circular roots.  The smaller roots are the ones that are more efficient at absorbing water and nutrients.  You are going to trim about 2/3's of the roots away from the plant.

Next, you are going to examine your tree.  Look at the lines of the tree again and decide which section of the tree is going to be your front.  Examine the taper of the trunk and the way the branches move along the trunk line. You are now going to remove, with very sharp clean scissors, any dead branches or dangling growth. This will help you see the basic structure of the plant and what your design will be.

You begin by wiring the main trunk at about a 45 degree angle holding the trunk with one hand and wiring with the other hand. Do not wire too tightly. Go to the top of your tree. You may now bend the trunk very gently always holding the trunk at the point you are going to create a bend.   Always keep in mind the tree you are working with and what you wish to create.

Next, you wire the main branches starting at the bottom branch and working your way up to the apex.  The wire should be thick enough to hold the branch in the desired shape once you bend it. Any long wires can be snipped off with wire cutters. Please research how long the wire stays on the particular type of tree you are using to bonsai.  We will be taking the wire off of our ficus in September which will have been three months.  You don't want the tree to grow into the wire!!!

Now you will begin shaping your branches. Starting at the bottom move your way up the trunk to the apex of the tree.  Because Chris and I chose to use a ficus we cut off all of the leaves close to the branch and also the very tips of the branches off.  It was difficult to do as we now had two naked tree trunks! Not to worry though....Gary said we would have leaves in about four weeks....and we did!  The reason you cut all the leaves off the ficus when you are bonsaiing it for the first time is because when the leaves grow back they are all smaller and the same size!

We are finally ready to place our naked trees in their chosen pots.  Pot size is very important.  You don't want something too deep or too large for your tree.  Gary had a beautiful collection of pots and had us take our trees to the pots to choose one. 

The pots we used had five holes in the bottom.  One for the screen for drainage and the others for wire to anchor our trees into the pots.  Once you have your screen in place you are going to add four more pieces of heavy wire (make sure it is long enough to reach across the base of your tree) you are going to wire crisscross over the very bottom of your trunk.  When you have all of this in place you are going to add your bonsai soil...which isn't soil at all but a mixture of akadama, pumice and lava rock depending on your preference.  There are a lot of combinations out there.  Cover the bottom of the pot with your bonsai soil making sure to create a mound under the base of your tree.  You want the tree to be at least the height of the pot or maybe a little higher.  Don't fill the whole pot with soil as you need to anchor the tree into the pot with the wire you have ready.  Cross the wires and secure them around the bottom of the trunk so the tree feels very secure.  Now you can fill the rest of the pot with your bonsai soil.  

This next part is critical.  Using your chopstick you are going to poke into the area around the roots filling it with more bonsai soil.  You will notice that your soil goes down around the edges.  This means you are doing it correctly.  Add more bonsai mix as you go if needed.  

Now for the watering.  You are going to place the entire plant in a tub of water and let it sit for a full 10 minutes.  You will immediately see the air bubbles coming up.  You don't want any air around the roots of your new bonsai or the roots will die.  When you are finished watering if you need to fill in more bonsai mix this is the time.

You should now have a beautiful naked bonsai!  

Place your new bonsai in the sun for ONLY an hour a day.  Keep it in a shady spot the rest of the time.  You will do this for the first week.  When you place your bonsai in the correct light watch that you give it enough water.

We hope this helps anyone new to the art of bonsai.