HOW I GROW MY AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BONSAI
Firstly how did I get interested in Bonsai? I inherited two figs and a maple from my youngest son who was fourteen at that time four years ago.
WHERE DO I GET MY PLANTS
Ninety per cent of my plants were Purchased from various nurseries. Woollies, K-Mart etc. The other ten per cent from cuttings and gifts.
HOUSING
I have a shadehouse twelve feet wide · sixteen feet Long · eight feet high. The roof is half fifty per cent woven shadecloth and half clear Fiberglass. All the sides are fifty Per cent woven shadecloth, the front faces East. 'There are a number of tall Gum trees growing in my backyard that form a high canopy over the shadehouse. so that my Bonsai are grown in a shady position. The plants are on a steel bench. Two benches have a fibro top. there appears to be no difference in their growth.
My miniature plants are kept in trays that have
about 25mm of sand on the bottom that is always
moist. In the summertime my larger Bonsai
are placed on foam trays (meat or cake) with
about 12mm of gravel. I punch holes around
the tray just below the top of the gravel to
let the water drain out and not become waterlogged
GROWING MIX
My growing mix consists of one part compost and three parts river gravel.
My compost is as follows.
One part cow manure
One part grass clippings
One part leafmould
One part chicken manure and wood shavings
One part cockatoo case cleanings
Placed in a compost tumbler and allowed to compost for a year.
POTTING
I like to keep a new plant in my yard for six to twelve months to acclimatize to it's new environment. Then I don't rush to get it Into a Bonsai pot I usually cut about 30mm from the bottom of the root system at a time and break the sides and put it In a squat pot, fill in the space with new mix.
When potting in a Bonsai pot I never bare root I leave as much root as possible and still stick to the guide lines . The only natives that I do bare root are Figs. What time of year do I pot or repot? Most times except in the middle of summer or the middle of winter, as my plants seem to have new growth most of the year.
FERTILIZING AND WATERING
I fertilize my plants once a week with a mixture of one teaspoonful of Aquasol and one teaspoonful of Maxicrop to an eight litre water-ing can of water.
As I use a coarse mix which drains fast I water daily as I feel that most of my losses are due to drying out. Even after days of rain a small pot with a tree which has a fair amount of foliage can stay dry.
TIP PRUNING
As Australian natives are growing all year round pruning is a never ending job, r give my plants a hard time. 'They grow all that lovely new growth and I come along and snip it off.
FIGS: Cut with scissors leaving first leaf as this always seems to be the smallest. (spray off the latex)
BANKSIAS: Tip prune with tweezers, leave, three or four small leaves and pluck the centre.
TEATREES AND BEACKEAS: I tip prune with my fingers after cutting to the shape I want with scissors.
CASUARINA: Tip prune by taking the small branches between thumb and finger and twist.
LILLY PILLY Allow two new leaves and cut with scissors. When Pruning always cut just in front of the leaf.
WIRING
I don't like to wire natives very much because I find that they are growing most of the time and it's easy to forget and you have wire marks on trunks and branches. Most of my Plants have been wired at some time or another with no ill effects using aluminium wire only. On trees with paper bark I sometimes wrap masking tape on the wire (leave out in the weather for two weeks to dry. On one occasion the tape stuck to the bark.) You can also wrap the wire with raffia.
STYLING
Try to find a plant that has a lot going for it 'The main thing is the trunk, see that it has a good taper. I try to keep my trees looking natural, see how they grow in the bush. I have a few toys to Play with some are twisted, bent, coiled and platted they grow as the others. You can train them to any style you want.
MAKE YOUR NEXT BONSAI A NATIVE
My gardening expertise was nil. As a gardener I called myself a Planter, I would go to a nursery buy a plant take it home and plant it. Then over or under water it, watch it die, then go and buy another plant, plant it and go through the same thing again. I've never grown one vegetable in my life. One day I was mowing the lawn (weeds) in the front, I thought to myself that this isn't much fun, how can I get out of this rut. There was a native plant show on at the Kings School. When we got there and saw all those stunning flowers I fell in love with them so I bought some made a garden in front, bought some more made the garden bigger made the garden, bought some more, now there's no lawn front or hack. The other week we lost one of our dogs in the front it took three days to find her. Then came the day my son said "I don't want these Bonsai any more you can have them dad." I read in the paper there would be a Bonsai show at Castle Hill "Bonsai on the rocks" I think. Walked in the door BANG! Hit by the Bonsai Bus. Told that they had meetings on a meeting on a weeknight and was disappointed. I worked an afternoon shift. Found that the Ryde School of Bonsai had a day class so joined. When T told people that I want to Bonsai Australian native plants I was told that they were too touchy, when you disturb their roots they go to heaven, they die after a few years. They die when you wire them. They don't make good Bonsai. I said to myself why should they be so hard, these plants have been growing here for ever, they survive floods, droughts. bushfires, what would they do with a bit of tender loving care. That's when I found out you don't give Bonsai T.L.C. You rip them from their pots chop off their roots , bend their trunks and limbs, chop off branches here and there cut off leaves and flowers, shove them in a little pot and tie them up so they can't escape. Just when they have convalesced I come along with a watering can in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. Try to drown them then attack with the scissors chopping a bit here and a bit off there. It's a case of trial and terror, trial for me and terror for the trees. Now after all this rough treatment my Plants are alive and well. I guess what I'm trying to say is that native Plants are not so hard and they do like a lot of tender loving care. Your environment will be different your watering, fertilizing, potting mix will differ but try a couple if you lose them hold a post mortem and have another so.
(I've been there done that still doing it)
Ken.