Ken’s Trees

Willard has grown to a height of 4 inches (about 10 cm), and the largest branch is just over 2 inches in length (6 cm).  It seems to be growing out sideways faster than it is growing up.  Hopefully this sideways growth will help to fatten the trunk, a trait that is highly valued in bonsai trees.  Happy Leap Day!!

Spring training is here, and despite the snow here in New England, the Red Sox playing in Florida is a sign that I will be able to get these trees outside soon.  Today is college day with the Red Sox taking on Northeastern University, and that other college in the greater Boston area (Red Sox obliterated those guys 24-0).

Anyone notice that Willard was backwards yesterday?

Today I want to feature the second largest tree in my collection, that was planted a week and a half after Willard shown above.  Seen in the photo below, I call this one the General in reference to the two largest trees in the world, Giant Sequoias General Sherman and General Grant.   I would not be surprised if the General surpasses Willard in height within the next couple weeks, it is only a quarter of an inch shorter now.

What is the easiest way to check the moisture of your bonsai tree soil?  I use the toothpick test, all it requires is a toothpick and a couple seconds.  It is very simple, take a dry toothpick, and push it down into your soil as far as it will go, or just until you can just pull it out, count to ten, and pull it out.  What will come out is something that will look like one of the three toothpicks shown below.  From left to right, you can see the results of very dry soil, damp soil, and fairly moist soil.  One of the first things you should notice is that the toothpick will collect dirt from moist soils, rubbing this between your fingers can give you a better idea of how wet your soil really is under the surface.  If your toothpick ever looks like the one shown on the left, you are not watering the tree enough.  However, if your toothpick always looks like the one on the right, you are probably over watering your tree and need to give more time to let the water make it’s way through the system before watering again.  I like to do this test at least once a day, especially since I am working with multiple trees.  It is really just one of those good habits to get into so that I don’t accidentally get into the procrastinators mantra “I’ll do it tomorrow” loop.

Yesterday I was a bit concerned that the tips of some of the leaves were turning brown, however there continues to be new growth everywhere on this tree. I think overall it is in pretty good shape, perhaps it is just adjusting to the new pot, and I need to just keep a close eye on the moisture of the soil.

It looks like some of the leaf tips on this tree are turning brown.  I checked the soil and it was a bit dryer than I would have liked to see, so I watered it and hopefully this will not continue to be a problem.  Other than that Willard looks good, it continues to grow new leaves and branches everyday.

Some of my friends ask me where I learn about blogging, and finding information to keep up with the blogosphere.  The best place that I have found is problogger.net, I think it has the best understanding of how blogs work and how to build quality readership.  Last night while I was catching up on this blog I noticed the Entrecard widget, and clicked on it to find out what it was all about.  It turns out that Entrecard is a great tool for promoting your blog, getting others to promote your blog, and in turn promoting their blogs.  Some of my regular readers may have already noticed the addition of this widget to my blog, and I would like to encourage everyone to sign up with them, because I think it is a really good tool.  Also I want to take this opportunity to welcome all of my new Entrecard readers, and encourage them to drop their cards and comment to say hello.  Before I get to the shout outs, I just want to thank everyone for digging and stumbling the site.  I’ve noticed a pretty good increase in diggs this week, and I appreciate the plug.   Now for some shout outs:

Easy Bonsai Garden
http://www.easybonsaigarden.com/
Healthy Bonsai stopped by to comment this week from the Easy Bonsai Garden, and I was excited to finally see another Bonsai site here.  Check out the video section for some great tips on caring for bonsai, they have some of the best information on the internet.

Lucky Girl Trading
http://luckygirltrading.blogspot.com/
Peggy from Lucky Girl Trading, I think probably found Ken’s Trees from Entrecard.  The Lucky Girl Trading blog is about beading and other crafts, with lots of photos showing her very creative work.

One of the things that I have been doing lately is rotating the tree under the light source to help it grow straight.  I try to center the tree under the lights as best as possible, but I also have to deal with the ground which is not perfectly flat.  It had started to lean one way, but this has helped to correct the problem.

It’s interesting that it is snowing on day 50, because I think of skiing when it snows, and then I think about Warren Miller. For years Warren Miller has made unbelievable ski films, and in 1999 released his 50th which is titled “Fifty”. With this in mind I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Warren Miller, “If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be one year older when you do.”

One of the great things about bonsai is the work that is put into styling the trees.  Although it is still way to early to do anything to style this dawn redwood, it is not too early to start thinking about it.  The Dawn Redwood is very natural for a formal upright tree, that is a straight vertical trunk, and most sources will suggest that they are best suited for the formal upright style.  This is the style that I envision for my Dawn Redwood trees, but this is not to say that more creative bonsai growers could not take this species in a different direction.  I will be exploring different styles with the European Olive and Trident Maple trees when they start growing.