Maros Bonsai Blog

Carpinus "The Yossarian"

Just came back from National Exhibition of the Slovak Bonsai Association. Exhibition is held annually and it is organised by one of the local clubs. This year it was organised by our local club, Bonsai Klub Trnava. I had three trees exhibited there. I was lucky and and took one of the prizes. My carpinus won Best Tree prize in category of native deciduous. Well, Im more then happy. I'm going to post pictures of the exhibited trees during next days.

Tilia cordata Nr.2

Tree was overgrown during May. I cut all long shoots on top of the crown and then defoliated almost completely top section of the crown. To get more thickness into bottom branches I will leave them grow until late summer or longer. Defoliation will promote backbudding on branches which will get a lot of light during next few weeks. Fact is if you are developing deciduous bonsai, most of the time in early stages development, which could easily be 10 or so years, it looks strange at best. In case you will keep them too tide for sake of instant visual effect, you may never make it good bonsai.

End of April 2016

End of May 2016

Tilia cordata No.1

Linden was defoliated, since I would like to have few more branches and bit smaller leaves for exhibition, where I would like to put this treem in two weeks. I wonder if I made my time estimation well. I know it could be good to wire it now but it must wait for time after exhibition.

Cornus mas "Vesna"

Cornus is doing fine after repotting in March. Few days ago shoots were shortened . Few longer branches were left untouched in lower parts of the crown to balance energy. Moss was added on surface of the substrate as part of preparation of the tree for the upcoming exhibition. Few more details must be handled and wire which was applied in March just did its job and will soon be removed. Now I have to protect moss from black birds for few weeks, I hope they will focus their attention on ripen cherries in my neighbourhood.

Fraxinus No.2

Recently I have changed on giant worm reducing foliage on my trees. This is ash in my hands. Top defoliated almost completely and lower branches left to thicken. New growth will be back in days with hot and humid weather with this species.

Prunus spinosa

Tree was edited since shoots were already very long. For the first time flowers during spring were pollinated by bees and now I have fruits all over the tree. I like it. I think I will leave most of them on tree to see them changing color in autumn.

Carpinus betulus "Rusnak" after editing

Growth at the top of the crown was reduced. Lower parts left untouched yet to help lower branches thicken. Crawn at upper parts was also partially defoliated to allow more sun get into the structure.

Acer palmatum

Tree was recently repotted and it is growing vigorously. It was just about right time to cut long shots on top of the crown. I left growth in lower parts of the crown untouched. It will help to thicken and strengthen lower branches. You can see metamorphosis of the tree during last three months since repotting.

Tilia cordata No.1

Since last post tree growth massive foliage and leaves matured during last weeks. During the weekend I removed long shoots to keep tree tidy. Since I need to prepare some trees for upcoming exhibition I decided to cover surface with fresh moss in advance. Before doing that fresh Osmocote fertiliser was applied on top of the substrate. Now moss is ready, I will water it twice a day and hope it will catch up and fuse together a bit.

Crataegus monogyna

I made first trimming of shots on this hawthorn recently. Tree is still rather wild stage a needs decent wiring, but it is too late now. Anyway this spring it flowers like hell. Bees love it as you can see on pictures.