| INFORMATION & CARE PAGE On this page you will find information regarding the after care of your new tree from Oregonbonsai.com. Roots Your newly purchased tree should be healthy and vigorously growing at your home before you do any root work. If you must have it in a bonsai pot, a bareroot tree purchased in the spring might go directly in a pot. In other cases it may require a year or more of strong growth at your location. If you have a question about how quickly root work can be performed on a collected tree, just ask. We will be happy to offer our best advice about timing. In general, you should never vigorously work on roots and style the top of a tree at the same time and generally not in the same year. No work on the roots or styling should be performed unless you are certain the tree is in good health and strong enough to handle the work. Soil Oregon Bonsai Farms uses two types of soil mix depending on whether it is a collected tree or a field grown tree in a temporary nursery pot. Both work very well for the trees we work with, including both coniferous and deciduous trees. For collected trees we use a very porous mix which consists of approximately 40% screened pumice, 40% screened volcanic lava rock (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch size), and 10 to 20% akadama or aged bark dust. For field grown trees we use a commercial nursery mix which is heavy on the pumice. We also sometimes add additional pumice to the mix in order to make it even more porous. We live in an area of heavy rainfall and porous soil simply allows better and more extensive fine root growth. We recommend potting your new tree into a similar inorganic and free-draining mix. Your choice of soil components and the exact ratio should depend on your watering habits and climate conditions. We will be happy to discuss your specific tree, climate conditions and offer suggestions for you. Fertilizing Oregon Bonsai Farms has found a simple feeding program that works well in our climate. You should be knowledgeable and prepared to use a feeding program that is successful for you. We simply spread an organic fertilizer on the top of the soil and have found success with an organic fish emulsion. In addition to the organic fish emulsion, we use a balanced water based inorganic fertilizer such as Miracle Grow or Peters every 2 weeks during the summer and 4-6 weeks in the winter. We use this simple program year round, and have found excellent results. Survival Rate The typical long-term survival rate of Oregonbonsai.com collected trees is very high. Only healthy trees with a good root system are collected. The survival rate for these collected trees from the wild growing site to the one year mark at our farm (which means at least 1 full growing season) on average is 93%. However, cross country transport is stressful on trees so we recommend additional care be given to your tree after receiving it. We recommend that no styling (wiring, bending of branches, major branch removal, etc) other than basic maintenance be done in the first year the tree is in your care. We recommend waiting until the second year (after 1 successful growing season), before beginning any root work and spreading the barerooting (complete removal of the native soil) over a period of 2 years, (if it has not been done by us). Typically you can bareroot 1/2 the tree one year and the other 1/2 in the second year. We typically have the best success doing this in the spring at normal repotting times. Note, this is fairly conservative with these one-of-a-kind trees. Randy and his customers have had the most success using these methods over the past 10 years. |
Information and Care
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