Bonsai Updates - Autumn 2024

[@cvzphotography]

So glad i found your channel today. I'm in SLC, similar climate to Boise and I couldn't find any info how to care for bonsai in a cooler climate like ours. Keep up the good work.

[@BonsaiBoise]

@@cvzphotography thank you!

[@HellcrushPlays]

The damage around the trunk of your tree, down at the base, looks like mouse or rat damage. I get them in my garden and the damage looks identical. Great trees. Thanks for sharing.

[@BonsaiBoise]

Thanks!

[@n8tyler]

Great tour...Your collection has really made significant progress and is looking quite nice...I enjoy "weird" root formations also, I think they add character to a tree...Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your journey...

[@BonsaiBoise]

Thank you! I'm guessing you're talking about the S shaped silver maple. I kind of like how weird it is too!

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thanks for the update. Interesting theory about your water being better at this location - you might be right, I think my trees generally started doing a bit better once I started watering with rain water.

[@BonsaiBoise]

Thanks! Makes me wonder what is in Boise city water. Meridian water seems to be a lot better.

[@thebirddude]

Great collection of trees and thanks for sharing. I like your style of bonsai. The bark loss is most likely from hard root pruning and the loss of the vascular tissue that feeds those regions of the tree. I dont think they will ever completely heal over but with time the wounds should close up a bit. You could also take a dremel chisel out some of the exposed heartwood to create hollowed out sections of the trunk. It can look pretty cool, but you will just want to be extra careful with those trees going forward since they have been weakened in those areas and now more susceptible to pests and diseases

[@BonsaiBoise]

Thank you! And yeah I was kind of thinking that about hollowing them out or maybe even just let nature take its course and let it rot out on its own the way Peter Chan does. Not sure if I have the patience to wait that long though. Lol

[@thebirddude]

Im in salt lake if you are ever down this way i would love to show you my collection and talk bonsai!

[@BonsaiBoise]

@@thebirddude will do, appreciate that!

[@dkstott29]

My hunch is that you have or had a squirrel, mouse or chipmunk eating the trunks.....Part 2 of the video could be all your tropical bonsai tree's. 😊

[@BonsaiBoise]

It could be a squirrel or something like that but I don't think so. I should've shown better footage but the bark in most of those cases is actually dying off after the tissue underneath it. I just poke at it a little and can feel there's nothing under it. I was guessing a bug of some kind, but I really have no idea

[@jtb4177]

Quaking aspen and trembling aspen are the same, Populus tremuloides. Just different common names regionally. Great videos!

[@BonsaiBoise]

@@jtb4177 thank you!

[@231Yamadori]

I tried to fuse a few of those curly willows but I gave up. They have some hard stems. I feel like you need some pines 😂

[@BonsaiBoise]

I think I have a total of 1 pine lol. And I just got it a month or two ago.

[@dkstott29]

Wisteria grow like weeds..I've seen them grow up along a house rip the siding off..

[@BonsaiBoise]

Yikes, maybe I should rethink my strategy then.

[@spookywalrus6363]

Have you ever thought about growing caudex plants ( Australian bottle neck tree baobob Pachypodiums Adeniums)

[@BonsaiBoise]

Can't say I've heard of them? I'll have to do some googling and see what I can find out

[@spookywalrus6363]

@ they are super awesome trees I would definitely recommend growing them

[@Yurup]

I think some of your roots died off, that's why your bark is peeling off. Especially on the last tree because you can follow the die back to the top.

[@BonsaiBoise]

Maybe, but still not sure why though. Or why it's at the same spot on 3 or 4 different trees, all different species, none of which I repotted this year. I'm stumped. (No pun intended)

[@baldyeti]

Nice fall tour, Toy. I think it is pronounced “oh-sage orange”, but never take dictation lessons from a howling bald Yeti. I got that pronunciation from Nigel @thebonsaizone Happy that your trees had a great recovery year, good sir! I’m diggin it

[@BonsaiBoise]

Thanks! Butchering the English languages one of the things I do best 🙂

[@klytuko]

Couldnt you cover up the wound with some kind of sealant?

[@BonsaiBoise]

Maybe but it's pretty big in a few of those cases. I'm leaning toward letting nature do it's thing and letting the deadwood just rot away. Might take 5 or 10 years, who knows, but it will leave an interesting and unique feature.

[@Yurup]

Fall trimming is fine, you just need to do it at the right time. Just as you see the leafs starting to turn color is one of the best times to prune. I've heard people say : o-say orange

[@BonsaiBoise]

I know a lot of people do fall pruning, but after losing my first Coral bark maple, I'm gun shy and will probably not do it too much. Some species are likely most susceptible than others. Willows for instance are probably more inclined to die back on whatever branches are pruned.

[@TheOnlyKrazykat]

Actually, privet is in the olive family.

[@BonsaiBoise]

So it is! I learned something new today.