Bonsaify | Making a Hawthorn Bonsai - Experience Incredible Fall Foliage!

Great bark, outstanding foliage...Eric's favorite things about working with Washington Hawthorn! As a member of the rose family (along with crab apple and quince), Hawthorn have thorns and need regular treatment with fungicide to keep them healthy. Fortunately, the good features far outweigh the challenges in developing beautiful bonsai from Hawthorn.
If you're interested in developing your own Hawthorn bonsai, you can pick up starters (shipping within U.S. only) here: www.bonsaify.c....
00:00:50 As young trees, the goal is to create an interesting trunk, adding movement in the low trunk.
00:01:23 Eric discusses wiring and associated challenges.
00:01:51 Hawthorn have a tendency to create suckers (like crabapples), which Eric considers to be a Feature, not a flaw. Eric wires the tree #1.
00:02:34 Tip for working with thorns - they're easy to remove on young Hawthorn and won't grow back.
00:03:13 Advantage to keeping thorns.
00:03:34 Creating movement after wiring. Hawthorn are relatively flexible for a deciduous tree.
00:05:03 They make really good bark! Eric begins to work on tree #2.
00:05:59 Wiring decisions explained.
00:06:26 Since Hawthorn aren't particularly good at healing over wounds, there is an opportunity for carving and the creation of interesting deadwood.
00:07:52 How to speed growth up and create vigor.
00:08:29 Hawthorn are relatively hearty and produce an incredibly beautiful, fiery display of fall foliage every year.
00:09:27 Eric also loves the fine twigging.
00:10:17 Summary of work on tree #2 - creating the beginning of a cascade.
Do you have any Washington Hawthorn in your bonsai collection? Tell us your favorite thing about working with Hawthorn in the comments. Post pictures to Instagram or Facebook and tag us @bonsaifyonline! Thank you for watching this video; please subscribe and share with your bonsai friends!
Still Hawthorn images by Aki Yamakawa - check him out on Flickr.
www.flickr.com...
Footage of Greg McDonald by Tom Lao:
/ @baikoenbonsai

[@hyperionhelios190]

first! love the season marker in the corner of the video

[@danieldalton8125]

We loves the hawthorn in England. Bit of a pros choice for the reasons Eric mentions. They flower profusely here and scarlet red if you have that variety.

[@TacAnderson]

Love hawthorns, especially Washington hawthorns. The leaf shape is great and super hardy.

[@KCWerk]

When creating tight bends, I place a chopstick at the base of the trunk for leverage. It takes some getting used to, but it might prove useful especially when bending thousands of tiny trees destined to be shohin/mame.

[@Serentropic]

This is a species that didn't cross my radar at first, but is quickly becoming one of my preferred deciduous. We had a full size Washington Hawthorn in our front yard that fell over a couple years ago, scattering a bunch of seeds in the process, and I've been growing as many as I can. I like all the things you mentioned, and they have a nice leaf shape too. A bit slow to thicken, maybe. And I just use nail clippers on the thorns, haha. I appreciate the info on them since they aren't as common. I'll keep in mind the wound closure limitation in mind, and try to make major pruning decisions earlier than I do with other deciduous, so that I'm not making big chops.

[@phillipwaterman5721]

One of my favourite trees for bonsai thanks Eric

[@christineabercrombie7316]

thanks for the reccomend.

[@nhahoanle]

Thank Eric for sharing. Will they do well in LA? I live near the ocean so the temperature is mild but I am afraid that the winter isn't cold enough. 🙂

[@Bonsaify]

I think the biggest hurdle in LA would be the water quality. I think your weather would be fine. If you're not using RO/supplementation then likely not going to get good results.

[@ChefBonsaidemic]

Great vid, what fungicides do you use and how often for these guys? Can they tolerate southern ca? Thanks.

[@Kjbrunzo]

I checked out your website and it is very professional looking. I am seriously considering buying a starter hawthorn. I saw that you have a type of Ficus benjamina starter available, are the leaves more similar to the "Too Small" type or are they more of a medium leaf size?

[@Bonsaify]

Ficus - good question. I selected them from a nursery for the smaller leaf type, so they're smaller than what you get on the normal mass-market ficus. But they're a F. benjimina variety and I've forgotten the name.

[@timferguson3937]

just looked on the store and I see the ficus benjimina. the leaves look bigger than ficus b. too little to me.

[@timferguson3937]

could be F. benjimina 'Orientalis' or 'Natasha'?@@Bonsaify

[@Kjbrunzo]

@@timferguson3937 Oh yeah I never did end up buying them but now I still might buy a ficus starter. As for the Hawthorn idk, since we have cedar-apple rust around here and it might be a death sentence.

[@Bonsaify]

The ones we have one the website were greenhouse grown - I recently grabbed one I had outside in full sun and the leaves were even smaller. But TBH, I still don't know for sure. The nursery where I got the parent stock hadn't identified them as a separate cultivar, but they had two types and these are clearly different than normal F. benjimina.

[@boxCatalogue]

That opening summer graphic really caught me off guard. I don't think this was what they meant when they said Crataegus phaenoPYRUM.

[@boxCatalogue]

Oh my god I just got to the bit where you set the whole dang tree on fire.

[@blueridgebonsai9155]

Eric-you used to have a video here on adjusting water pH but I cannot find it now, did you delete it? Did you fond an error or problem with the methods?

[@Bonsaify]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2KcnWRrfKp9eKs pH adjustment is definitely a good idea - I've found it a bit difficult to keep on top of it, even using a dosatron. I'm always wanting to add fertilizer or something with the dosatron so have been doing acid treatment less often.

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🙂

[@MichaelCameron-hl1ls]

❤😂😂🎉