@Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden 20

Renewal January 21st, 2014


Mackfs Pruning of Satsuki Trees in Winter


I am very sorry that I havenft renewed my homepage for a long time. I have been very busy and couldnft image the best plan because I already had written about 19 topics. And I couldnft take several good photos to attach to it. Therefore I will be very happy if the readers of my homepage should ask me to write about some specific topics.

But I am very happy that I could have some new readers of my homepage in 2012 and 2013, who live in Netherlands (4 persons), England (two) and Vietnam (one). All of them are very eager bonsai (satsuki) enthusiasts and often sent me their e-mail to ask me something about satsuki and others. Two of them are the readers of Satsuki Kenkyu published monthly by Tochinoha shobo in Kanuma, Japan. And they asked me to translate some topics into English. If the readers of my homepage buy this magazine and tell me the e-mail address, I will be pleased to send them the translations through e-mail.

And besides, I am going to Netherlands to have demonstrations and workshops on May 8th as a volunteer, and coming back on May 21st because I was invited by a club of bonsai. Since I am 71 years old now, I am afraid that I wonft be able to go abroad as a volunteer to help bonsai (satsuki) enthusiasts to grow satsuki trees in 5 years. I have to take care of my body. Now I would like to introduce my pruning of satsuki trees on the shelves, which has three aims. Section 1 is trimming to make the completed satsuki bonsai look beautiful. Section 2 is pruning to make a semi-completed satsuki bonsai into a completed one. Section 3 is drastic pruning to make a large tree thicker.

Section 1. Trimming of completed satsuki bonsai


Recently it is very warm in November in Japan and I always give satsuki trees a lot of fertilisers and water, so that the leaves of large trees begin to change the colours in late November. And it is so cold in late December that the coloured spring leaves suddenly fall from the shoots. After that, I can see the whole figures of the trees so clearly that I can trim and prune them very easily.

This Nikko is one of trees that I bought as my first araki in 1990. @I paid 230,000 yen for it whose trunk circumference was 25cm. Though I had planted it in a large terracotta pot till March, 2009, I changed it into the bonsai pot when I repotted it. Since then it has grown so slowly that the trunk circumference is 43 cm now because I havenft given a lot of fertilisers to it.

If a lot of fertilisers are given to the completed satsuki bonsai, it will have a lot of long shoots which mean that it is very strong and healthy, but after they were removed, it looks a little bit clumsy because each branch doesnft have a lot of flower buds. Therefoe I always give it only large ball fertilisers.

Though this Nikko isnft a perfectly completed bonsai, I like the nebari very much which is very beautiful like Mt. Fuji. If a satsuki bonsai has such a nebari, it is much more expensive. And besides, it has a good colour- arrangement of flowers.

Two of others died because I exhibited them at our flower show and lent them to friends of mine. One of them was Kozan whose figure was very good. I think their death was caused by lack of water. Since the exhibition room was air-conditioned, it was so dry that the leaves withered a little bit because a lot of water wasnft given to the bonsai. And friends of mine didnft give them a lot of water which I asked them to give. And besides, I always give all satsuki trees in my garden a lot of water. Therefore, when my bonsai were brought from there to our house, they already lacked in water and their leaves lost their lustre. But they didnft die immediately after they were brought home. Other one died at the end of summer, and the Kozan did the next spring.

A. In blooming

I think this colour-arrangement of flowers is very good. But it isnft perfect because it doesnft have any red large-striped flowers though it has some white large-striped flowers. If I can find them in future, I have to keep them when I prune it after blooming. Therefore it is very necessary to attach the ribbon to the shoots lest I should prune them drastically.

I think this bonsai pot suited the tree very much. But if it is exhibited on the shelf at a flower show, the trunk has to be polished with water and a soft brash, and the moss is put on the surface of soil completely.

The photo was taken on June 2nd, 2012.

B. Before pruning

You can see some very long shoots though I repotted this Nikko on March 23rd, 2013. They mean that it is very strong, especially because it shot out a few ones from the trunk, and at the same time that there is much more Kanuma in the pot than the average and I gave a lot of water and fertilisers.

Since I had removed almost flower buds when I had repotted it in March, it had only a small number of flowers in the flower season. And I was very sorry that I broke the bonsai pot in which I had planted it before then when I repotted it. Since I didnft have any other bonsai pots which suited it at that time, I used this bonsai pot. Though both of them were very expensive when I bought them, since two years ago I have ordered the new or used bonsai pots when finding some good pots on the advertisement pages of Satsuki Kenkyu because they are much cheaper.

Though I have 21 large good bonsai pots, I have the serious problem whether a huge tree will suit one of them or not when the roots are washed. Since I am an old man now and wonft be able to repot huge trees after washing the roots when I am 80 years old, I would like to hasten to plant a lot of huge trees in good bonsai pots which suit them. Therefore I would like to dig out several huge trees from the nursery next March.

The photo was taken on January 4th, 2014.@@

C. After pruning

Seeing the photo of Nikko after pruning, you can recognise that it has a good shape, but perhaps you may feel that the whole figure including the bonsai pot is a little bit heavy. Of course it will be better when the tree has a lot of leaves and flowers. I think such an impression comes from the depth of the bonsai pot though the shape is good. Now, what do you think about the colour and width of the pot?

Here sometimes we have a serious problem. It is very difficult to plant a huge satsuki tree in a smaller pot if it has a lot of spread roots, especially if it has a very good nebari. Therefore it is very difficult that we suit a bonsai pot to our special tree. And we may be unable to find the suitable pot at some garden shops however we might search for it, so that we may have to pay a lot of money to ask a potter to make the pot which suits our tree.

The photo was taken on January 17th, 2014. Height = 46 cm. Trunk circumference = 43 cm

Section 2. Pruning of semi-completed satsuki bonsai.


This tree is Shuho no hikari for which I paid 280,000 yen in November, 2001. The price was much cheaper than that in 1990s though the trunk circumference was 37 cm. Since it has some large scars, I had planted it in a large terracotta pot. And I changed the pot into a good bonsai pot when I repotted it in 2013. The trunk circumference is 47 cm now: it has grown about one cm per year.

A. Blooming of huge trees which were pruned drastically in winter to grow large.

Since I pruned this tree drastically in January, 2012, it doesnft have a lot of flowers, but have a lot of strong new shoots. And the colour of leaves is very good. It is because I gave it a lot of ball fertilisers at the end of March, which you can see on the soil in the pot. And after blooming I pruned it again because I had a plan to plant it into a bonsai pot next March.

I think it is the best way to grow their trunks thicker that I always repot huge trees every five years. Though I gave them a lot of fertilisers after pruning in June, at the end of August and at the start of October, these new shoots arenft so long. This fact means that the soil is considerably hard by spreading of the roots and tells me that it had better be repotted next March. We have to notice these informations carefully which satsuki trees tell us.

The photo was taken on June 2nd, 2012.

B. Before pruning

Judging from the photo of the tree, you can understand that it is strong and healthy. It is because I gave a lot of water and fertilisers. And the whole figure looks good. But since it doesnft have a lot of long shoots in spite of a lot of leaves, I cannot say that it is very strong and healthy. Therefore I mustnft prune it drastically this winter lest it should be weak. If you can judge that your large tree is weak, you had better not prune it till it will be strong.

But I would like to make this tree into a completed satsuki bonsai as soon as possible because I have only several huge completed ones. Time doesnft wait for me.

The photo was taken on December 17th, 2013.

C. After pruning

Judging from the photo of this tree, what do you think about the whole figure? It is a good triangle as an outline, but I think it lacks in an impact of impression. Therefore I would like to cut the right first branch much shorter and the right second branch shorter, and grow the left first branch longer which will be the main branch when it grows strong and healthy.

Compared to the height and width of the tree, the pot may look larger. And compared to the gentle trunk, it may look a little bit strong and square. But when it has a lot of new shoots next spring, what impression will this semi-completed bonsai give us? At the same time I have to search for the bonsai pot which will suit it much well.

The photo was taken on January 17th, 2014. Height = 48 cm. Trunk circumference = 47 cm

Section 3. Drastic pruning to make a large tree thicker


Whenever I bought some large satsuki trees as araki, I put them in the large terracotta pots to make their trunks thicker and their roots grow stronger. But some enthusiasts plant them in bonsai pots when they buy large araki because they should cut the front and back roots shorter when they change large terracotta pots into bonsai pots.

A. Before pruning

This tree is Kozan for which I paid 33,000 yen in October, 1987. The height was 50 cm, the trunk circumference 19 cm. I cut the trunk at 32 cm high in February, 1993 because the winding of the trunk was very gentle. And I planted it in a very large wooden pot to make it grow large because I wished the large scar would be healed as soon as possible.

I planted it in a large terracotta pot in April, 2007 because the trunk circumference was 40 cm, and the height 38 cm. And I repotted it in March, 2012.

Since I gave this tree a lot of fertilisers and water, you can see a lot of long shoots which mean that it is very strong and healthy. And you can still see the white tea bags. After drastic pruning, I removed them in which I had put three kinds of fertilisers.

The photo was taken on January 12th, 2014.

B. After pruning

The style of this tree is good. And the trunk circumference is huge. But the scar that I had made by cutting the trunk 27 years ago isnft healed completely. I hope it will be healed in 10 years.

It is so strong and healthy that I can prune it drastically. Drastic pruning of strong satsuki trees improves their growth very much by making them have a lot of long and thick shoots. It is very effective to do so concerning the trees which have single-coloured flowers except Kinsai. If you prune it drastically, it will have a lot of formal flowers.

And you mustnft prune drastically the trees which have multi-coloured flowers because they will be apt to have strong-coloured flowers after drastic pruning. But if these trees have a lot of bad flowers, you can remove them and graft a shoot which has some good flowers on the places where they will need grafting.

The photo was taken on January 17th, 2014. Height = 47 cm. Trunk circumference = 49 cm.