Though I introduced how to make cascade in my web site whose date was December 7th, 2014, since I have other materials to make cascade, I would like to introduce my methods to do so including the progress of growth of them. Since it is very easy to get a lot of good saplings if you insert cuttings of satsuki trees into Kanuma soil in May or June and often give them a very small quantity of fertilisers after they have the white roots, you can try to make any style by winding them with wires.
And I would like to show you the problems of repotting of small satsuki bonsai because a few numbers of them die every year. If I continue to make small bonsai whose ages are more than 15 have a lot of flowers every year and repot them after blooming, I think it is very natural that they should be weak. Besides it is so hot in mid-summer in Ise that we feel it is not easy to breathe if the temperature is more than 37 degrees C. I think that satsuki trees in the pots have the same feeling. If I repot them at the end of June, they will have a very severe condition of temperature because they will not have any new roots when the rainy season ends on about July 10th in Ise.
Section 1. The progress of growth of cascade
Sometimes I make several or more saplings to give some of them to our friends and relatives or when only a large satsuki tree which I have as a variety is very weak, or when I found an interesting condition of leaves and flowers. And some of them have so long new shoots that I decide to make them into a style of cascade though I do not like this type of satsuki trees because they are likely to have some damages. Whenever a typhoon approaches us and we have a strong storm, I have to bring them into the garage lest they should fall down from the shelves and break the trunks and branches.
A. Hikorin A
I would like to introduce the way how I made the six year old sapling of Hikorin into a cascade in 2014, which had been repotted into a shallow terracotta pot two years before. At first seeing this material, I was in doubt what shape I could style because it had a lot of small branches and two long ones. If I made it into a cascade, the present core of tree is very low. But since it is young and if it will be pruned and wired, it may have a good shoot which will be a core of the tree. And I decided to make it into a cascade using a longer shoot because I would like to make several cascades to introduce how to make them in my homepage. And though I repotted it into a larger deep terracotta pot after wiring it, I am sorry that I did not take a photo after repotting because I did not intend to use this tree as a material in my web site. The photo was taken on June 19th, 2014.
The left photo is the flowers of this tree in 2016. And the middle and right ones are those of the front and back sides in 2017.
I repotted this tree into a very deep bonsai pot on June 28th, 2017. The left photo was taken on July 30th, and the right one on December 17th.
B. Hikorin B
The left photo is a six year old sapling of Hikorin B on June 19th, 2014. Though the new shoot was not very long, I decided to make it into a cascade style. The right photo is it after pruning. Since this tree was smaller than others, I used the same terracotta pot when repotting it.
The left photo is the flowers of the back side of three in 2016, and the right photo is those of the front side in 2017.
I repotted this tree into a very deep bonsai pot on June 28th, 2017. The left photo was taken on July 30th, and the right one on December 17th.
C. Hikorin C
The left photo is a six year old sapling of this tree on June 19th, 2014. Since it had a long good shoot, hoping that it would be a good cascade, I wired it after pruning and repotted it into a very deep bonsai pot on July 22nd. The middle photo is it after wiring, and the right one after repotting.
The left photo is the flowers of this tree in 2016 and the right one is those in 2017.
Since this tree was very strong and healthy, I had to repot it into a larger bonsai pot after blooming in 2017. The left photo was taken on July 30th, and the right one on December 17th.
D. Hikorin D
The left photo is a six year old sapling of Hikorin, which was taken on June 19th, 2014. Though it did not have very long shoots, I wired it after pruning to make it into a style of cascade. Judging from the right photo of this tree after wiring, it has a good style of cascade though the hanging shoot is not long. Though I repotted it into a very deep terracotta pot after wiring it, I am sorry that I did not take a photo after repotting it because I did not intend to use this tree as a material in my web site.
The left photo is the flowers of this tree in 2016 and the right one is those in 2017. Since this variety has only single colour of deep red, it is very easy to make it into a good shape of bonsai using any good shoots or branches. And the colour of these flowers gives us a strong impression.
Since I Judged that the soil in the pot was not hard, I did not repot it in June 2017. But it had been so strong after pruning that it had a lot of new shoots when it was photographed on July 30th. And when I watered it in midsummer, the water did not run down through the soil easily. When I took the right photo of this tree on December 17th, all spring leaves have not fallen yet though they turned the colour into red. It means that it has not prepared against the severe coldness in winter yet though the minimum temperature was 0.5 degrees C on 7th.
E. Togenkyo
This tree was 6 year old and I repotted it from a shallow terracotta pot into a very deep terracotta pot after wiring it on June 22nd, 2014.
The left photo is the flowers of this tree in 2016 and the right one is those in 2017.
Since this tree was very strong and healthy, I repotted it into a larger bonsai pot after blooming in 2017. The left photo was taken on July 30th, and the right one on December 17th. If it will have good flowers including sokojiro in 5 years, it will be a good cascade of Togenkyo.
F. Nikko
This Nikko is 6 year old. Since the leaves are much smaller than those of the parent, the progress is also rather slow. And the flowers are not good without red and large-striped flowers now. But since it is Nikko, I can hope that it will have a good colour arrangement when it is old. Though I expected that this tree would be registered as a new variety, I am very sorry that it has not been accepted as a new variety by Japan Satsuki Association.
And I repotted it from a shallow terracotta pot into a very deep terracotta pot after pruning and wiring it in June 2013. The right photo of the flowers was taken on May 28th, 2012. The left photo is this tree after pruning on June 29th, 2014.
The left photo is the front side of this tree which had flowers in 2016 and the right one is the right side. Judging from these flowers, it is a pity that it does not have a good colour arrangement though the style of cascade is good.
Since the soil was hard, I repotted it into a larger bonsai pot after blooming in 2017. The left photo of flowers was taken on May 29th, the middle one on July 30th, and the right one on December 17th.
Section 2. Repotting of small satsuki bonsai
As young satsuki trees in pots grow, we have to change pots. It is a theory. But when they become good bonsai, it is said that it is difficult to choose the best bonsai pot which is suitable to the bonsai. But now I would like to omit considering the colours and figures of bonsai pots because they are so various that I cannot tell all of them in this web site. Therefore here I would like to show you my repotting of small satsuki bonsai.
These four trees (Nikko A, Nikko B, Korin and Hakurin) have been grown from the shoots which I separated from the branches of the trees in the nursery because they had had roots. Therefore any of them do not have any perfect nebari. At first they were grown to sell at the flower show. But since I could not sell them and they had beautiful flowers, I restyled them into small bonsai by wiring them. Therefore they are perhaps 21 or 23 years old.
A. Nikko A
Fortunately I found out the flowers of three-trunked tree on the photo which had been taken on June 3rd, 2013. And since this Nikko had been planted in the bonsai pot in 2005 or 2008, the whole figure as a bonsai already looks beautiful.
The flowers of this Nikko in 2017 are very beautiful. I like this tree because not only the colour arrangement of these flowers but also the style of tree is very good. Besides it has two red flower buds and some pale rose flowers have red stripes. The left photo is the front side, and the right one is the back side.
But though this tree was planted in a little bit larger bonsai pot in June 2011, the pot seems to be unsuitable to the whole figure of tree in 2017, that is, it is a little bit small. I have to be afraid that it will lack water in mid-summer if I repot it in the same pot. Therefore I chose a larger rectangular bonsai pot than before when repotting it in June 2017. When the spring leaves fell down in winter, I have an impression that the pot is a little bit large and heavy. The left photo of the front side was taken on December 17th, 2017. And the right one is the back side.
B. Nikko B
I found out the flowers of three-trunked tree on the photo which had been taken on June 3rd, 2012. But though the colour arrangement of these flowers of Nikko B is not good, the style is much better than that of above Nikko A. If a satsuki bonsai is a three-trunked tree, each trunk has to have each height that is different from others. The central trunk is tall, and the right trunk is the shortest. I like this style. Judging from the whole figure of this tree and a lot of moss on the soil in the pot, I can understand that this tree was planted in this pot in 2010.
Though you can see any red flowers on the left photo of the front side which was taken on May 30th, 2017, you can see two red flowers on right one of the back side. If I continue to keep the shoots of red and red-striped flowers, I can hope that the colour arrangement of Nikko B will be much better in the near future than now.
I repotted this tree into a larger rectangular bonsai pot than the oval pot in which it had been planted before. Since this pot is shallower than the above one, the one is better than the other.
C. Korin
I found out the photo of the flowers of this tree which had been taken on June 3rd, 2012. Since this variety has flowers of the single colour of pink, we do not have to pay attention to the colour arrangement. Though you cannot see the stream of trunk because it has a lot of flowers, the trunk base line is not good. Therefore you may think that I have to change the angle of tree when I will repot it in three years.
The left photo of the flowers is the front side of this tree and the right one is the back side. Judging from these photos which were taken on May 29th, 2017, you can recognise that the full-open flowers of front side are much more than those of back side. It means that I neglected turning the pot of this tree some times in May. And since it was trimmed well at the beginning of spring, you can see the bottom and stream of trunk clearly. Though I grew this tree to sell at the flower show about 20 years ago, I could not sell it. Therefore though I wired it about 15 years ago, the bottom of trunk was so thick that I could not make it have a good wind. But the stream of trunk is not bad except the bottom of trunk.
When repotting it in June 2017, I considered whether I should plant it in the same pot or in a larger bonsai pot. And I decided to plant it in the larger round bonsai pot which is shallower than before. And though I considered whether I should lean it to an angle of 20 degrees or not, even this angle was not much better because the bottom of trunk still has the ugly part that I cannot correct. Therefore though its style is not good, I think I should keep what it is because the whole figure is good when it has a lot of flowers.
D. Hakurin
Fortunately I found out the beautiful flowers of this Hakurin on the photo which had been taken on May 30th, 2011. And since this tree had been planted in the bonsai pot in about 2008, the whole figure as a bonsai already looks well. Though the parent of Hakurin is Korin whose flowers are only purple, Hakurin doesn't have a lot of purple flowers. Therefore we have to keep them on some branches or the top of the tree. This tree had some purple-striped flowers and a fukurin, so that I could expect that it would have a few purple flowers in the near future.
The left photo is the flowers of front side of this tree in 2017, where there is only a purple flower. The right one is the back side where you can see two purple flowers and some purple-striped flowers. Therefore I can anticipate that this tree will have them every year even if I pruned them drastically after blooming.
I could not sell this tree at the flower show about 15 years ago, either. Therefore the trunk does not have any good curves because I could not wind it with thick wires. But since it is very low and the bottom of trunk is thick, it does not have any serious defects as small bonsai. And repotting it in June, I used the same pot.
When I took two photos of this tree on December 17th, though all spring leaves has not fallen down yet, you can see the stream of trunk and branch pads clearly. If it will be completed perfectly in 6 years, do you think what bonsai pot you would like to use to plant it? Bonsai is a world of imagination. The left photo is the front side of this tree, and the right one is the back side.
E. Benigasa
I have grown a lot of saplings to give them to our friends and relatives. But though I have a lot of young trees of Benigasa, we cannot give any more to them whom we already gave them and sell them at the flower show of Ise satsuki society because it dissolved about 16 years ago. Therefore they will occupy wider spaces on the shelves every year and I have to repot them into larger pots every six years. Now it is one of my great problems. But since only one large tree of Benigasa is dying now, I would like to keep two good-styled trees on the selves.
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