Satsuki and Other Trees in Mack's Garden 46

Renewal July 8th, 2018

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I would like to introduce three photos of flowers of satsuki trees which have not been completed as bonsai yet. Perhaps they will be completed in 5 years




Repotting of young trees of Kogetsu in March


I have 8 young trees of Kogetsu as the materials for my web site. And I introduced the progress of growth of them as The Results of Pruning of Young Kogetsu in the Midsummer on September 10th, 2017. This time I would like to introduce how to repot 5 young trees in terracotta pots into bonsai pots in March. They were so strong and healthy that the soil in pots was rather hard. Therefore I thought that when they would have flowers it would take me a lot of time to water them. And I tried to make them have flowers in May after repotting them in bonsai pots in March because I had not repotted any young trees in March yet. And I repotted the young tree in the bonsai pot whose trunk the May storm had broken at the start of May 2017 because the soil in the bonsai pot was rather hard.

I think that it is very useful to read these sentences because I explained about the basic methods to repot young satsuki trees which have variegated flowers. And besides they are good as my materials for my web site because some of them have good shapes and some do not. It is because the introduction of these trees includes my errors, too.

I always repot young satsuki trees after blooming. Since I always repot a lot of satsuki bonsai in March, I cannot have any time to repot young ones and since I would like to confirm the colours of flowers concerning the young satsuki trees which have variegated flowers, I always repot them after blooming.

I began to prune the satsuki trees in the nursery on January 9th and finished doing so on February 27th. Therefore I had a lot of time to spare in March. But my wife and I partook in the tour of Guilin in China on 6th to 10th. These young trees of Kogetsu were so strong that they had long new shoots after having pruned them at the start of June. Then, I cut them short to make them have more new shoots on July 30th, 2017, though I did not do so concerning other varieties of young satsuki trees. And I trimmed them on December 23rd by removing new long shoots. After taking photos of them on March 15th, 2018, I repotted 6 trees. Since one of them already had been planted in the bonsai pot, I repotted 5 of them into bonsai pots. I did not repot 2 trees in the bonsai pots because the soil was not hard.

Section 1. The young trees of Kogetsu which were repotted after trimming in March


Though sometimes I introduced the process of growth of these trees, I would like to introduce the repotting of 6 trees in detail because it is my first experience that I tried to make young satsuki trees have flowers in May after repotting in March. But I worried whether they would be able to have good flowers or not. Since their trunks were so thin that I thought they did not have enough power to have good flowers in May, I thought it good that I would make them have a lot of roots when washing the roots.

A. Kogetsu D

This two-trunked tree has the very good colour arrangement of flowers. The left photo was taken on May 31st, 2017. The middle one is the whole figure before trimming on December 23rd. The right one is the whole figure after trimming. Since this tree was so strong that it had a lot of long new shoots, I pruned it on July 30th. And I trimmed it on December 23rd again.



The left photo is the whole figure before repotting on March 15th, 2018. Comparing with the above right photo, the style is clean because the spring leaves fell down at the end of January. But it was not so good that I had to wire the main trunk and change the angle of planting on the middle photo. And I cut the root ball in half with a toothed sickle by considering the angle of planting. The right photo is the whole figure after cutting the root ball. Now the style is much better.



The left photo is the whole figure after I cut the very thin roots outside the root ball with a toothed sickle and removed the back soil. The middle one is the roots of front side of this tree after I removed all Kanuma soil and washed them. You can see a lot of roots even after I removed some thick roots which were unnecessary. The roots are very good on the right photo of the back side of this tree, too.



The left photo is the back side of the roots. Since I washed the roots drastically, you cannot see any grains of Kanuma soil, and the condition of roots is good. The middle one is the whole figure of the front side after I repotted it into a bonsai pot. The right one is the whole figure of the back side. Now the style is much better.



You can see a lot of beautiful flowers of the front side of this tree in the bonsai pot on the left photo which was taken on May 27th. The middle one is those of the back side. Though I worried whether it would have good flowers or not when I had repotted it in March, it has good flowers and the colour arrangement of flower is very good. But it is the evident fact that it does not have a numerous number of flowers because I removed a lot of long shoots when I trimmed on December 23rd. And since I cut the long shoots short and removed unnecessary ones, the whole figure is rather good as a two-trunked satsuki bonsai on the right photo which was taken on July 5th. Therefore it will be one of my favorites. Though I pruned it on May 30th, it is so strong that it has a lot of new shoots.



B. Kogetsu E

This two-trunked tree has the very good colour arrangement of flowers on the left photo which was taken on May 31st, 2017. The middle one is the whole figure immediately after I pruned it on July 30th. Since this tree was so strong that it had a lot of long new shoots, I had to prune it to make it into a good style. The style is good. The right one is the whole figure immediately after I trimmed it on December 23rd again.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree immediately after I repotted it into a bonsai pot on March 15th, 2018. Though the style of this tree is good, if I had planted it a little bit to the right, the whole figure would have been much better. Though I worried whether it would have good flowers or not when I had repotted it in March, it has good flowers and the colour arrangement of flower is very good, too. I was much satisfied with the result. The middle photo is the front side of this tree and the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on May 27th.



C. Kogetsu F

This tree has a lot of beautiful flowers and the good colour arrangement of flowers on the left photo which was taken on May 29th, 2017. The middle one is the whole figure immediately before trimming on December 23rd. The right one is the whole figure immediately after trimming. Since this tree was so strong that it had a lot of long new shoots, I pruned it on July 30th and trimmed it on December 23rd again.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree immediately after I repotted it into a bonsai pot on March 15th, 2018. Though the style is good, it is not very good. If the bottom of trunk will be much thicker, the style will be much better. Though I worried whether it would have good flowers or not when I had repotted it in March, it has good flowers and the colour arrangement of flower is very good, too. But if I wire the trunk and plant this tree, making it lean a little bit to the left when repotting it next time, the style will be much better. The middle one is the front side of this tree and the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on May 27th. Since this tree is weak by having been repotted in March, these flowers do not have strong lustre and power, compared with those in 2017. Therefore the colour arrangement of flowers does not look beautiful.



D. Kogetsu G

This tree has a lot of beautiful flowers and the good colour arrangement of flowers on the left photo which was taken on May 29th, 2017. But the whole style is not very good though you cannot distinguish the trunk well because this tree has a lot of flowers. The middle one is the whole figure immediately before trimming on December 23rd. The right one is the whole figure immediately after trimming. After trimming it, you can understand that I have to restyle it with wiring. Since this tree was so strong that it had a lot of long new shoots, I pruned it on July 30th and trimmed it on December 23rd again.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree after I repotted it into a bonsai pot on March 15th, 2018. The style is better than before because I restyled the trunk by winding the trunk with a thick wire. But since it is not much better, I have to do so at the beginning of autumn again. The middle one is the front side of this tree and the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on May 27th. Though it has a lot of white flowers and does not have any red ones, the colour arrangement of flowers does not look beautiful. I think it is because that, since this tree is weak by having been repotted in March, these flowers do not have strong lustre and power, compared with those in 2017.



E. Kogetsu H

This tree has a lot of beautiful flowers and the good colour arrangement of flowers on the left photo which was taken on May 29th, 2017. But the whole style is not good though you cannot distinguish the trunk well because this tree has a lot of flowers. The middle one is the whole figure immediately before trimming on December 23rd. The right one is the whole figure immediately after trimming. Though the style is not good, since the trunk already so thick that I cannot wind the trunk with a thick wire, I cannot restyle it drastically.



The left photo is the whole figure of this tree after I repotted it into a bonsai pot on March 15th, 2018. The style is a little bit better than before because I changed the angle of planting. I think that if the bottom of trunk will be much thicker in the future, the whole figure may look much better.

The middle photo is the front side of this tree and the right one is the back side. These photos were taken on May 27th. Though the whole figure is not very good, those flowers are beautiful. But having been repotted in March, this tree is lacking a little bit in the lustre of flowers, compared with those in 2017.



F. Kogetsu A

The left photo is the flowers of two-trunked tree of Kogetsu A in 2016. The colour arrangement of flowers is very good, and this tree has a good shape and is oldest of 8 young trees of Kogetsu. Unfortunately the main trunk was broken when it fell down from the shelf by the May storm at the start of May 2017. The middle photo is the flowers of this tree in 2017. But when I saw a small new shoot at the top of the broken trunk about 10 days later, I was very glad to think that I would be able to grow it longer than the other trunk. The right photo is this tree immediately after pruning on June 21st. Some of you may remember that I introduced this accident on my web site whose date is September 10th, 2017. Therefore I would like to introduce the growth of this tree in detail.



When I pruned this tree on July 30th, the new shoot which came from the top of broken trunk already is taller than the other trunk. The left photo was taken immediately after pruning. The middle one is the whole figure before trimming on December 23rd. The right one is the whole figure after trimming. Since this tree was so strong that the new shoot grew longer, I wired it.



You can see the scar on the top of broken trunk already having a large cured part on the left photo which was taken on March 15th, 2018. It is because this tree that was given a lot of fertilisers and water is very healthy. And since this tree has not maintained a good style by the trunk being broken, I had to restyle it and repot it because the soil in the pot is rather hard. I wound the other trunk with a thick wire to make it have a good shape before repotting it on March 15th, 2018.

And I decided to change the angle of planting by leaning it a little bit forward when repotting it. If you try to do so in the pot after pulling it out, you will get the good result. You can see the whole figure on the middle photo. And I cut the root ball in half with a toothed sickle by considering the angle of planting. The right photo is the whole figure after I cut the root ball.



The left photo is the roots which was washed completely after I had removed the soil drastically . This nebari is very good. And the middle one is the back of the rots. These conditions show that this tree is strong and healthy. And the right one is the whole figure after repotting. If this new shoot has some shoots, perhaps it will have a good taper in about 5 years and I will succeed in the repair.



The left photo is the front side of this tree and the middle one is the back side. These photos were taken on May 27th. Though the whole figure is good, the new trunk has not had any new shoots yet. And this tree does not have a lot of flowers because I cut the long shoots short or remove them to make the new trunk have some new shoots on December 23rd, 2017. And though I worried whether it would be able to have good flowers or not, I am happy that the top of the new trunk does not have any red flowers. But when pruning this tree after blooming, I have to remove the shoots which had red flowers.

And I am very happy that I could see two new shoots coming from the new trunk and some dots of leaf buds on it. You can see the whole figure immediately after I pruned it on the right photo which was taken on July 5th. If any new shoots had not come from the new trunk, I would have cut the top to make it have some new shoots. Since I wound it with a wire, I think the job promoted the germination. But I cut several long shoots short and removed several unnecessary shoots to make the germination surer.



Section 2. The young trees which were not repotted in March 2018


Since the soil was not hard, I did not repot these young trees of Kogetsu B and C in March 2018. And besides, the styles of these two-trunked trees were so good that I already had planted them in the bonsai pots.

A. Kogetsu B

You can see the flowers of Kogetsu B on the left photo which was taken on May 29th, 2017. Though it has some fukurin, the colour arrangement of flowers is very good. It is because I removed the red shoots whenever I can see them and removed the shoots which had red flowers. Since having repotted it in June 2014, I repotted it in June 2017. The middle photo is the whole figure after trimming on July 30th. Though it does not have a lot of shoots and leaves, the style is good. You can see the whole figure immediately after trimming on December 23rd on the right photo. Though the style is good, when I repot it the next time, I have to consider the angle of planting.



The left and middle photos are the flowers of front and back sides of this tree. Though they are beautiful, it has only a small number of them. These photos were taken on May 20th, 2018. Since I had repotted it in June and it had been extremely hot in summer 2017, I think this tree did not have a lot of flower buds like other young satsuki trees. Therefore I decided to repot the young satsuki trees in bonsai pots and from terracotta pots to bonsai pots in March in 2019. But if young satsuki trees in terracotta pots are the varieties which have a lot of variegated flowers, I have to repot them after blooming to confirm the colours of flowers. You can see the whole figure on the right photo which was taken on July 5th. Since I had pruned it after blooming much earlier than always, it had a lot of new shoots. Therefore I cut the long shoots short and removed several unnecessary ones. But now I think that I never prune it at the end of July drastically, for it will not have a lot of flower buds though it will have a lot of long shoots.



B. Kogetsu C

This tree has a lot of very beautiful flowers on the left photo which was taken on May 29th, 2017. Though you may judge that the colour arrangement of these flowers is not good, it is very good because I removed red shoots whenever I could see them and those that had red flowers whenever I pruned it after blooming. Since it was repotted on June 1st, 2016, it was so strong and healthy that it has a lot of long new shoots before trimming on the middle photo which was taken on July 30th, 2017. And I trimmed it after wiring the two trunks. The whole figure is much better on the right photo than before.



These three photos were taken on December 23rd. The left photo is the whole figure before trimming and the middle one is the whole figure after trimming. The style is very good. But you can see three shoots which have red leaves and red flower buds on the right photo though I removed the shoots which had them when pruning it after blooming. It is because I did not remove them when I saw them. If you did not remove these shoots and those that have red flowers when they are young, the young tree of this variety will have almost all red flowers and fukurin in the future.



The left photo is the whole figure immediately after I removed the shoots which had red leaves and trimmed this tree on March 15th, 2018. The middle and right ones are the front and back sides. These photos were taken on May 20th. These flowers are very beautiful and the colour arrangement is perfect though you can see two flowers of fukurin.



Section 3. My conclusion about the growth of young trees of Kogetsu


Judging from the these results of young trees of Kogetsu, the full bloom of Kogetsu B and C was just a week earlier than other young trees of Kogetsu which had been repotted in March. When you have some young trees of Kogetsu, if you repot two or three of them in March, you will be able to enjoy their flowers for a long time though those that were repotted in March do not have a lot of flowers which are lustrous and strong. But I have to recommend that you should repot the large completed trees of this variety after pruning them drastically in March. According to my experience, if you repot them in March and make them have flowers in May, I am afraid that they may die in two or three years.

If you would like to make your young trees of Kogetsu have a good colour arrangement of flowers when they are completed as bonsai, you have to remove any shoot that have red flowers and fukurin. Since the genes of red flower and fukurin in Kogetsu are very strong, if a young tree had some red-striped flowers, even if it did not any red flowers and fukurin, it is sure that it will have red flowers and fukurin in the future. On the contrary, if a young tree had a lot of them and a small number of white flowers, you must not grow it as a material of satsuki bonsai. You had better give it up.

And you have to remember that if you give a lot of fertilisers and water to them, they have a lot of long shoots and cannot keep their good shapes when they have a lot of flowers, that is, though their flowers are larger, the shoots of this variety is much thinner than those of a lot of other varieties. I think that the thinner shoots of Kogetsu means that the roots are more delicate than those of a lot of other varieties.

If you would like to make them have a lot of formal size of flowers and keep good shapes when they have flowers, you never give them a lot of fertilisers and water. But if you would like to make their trunks much thicker as soon as possible, you have to give a lot of fertilisers and water to them. I always do so to get the good growth of young trees of satsuki.

Lastly, you have to recognise that the lustre and strength of flowers depends on the quantity of fertilisers. Therefore how much fertiliser do you give trees of Kogetsu and how many times and when do you do so? Since the new shoots of Kogetsu are thinner than those of a lot of other varieties, these are difficult problems. If you have a liquid fertiliser, you may give it to them when flower buds begin to swell. If new shoots grow long around the flowers, cut them short and the whole figures look well when they have flowers.

Recently it is extremely hot in summer. If you repot satsuki trees after pruning in July, perhaps they will not have a lot of flower buds at the end of August or at the start of September. Since the strong sunshine makes the shoots very hard, a lot of new shoot will not come from them. Therefore you had better finish pruning your satsuki trees by about 15th of June or shade them with somethings in summer. Fortunately I could finish pruning satsuki trees in pots on June 23rd, and those in the garden on June 30th, and besides, when it was fine, have spread the black sheets over satsuki bonsai on the shelves since June 15th though we already have been in the rainy season. Therefore now a lot of very large satsuki bonsai have a lot of very small leaf buds.


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