Since the state of emergency has been announced in Mie prefecture till the end of September by the Government, I have been staying at home because I have the underlying disease in the both lungs though I had the second vaccination on 20th June. Since they lost 40 % of ventilation at the age of 29, if I was infected with the new coronavirus, it means my death. When will all people in the world be able to live with peace of mind? I hope that all of them will have the vaccination as soon as possible.
By the way, we had the irregular summer season in Japan. We had the extremely heavy rain and it continued to rain for many days in Ise. Since one fifths of the balls of watermelon in our field soaked in the water for a while, a lot of them rotted. But 5 egg plants have had a lot of fruits since June. And I have saved a lot of time and money because I didn’t have to water all plants in my garden whenever I had a lot of rain in a day. I watered a lot of large garden trees only twice last summer though I always give them an extreme lot of water on Sundays from 7:00 to 12:00 because I water all plants in the pots and all satsuki trees in the nursery and gardens from 5:00 to 7:00. And we had a lot of rainy days in September because we have the second rainy season now. But fortunately, we haven’t had any big typhoons in Ise yet. I hope we won’t have them in October and November.
The flowers of satsuki trees in autumn delight our eyes. But we mustn’t make them have fruits lest they should be weak. The left photo is Yama-no-hikari. The middle one is Fujizakura. And the right one is Kinsai.
Trimming of young trees and the flowers of young trees in 2021
Since we had a lot of rainy days in midsummer, a lot of young satsuki trees grew vigorously though I had pruned after blooming. Therefore, I trimmed 7 trees which I have used for my web site and other five ones to introduce the figures of them before and after trimming with their flowers in 2021. But the very young trees didn’t do so though they are strong now. Their growth depends on the weather if other conditions are same.
Chapter 1. Trimming of young trees before and after blooming
Though I hadn’t had any good subjects to renew my web site, I happened to think of trimming of young trees which grew vigorously. Of course, the trunks will grow more thickly if I trim them in December. But they won’t have good flowers in 2022. Therefore, I tried to do so as an experience on 19th September. And I photographed them before and after trimming. I think the result will depend on the weather in October and November though it is always very warm in Ise in them. Though I gave them several ball fertilisers after trimming, I won’t give them any fertilisers. If I do so, a lot of new sprouts will grow long.
The left photo is the flowers of each tree in 2021. The second one is the front side of each tree. The third one is the back side. The right one is the front side of each tree after trimming.
Section 1. The trees which have been the materials for the web site
I wrote these sentences in my web site on 2nd April 2015.
About 15 years ago I found the small leaves on a branch of Nikko which was planted in the large terracotta pot. And though the branch had had only flowers of pink ground (jiai) for several years, when it had red-striped flowers, taking a lot of cuttings, I inserted them into the Kanuma soil. But when I repotted them, a lot of them had not grown large because the leaves were small and they were not given a lot of fertilisers. Therefore, I did not wire them. And when I repotted them two years ago again, I cut the trunks of a half of them very short (3 – 5 cm) to make small bonsai or mini bonsai.
Now I have 32 young trees of Nikko which have small leaves. And last year a few of them had only a few white flowers, some of them had only flowers of pink ground and others had red-striped flowers. This is a fact even if we took the cutting by the red-striped flowers. Therefore, if we would like to get good multicoloured flowers, we have to remove the saplings from the seedling tray, whose first flower is white.
Since we sometimes can see small leaves on branches of Nikko, such a tree has not been registered as a new variety in Japan. But since the satsuki trees which have small leaves are suitable for shohin or mini bonsai, I think it is a good idea to make these materials into shohin or mini bonsai.
Since these 6 trees of NIkko have this back ground, they are about 16 years old. And I sometimes have introduced them here since then. Some of them have thick trunks though they are very short. Therefore, they are good materials for making small satsuki bonsai.
Part 1. Nikko 1
Since this tree doesn’t have a lot of flowers, I cannot judge the colour arrangement strictly. Though it is true that it isn’t good, the style and taper of the trunk are very good. If it will have only one red flower in near future, I have to keep it. Of course, if it will have some large-striped flowers, I have to do so, too.
Part 2. Nikko 2
Since this tree doesn’t have a lot of flowers, I cannot judge the colour-arrangement strictly, neither. Though it is true that it isn’t good, the style and taper of the trunk are very good. If it won’t have only one red flower in 5 years, I will be unable to expect that it will have good colour-arrangement. But if it will have some large-striped flowers in near future, I will keep it.
Part 3. Nikko 3
Strictly speaking, this tree isn’t Nikko because it has only white flowers. Therefore, I may have to call it Shirokozan. Sometimes we can see the shoots of satsuki tree whose flowers or leaves are different from those of the parent. And after inserting a lot of cuttings of a variety, we can see the shoots which have only one-coloured or white throat or red-striped or purple-striped flowers which the parent has. We had better deposit the cuttings of only red or white flowers when the variety is a tree which has multi-coloured flowers. The former has the gene or genes which are different from the parent. I would like to call it “bud sport.” But the latter has less genes than the parent has. And I would like to call it “variation.”
It is a fact that we can see white flowers of Nikko and we know the white flowers of Shirokozan which is a bud sport of Kozan. And Nikko is a bud sport of Kozan. Therefore, I don’t know whether I can call this tree “Shirokozan” or not. If a scholar does DNA testing of this tree and Shirokozan, it will be clear.
Since this tree has white flowers, I think it is weaker than other brother trees are. Therefore, it doesn’t have a lot of very long shoots and the trunk is thinner a little bit than others are. And the style and taper of the trunk aren’t bad.
Part 4. Nikko 4
This tree is dying. Therefore, I add the brother tree to this group and call it Nikko 4. I don’t have any photos of the flowers of this tree in 2021. It is very short and has a lot of very long shoots. The taper of the trunk is very good and the style isn’t bad. If the trunk will grow much thicker in future than it is now, it will be a good small bonsai. I hope it will have a good colour-arrangement of flowers in future.
Part 5. Nikko 5
The colour-arrangement of the flowers isn’t very good on the left photo of the front side of this tree. But since I could see two swelling flower buds which had large red stripes on the back side, I hope that it will have red flowers in near future. Though it is very short, being very strong, it has a lot of long shoots. Therefore, after I trimmed it, it doesn’t have a lot of flower buds. Since the taper of the trunk is very good and it is thick, I would like to plant it in a bonsai pot, considering the planting angle when I will repot it next year. But if it won’t have a good colour-arrangement in 4 years, I would like to change the front side into the back side. Since it is very short, even if I do so, it will have no problem.
Part 6. Nikko 6
Judging from these flowers, the colour-arrangement of them isn’t very good on the left photo of the front side of this tree. But since I could see two flowers of red-striped flowers, I can hope that it will have a good colour-arrangement in future. Though it is short, since the trunk has some windings and the taper of it is very good, the style of this tree is so good after trimming that I wouldn’t like to change the front side into the back side. Therefore, I only hope that it will have good colour-arrangement.
Part 7. Shuho-no-hikari
Since this tree had a branch which had red flowers, I removed it after blooming. It is because I don’t like to make this variety have any red flowers. It is true that some satsuki enthusiasts like to do so. It is so strong that it had a lot of long shoots when I took this photo. Since it is short and has some windings of the trunk and the taper of it is good, the style after trimming is very good. Though the top is a little bit weak, I would like to plant it in a bonsai pot in 6 years.
Part 8. Hikorin
The whole figure looks beautiful when this tree has these flowers. But since the trunk broke when it fell down from the shelf, the taper of the trunk isn’t good. Since the style is good, I would like to make the trunk have a good taper by growing it strongly and healthily.
Section 2. The trees which were not the materials for the web site.
Though I have a lot of young satsuki trees in pots, I would like to introduce 4 trees which I think are more than 13 years old. When they had flowers in 2021, I took the photos of three of them but didn’t take one of them. It is because it was not the materials for the web site.
Part 1. Nikko 10
Nikko 10 is the brother of the above trees of Nikko. Therefore, though it has small leaves, the colour-arrangement of flowers isn’t very good. It is so strong that it had a lot of very long shoots before trimming. After trimming, since the trunk has some windings and the good taper of trunk the style is very good. It will be completed as a bonsai in 5 years. I only hope it will have good flowers.
Part 2. Nikko 11
Nikko 11 is the brother of the above trees of Nikko, too. Therefore, it has the same nature as the above trees of Nikko and the colour-arrangement of flowers isn’t good. But since the trunk has some windings and a good taper the style is very good. I will give it a lot of fertilisers and make it have stronger colours than now. It may have good flowers in future.
Part 3. Nikko 12
This Nikko 12 is not the brother of the above trees of Nikko and has the formal leaves of this variety. Since it had been a little bit weak for a long time, I haven’t had any photos of the flowers. But since it had several long shoots and looked healthy though the leaves aren’t dark green, I trimmed it. After trimming it has a good taper of the trunk and the whole figure is good because the trunk has some windings. If it will have a good nebari when I will repot it next year, I would like to plant it in a bonsai pot. But I am afraid how it will have flowers.
Part 4. Kegon
The colour-arrangement of these flowers isn’t very good though this tree has red and white flowers. Since this variety of Kegon has small leaves and flowers, it grows slower than other ones of the family of Nikko. Therefore, it doesn’t have a thick trunk though it may be 17 years old. But after trimming the style isn’t bad though it doesn’t have good windings. When I will consider a planting angle when I will repot it in a bonsai pot next year, I think it will look like a small bonsai.
Chapter 2. The flowers of young trees in terracotta pots
Though I have a lot of very young and young satsuki trees in terracotta pots and bonsai pots, I haven’t introduced them here. But now, since I have sold a lot of large, middle and small satsuki bonsai since 2020, the number of good materials for my web site is decreasing. Therefore, I would like to introduce the trees which has been grown from cuttings to keep the variety of dying tree or to make roots of the trees in the nursery and which I could photographed in 2021.
Part 1. Korin B, Koun, Hakurin and Fujizakura
These are the rest of the materials for making the roots in which the trees of these varieties in the nursery lacked. When I took the cuttings, since I didn’t choose them, the colour-arrangements of Koun and Fujizakura are not good. Since they have the striped flowers, I would like to hope that they will have good colour-arrangements in future.
Part 2. Kegon, Banri-no-kagayaki A and B and Wakaebisu
These are the rest of the materials for making the roots in which the trees of these varieties in the nursery lacked, too. The variety of Kegon has multi-coloured flowers, but this Kegon doesn’t have any white flowers. Since this variety has the strong nature of red flowers, I cannot hope that it will have a good colour-arrangement. Since the variety of Banri-no-kagayaki has the weak gene of red flowers, if a tree has some red-striped flowers, I can hope that it will have a good colour-arrangement. Though this Wakaebisu has a lot of flowers, since I didn’t wind it with wires, it doesn’t have a good style. When I repot it, I may cut the trunk very short to make a small bonsai. This is only a way to make it into a bonsai.
Part 3. Nikko 15, 16, 17 and 18.
Nikko 15 is the brother tree of the above Nikko. Since it has the smaller leaves and the large branch was removed from the right side of the bottom of trunk, the trunk is thinner than the brother trees and the style isn’t very good. And the colour-arrangement of flowers isn’t very good. Nikko 16, 17 and 18 are the rest of the materials for making the roots in which the large trees of Nikko in the nursery lacked. Therefore, the colour-arrangements of flowers aren’t good. Especially, a half of flowers of Nikko 18 are white. I cannot hope that this tree will have a lot of good flowers.
Part 4. Shuho-no-hikari, Namichidori A, B and C.
This Shuho-no-hikari is the rest of the materials to make the root in which the tree of this variety in the nursery lacked. Therefore, the style is slanting to the right. I made several cuttings of Namichidori about 10 years ago when the large tree of this variety was dying, which I had grown from a cutting since1973. Though these flowers are beautiful, the styles of these three trees aren’t good. Since these flowers are large, it is difficult to make these short trees into good small bonsai.
The archives
The archaives are the back nukmbers of my web site. If you are interested in them, please read them. I am sure that it is very useful for you to grow satsuki trees and to make them into good bonsai.
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