Winter protection

As mentioned in my earlier post the winter can get quite cold in Finland. We have recently experienced temperatures of -25°c only last Saturday. My bonsai (potensai) collection at the moment is quite small so I am able to offer more protection for the deciduous trees by placing them in my garage and on the heater bed I made, but the two pine trees I have left outside.

The pines, as with all evergreen species, require some light during the winter period as photosynthesis still takes place. I moved the pines closer to the house to get some protection from any strong winds, we could get during the winter, and to remove them from the direct sunlight that we can easily get on a nice winter's day. Exposure to direct sunlight during periods of sub-zero temperatures can cause damage.

When the first heavy snow fell I covered the boxes that the trees are planted in with the snow. This helps to keep the temperature under the snow a little higher than the actual outside temperature and protect the trees from any heavy frost. Now we wait patiently for spring to see if all of these various techniques for protecting the trees during the winter period have paid off.

Scots pine #2

This Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris) was collected a couple of weeks after the first Scots pine.

This was located on the side of a rock and again the roots were all on the surface of the rock, making it easier to collect. Bringing along as many roots as possible, not forgetting the Mycorrhizal fungi, helps to make the survival rate of pine trees higher.

The photos below show the sort of location that these potensai can be found. Places exposed to the weather where the wind can blow strongly and the tree is attached by only a little soil are ideal conditions for nature to make the sort of tree bonsai enthusiasts are interest in.

Scots pine #1

The truck on this Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris) is one of the reasons I broke my back to collect it. The shape and size of this tree takes years to establish and is clearly one of the reasons why the best bonsai material (potensai) can really only be found from mother nature herself.

The tree was found on top of a hill and completely exposed to the elements. There was not much soil around the tree and, fortunately for me, all the roots were growing on top of the rock that made up the hill.

Once it was collected and back home I made the wooden box, I have learned that planting the tree back into the ground is not the best solution long term, that will be it's home for the next 2 years. I started immediately feeding the tree and continued to feed every 2 weeks with a balanced soluble feed. This it seemed to like because new needles started to appear in many areas, even areas that were almost without any needles. Now I need to nurse it through the winter and then wait patiently for next spring to see if I have learned something from my many hours of studying.

Scots pine yamadora

Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris) is one of the most common trees found in Finland. A couple of years ago I collected some Pine trees and planted them into the ground at my old house. These continued to grow in the ground without any adverse affects. When moving house last year I had to remove them from the ground and plant them into large pots. Unfortunately because of my lack of experience these died over the winter period because they had so little time to recover. I had planted them into the pots too late in the year and with little to none of the original soil.

I have since been reading many hours of information available on the internet about the collection of Pine trees and armed with this information went about collecting a couple of trees at the end of summer. This period is the best time to collect or even repot this type of tree because the roots are more active during the autumn than earlier in the year. I also collected much of the surrounding soil containing the all important Mycorrhizal fungi. This fungi helps to get the nutrients from the soil through to the roots and can take many years to grow. Retaining this fungi in the collection or repotting process is very important for the survival of Pine trees.