Yamadora collecting

There isn't many jobs that can be done this time of year, especially when your collection of bonsai is as small as mine is at the moment. The indoor bonsai need normal attention, watering, light trimming etc., but the outdoor bonsai are already starting to prepare for the winter. Protecting them from the cold, especially the cold wind, will be my priority during the next month to 6 weeks. After this more protection is needed for the outdoor bonsai but I will return to this matter nearer the time to show how I prepare my trees for the cold temperatures that we get here in Finland.

What this time does give me is the possibility to search and identify potential bonsai (potensai) in the form of yamadora that can be collected in the spring. One source of bonsai material that I have noticed is simply sitting next to many roads and tracks. Here in Finland there is a trench / ditch along the side of the road for the rain water to run into and for the snow to be pushed into during the winter months.

Trees grow in these trenches which are cut each year by the verge cutters that come along to cut the grass and weeds. The continual cutting of the tops of the trees produces thick trunks that is the heart of any bonsai.

Any type of common tree in our area can be found growing in the trenches as shown in the photos. The most common tree in the photo was Aspen (Populus Tremula) but there was also a Scots pine.

I know that Aspen is not a common tree for bonsai material, but if nothing else it will allow me to continually improve on my bonsai skills. Now we wait for the spring to see how some of these trees look when removed from the ground.

Japanese maple #1

The cold nights are starting to come now in this part of the world. These nights start to turn the leaves on the trees all different colours. We have some big maple trees in our garden and the tops of these turned almost bright red. Maples are of course very good at showing off their colours and Japanese maples in particular display such wonderful colours at this time of year.

This is the same tree I purchased from Bauhaus that will need an immediate repot next spring, but you can already see that in a few years once the canopy has developed further this should be a nice tree.

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.

Japanese maple #1

This Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) I purchased recently from Bauhaus here in Raisio. It was on offer at the time and cost only 20€. This price isn't bad if you think that it is already in a pot measuring 20x14x7cm.

The only problem is that the soil the tree is planted in is quite heavy. Ideally this should be changed to allow me to water and fertilize the tree like the others I have in my collection.

Unfortunately this isn't the time of year to start repotting trees. I will take extra care of this tree during the Autumn and Winter months, especially with the watering, until I can change the soil in the spring.

Fukien tea

This fukien tea tree (Carmona microphylla) was purchased already as a bonsai from a local store. It was on sale at the time so I brought it. If nothing else it gives me an opportunity to practice bonsai techniques on this tree.

I have earlier had fukien tea trees and they have all died. I think this was mainly due my reluctance then to change the soil fearing that I would kill the tree that was growing so well at the time.

This time I knew that if I didn't change the soil then it would go the way of the other trees and die. I repotted this in the spring a few weeks after I purchased it, this gave it time to acclimatise itself to my home. It has since been growing well in my own soil mix of 1/2 fired clay and 1/2 pine bark.