The Privet with no roots

One Sunday afternoon in the middle of winter my father was digging some Privet out of his front garden and this was one of the pieces that had been pulled out:

At the time it had absolutely no roots on it but hey it was free... So I grabbed an old ice cream container put some holes in the bottom of it and potted it up. I'm not sure what the soil mix is, just whatever my father had at the time, it is very sandy though.

I don't know what its survival chances are but I hear Privets are pretty hardy so we will see come  warmer weather.

Chinese Pistachio Trunk Chop

Here is my Chinese Pistachio which was given a trunk chop on 07/08/11. I have left the two lower branches on in the hope of fattening the base and the shoot at the top will hopefully draw energy up the tree to prevent massive die back.

Eventually I plan to shorten the tree further, however, I have very little experience with this type of material and I'm not sure how it will react so I will let it recover from this and see where we stand.

Before:

 

After:

(With a 2ltr Coke bottle as a size reference)

Trident Maple Repotted

I decided to repot this little Trident Maple recently. As it is basically just a stick in a pot at this stage (even more so now that it is winter an has lost all of its leaves) my plan for it is to continue potting it up into ever larger containers to build the size of the trunk, all the while working on its roots.

With this in mind I moved it from its black plastic container to what I will admit is a very ugly bonsai pot, however, it is roughly twice the size of the old pot and nice and deep, both of which will help with the growth speed of the tree.

Rescued Trident Maple

I got this Trident Maple in the middle of summer 2010 from a friend who had forgotten to water it for what I assume was a fair while as it had lost all its leaves and the soil was bone dry.

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of it from this time, I thought it would die. Here it is after I gave it a good bath in Seasol and left it in a shady spot to recover for a little while.

Buxus Bonsai Care Instructions

I feel that it is about time I start writing down some care instructions for my bonsai, so here goes.

Japanese Box Hedge (Buxus microphylla v. japonica) care instructions

Watering: Keep them slightly on the dry side, however, I haven't found them to be to fussy.

Re-potting: During very early spring.

Pruning: As it is actively growing, care should be taken to prune so as to let light and air into the inner parts of the tree.

Back budding: Prolific, at least in my experience.

Winter protection: It is apparently hardy to -4 degrees Celsius, however, mine has been OK despite a few -7 nights. There has been some bronzing of the leaves but this is normal.

Wiring: It is possible to wire new growth, however, once matured it becomes hard and brittle, I  wouldn't recommend trying as the bark is also fragile.

Positioning: They will tolerate some shade, however, plenty of sun is best.