In our last field growing post we mention planting directly into native soil without digging in amendments when you plant. A friend of my points out that she has no native soil; her house and yard were built on fill. In our usage of native soil, we mean whatever soil is already there; in other words, my friend’s fill would be her native soil.

What if your native soil isn’t very good? Too acidic, too alkaline, too something or not enough something else? And how do you know if your native soil is good enough to simply plant as is?

The simple answer is, just look and see what’s growing there. If relatively vigorous plants are already growing in your native soil, then it should be okay for field growing. If not, you might want to consider building raised beds (or hills) with enriched soil.

In my case, even though the soil around my house is quite sandy, plenty of trees and other plants were growing just fine when I moved in five years ago.  So my lazy person’s method of enriching by top dressing and fertilizing after I plant, has worked quite well.

In some cases, I just plant directly into the ground (this works because the drainage is excellent). In others I build little 1 t0 3 foot mountain ranges, using both soil from around my land and some fill from outside (also quite sandy) and incorporate bonsai stock into my landscaping.

Before planting I top prune (always top prune when you disturb the roots, especially if you rootprune) and rootprune if needed, and spread the roots and dip them in Roots, a rooting compound in solution, and then plant.

Next, I top dress with partially broken down cedar mulch about two inches deep. I used partially broken down cedar because wood robs nitrogen in the early stages of breaking down and then gives it back to the soil in the final stages of breaking down.

Then, because the plants need help at first and because my soil is very sandy, I top water very regularly (unless it rains). Deep enough for the water to soak well below the roots.

After about a week I start sprinkling mild organic fertilizer granules around each plant, out to about six inches beyond the drip line (this encourages the roots to grow out instead of down). I do this about every two or three weeks until late summer.

Three or four times a season I sprinkle on a diluted mix of fish/seaweed and Dyna-gro 7-9-5.  If you have a long growing season (we don’t) then you can do this more than just 3 or 4 times.

In the late summer and early fall it’s important to reduce the amount of nitrogen so energy is directed to the roots and nutrient storage and away from top growth, so I use a more highly diluted mix of fish/seaweed and instead of Dyna-gro 7-9-5, I switch to 3-12-6.

If you have any question or objections, or just want to share your field growing techniques, don’t hesitate to comment.

Have you tried field growing? You don’t need a lot of space to experiment with a small number of plants and the results will easily exceed expectations that have been conditioned by container growing.

One of the reasons the Japanese have so many well developed bonsai is field growing. In the west, we tend to grow bonsai stock in containers. In Japan, most stock is field grown; you’ve no doubt noticed the strikingly powerful Japanese Black Pines in the two photos above (from Morten Albek’s Shohin Bonsai). Though I don’t know how old those massive trunks are, my best guess is they are around fifteen or so, even though they look much, much older.

I used to grow all my stock in containers, now I grow almost all in the field, or more accurately, in my yard. I just incorporate them into my landscaping (some will no doubt just stay there), which tends to be Japanese influenced with a certain rocky Vermont feel. Lots of junipers and dwarf and miniature conifers cultivars, as well as collected larch, spruce, cedars, maples, balsam fir, hemlocks and others. Right now, I have about a hundred potential bonsai in the ground and hundreds more planned (eight acres helps).

So far, the larch (Larix laricina) are the most responsive, with rapidly expanding trunks and plentiful branching (the Larch above is from the cover of Nick Lenz’s Bonsai from the Wild; it was originally collected in the wild, so you could say it was field grown by Mother Nature). Larch love water and no doubt respond to my compulsive watering disorder. The soil here is very sandy, and the land is almost floating on water with several springs, a natural pond and a very generous drilled well. When Al’s big drought comes, we’ll be the last to know it.

One disadvantage to plentiful watering is leaching nutrients out of the soil. My solution is to top dress with partially broken down cedar mulch and to add plenty of local organic fertilizer. Fresh wood chips rob the soil of nitrogen (which they give back later when they break down) so it’s best to wait until they’ve aged a couple years before you use any.

I plan to feature field growing fairly regularly, so stay tuned. I’d like to show you some pictures, but right now everything is hidden under an impressively thick white blanket. In about three months the action starts and I’ll post some photos then.

Meanwhile, it’s not too early to start planning for the spring.