A Timely Watering Tip from Michael Hagedorn

This illustration by Kyosuke Gun is from our Masters’ Series Juniper book. It is a perfect fit for this post that is borrowed from Michael Hagedorn’s  Crataegus Bonsai. Before the real summer heat hits, consider how you are watering your trees. Have you ever seen your trees grow through spring just fine, only to get fried leaves at the first onset of early summer? Ever wonder why that happens? Those trees just don’t have enough roots. Those are the trees that got overwatered, or simply never dried out, in the cool spring months. Their roots were never encouraged to hunt … Continue reading A Timely Watering Tip from Michael Hagedorn

Dealing with Stress: Fertilizing & Watering

Almost forgot to mention what Mr. Onishi said about fertilizing his stressed pine (see previous two posts). “After a year of rest in which I didn’t pinch or prune, but during which I gradually gave it higher doses of fertilizer…” That’s it. Not too much to go on, so I’ll try to flesh it out. Most bonsai books and teachers say to avoid fertilizing stressed trees until they show signs of recovery. This is pretty good advice, but still leaves a lot to the imagination. Mostly, I use mild, slow release organic pellets. With ordinary stress (like from rootpruning), I … Continue reading Dealing with Stress: Fertilizing & Watering