Hello!

I am trying to repot my Ginseng Ficus bonsai tree. In the repotting videos I've watched, they all secure their bonsai roots to the pot with wires. Is this nessessary for me to do? If so, does any wire work, or do I need a specific type of wire?

Also, can I just hot glue the drainage screen to the bottom of the pot, or should I wire it down instead?

Thanks for your help!

That's something I've never heard of doing but I wonder if perhaps securing the roots of the Chinese Banyan (Ficus microcarpa 'Ginseng') to the Bonsai pot is to keep secure in the pot in case it topples over?

I decided to google and I found these pages with some information about wiring Bonsai plants to their pots and wiring roots:
https://www.bonsainut.com/thre...
https://bonsaitonight.com/2013...
http://ofbonsai.org/techniques...

Thank you @plantladylin! That's much appreciated! That's what I was thinking it might be for too.

Why are you repotting your bonsai Ginseng? What do you hope to accomplish?

Newly repotted bonsai are wired down because moving roots can't grow. The wire only needs to stay for a month or so until the plant is firm in the pot again. I use stretchy plastic plant tape and I only use it across the top of the pot. If you raise the soil level so the plant is sitting on a slight mound, the finished product looks better and its easier to wire down.

There are a lot of "rules" to the care and feeding of bonsai but its all based on several 1000 year old growing practices that have become more tradition then need. Figure out how to secure your plant without turning it into rocket science.

You can hot glue the little screen to the bottom of the pot. All mine are hot glued in place. Before hot glue was invented, those little screens were wired in place also. If I don't have a piece of screen, I use a coffee filter cut to size.

@WillC

The soil isn't super great (as it came from IKEA), and the roots are also growing a bit wild! I am just replacing the soil and trimming some of the roots, then putting the tree back in a similar pot (just a tiny bit bigger).

@DaisyI

Oh, ok! That's super helpful, thank you! I probably would have left the wire in for a while, so that's good to know.

Yeah, I just ending up hotgluing the screen to the bottom. Oh, I didn't know you could use a coffee filter! I'll keep that in mind for next time!

Thank you for your help Daisy! :))

The customary plastic screening is best to use over the holes to ensure adequate drainage. Coffee filters can clog easily and allow too much water to remain in the soil, which is detrimental for most bonsai trees. The plastic "canvas" for cross-stitching will work perfectly and is available inexpensively in the craft section of many stores, including Wal-Mart. Just cut it to the size you need and affix it with wire or glue.

As for the type of wire used for training bonsai, many people now use aluminum wire that is usually anodized (dyed) to resemble the traditional copper wire. Of course, regular undyed aluminum wire will function as well, but will stand out and not be as aesthetically pleasing.

It must be pointed out, however, that copper wire, while generally more expensive, is traditionally used for a reason. The copper wire used in bonsai training has been annealed, which gives it special properties which are particularly useful in training branches. Annealing is simply heating the wire until it is red-hot, then letting it cool naturally. After this simple process, the wire is soft and bends very easily, but once bent, the wire stiffens again and is much harder to bend. This unique characteristic is perfect for bonsai, because the softened wire is less likely to damage branches when the wire is first being applied, but once bent, the stiffened wire holds its position (and the branch) very firmly. Also, as copper weathers, it naturally attains a dark patina that blends well with the branches and becomes less noticeable.

As I mentioned, basic aluminum wire is generally less expensive than copper wire, but when aluminum wire is anodized and marketed specifically for use in bonsai cultivation, it somehow attains magical qualities and becomes much more expensive. However, you can buy copper wire at a relatively lower price at electrical supply houses, home improvement or hardware stores and anneal it yourself by tossing it in any fire, and you've got the best material to work with at a reasonably low price. (Ideally, the copper wire should be bare, without the plastic insulation, so that toxic fumes are avoided.)

Bonsai traditions evolved as they are because they have literally been tested over centuries and proven to work. That said, our modern culture is much different than the culture that bonsai evolved in, and so we have both benefits and drawbacks that may require or allow us to adjust strict traditional bonsai practices to our individual circumstances. For example, most of us are unable to religiously water our collection of tiny mame' bonsai on the window sill three times a day, so we must alter either the traditional soil mix or the sun exposure, or else use automatic watering timers to keep them from drying out.

However you choose to adjust traditional techniques, trial and error will dictate your own individual practices, just as traditional bonsai practices were developed, but first understanding the "whys" of particular traditional techniques will help you adjust them to your own situation more successfully.

Bonsai is not the mysterious, magical art that many think it is, but, from a strictly practical viewpoint, it is a highly specialized method of keeping plants abnormally small, but alive and thriving for extremely long lifetimes by way of scientifically sound practices. The "art" part of it is in the training and creation of a miniature tree that evokes and gives reverence to trees in Nature, and often those grand specimens which have obviously persevered through timeless challenges.

Radly

@RadlyRootbound

That's very good to know. Thank you for all of your help! I never thought about the cross-stitch "canvas" for drainage, but I am definitely going to remember that for next time!

As for the wires, I really appreciate all the information/tips you provided. I guess I really don't know what I'm talking about! Haha!

Thanks again! ;)

Most of us will not be growing the type of bonsai that Radly is referring to. Even back when I had the time and energy (and a drip system to water 3 times a day), most of my smallest plants were in 8 - 10 inch pots. Bonsai isn't just about little trees in littler pots, its a training/pruning method that keeps any plant from reaching its full size but also trains it to look like a small version of the full sized plant. So, your tree is a bonsai, if you keep up the training and pruning and limit its size.

The best bonsai soil is cactus and succulent soil. If you don't have that, use regular potting soil but add some perlite. Sometimes you have to work with what you've got and sometimes coffee filters are what I had. I had forgotten that I used plastic screen in the bottoms of pots so, Thank You Radly, for reminding me. You can use the wire to slowly change the shape/direction of a tree but again, use what you've got, so for me, that is often stretch garden tape tied to branches and attached to something heavy like the pot or a rock. I 'rescued' a bunch of discarded electrical wire from a dumpster and it works really well. Because I grow my bonsai from seed to maturity, I am able to choose trees that suggest a shape to me that I think will be pleasing. I don't try to force a tree to be something it isn't so my training is minimal.

The biggest thing to remember is that trees are living things so bonsai care is dynamic care. What you have now is not what you will have next year so be prepared to rethink and adjust as your concept changes and as the tree changes. Bonsai are not meant to be viewed in the round so choose a 'front' side and go from there. Personally, I think its harder to train a tree as a bonsai that has grown and then been pruned to be bonsai then to start with a seedling.

There is one tradition I do keep. Trees are always planted in odd numbers: 1, 3, 5, 7, but usually three. Never 4 as the kanji for 'death' and 'four' are very similar.

I wasn't necessarily only referring to Mamé specifically; I just used Mamé as an example because of the frequent watering usually required. As Daisy inferred, bonsai trees are categorized (loosely) into several size categories, including larger trees in pots that may take six or more people to move. Also, her suggestion to use cactus and succulent potting mix is a good one. And although perlite works perfectly well, I have an aversion to those little white beads in the soil--it's visually distracting to me. An alternative I've learned about is volcanic rock (the kind used for landscaping and gas grills); you can crush it to the appropriate desired size with a hammer. The property you're looking for with perlite or volcanic rock is the ability to hold moisture while draining well. Bonsai soil should not have a mud-like texture at any time, even when "soaked" with water. It should drain well and allow air to get to the roots. "Moist" is good, but "wet" is bad. Of course, there are different mixes of soil recommended for different types of trees, such as conifers or deciduous trees.

There are different techniques applied to different types of plants as well, as Daisy touched upon. Training generally falls somewhere between the extremes of either bending branches to the desired position or by pruning new branches to direct their growth to the desired position, and this can depend upon what type of plant you are working with. For example, some bonsai, such as pines, are supple and can be severely trained with wire without breaking, but others, such as Ilex crenata (a holly) will refuse to bend without breaking, especially with any branch older than a year. I believe Daisy favors the pruning method for the most part, and this works well for her since she starts her bonsai from seed. I, on the other hand, don't have the patience to wait on a seedling to mature and hope it shows promise, so I prefer to thoroughly search garden centers for just those certain individual specimens that have the special characteristics that show me they really want to be bonsai when they grow up! (@Daisy, you may consider working with established plants to be more difficult, but I think "hunting" for the right tree is exciting and half the fun!) Depending upon the species, I'll "nip and tuck" with both trimmers and wire as the tree and I decide and agree on the best form to go with. That may sound amusing, but the "art" of bonsai really is a collaboration between the caretaker and the tree. Just as in training a dog to be its best, you have to take into consideration the natural instincts or tendencies of your companion (whether tree or dog), bring out its strong points and use them to their fullest ability to achieve your goal.

Daisy is also "spot-on" when she says to "use what you've got." You can go to extremes and spend a small fortune buying the special items specifically marketed for use with bonsai. Some of the prices charged are outrageous, simply because they are "bonsai items"! You don't have to have the special clays and soils imported from Japan; once you understand the reason such particular components are valued so highly, a much cheaper and perfectly good alternative can be found locally, even in a dumpster! (Daisy, I understand completely; lots of perfectly useful stuff can be found in dumpsters! ) You may have to do a little extra work to adapt it to your needs, but that's why I'm perfectly happy to sit on my concrete driveway with a hammer, smashing a $4 bag of volcanic rock into little pea-sized pebbles instead of forking over $20 or more for a much, much smaller bag of some "special" porous fired-clay balls. Hey, you can crack up an old terracotta pot that will be "little bits of fired clay". (Just be careful of sharp edges.)

BTW (and not to hijack ahnature's thread), but what do y'all think of asking for a bonsai-specific forum on this site? Do you think there's enough interest in bonsai?

Radly

@DaisyI
@RadlyRootbound

You two are so helpful! Thank you again! (Those are great ideas!)

I would love a bonsai-specific forum on here! Whether people would have interest in it, I have no clue. But it could be helpful!