Fuku-Bonsai workshop interest continues to increase.
There is a growing realization that Fuku-Bonsai is the more knowledgible source of
TRUE INDOOR BONSAI information and assistance in the world! Premium Keiki Bonsai Workshops
continue to be the most popular. Our Living Lovable plants are the smallest
houseplant prepared bonsai stock available and ideal for workshops that pot it into our #8
Conversion Kit. Increasing customers are ordering the advanced workshop package of a
potted #8 size Living Sculpture to pot into our #17 Conversion Kit to quickly produce a
high quality larger bonsai!
We
are suppling more bonsai clubs who realize that most beginners find traditional outdoor
bonsai to be much too difficult. Our workshops become great club activities in the
hottest summers or the coldest winters when there is limited traditional outdoor bonsai
activity. Increasingly general garden clubs and youth groups are being introduced
through TRUE INDOOR BONSAI workshops!
It
does not take a bonsai expert to lead our workshops. All it takes is a desire to
teach and share! If you purchase a workshop package and succeed on your own,
you should be able to lead a garden club, church, or youth group workshop!
Please contact Fuku-Bonsai for more information including discounts that could be
used for fund-raising and bulk purchase of workshop materials. We are encouraging
bonsai clubs and potential workshop instructors to develop an equivalent potting media to
further reduce costs. Individuals with some bonsai experience order a workshop package to
experience and understand how to make up and use a fast drainage gravel-type potting
media. They then put together a comparable media with less costly local materials,
utilize less costly training pots, and order only the prepared bonsai stock from
us. In doing so, they greatly reduce costs while continuing to have high-success and
the high-potential of our superior prepared bonsai stock!
We
offer only a premium 3-component mix that includes a proportional amount of coarse bottom
media, a body media blend, and a fine top-dressing. The screening and packaging is
very labor intensive, but this is exceeded by the cost of shipping and handling! We
have tried to get other bonsai companies within the continental United States to produce
this mix and make it available at lower costs. But none was willing or able to meet our
standards and criteria and we rejected all samples. Aggregate portions included
Haydite, Turface, decomposing granite, lava cinder, etc. So in the end, even though
our material is expensive, we still believe it is the best available. Our customers
seem to agree even when we offer to assist in formulating a less costly mix from locally
available materials.
- FUKU-BONSAI TRUE INDOOR BONSAI
- POTTING MEDIA SPECIFICATIONS & INSTRUCTIONS
For those who may
be interested or able to make up a comparable indoor bonsai potting media to supply a
growing hobby, to assist in leading group workshops, or to supply other members of bonsai
clubs or groups, the following are specific details.
COMPONENT #1 (Coarse bottom aggregate only): 1/2" to 3/4" pieces
of high-velocity pumice ejecta only. Passes through a 1/2"x1" screen and
caught in a 3/8" screen.
COMPONENT #2 (Body media blend of 75% aggregate and 25% organic matter): The
aggregate material goes through a 1/2" or 3/8" screen including all dust. This
is blended with 25% organic matter with our preferred material being a coarse grade
of Canadian spaghnum-peat moss. To this mixture, we add 6 oz. per 5 gallons of body
media blend of coarse MagAmp (magnesium ammophosphate 6-40-7). MagAmp is a slow
release chemical bonded fertilizer that will have a very controlled nutrient release over
a full year. The body media blend should be made slightly damp before potting.
COMPONENT #3 (Fine top-dressing of aggregate only): Screen material
through a 1/8" screen and use the particles that are caught in a 1/16" screen.
Discard the fine dust that goes through the 1/16" screen.
POTTING PROCEDURES USING THE THREE COMPONENTS
COMPONENT
#1 (Coarse bottom aggregate only): This component forms the drainage layer.
First install the tie-down string or wires through the drain holes. In most cases the
material is large enough that hole screens are not necessary. The coarse bottom
aggregate is mounded in the center of the pot to "bridge" all drain holes.
A plastic film that is large enough to cover 1/2 of the drainage layer assures that the
finer body media will not migrate downwards and clog drainage.
COMPONENT #2 (Body media blend of 75% aggregate and 25% organic matter): When
potting, first fill the pot even to the top of the drainage mound with just an
1/8" of media over the plastic barrier and as much as an inch around the edges.
Pound and firm this down with the bottom of a can or block of wood. Place the root
pruned plant on this compacted layer, tie down securely, then place enough body
media to fill the pot. With a trowel or spoon, press down and firm the media.
Add more media if necessary so the soil level is about 1/4" below the rim of the
pot.
FIRST WATERING: Sit the potted plant into a pan filled with 2" of water
for about 30 minutes. Allow the water to enter through the bottom holes to totally
saturate the media. Drain and after dripping stops, using the trowel or spoon
to again carefully press down and level the surface.
COMPONENT #3 (Fine top-dressing of aggregate only): This
coffee grain sized pieces "seals" and visually dresses up the surface.
Some growers omit this step as it is primarily cosmetic. They save this
hard-to-obtain material for when they want to formally display their bonsai.
CREATE COMPARABLE INDOOR BONSAI POTTING COMPONENTS
THERE REALLY ARE NOT SECRETS! It should be possible to locate bulk materials that
will greatly reduce costs. It may be possible for bonsai clubs or local bonsai
professionals to supply materials that meet these criteria. Indoor houseplant bonsai
potting components are very different from the materials used by those who grow
traditional outdoor bonsai. This is because plants dry out more slowly indoors and
roots will rot if the outdoor potting media is used indoors. Aggregate sizes are
much larger for indoor bonsai.
All potting soils contain only three major items: aggregate, clay, and organic
matter. No clay in any form is used for indoor bonsai as it will prevent optimum
fast drainage. To test the aggregate component, place a small amount in a glass of
water and stir vigorously. If it desolves or takes a long while for the water to
clear, the material is unsuitable or must be washed and dried before using. The organic
component can be pine bark, composted redwood bark, chopped coconut husk, chopped spaghnum
moss, shredded tree fern, etc. Each has different advantages or disadvantages to
analyse and fine-tune a specific 3-component media mix.
Our
3-component system differs from traditional outdoor bonsai practices in which the coarse
layer is on the bottom and each layer containing only a slightly smaller particle size
with the finest on top. Although there's a lot of work to screen several different
particle sizes, the effort is often nullified when dibbling and probing to get the
material between the roots and filling all air pockets brings up the coarse material and
the fine material migrating down to clog the drainage layer. Compared to this type
of potting procedures, our potting method creates a distinct separation of our coarse
bottom layer with a piece of plastic film to separate the body blend. In having such
a distinct separation, a "perched water table" is created. It is
impossible for water to puddle on the bottom of the pot. Yet the blended body media
holds sufficient water in the form of moisture.
Our
3-component system also differs from a uniform single component potting mix used
throughout the standard nursery industry. It is far more economical to use a single
potting media component and to omit the coarse bottom drainage layer. But without that
coarse bottom drainage layer, you'll either have good or poor results depending upon
whether your single potting mix exactly meets the needs of the plants. All plants do
not have the same requirements. By utilizing a combination of an integrated mix over
a coarse bottom "hill" with a "separator," the tree will tell
you how to further adjust your potting media!
LEARNING FROM YOUR BONSAI; ADJUSTING YOUR MIX!
After a year or
two, your plant will either be growing well or not. If it's growing poorly, the odds
are that your potting mixture needs adjusting. If you take the plant out of the pot,
you can quicky evaluate your soil mix. If you have only a few roots and they all
shoot for the bottom and the bulk of the mass is in the coarse bottom layer, your
body media blend is not holding enough water and the percentage of the organic
water-retaining component should be increased. This will create a slower draining
media and keep more of the roots in the body media blend.
If
you only have a few roots that are only in the body media, the media may be too slow
draining and the roots are rotting. Reduce the amount of organic matter and/or
screen out some of the very fine particles from the body blend.
With
good media and potting procedures, roots should fill the entire network of the body media
blend first. As it gets to the point of becoming pot-bound, roots then begin
circling the pot and invading the coarse bottom layer. Generally in tropical
climates, it will take two years to reach this stage. Depending upon the specific
growing conditions, it may take three to five years for plants growing indoors 100%
of the time. Because of the relatively slow indoor growth, it is not necessary to
repot plants as often as necessary for outdoor bonsai. But repotting may be
desirable if there is good foliage growth and the plant gets pot-bound. This will be
covered in a future
lesson.
All
best wishes for YOUR success! ~~~David W. Fukumoto (September 21, 2004)
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