Brutus, hazel on slab

'Brutus', my hazel, moved to a new home today. On a slab.

Coming few years I'll reserve the first pruning for early summer because it is still a prebonsai in need of strong growth. Need to thicken some branches first.
In perhaps 5 year, image the tree with a quite low but broad canopy somewhat like a broom but not too formal.

This is from raw material that was dug out in early april 2014, alongside a private road where everything got mowed every couple of years.

*** UPDATE 2018, 4th febr: adding more moss ***

Repotted Malus, Alder and Field Maple

Still early but these will survive repotting without a doubt.
Weather has been mild and more mild weather is predicted.
I'll only consider winterprotection against heavy frost, mild frost will be no problem.

Malus (lightbrown pot), common Alder (green oval pot) and Field Maple (dark green rectangle pot).

Future plan (virtual) below

Silver Birch repotted

Betula pendula, or perhaps a natural hybrid between B.pendula and B.pubescens.

Harvested in 2012 from a building plot nearby. Suffered poor regrow the first 2 yrs in the ground in my garden, I don't have a clue as to why. It should have progressed more by now, but hey not all goes as planned. Anyway since more than 2 yrs it regained vigour.
Still a good few years of building up ahead.

Repotted a few days ago, into a smaller (but still quite big and quite heavy) container, for the next 2 to 3 yrs. It can handle a repotting this early in winter, I am not worried. Only with heavy frost I will consider some shelter.

New pots coming my way

Yesterday I ordered 3 new pots. Coming my way.
And another one is in production by my previous teacher ceramics.

just a preview, because I love ceramics in general, and I love the glaze and colours.

At least 4 trees will love spring 2018 ;-)

Transplanting a few more embryonal root-over-rock projects

All embryonal root-over-rock bonsai life.

All from seed of a very old wild apple tree in the Walloon part of Belgium, that I collected early january 2016. The few apples I collected were really tiny, no more than 4cm diameter.

After their first year I put the seedlings in baskets or controlled growth in the ground, on top of a rock. Now I inspected them, cleaned them, pruned roots, and planted them all out in the ground for a good few (I actually 'many') years of strong growth. I need them to grow into vigorous raw material with decent trunks. I guess these will take 5 to 10 years before I can even start real training.
I'm an addict for projects like this, with special native species. For one of the young little ones I used a different kind of stone to put it on in the ground (slate - sorry no picture).

Underneath: how they looked in early january 2016...

Keeping mushrooms in your bonsai pot

Mushrooms, they are the above ground fruiting bodies of various species of fungus. Fungi that form symbioses with trees (and other plants) are called 'mycorrhizae'. These types of fungi (mainly ecto-mycorrhizae for trees) help the tree by working together with the tree through the rootsystem.

How do I ensure a healthy environment for mycorrhizae (usefull fungi/mushrooms) in your substrate:
1. A sparse use of chemical fertilizers (not more than a handfull administrations a year, from june to august). I limit the dosage strictly to the prescriptions on the bottle.
2. Mixing in a small handfull of dried cow manure (grain pellets) in my potting substrate, to help bacteria colonise for the organic part in the substrate.
3. When repotting, keep a small part of the old mixture (even 5 or 10% is enough) on the roots (doesn't really matter where) and transplant as such in the new mixture.
4. Optional: if you start with a tree that was in a substrate which was not colonised with mycorrhizae before, you could search in nature for similar tree species and pluk a 'ripe' mushroom in autumn, crumble it and mix it in your substrate (spores). Or, just hope for natural colonisation with the other step (1-3) you allready took. Spores can travel for long distances, but don't count on colonisation if you really live far away from other trees or in mainly urban area.

Some very recent pictures: Common European Alders, Birch, Hazel, Hornbeam.

European White Elm from seed, taking the next step

Ulmus Laevis (latin), European White Elm (english), Orme lisse (français), Flutterelme (deutsch), Fladderiep (nederlands)

Two seasons old. Collected from seed, growing as seedling in 2016 and planted out on a rock early 2017.

Now it is time to put it in the ground for vigorous growth and thickening the trunk. The main trunk (centre) can stay for a while to help thicken the trunk. This Elms species naturally grows more like a bushy tree. It is also resistant to the Elm's disease. The roots were heavily pruned, some were a metre long.

Great and rare native species in this part of Belgium (Flanders), it was collected from seed of a tree in the Wallon part of Belgium.

I love starting up projects like this. Securing future bonsai fun with 'special' native trees.