Keith Ramsey: Today, we're talking about bonsai trees. Bonsai has been around for thousands of years but has become really popular in the last few years at garden centers here in America. They've been here for a lot longer than that, but it's definitely a trend that's coming on. And the word bonds I, all it really truly means is a potted plant.
[00:00:59] In the Chinese culture, they would go out into nature, and they'd find plants and put them in a pot, and they'd start to train them like an older tree. The idea of growing a Bonsai you're trimming the roots, and you're trimming the top. So that, so by trimming the roots, you're shrinking the foliage on the plant. The more you trim it and the more fibers the roots get, the smaller the foliage gets. One unique part of that is when the plant flowers, the flower stay the same size.
[00:01:27] So you'll have an Azalea plant. You Bonsai, after several years, the foliage will start to shrink, get smaller and smaller. The limb shrinks the inner nodal growth shrinks. And when the plant flowers, it'll still have these large flowers. Fruit trees, Apple trees, Berry trees will always have really large.
[00:01:46] So it's a little distorted look.
[00:01:48] Joe Woolworth: I didn't know that you could bonsai another type of plant. I never heard that.
[00:01:51] Keith Ramsey: before. Yeah. So Bonzai is literally just potting a plant. Bonzai has grown into that shape of plant that you see, at a Juniper, but there's, you can really, truly bonsai any plant.
[00:02:02]it's going out and finding a plant. That's going to mirror the look that you want. If you wanted to, if you wanted the look of an old Oak tree, with that tree's structure coming up and a big trunk and then just a canopy, there's a number of trees that you can use outside.
[00:02:18] And there's a number of trees you can use inside. So there's, you definitely have to choose whether you're doing a Bonzai for inside or for outside and pick a plant that's going to do well in the environment that's your trying to place a plant. Yeah. You
[00:02:30] Joe Woolworth: mentioned the process was trimming the routes as well as trimming the foliage back in.
[00:02:35] So, how do you trim the roots when it's an outside plant?
[00:02:38]Keith Ramsey: it's a containerized plant. Say once a year, once every two years, you pull the plant out of the pot, and you're literally trimming the tips of the roots and some of the larger. Roots so that you don't have one large taproot going down anymore.
[00:02:52]You tip that taproot and just put prune in the top of a plant, the growth comes up, you prune it, and it splits, and you end up with multiple stems coming up instead of one stem. So basically, the same thing with the root, you're going to go in and trim the roots. It's going to split, and you end up with more fibrous roots.
[00:03:11]And the more you shrink that root space or, the more it's out of proportion with the size of the tree, the more that foliage just kinda starts to shrink. There are lots of different styles of Bonsai. It's picking a picture of a Bonsai offline or out of a book. Something that you've seen, a real bonsai that you've seen somewhere, and it's mirroring that.
[00:03:32]And in a lot of cases, they're mirroring. Older plants in a landscape, the Cedar tree that's grown on the side of a mountain, that's been windswept for years, that you see on a hiking trip, some at some point, you take a picture of that, or you have a picture of that in your mind, and you're trying to prune that tree and wire that tree so that it has that windswept look, and
[00:03:54]I think karate kid is part of why I think, in the last few months, the last year, I think that resurgence of. That Cobra
[00:04:08] Joe Woolworth: Kai Netflix
[00:04:09] Keith Ramsey: series. Yeah. Everybody's
[00:04:11] Joe Woolworth: back into bonsai. Exactly. So Mr. Miyagi was always in there working on that tree.
[00:04:16] What kind of commitment is it to properly Bonzai a plant? Cause it seems like if you pay attention to the movie, it's about six, seven hours a day.
[00:04:23]Keith Ramsey: You could spend six or seven hours a day, but you'd have to have it like a thousand bonsais. It's a really minimal commitment. It's more about getting the plants in the right location and then keeping them watered.
[00:04:35] If you're going to do multiple bonsais, Bonzai is something you'd probably want to if you're going to take a two-week vacation. It's like having a dog. You don't want to tie it up in the backyard. You want to get somebody to take care of it, at least give it some water.
[00:04:47] Every couple of days, Bonsais tend to dry out faster than other plants. Because they've got a small root base. Couple of things that you can do, just a simple timer where you get an irrigation system that comes on, and if you don't have an irrigation system or putting them under a full-time irrigation system, but what
[00:05:04] Joe Woolworth: would you look for in the plant if you.
[00:05:07] As a sign that you were over-watering or
[00:05:09] Keith Ramsey: underwatering?
[00:05:10] So overwatering is usually the whole plant wilts, just like any plant we look at. The whole plant tends to shut down cause it doesn't have oxygen, and it's not getting any water when a plant doesn't have oxygen, they can't take up water, say you're so the whole plant kind of wilts. A dry plant usually yellows from the inside or loses foliage from the inside of the plant.
[00:05:31]So you'll see yellow leaves on the interior of the plant versus the exterior plant, maybe still wilting. It depends on the type of plant, but those are good signs. But placement is another thing it's, If you can take, a plant that, that needs full sun. You can put it in an area that's getting morning sun till maybe one or two in the afternoon, or that, get some morning sun and some afternoon sun, but it's in the shade in the mid-day, just having it in that right place is key.
[00:05:59]But you can select a plant. You can go out and buy a bonsai. We, we sell bonsais, a lot of garden centers sell bonsais. And, but you can also go with the picture to decide whether you want an interior Bonzai or an exterior Bonzai. If you've got an exterior plant where many people go wrong, they'll go out, and they'll buy a Juniper.
[00:06:18] And it's got a great bonsai shape, it's in a Bonsai, ceramic pot. They bring it in and set it on the coffee table. It's going to be sudden death, it's just not, there's not enough sun to dry, not the right environment. It's an outdoor plant and it needs to be outdoors. Outdoor bonsais can be utilized inside.
[00:06:37] But it's a rotation thing. They're going to be there for a couple of days and then you move them back out. You bring them in for a party, you move them back out. You're going to have company, you bring him in, you set them on an end table, and then shift them back out. Interior plants, you can do things like ficus trees, all the interior trees Shefa layers.
[00:06:55] And our Arbuckles make a great Bonsai. You want to highlight a plant for a highlight area or a low light plant for a low light area. But deciding which way you're go...
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free