Thai bonsai

The tree anchors itself with anchoring roots. The other kind of roots are the thin feeding roots. My point about wiring in bonsai is that if you raise the tree while still young to expose the roots there won't be much to hold it up and it will either sink down again or fall over so it needs to be secured in place while more roots grow. The other point is that you can shape the roots. Pretty simple to do by drilling holes in the side of the pot and looping the wire around the tree, in this case around the roots, and then securing through the holes. You need Bonsai wire for this and keep a good check to make sure the wire doesn't cut into the tree.

Sometimes you can find bonsai with exposed roots and they are pretty cheap. The last time I saw them was in Lidl last week and was a ficus ginseng for £4.99p.

 

Ohhhhhh! That's what this is. Thank you! I live in Thailand and one (big) problem is that there are no latin names here. (Local name translates as "big twisty thing with flat top".)

They have them at one of my local nurseries and they are simply stunning. Although I have to say that they are asking to staggering price of £550 for one of the really big ones. (That's why they are so big - nobody here will buy any of them.) To get it straight these are about 7 feet tall and
http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/305506793/282_Ficus_tree_Ficus_plant_Ficus_bonsai.jpg

Wonder what it takes to ship these out . . .

R

 

Hmm - went for another look and the ones I'm looking at aren't the same. Anyone tell me what this is?
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll264/robsamui/tree-fluted-02-c-s.jpg
Thanks,
Rob

 

I can't help with the photo but I can suggest that I did a DIY job with a bit of Niwaki. I went to Architectural Plants in search of some nice bonsai looking trees as they seem to specialise in them. They had a really good selection of other plants that had been turned into the Niwaki. They do a Myrtus apiculata and Phillyrea in a kind of home-grown form and they were much more affordable.
http://www.architecturalplants.com/plant.html?code=MASL
http://www.architecturalplants.com/plant.html?code=PLSP
I most liked what they had done with the Buxus sempervirens all beautifully clipped.