# Bonsai techniques outdoors possible?



## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

I have a number of dwarf trees on my Southern CA outdoor RR that do fairly well. However, I've messed around planting non dwarf plants in the past thinking perhaps I could prune and trim them using bonsai style techniques to make them scale.
A couple of these trees are pines that were sold around Christmas and once out of the pot and into the ground they start growing taller. One is pushing 4 ft tall already and is not a dwarf of any kind. Another is a bougainvilla that was purchased in a pot as a small bush but has gotten bigger as well. The easiest thing would be to pull these out and replace them with dwarf varieties. But I thought attempting trimming may be fun.


Any luck, experiences, or suggestions on training, trimming & pruning these to attempt to keep them at least semi- inscale?

Does a tree need to remain potted to use bonsai trimming techniques? 


Paul H


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

*True* Bonsai requires cutting/trimming the root ball as well as the plant stems. This is very difficult to do unless you can pull the plant from the soil, so typically requires that the plant is potted. If you want to use non-miniature varieties, I would leave them in their pots and put the pots in the ground to stunt their growth. 

I have also come upon another way to stunt a plant's growth, but it is not for the faint at heart or for your prize plant that you can't afford to loose. But if you don't care about these so much...

A shot of Round-Up will kill most plants. But if you hit it with a light spray of Round-Up and instantly wash it off _and nurse the plant back to health_, you may just create a permanent miniature such as I did on one of my myrtles.


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

That's an interesting thought with the RoundUp wash. I may try it on something I am thinking of pulling anyway. The others maybe I'll attempted digging up, trimming roots and branches and burying the pot to see what happens. When these pines are given to you after Christmas they are easy to experiment with.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

If you go to the link you will see the fortunate/unfortunate myrtle, now a "dwarf" dwarf. It is the very little one to the left of the windmill. BION, this is my oldest dwarf crepe myrtle first acquired about 12-13 years ago. It got the Round-Up "treatment" a couple years after that and it took quite a while to nurse it back to health with regular doses of _SUPERThrive_. That stuff is amazing! The plant is now totally healthy but refuses to grow and requires almost no cutting. The regular dwarf crepe myrtle on the right of the windmill is about half its age and is regularly cut back 2-3 times a year.

I keep thinking that one day I should take cuttings and maybe try to approach a plant store if they stay true to form. Was also thinking of taking some of its seeds and planting them along with the other's seeds to see if it passes to the next generation. A project for another day.

"Dwarf" Dwarf Crepe Myrtle


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice trick with the round-up! I'll have to try it sometime.


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Paul,

If you want to use non dwarf varieties then its best to pick ones that have small leaves, and the habit of throwing out new shoots on old wood. That combo means you can keep knocking it back and new shoots will appear to replace the trimmed out parts.


Another trick I picked up here a few years ago was a chap who trained a ground cover Juniper to grow vertically, Larry Mosher I think was his name. I've tried the same thing with a Shore Juniper. It naturally grows maybe 6" tall and spreads to cover several sq yards. I've turned several shoots up and tied them to stakes. Here it is one season after planting.











By the end of that season I needed to replace the 3' stakes with 5' ones it was growing so fast.

This is what it looks like a few months ago (sorry about the quality, its a crop of a different shot). A couple of the shoots are now 4' tall and I'm going to start trimming and pruning them to shape each one into an individual tree.











If its successful I'll be planting few more of these to make my forest.

Cheers
Neil


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

You could try pocket planting in a rock with poor soil and very little water. A windy spot would be a bonus. 

Dave V


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I have all plants that can be Bonsai. I try to keep them trimmed back. Alll are in pots in the ground, which has several advantages, the pot restricts the root growth, and thus of the plant, the plants can be pulled out of the ground easily to move them around, and being able to remove them any time allows you to put them up at eye level on a bench or table to do trimming. 

You can see a couple of plants ready to be placed in the ground in their pots in the foreground. One in the far left near the light is in the ground. gravel or mulch will disguise the pot near the surface.











Regards, Greg


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## DennisB (Jan 2, 2008)

I have a large number of trees and have been successful in keeping them to a respectably small size. The easiest to work with are spruce and juniper trees. I don't use pots as I have found that in our climate it gets too hot and they easily dry out if not watered. Many of my tree sare from between 6 & 9 years old. They were all found or purchased as young seedlings. They are also planted in very tight quarters.

Growing trees from seeds is tricky as many need to go thru a freeze/thaw cycle in order to sprout. And some varieties need this to happen several times. A good growing medium is needed that is half peat moss and that has to be kept moist. Downside is if it is too wet the seeds will rot. It is something that requires practice but is also doable. The point is that the smaller the plant you start with the easier it is to keep it that way.

Regards, Dennis.


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