Taking care of Gifted Bonsai or Bonsai bought online

Many of us will receive plants as gifts. That makes us so happy feel like to that plant grow with us for many years. It's a beautiful feeling. 

Here are the some points how to take care of these plants as soon as it reaches our home to avoid loos of our precious gift from our loved ones.

Many of these plants become sick as soon as they reach our house. Some Gifted plants may reach you next day some take a long journey of three to four days. During this long ride they get tired since they are in a closed box with limited moisture and no light in side. It makes the plant shaky and plant goes in to shock.

One of my friend, Plants lover got a gift of Bonsai plant Chinese Elm online. That was his first Bonsai plant.  

As soon as it arrived with lot of enthusiasm he read carefully all the instructions carefully. it was written on it it is a indoor plant. so he kept it inside the house in a corner. As per instructions what he did is correct. But ....

After seeing his plant at this stage he confused and removed all the soil and re potted it again. 

                                                                             

                   

He shared his photos by asking for help. then what precautions he has taken and how the plant and what happen, I would like to share with you all my Bonsai friends.  

                                                          

 Then plant started reviving with fresh new buds.                                                                    

If we take some care we can safe guard our gifted precious plants they come back to life and will be our life long friends.

First thing when you are keeping inside our houses we don't have that much proper ventilation or light. when we switch on fan in a closed room, lots of evaporation of water will be there from the leaves. that makes the plant weak. because the plant was in open nursery, then it came to our place it takes some time to settle down because of weather at the nursery and at our place. 

Here Are some tips to safe guard our gifted plants......

First and foremost important one is

1) As soon as the gift arrives carefully open the box and take out the plant without disturbing the base of the plant. Because most of the times the plant might be just re potted and sent to you via courier or it may not be settled properly in the soil or it may have disturbed  roots due roots  due to its swings like moving back and forth side to side  during transportation. That is the reason we should not give more stress to the plant. Unpack your precious gift preciously and keep it a side.

                                            This Gifted Bonsai Plant Just unpacked.......

This plant is Packed neatly and tightly.......

2) Now observe the condition of the plant. Condition means is it healthy with green fresh leaves or it may be looking tired with lose of water or become weak through the heat produced in the box during its journey.

Because of all these factors there are chances of plant will have stress and may lead to dry out.  So as soon as plant arrives water a little.

3) Press the soil gently near the base of the plant to give stability to the shaken roots. If the plant is loose and shaking in the soil don't take out the plant from the soil just press the soil gently and water it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGJFt2ZxFfs

4) Last and important one is keep the plant in a shady place. Don't keep it in direct sunlight. And don't keep the plant indoor. The plant needs some stability. So keep it in a shady place . And don't move the plant from one place to another. Just keep it at one place for one month and water it. Don't over water it. See the soil put your finger,  If you are feeling any wetness don't water it. If you feel any dryness you can water it. One more point check the drainage , means check once you water the plant, water should come out of the pot. If water is staying on top soil layer the of the pot means the plant is not having proper drainage.

5) Don't fertilize the plant. Let it settle at least for two months then you can start fertilizing it. 

6) Don't do re potting. Once the plant gets new life then we can do re potting after one year.

These are  some of the important points, If we take care of these things plant can survive and you can have rapport with the plant . Bonsai Plant is always a life long beautiful friend.  

You Tube

https://www.youtube.com/user/kapilaas

Bonsai Clump style

Clump Style Or Sprout Style 

Clump style Bonsai. It is one of the foremost ,beautiful style in Bonsai. According to the Great grand Master John Naka Sprout style is mentioned as Clump Style.

Grand Master John Yoshio Naka with his Goshin  (means protector of spirits ) Bonsai.

     

 Goshin is protector of spirit is the name of this planting with junipers cheninsis plants named after his eleven grand children. In 1984 he donated it to National Bonsai Foundation    to be at US National Arberetum.  It is a Master Piece of all the time.

 Clump means a group of plants growing closely together. In clump style more than three plants up to 11 or more will be planted together as if they are growing in close nit as they are growing in group. 

According to some Bonsai masters clump style is also called as multi trunk style. In nature when seeds fall on the ground together at one place they sprout out shoots and all the shoots grow together make a clump style or sprout style.

The photo shows all the shoots are coming from one place. Custard apple fruit contains many seeds inside. Each seed has growing potential as a individual Custard tree. If the all seeds sprout out in to individual plants from a single fruit close together , they will look like Clump style. for example below photo explains it. 

               

Plants that can be grown in to Clump Style

Some of the plants are that can be grown as Clump style. Below given are only examples . Many plants can be grown in to Sprout style.

Ficus Benjamina, Tamarind, Subabul, Pine, Redwood, Ashoka, Ficus microcarpa, Ficus retusa, Tigerbark, most of the Ficus varieties, jade, Maple, juniper. Chinese elm, Boxwood..

How to start growing a Clump Style 

Select seeds of a plant which you are growing them in to Clump style. Place them  in seed germinating tray and keep moisture in the tray, so the seeds develop in to shoots, They may take from few days some weeks. 

Some plants like Ficus Benjamina plant can be grown from cuttings. We can place the cuttings in the soil and let them develop roots. these rooted Ficus plants can be made in to clump style.

                                

Germinating seeds become individual plants, allow them to become strong as independent plants. 

 

                                  

Each  Plant is having its own root system. They have their own root stock and staring point. In Clump style Each Plant will have its own origin. when we are placing them we bring together as if they are growing in a group they look like multiple trunks of same plant.

                                   

Plants look like they belong to single root stock. Below is a subabul Plants made in to Clump style.

                                       

 Some times  a single plant with multiple trunks is also called as Clump Style. In this Clump style Plant is only one and the root system is also only one. These trunks can not be separated they combined. If any time, want change the placement of the plants we can not do it in multi trunk style. 

                   

In Clump style we choose plants of same species. One more point in Clump Style when you are selecting Plants 3 or 5 or 7 , select the plants like that if the main plant is straight the other plants also follow the same  rule. These rules of number of plants in Clump style are given for our convenience as a beginner to Bonsai art. If the style  looking perfect with four plants you can go with it. because nature wont follow these rules.

If the main plant is having curves select the remaining also curved plants. So there will be Harmony among the plants. The main plant is the tall one which will be  main attraction of entire style. And also Placement  of plants plays a very important role in Clump style. 

                                

This is one way of placement. Number one is the tallest plant will be placed leaving a viewing place in front of the main plant. So  there will be more depth for the style which gives a realistic look to the plant. Smaller plants will be kept behind and on sides. The arrangement should be like that there will be no two plants in the same line. That is the Natural way of arrangement as if the creation is as Natural as it is in Nature. For example if you are driving a car on a hill station , we find Big trees on our both sides and smaller ones at the horizon. We should feel like as if the realistic forest is in front of you. 

Bonsai is Nothing but it is creating trees in artistic way as if it is created by our Nature.

Clump Style is one of the Beautiful Styles of Bonsai owned by Great Grand Bonsai Masters. We are following their foot steps.

Youtube Channel 

Reference from 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Naka

 Above Image is from Courtesy : Google images 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Naka

Bonsai And Bonsai photoshoot . How to get best photo of your Bonsai. Part 2

In last post we learnt every thing about the Back drop and its colors and how to use that.

Tripod setting for Photo shoot:

Tripod is an important instrument.in photography, if you place your camera on a tripod, , you can easily adjust shutter speed and time with out any jerks. Small jerk also makes your photo shaky without any clear, sharp picture. With Tripod we can adjust of the height the  camera with the same level of the plant with its position and angle. Fix  camera or mobile in tripod and adjust the height of tripod.

camera focus point and should match with pot level. The plant trunk base should and the camera eye will be in the same level. So plant will be visible as it is. we can get true image with out any Parallax error.

If you are looking at plant from an angle the picture you are getting wont be perfect , In out come photo the plant's image will be at an angle  and trunk line can be covered with branches. so its not proper way of getting a good picture.

In the above photograph the focus of camera is going above canopy of the plant. So in out come image of the plant the trunk line looks thin and  young.

camera Angle focus is from the Above the plant

    

Focus of camera in first photo it is on left side, and in second photo it is on right side  

The placement of tripod with camera and plant should be in 180 degrees line. If tripod is on right side or left side the image we are getting is not a actual image.

Tripod helps to take good photos when there is minimum light in the room, that time we need more shutter speed.  When  using camera with hand slight movement also reduces shutter speed, resulting in blur or grainy images.If camera is placed on tripod there wont be any  movement of the hand, On tripod minimum amount of movement resulting  best photos of Bonsai plants. If you dont have tripod there many home made tripod videos are there online, you can check them. you can make your own. The main use of tripod is stability for camera with least motion and best photo shoot..

To be continued in next posts with other tips like tripod placement and exposure etc.....

Bonsai And Bonsai photoshoot . How to get best photo of your Bonsai.

Photographing A Bonsai : Once we finished shaping Bonsai Plant, we feel like capture the beauty of our creation in a frame. Here I am sharing some important points of Photography . These I learnt with experience, I would like to share with you all. We can start our photography shoot with our mobile. we don't need any expensive camera, Simple camera is also makes lots of difference. Then a normal simple tripod of for stable photos. For taking  good photos one need not to be a great photographer just follow some easy steps and your Bonsai photos will be marvelous. 

Back drop for photo shoot : First to show your Bonsai clearly with depth we should have a solid back ground with out any distractions. If you have plain wall that also makes a good back ground. Otherwise next step we can use Black or White colour or any other colour of plain cloth is makes a superior back ground.  when you selecting a cloth it should not be a shiny cloth, because it reflects the light.  

 

The cloth can be a velvet or 100% cotton cloth or Lekera cloth is gives a best back ground. Some times if your Bonsai is small then our coloured chart paper is perfect as a back drop. Back drop should be hang from a stand or with some support . please try to hang the cloth  straight down with out any folds.. The folds distracts the view of  main image. Our Bonsai plant can be placed in front of the backdrop on a table. We can put same cloth on table and place the plant on table. Then complete back ground will be full black and entire viewers concentration will be on Bonsai plant. Some times we can place turntable on the this table, that also gives a elegant look.

 In this photo table is covered with the same backdrop cloth

A turn table is place on the first table to place Bonsai plant

Chart paper also can be used as back drop in photography.

One more option is we can place glass sheet below Bonsai plant with black or white back drop, the reflection of the plant in the glass gives a beautiful look.

Here below we can see a detail view of White and Black drop . Both of them are good . according to our interest we can use any back ground. So always one back drop without any interruption is compulsory to show your beauty of the Bonsai  plant. 

 

To be continued in next posts with other tips like tripod placement and exposure etc.....