Which Bonsai soil is Having well drainage property

 A good Bonsai soil is the one which makes the plant grow healthy. Making  good Bonsai soil is very important for proper growth of the Bonsai plant. On line many different soil are available , but making one for your self saves money and gives satisfaction. not only that we can change the mixing ingredient preproteins in the soil depending on the species, like  coniferous plants wants some what different soil from the tropical  ficus varieties.

When we are making soil four main important points to be kept in Mine. 

First one is Soil should contain proper nutrients. 

Soil should  have good aeration for proper growth of the roots. When the roots are healthy plant will be healthy.

Soil should have proper moisture holding capacity to provide coolness to the roots to develop more fibrous or feeder roots ,these roots play a main role in suppling proper nutrients and  water to the entire plant for its right growth.

Main one is Soil should have proper drainage capacity so roots rotting reduces.

Keeping all these four points in mind a good Bonsai soil can be made.

We will start with what is proper drainage for the plants once you water them. how to know about it.

Once you water the plant it should come out from drainage holes of thr bottom of the plot , water should not stay in the pot. If it is coming out that means soil is good, and aeration is good, drainage of the soil is proper.

Here  two videos are shared showing good drainage soil for the plant., please check them.

Here in this Video Drainage is not good, water is not coming out , Soil is taking lots of time to send the water down the soil.

 Here the soil is good and the drainage is proper for the Plant.

If the soil is not having proper drainage, we can increase drainage capacity by adding pumice stones they are in light weight and porous. so they can hold water.

Or We can add sand  

Or mulch can be added

Or perlite is also good material which is having water holding capacity.

Make a well drained soil and allow the plant to grow heathy , so plant get strength to fight against diseases.

https://youtu.be/IRxcUtPOg7c

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.....

How to make beautiful bonsai pot Easily at home.

Bonsai is unlimited imagination to your creativity. I tried to create different pot for Premna plant.

A beautiful cement block which is light and can be carved with a chisel, drilling machine, and hexa blade. here everything explained with photos. 

Tools required:

Cement Block before carving

   

                                                                  Started Carving with chisel,and drilling machine removed all the solid materiel from inside 

  

Drainage hole is also made at the bottom of the pot . 

and made some stone like carvings by knife and drilling machine 

If you want you can make drainage holes at the bottom of the pot.

And colors used are acrylic colors, not oil colors.

Video of Bonsai pot making

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdu_OjProeg&feature=youtu.be

 

the final product is this. then it is colored with Fevicryl brown, black and yellow. First put the black color and on brown , then put yellow color

let the color dry out.

Bonsai is a Beautiful Art there is no limit to our creativity.

Then Nursery Plant Premna  is place inside the pot and soil is added. Now  it is looking as a old wood and the plant  coming up nicely. Any one can do this pot. Shaping premna plant. pruning and ramification will be done depending on the development of the plant just started.

How to make Ficus Green island plant on a rock

Dear Friends I am sharing development of Ficus green island plant and its long journey. the first and second photo was taken long back, that time we don't have any digital photography, it is a print out. This photo is taken in 1995. Actually the plant was bought in 1993 from a nursery. Then I kept in a rock. and allowed it to grow. During the growing period lots of changes takes place in plant trunk line started thickening and roots are coming out of  rock.

This is the First photo of the plant during 1995

This photo was taken on May 2nd 2020.

This is recent photo. some did ramification was done on plant and started removing all criss-cross roots and given a fresh look to the plant. After defoliation many new leaves are started growing and they are in smaller size when compared to last year leaves size. The Plant is having great time this summer and growing nicely.

 The below link shows howto defoliate leaves of Bonsai plant to reduce the size of the leaves

https://www.facebook.com/kapilaas/videos/10223129683055672

Making Bonsai Soil

Bonsai Soil Making

        The main ingredients for the development of the plant or any  living being is earth , air , water, sunlight and the open space  that is sky. On earth different varieties of soils are available. Clay soil is the one which is just like clay material, if you fold your hand with soil in it, it will become like a ball. Another is the red soil and other is the sand and some soils are the mixtures of this. The Bonsai plant grows in a small shallow container, with very less soil in it, so we have to provide the plant with necessary ingredients for its healthy growth.

 

        So the main and important medium for growth of the Bonsai plants is the Bonsai soil. It is a specially prepared soil which contains soil, manure for nutrients, conditioners and moisturizers. The required percentage of Ingredients of the soil differs from species to species.

        The porosity and water retention property of the soil depends on the type of the soil we are using. The plants growing in rain forests are having different root system due to their nature of the soil they are growing. Depending on the place they are living plants adapted to that environment, so we will see lot of variation of plants in tropical temperate regions.

          The study of plant species and its origin is more important when you are preparing the soil per that particular plant. The basic Bonsai soil is of two types, Bottom soil and the top soil. Bottom soil contains equal size of brick pieces.

Bottom soil

Take the brick pieces and pass it through a sieve which is having holes of 2 for 2.5 centimeters. Take the down the sieved portion and again sieve it through a sieve contains 4 holes for 2.5centimeters.The top brick pieces reaming in the sieve is the bottom bonsai soil. The brick pieces have the nature of holding the water for more time. They hold water and take air from the drainage holes and in turn they act as air conditioners in keeping the root system cooool. 

Video shows How to make Bonsai Soil

Bonsai soil

 Bonsai soil is the main medium to keep the plant.for making Bonsai soil we need 

Garden soil, Brick pieces, Manure, Vrmiculate, Perlite, Cocopeat

                 This is Garden soil.

Now take, sieved down   portion of brick pieces and again sieve through a fine holed sieve and throw out the down portion of fine brick power. The top small brick pieces will be used in making Bonsai soil. Now this is the time to sieve the garden soil in the same manner and keep it a side.
               

 Small Brick Pieces Sieved through one more sieve 

                   

Take Per-lite and cocopeat

                                  

Take completely dried, powered organic manure of one portion and one portion of sieved gardensoil.

                  

Mix them completely by adding half or one fourth of sieved small brick pieces depending on the plant for which you are making Bonsai soil. Then add one third of cocopeat and perlite /vermiculite.

Mix all the ingredients and keep the soil in hot sun for a week or ten days. Other wise you can sterilize the soil and cool it for two days. This is the Bonsai soil for the Bonsai plants.

Selection of Branches for styling Bonsai Plant - Part Two

Selection of Branches for styling Bonsai Plant - Part Two

Styling Bonsai branches is very important because it gives a good look to the plant . Here in this video it is clearly shown how to select  branches, draw a  future plant, and how to give a shape to the Bonsai plant. Re potting of Plant and selection of pot was shown clearly in this video.
Same plant after Six months of training

                                                               Plant with full flowers

Link of Part one Blog of Bonsai Styling
http://www.kapilaas.com/2018/01/selection-of-branches-for-styling.html