Osage as a bonsai tree

[Badger]

   been working with a couple of osage trees I decided to bonsai. I am really impressed with how well it takes to the style. Trunk develops character very early on and natural twisting tendencies of the branches add to it. The leaves will miniatureize easily when heavily pruned and it grows fairly fast. great tree for bonsai work. Steve

[mullet]

 Steve, I used to have a Bonsai Nursery. I bet Osage would be good. I have two planted in my front yard that are still the same size as when I planted them 4 years ago. I think the sand and hot weather stunted them. How you ever tried Crape Myrtle? They are excellent for Bonsai.

[Badger]

Chris, I bet crepe Myrtle would be good. One of my favorites is that wild privet that grows all over the place down south. I started a lot of my trees when I was about 10 yrs old but lost my entire collection when I got divorced at 40. Starting over now. I like mostly working with trees or bushes that have small flat leaves. Does myrtle miniaturize pretty well? Steve

[HoBow]

Awesome topic!  Let's see some pictures!

[Badger]

  I don't have a camera anymore   I will see if I can find one somewhere. Steve

[Hillbilly]

I used to grow bonsai and really enjoyed it. I just finally realized that I don't have enough time right now to take care of them, the little trees are like having more kids to take care of. Watering is especially a worry when you want to go somewhere for a few days. I know what you mean about the privet-had a couple nice privet bonsai at one time, too. You can find big ol' privet stumps, cut them back, and regrow the whole branch structure from sctratch in a few years. How about posting some pics of the osage or any other trees you have.

[kylerprochaska]

ok this is too cool...I've been wanting to get a bonsai tree started but how do you keep them mini?  I know there's gotta be a trick to it and I can't find any info on google

[Badger]

  Steve, I used to bring home a pile of privet seedlings and plant them on the side of my house, I would mow them like a lawn a few times a year with a high adjusted lawnmower. After several years i would pick through them to see which ones had nice trunk development. fairly good percentage. I would then dig them up and start training them. I know what you mean about time. Last few years for me have been a bit crazy and the plants show it. I only have a few left and they are just hanging on, I hope to change that soon. Steve

[Badger]

Kyler, no real trick, just read up on the soil mixes you will need. heavy pruning while you are training and then every couple of years I pull them out for repotting and root cropping. Seldom do I loose one on a repot. Keeping them small is just a matter of keeping them cut back. Steve

[Badger]

   Bonsai is actually a lot of fun. The word bonsai simply refers to a method of displaying something. I always preffered to look for not so common specimens of trees that looked like they had potential. You can find them on hikes through the woods or parks or just browsing through nursery stock. Just look for young plants that seem to have an interesting root and trunk development that you can envision training into a bonsai. Often yu can pick up a nice plant, prune it, wire it, give it a couple months to heal up and it will look great. I do that for gift bonsais. For myself I prefer to just spend about 20 years torturing and beating the hell out of it and seeing if it survives. I play with tecniques such as water deprivation, letting it almost die then watering. I use fire, I lay a small pile of hay under the tree and then set it on fire buring off all the small growth. I pull branches off leaving nasty scars instead of cutting. Sometimes I wash away most of the dirt as might happen in a flood, or tip one over exposing half the roots as might happen in a windstorm and then train the branches to grow straight up from that position. Of course most of that was 20 years ago in my pot smoking days LOL. Steve

[RidgeRunner]

Would the Osage balls miniaturize as well??

A bonsai Osage tree would look funny with 25 grapefruit size balls hanging on it.

David

[Badger]

   Not sure David, I have seen miniature apples and polmagranets on bonsais before.

[aero86]

i cant keep them alive!  someone tell me how to keep them alive!

[El Destructo]

If they will live in the Texas Panhandle....they should live on the Moon.......I don't know what you could be doing wrong.....

[Hillbilly]

The way most people kill bonsai trees is by trying to keep them inside. Bonsai aren't houseplants any more than the original trees are. Unless you make a bonsai from a tropical houseplant species like a ficus or something, they live outside. Steve, some of my favorite collecting grounds around here were mountainside cow pastures. You could find thick-trunked apples, hawthorns, privets, red cedars, elms, hornbeams, pines and such that the cattle had kept grazed and rubbed down.