Archives for October 2009

Japanese Knotweed Elimination: The Many Techniques Of Doing It Successfully

Japanese knotweed is known to be a source of worry for some people like gardeners, builders, land developers, and land owners themselves. It can produce a large amount of destruction to properties and structures such as roads, pavements, drains, and buildings. They are so intrusive that they inhibit native plants from propagating in the garden. Their original habitat is in the harsh hillsides of Japan. Thus, they can easily mature and flourish in weak soils.

Due to the problems that the plant can create, you would surely like to dispose of them particularly when they spread in your backyard or near your properties. Although for you to get rid of them, it is of course important that you identify them. The plant can be characterized as a dense clump, which develops a stem of up to two to three meters high. It has red, truncate leaf stalks and stems. Its leaves are broad with a lighter green color underneath. Its flowering season is from August to October, and its blossoms are white.

Don’t you realize that laws have been made pertaining to the propagation and eradication of this perennial weed? You can even get litigated for letting it grow and spread onto other properties. The regulations that govern this are The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, The Environmental Protection Act 1990, and The Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991.

The commercially obtainable means for containing Japanese knotweed consists of excavation and removal from landfill, herbicide application, burial and cell burial, bund treatment, and the use of root barriers.

Nevertheless, this plant is such a survivor that disposing of this appears to be difficult. One of the things that you have to do is to control its spread by utilizing plastic or poly tarps and covering it. Containing it earlier in spring will likewise help prevent its growth. Check that you have totally concealed all parts of the plant. This is to prevent it from getting subjected to daylight.

Other ways of eradicating it is by removing the whole plant which, of course, includes its roots and runners. Nevertheless, be certain that you correctly dispose it in a container otherwise it will try to grow again right in the area from which you tried to remove it. You can likewise use a different eradication system that is by cutting its stem two inches above the ground level and putting a 25% of glyphosate and water onto the cross-sectioned area.

A survivor in nature, Japanese knotweed can be very difficult to eradicate. While you can take advantage of the tips mentioned above, you can likewise request the help of a company that specializes in the eradicartion of Japanese knotweed.

Plant Encyclopedia

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Caring for plants deals with more than simply fertilizing, watering and tending to them. Investing in a plant encyclopedia gives you an invaluable resource that will ensure that you have the knowledge you need to keep many different types of plants alive, ranging from medicinal herbs, common flowers and rare plants.

A good plant encyclopedia should contain several different types of information on each type of plant it documents. One important aspect is how the plants are named. Depending on region, a plant may have several different names. A good encyclopedia will include the most common references for each plant, so you can use that book to purchase your plants as seeds from the internet, and ensure that you are buying the correct type of plant.

In addition to that, the plant encyclopedia should have care information for every plant|tending information should be present for every plant, as well as whether or not it is suitable for indoor or outdoor growth. A good reference will include a legend showing the grow zones of plants, the temperature ranges that they survive in, and how the plants react to changes in the temperature. Watering information, required exposure to sunlight, tolerance, scale of hardiness, as well as difficulty of keeping should also be included. This is all knowledge that is needed to ensure the long life of your plants.

Referencing a plant encyclopedia will not be enough to guarantee the survival of your plant. Knowing how to use the information once you have it is key. Many people use these plant encyclopedias after they have purchased the plant. However, their proper usage is in referencing before you buy. Some species of plants, like uncommon varieties orchids, that are only suitable for those who are who are able to tolerate and tend to fickle plants prone to wilting.

Additional information that is useful in a plant encyclopedia is the history and breeding characteristics of the plants. As there are many hobbyists interested in the breeding of plants, and the creation of new varieties, having this information at your fingertips is invaluable. If you are interested in cross-breeding, the references that cover this data should include information on what types of plants can be bred against your plant, and the process of breeding.

In the case of herbs, a plant encyclopedia should include how they are used, information on the safe use of the herbs, and any risks that may be associated with improper usage of the herb. If there are plants that are poisonous listed in the plant encyclopedia, data on the toxicity of the plant should be referenced.

Bonsai Basics – How To Choose A Tree

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One of the most fascinating hobbies is the raising of trees from seeds sown directly in a shallow container in order to learn how to grow bonsai. If the seedlings are allowed to grow for a few years, they appear like a miniature forest; the same may be done with cuttings. The bonsai basics include first selecting a tree suitable for cultivation. I will mention here some suitable varieties.

Peaches and Pears. Though rarely seen as dwarfed potted trees they make lovely ones. These are, with a few exceptions, called by the “dignified” connoisseurs merely “potted lowering trees”

Birches. By planting several very young seedlings a few inches high in a shallow container the shape of a rectangle or an ellipse (with a depth of two inches or more, and about one by two feet, or less) the beautiful scenes of a birch community are easily achieved in less than ten years.

Every birch that attains one to two feet in height is limited and kept to that height easily, and needs only pinching to regulate growth. The dwarfed trees possess the fine slender white-barked trunks, with handsome foliage. I highly recommend that you try birch. Place the container, in summer, into another larger and shallower basin filled with water and carry it to your room. It will be cheerful to both the birches and yourself.

Pines. Pines, the inhabitants of the poor, dry, sandy soils, become weakened or die off if the drainage is poor in the containers. But as pines are vigorous in their nature, the repotting is only necessary once in every three or four years. With deciduous trees it is generally better to repot each year. In either case, the best season for reporting is in the spring.

The bonsai basics involve removing the tree from the container, with its ball of soil. Very long roots will be seen on the underside; these must be shortened rather severely. Some soil should be removed from all faces of the ball, and the exposed root and rootlets cut off. In repotting, put coarse sand sparingly on the bottom of the same container; place the pine on the sand and fill the container with new soil to take the place of the old.

For dwarfed and denser growth, pinching of new growth must not be neglected. As the tree becomes older the pinching should be lighter. The thickly cork-barked Black Pines are much admired for their trunks; the bark is thicker than the trunk itself. Japanese Red Pines are not much appreciated, but their slender trunks with impressive reddish bark are very ornamental-whether planted singly or several trees together in a container.

It is more difficult for the average fancier to keep the branches and twigs of Red Pine healthy. The Japanese White Pine (Pinus parvifiora) is extensively grown and dwarfed, though there are also many naturally dwarfed, aged trees of this species. Pines symbolize longevity.

Japanese Flowering Apricots. If you are in Japan in the midst of winter, you will see Japanese homes with flowering apricots (Prunus mume) in dwarfed potted forms. There are numerous named varieties, single flowered or semi-double, upright and weeping. These dwarfed potted Mumes bring life-long joy with their delightful and very sweet fragrant blooms in late winter and early spring. Just after the blooms have faded, every shoot or twig that bloomed should be shortened to the lowest one or two buds, from which new growth soon comes to replace the twigs that were removed.

Bamboo. The bamboos are dwarfed by peeling off the sheath, one a day, while the shoots are very young. The dwarfed potted bamboos are very decorative indoors and out.

Learn the art of bonsai with these basics and enjoy your cultivation of these lovely potted trees!

How To Grow Azalea Bonsai

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Azalea bonsai are great plants to cultivate. Satsuki azaleas are especially suitable for bonsai.

Repotting is best done just after flowering-late May to early June in temperate regions. Autumn repotting is not so good. The fertilizers used mostly are soy bean cake, rape cake, and dried fish (herring cake, etc.). Liquid fertilizers are simplest.

Water is given to young plants three or four times a day in spring, summer, and autumn; to old plants, twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. In warm weather it is good to syringe the plants.

Exposure.

A sunny and well ventilated place is the best tip for how to grow bonsai varieties of Satsuki azaleas, but in the height of summer they should be in partial shade; I place them under a marsh-reed screen.

With the approach of freezing weather (in November most generally), keep them in a sunny place and prepare the frost cover.

Propagation.

Satsuki azalea bonsai are propagated by cuttings. When the young shoots attain a length of 2½ to 4 inches and are somewhat hardened (that is in May or June), the shoots are cut off, a few leaves at the bases removed, and the bases recut on a slant and placed in water for two or three hours. These should then be inserted 1 to 2 inches apart and an inch or so deep into a good rooting medium in a cutting box. Water, let drain, and wrap box in polyethylene film. Place in full light (no sun) where they should root in 30 to 40 days.

After remaining for fifteen to twenty more days in the cutting boxes or pans, they should be transplanted into soil prepared as described above for young plants. Two weeks or so after this, fertilizer is placed on the soil to encourage growth. If liquid fertilizer is preferred, it must be very dilute, otherwise the fibrous roots often become damaged and may decay.

Application of Liquid Fertilizer

Use fish emulsion fertilizer or other commercial liquid fertilizer, diluted according to manufacturer’s directions. Liquid fertilizers should be applied three to six times a year, starting as the buds burst in spring, and every three to four weeks thereafter until mid or late summer.

Use the diluted liquid fertilizer as though you were watering. Do not sprinkle the foliage with fertilizer-only the soil.

So as you can see there really isn’t much to learning how to care for your bonsai. Follow the rules and your trees will bloom with wonderful flowers and thick trunks. Good luck producing your beautiful azalea bonsai.

The Secret Art of Growing Bonsai Elm

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The gray-barked elm (Japanese zelkova) can be trained to form miniatures of the naturally grown forest trees, and will make beautiful bonsai. These bonsai elm are much sought after.

Unwanted sprouts. At budding time in the spring and after leaf thinning, sprouts appear at unexpected places on the trunk and branches, and these should be rubbed off or cut off. Aphids and other insects are exterminated in the usual ways.

Autumn. After the leaves have fallen, any disproportionate and undesirable twigs and shoots are removed, so as to enhance the symmetrical and delicate beauty of fine twigs and shoots which produce the atmosphere and image of a great tree throughout the winter.

Branches in a circle and a branch parallel to trunk should both be avoided. Branches alternating and spreading is the result to be desired In the spring, just before the buds burst, for the sake of possible improvement in the beautiful shape of the tree, twigs and shoots are cut back as short as possible. Then the renewing and rewarding beauty of the young leaves is awaited.

General Care For Bonsai Elm

Soil for growing bonsai should be selected to match the variety of plant. For potting soil for zelkova bonsai I use loamy soil from cultivated land or sandy loam from the mountains. The soil is sifted through a sieve, and used only after it has been well and thoroughly dried. The tree should be planted in the dry soil in the pan, and the pan shaken several times after planting. The surface of the soil is then leveled and immediately watered gently and thoroughly with a watering can. The soil should never be pressed.

Surface roots. When a zelkova bonsai becomes older, several roots become thick and appear at the surface of the soil. Such a “root-surfaced-on-the-soil” tree is much sought after and very ornamental. However, if the roots are surfaced when the tree is young, they never thicken; only roots in the soil will do so. After learning by bitter experience, I cover surfaced roots slightly with soil, and on this place moss.

As the roots develop, the moss becomes scanty and the roots gradually appear on the surface. Sometimes even when the tree is 14 to 15 years old the roots are not yet developed sufficiently to appear on the soil. I have several trees of the same age that do show surfaced roots. Bonsai merchants often show surface-root formations in young trees for commercial reasons, but this is not good for nice root formation on the soil later on.

Shading. In the hottest weather, July and August, the trees are shaded; I use marsh-reed screens.

Watering. Over watering is not good for the trees. However, as zelkova bonsai are grown in shallow pans, they dry out rapidly in the summer, and watering twice a day is necessary; but in other seasons once a day is enough. After the leaves fall in the winter, it is sufficient to give water once every other day.

The bonsai elm is a beautiful plant to learn how to grow bonsai, and it will give you joy for many years.

Archives for October 2009

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