THEY'RE little, they're attractive, they're collectors' items, and their value goes up every day. No, not Beanie Babies, but bonsai. In fact, the combination of their portability and their value has made these miniature potted trees the target of tree-snatchers. Starter banyans available
to bonsai beginnersFor that reason, owners of two of the finest collections on Oahu agreed to talk about bonsai cultivation, only if they would be identified by just their first names. So, meet Eddie and Alvin, who between them know a lot about miniature trees.
Smallness does not automatically make a tree a bonsai. No matter how tiny a tree is, if it is planted directly into the earth as landscaping it is not a bonsai. Bonsai must be contained in a pot, and because the pot confines the roots, the plant stays small.
Another shrinking factor, the experts explained, is pruning to stunt the tree's growth. There are two kinds of pruning: shoot pruning and root pruning. Shoot pruning is done once or twice during the growing season, and root pruning generally is done only when the tree is transplanted. Depending on how fast root systems grow, the little trees are transplanted every two to five years.
Maintaining proper pruning and cramped roots, though, are a matter of skill and practice. Too much pruning and too little space in the pot can kill the plant rather than dwarfing it. Eddie suggests that beginning bonsai growers start with sturdy and inexpensive cuttings or seedlings. He recommends a juniper or a banyan. "Hardly anybody can kill a banyan," he said.
A 20-year-old banyan can be restricted to two feet high. The size of the leaves and flowers will be the same as on a mature tree. There will be lots of young juniper and banyan trees for sale tomorrow at the 8th annual Bonsai Exhibit and Plant Sale at Mililani High School. These are what Alvin calls "pre-bonsai stock," plants with the capability of being trained into bonsai.
The sale will also include, for heavier spenders, one-of-a-kind bonsai cultivated by members of the club. Some of these come from the well-tended collection of the late Mr. and Mrs. Itsuo Ota, who were charter members of the Mililani club.
Among the pricier items are black pines, considered by most growers to be the most difficult of all bonsai to cultivate. The dean of Hawaii's bonsai growers, the late Haruo "Papa" Kaneshiro. Both Alvin and Eddie grow black pines based on what they learned from Papa, who has a greenhouse named after him at the U.S. Arboretum National Bonsai Foundation in Washington, D.C.
While black pines require years of patience and experience, there are many simpler plants to grow. The most successful bonsai plants share these characteristics. They have woody trunks and branches and small leaves, two inches or less in length, with short internodes (the space between the occurrence of leaves or branches).
The plant must be able to survive in a shallow container and in Hawaii's climate. Alvin has spent more time and effort on a Canadian maple tree than he wants to admit. It looks pretty bad because Canadian maples are not acclimated to Hawaii. He is having limited success with a Formosan cherry, which offered one flower this spring.
Thinking small is only part of the science of bonsai. The tree must have a shape, and like a movie star it will have its good side and its bad side. The trees are usually meant to be viewed from a single perspective. And they are not house plants. While they can be brought indoors briefly to be admired by visitors, their day to day existence is outside.
By Dennis Oda, Star-bulletin
This 15-year-old black pine has been in training with clamps for one year.
A tree's shape is determined by pruning and careful wiring. "You start out with a healthy plant, and then you eliminate some of the branches and bend others," Alvin said.
Just enough pressure is exerted by the wire to bend but not break the branch. "In the old days, before the wire was developed, growers hung lead fishing weights from the branches to bend them," he added.
The Hawaii Bonsai Association will offer a three-month bonsai cultivation course running 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays beginning Sept. 23 at the Japanese Cultural Center. Tuition is $100. As bonsai snatchers know, one mature bonsai is worth at least that much.
Call Dr. George Masumoto at 732-0349 for information.
Sale and show
Event: Mililani Bonsai Club 8th annual Bonsai Exhibit and Plant Sale, presented by the Mililani Bonsai Club and Mililani High School Future Farmers of America
Miniatures in bloom
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
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