How to Make a Plum Bonsai

The process of basin

Choosing a pot: Plum blossoms are best planted in purple clay pots or glazed clay pots, which generally should not be too shallow. Slanted trunk and curved trunk styles are mostly used in medium-deep trough pots or round pots, square pots, hexagonal pots, etc.; cliff style is mostly used in thousand-tube pots.

Soil: Plum blossoms are not very demanding on the soil, but loose, permeable, humus-rich soil is preferred. Pond mud that has been frozen and mixed with 30-40% rice husk ash is often used as the culture soil for potted plants.

Planting: It is best to do it in November or December, or after flowering. It is generally better to plant it obliquely to facilitate shaping. Shaping and pruning can be done before planting. When potting, base fertilizer can be placed at the bottom of the pot.

Posture Technology

Processing: The shaping of plum blossoms mostly adopts "rough rolling and fine cutting". When the main trunk reaches 1 cm in diameter, it can be climbed and tied. The side branches can also be roughly rolled using brown wire or metal wire. The rest are shaped by pruning. For the new flower branches that appear each year, you can also use palm fiber to tie them up according to the needs of the shape. The main trunk and large branches should be processed in winter, while the new branches should be processed in September in autumn. Be careful not to damage the buds.

Tree shape: In general, the trunk of Chinese plum bonsai should be slanted and horizontal, and the branches and leaves should be stretched out, but they should not be too sparse. There should be a density within the sparseness, and the density should be appropriate to make it look picturesque. There are many traditional plum blossom bonsai styles in various schools of bonsai in my country, the most common ones are the following:

Dragon Style

It is the traditional style of Hui style bonsai, that is, the trunk is S-shaped from the base to the top, like a swimming dragon, and the side branches are all from the convex bend of the trunk, also with a certain bend, symmetrical on the left and right, and on the same plane up and down, which is very interesting.

Three-stage

It is also a traditional Hui style, with the main trunk having 2 to 3 bends, and the upper branches and leaves divided into three pieces, staggered in height and with distinct layers. Each piece is made into a horizontal steamed bun shape, dignified and stable.

Split dry

In the traditional style of Su style bonsai, the thick and shapeless plum tree is split in half, part of the wood is removed, and then carved to achieve the effect of "dead wood coming back to life".

Pimple

The traditional style of Yang style bonsai is to tie a knot or make a circle on the main trunk of the plum tree during its seedling stage. Over time, it will form a lump-like shape, which looks ancient and peculiar.

Downwind

This is also the traditional style of the Yang School, which is to tie all the branches of the plum blossoms to the same side, like the effect of flags fluttering in the wind.

Weeping Branch

This is also the traditional style of the Yang School, in which all the side branches of the plum blossom are tied into a drooping shape, which is unique in style.

The above styles are for reference only. Nowadays, the shape of plum bonsai is more about climbing and pruning the plum blossoms to create an unconventional natural feel.