Bonsai Tree Growing Techniques
There are basically five distinct ways one can begin their Bonsai Tree expression. One way is to grow your Bonsai from seed. This is called "Misho". Now this would certainly require tremendous patience and time, as some seeds from certain species grow very slowly, and you would have to be extremely careful early on, as not to harm the seedling with too much. Also a seedling is quite vulnerable to disease and damage and your project would have to be well protected. On the other hand, growing your Bonsai Tree from seed gives you a rare opportunity to watch the process right from the moment of inception.
The next approach is to collect your plants from nature and this is called "Yamadori". This approach has the advantage that some of your stock would already have survived infanthood to puberty and could be very healthy and grow some really nice Bonsai. Of course, anytime a transplanting is done, care should be taken to bring along some of the original soil to help with the shock of moving from an integrated natural enrivonment to an isolated canister. And, of course, one needs to consult there local laws and bi-laws and removing any plant materials from their natural environment.
More Familiar Bonsai Tree Growing Techniques
"Sashiki" - grown from cuttings and "Tsugiki" - grafting are probably more familiar to anyone who has worked in their garden and tried different ways to duplicate a plant or tree. Beginning your Bonsai Plant from cuttings provide a quick way to get into the game. You can begin with some healthy material and quickly be on your way to creating your own Bonzai Tree masterpiece. However, again cuttings don't always take because of being severed from the source, but with careful attention early on, you could have some nice success. Using grafting as a way to begin your Bonsai Tree is another approach and certainly the same rules apply. Taking your graft from a healthy specimen is no sure guarantee that things will go smoothly, but since the original source was healthy and vibrant, it does give the graft a good chance to succeed as a Bonsai Tree.
The last growing technique is more esoteric than the others. It is called "Toriki" - layering and dividing. A technique of air-layering bonsai, a technique of obtaining bonsai by air-layering. Air layering is the process of removing a large branch or section of the trunk of a tree to create another tree. Before the branch is removed it is girdled, protected with peat moss or other media and the girdled section is allowed to root. After rooting the branch is removed from the tree. This is a very common practice in bonsai to obtain another tree from an unwanted branch or to save a thick trunk section that was going to be removed anyway.
