Bonsai Style: Group Planting, Tips & Care

There are four styles which look like group plantings. True group plantings are made up of all individual trees; bonsai landscaped, termed BONKEI, is an art form using bonsai to create landscapes; raft uses one continuous base upright multiple growth; and multiple trunk consists of several trunks arising from one root system.

True Group:

In both bonsai and horticulture practice, odd numbers are used for group plantings. You may if you wish use even numbers, but you will find odd numbers more effective when creating an informal group, rather than a rigid, straight lined, formal effect.

We are looking for an optical illusion and there are two ways of creating it.

1) Firstly there is the railway like effect; you may remember this from your art class back in high school, the width at the front appears to converge in the distance. To create this effect, you will need one large tree at the front of your group, behind which are trees of decreasing height.

2) The second effect yo can create is to place one very tall tree in the center, then plant from the center outward towards the rim of the pot with trees of decreasing height. The dish is an important factor in group planting, and many shapes and sizes are used, most of them very shallow. This also adds to the illusion.

Individual Tree Group:

First:

Choose a suitable pot or tray, but before preparing the mesh, gravel and compost, draw a diagram of your desired outcome. Then you can make a framework made up of either thin bamboo canes or thick training wire. This frame is used to tie the individual trees into the very shallow dish used for the group planting. By using such a frame, you are not restricted to  only placing the trees close to drainage holes which would otherwise be the only way to wire the groups into position.

Once you have made your frame, place it at the bottom of the pot and secure it with wire that is pushed through the drainage holes and the mesh.

Having done this, secure pieces of wire to the frame at the position where you will place your trees.

Then continue to fill the bottom of the dish with 6mm gravel as you would for re potting.

The trees used should have been chosen prior to planting for their size and shape, such as a tall, straight tree with a clean trunk, another smaller tree with its main growth of branches to the right and one with its branches to the left. If you have not already done so, draw a plan of how and where you will plant your trees, choosing a back and front also. Try as far as possible to show every tree trunk in the group.

Step Two

Once you have secured the mesh and covered it with gravel, lightly cover the gravel with compost as for normal re potting. Place your trees in the same position as shown on your plan and tie in each tree with the wire that has been secured to the frame.

Cover the root systems with compost, then carefully work the compost down into the root area whit a chopstick. Remember the important of mixing the compost into the root system should now have the beginnings of a group  planting. The after care, pruning and wiring is basically the same as for an individual tree, except that the shape of the tree should blend with the rest of the group.

RAFT:

The raft is basically one long trunk placed its side, thus allowing the side branches to grow either as individual trees if creating a group effect of a multiple trunk with a long woody base, or to give the illusion of a fallen tree that is still growing. There are two ways to produce a raft, firstly by pot growing and secondly by layering.

Step one:

Find a pot grown seedling; choose the side which is to produce the growth and prune all the branches from the opposite side, or as we term  it the "underside". The pot is then laid on its side and secured to the bench with the growth area facing toward the light.

Remember to tilt the pot on an angle and cut away part of the pot to allow for watering.

Step Two:

Now think through the design and individual tree or branch shapes you  wish to create, and draw a plan to use for future reference. For the next growing season, leave the pot tied to the bench and continue to train the raft into the desired shapes. During the spring of the following year, remove a small section of the under side of the main trunk.Cover these sections with a rooting hormone and transplant into a long, deep tray with 6mm gravel placed at the bottom, then covered with compost

Step Three:

Do not root prune for the next three or four years. Remove some of the compost from the surface and replace with fresh compost. Continue to train the top section of the raft and feed after the first month but remember to use a compost low in nutrients and therefore feeding is a very important factor. Water as you would for normal  bonsai. During the spring of the fourth year, remove from the seed tray, root prune and transplant into a long bonsai dish.

MULTIPLE TRUNK:

This formation is a tree with several trunks extending from the root base. Odd numbers will give the best results. Each trunk is treated as an individual but at the same time the top growth should blend together as one unit.

Thanks Dave Pike.