Zelkova is dead

This tree is most probably dead. Photo to be included when I get a chance... Until the next tree is adopted... no more postings here..

It took some insecticide...

I ended up spraying some insecticide to get rid of those white irritating little bugs. What seemed to be an exhausted tree with many leaves falling each day, is now a healthy tree again and new shoots are staying green and alive.

I might do some routine pruning over the weekend.

Clean for now

I never really identified those white pests, but, thankfully, after last weekend's watering they seem to have disappeared...

Enemy at the gates

Some small, hairy, white creatures have been attacking my tree and sucking its sap over the past 3-4 weeks. I have already sprayed it twice and they now seem to have reduced in numbers. The tree is not doing too bad and I have been doing some routine pruning.

I will be watching those creatures...!

The summer leaves come out

The tree seemed to do very well after the pruning and after the first enemies were dealt with. A picture of how it currently looks is seen below:

The first enemy arrives!

I noticed some spider web on the tree one day, and somewhat ignored it. However, soon after I realised that several little spidery creatures were walking happily all over my tree. That was bad news! The leaves started turning yellow and they were falling. In general the tree seemed unhappy...

I got some advice from my father (a keen gardener), and sprayed the tree with some aphid killer. Thankfully it worked and the tree became fresh and alive again!

Obtaining bonsai tools and doing my first pruning

After reading several beginner's guides on the Internet, it was about time to get some tools and start working on the tree. The first attempt was with Dallas Bonsai Garden. Even though they responded relatively quickly, they never got back to me on how to send payment, and after several email sent to them I gave up. I managed to communicate much better with Omiya Bonsai in The Netherlands. I ordered a concave cutter and a twig cutter. I received my tools very promptly and thus confirmed that the Dutch are great people to do business with!

It was now time to get in business. I pruned quite a lot during the first pruning session, working on the lower branches first and mostly following my intuition. I had the idea that I want my tree to have the broom style...

The second pruning session involved the top branch of the tree, and after this the tree looked very small. Unfortunately the picture didn't come out nice and I cannot display that stage.

A most welcome birthday present!

In January 2005 I got my bonsai from my friends Andreas and Marilena. The card which came with it read "my friend, this is your new hobby..." And this is how it all started!

This blog will be used to show the progress of this first tree of mine, as well as the new trees that will be added to my collection in the future.

My first tree is a Zelkova. I currently water it once a week and add general purpose fertiliser bi-weekly.

When I first got the tree its branches were all bundled together with wire. My first operation on the tree was to remove the wire and to start observing it. The day I removed the wire it looked as in the picture below: