Hi, I've just bought this bonsai in a mall but it didn't have any specifications or name. can anyone help me identifiyng it? thanks!
Oh, what a shabby English hawthorn! Crataegus laevigata This shape is not really bonsai style. Did you pay more than 10$ for it?
I don't know what it is, but it does not look quite right for Crataegus. The fruit in the image appear to have superior ovaries. Crataegus has inferior or semi-inferior, with persistent sepals at apex. The apex of the fruit in the image appears to be smooth--with a bit of a point?
Thanks for the answer, I payed around $15 for it and it was in pretty bad conditions. Do you have any advice on how to give it a better life/look?
Cannot comment about the species as it appears to be one that is not commonly used in bonsai. I have to agree that the fruit appears to be from a superior ovary. But then close up photos would help. But the plant is in need of a good trimming. These are just my opinions and may not be what you would envision for the plant so you really need to sit down and look at it and see what you would like it to grow into. But what I would do if it were mine: 1. cut off all the branches that are growing upward out of the main canopy that appears to be already established. 2. cut off all the lateral branches that are spreading far beyond the main canopy. You may want to keep the canopy around a foot or so in width. Also you may want to encourage branches that are growing downward possibly towards one side. 3. start to consider what kind of pot the plant should be in. I would place this baby in a taller than usual pot with the stem askew. Here is a link to a pot site Ceramic bonsai pots and info Again these are just my notions. It is your plant. You should find your own path with it.
Pardon. Je ne l'ai pas compris. You miss, what I clearly can see! How about the crataegus-like flower at the right side? I stick to it: Crataegus laevigata!
As terrestrial man said, you should train branches to grow downwards first. And so you would really have to cut out EVERY twig, that grows straight upwards...all that salad in the middle of this plant has to be eliminated at the base of the branches with wound closure against budding. In the left and first picture above I can see one elder branche with two lateral branches: this one will grow cattycorner to the long horizontally and downward growing long branches on the other side. When terrestrial man would limit this plant to a diameter of one foot, I would like to convince you of a wider stature: please also use that strong horizontal branches at all sides and also below that angular one with it´s laterals. After the first drastic measures you can become a real bonsai grower and slow down for learning with a bonsai club and bonsai books. This English hawthorne is a good training tool and might become a really nice bonsai after two years good work, if you compel every new branch to grow downwards first. You know about plant hormons. When you knock out the "upwards" hormons, leafs will grow smaller. In the 1980s we had a method to create amate in hydroponic with a leaf size of only a third in surface. Clones grew fast to a hight of 2 feet. They had to have very soft stems through fattening to force them down for some weeks, until they developed a syphon, as you can see under your washbowl. When there were enough smaller leafs growing upwards behind the syphon, we cut off all the elder leafs before the syphon and could market very special Schefflera actinophylla with that tiny little leaf for a much higher prize to the bulk supplier Leni in Germany.
Here you can see such leaf shape and branch color of Crataegus laevigata: http://1.1.1.2/bmi/flora-oberfranken.de/assets/images/Crataegus_laevigata_FZ_Wallenfels_20060923.JPG
It would be easier to Google Image the species. From the pictures I see it is NOT Crataegus laevigata. The most distinctive feature is that this unknown plant does not have the "crown" as seen on the red fruit in the Google images. Also the shape of the fruit may be significant enough to warrant a reconsideration of what this unknown species is.
Yes, I accept, that here is clearly seen an superior ovary at the pictures for this thread. Since Crataegus laevigata should strictly grow an inferior ovary, I have to quit hawthorn. We have to accept the quality of this two pictures. This must be enough for botanical recognition.
I will have to agree that better images of the plant and its fruit and flowers would do much to clarify this dilemma. But on enlargement the fruit appears to be much more similar to Solanum than to Crataegus as the sepals flare out at the base of the immature fruit and indicates a superior ovary. But as you say, the author of this thread needs to provide additional images in order to clarify this question.
Hi, here are some more detailed photos of the plant. Also I have trimmed it, or tried to, I would like to know any suggestions on how to propperly do it and how to start to train the branches towards some direction. Also I would like to know about the watering for this particular plant. Thanks for the answers.
DanielMC, congratulations on an excellent trimming of the plant! Looks good. I would look down from the top at the plant and see about training the branches to create a rounded type of canopy, like filling in a circle by spreading out the branches. Keep in mind that clipping the end of a growing stem stimulates lateral branches to grow. The plant reminds me of a cotoneaster that I need to deal with sometime this year.
