Tool Highlight: Bonsai Supplies

With spring just around the corner, it's the perfect time to think about bonsai -- most trees are ready for moderate to heavy pruning just after bud swell and before bud break (followed by maintenance pruning throughout the season). We offer a dizzying array of tools, pots and supplies to satisfy a wide range of need and skill level, from the novice enthusiast to professional bonsai artist.

Bonsai Tools
In our opinion, the Concave Cutter is the primary tool used by bonsai artists. It’s what we recommend to people wanting to get their first specialty bonsai tool. The Concave Cutter is responsible for most pruning cuts on all sizes and types of trees, making clean cuts close to the trunk.

The next tool on your list should be a good pair of pruning scissors for quick and accurate maintenance cuts.

Wire cutters are important if you are doing any branch wiring, because simply unwinding a wired tree is quite risky – you can easily break the branch you have worked so hard to shape, or damage fresh buds – with rounded-tip wire cutters de-wiring is quick, safe and easy.

You can build your collection of tools one at a time or cover all bases with a kit in a handy tool roll!

Supplies:

Wire comes in many gauges for different sized branches.  A general rule of thumb is to us wire that is one-quarter to one-third the diameter of the branch.  Wire is available in two sizes:  150 gram and 1 kilo rolls.

Cut Paste is important for larger cuts, when healing appearance is important to the final image. Most Japanese cut pastes are putty-like; this protects the cut from rot but still allows oxygen for fast healing.

Bonsai soil is available premixed from several companies; we also have the ingredients to mix your own special blend, including imported Japanese akadama and kanuma (Soil tip: try equal parts pumice, turface or axis, red lava rock, adadama and decomposed granite for a free-draining mix that holds up over time).

Drainage netting keeps the soil where it should be – in the pot!

Soil sieves with three inserts help you dial in the perfect particle size for the bottom, middle and top layer in the pot.  It is important to remove the “fines” or dusty soil to establish a free draining medium.

Setting your tree on a turntable makes it easy to study the tree’s shape when designing, wiring or pruning.

Bonsai Pots
We have a great selection of Bonsai pots to choose from:

• Black plastic posts in many sizes.
• Korean mica pots are great for trees in training.  I like them because they are inexpensive, unbreakable and you can drill holes in the sides for anchor points for wiring heavier branches.  Plus, they come in many sizes and shapes, including shallow oval trays for group plantings.
• Glazed and earthen (unglazed) pots from China and Japan in many colors and sizes.

Come to either Portland Nursery location and discover or re-discover your passion for Bonsai.