Gingko Munchkin

Been having Gingko bonsai dreams
I saw a gingko munchkin at a nursery.. small leaves almost size of a thumbnail..
Has anyone tried to bonsai it? Or recommendations of better varieties, smaller leaves preferably. Please share your pictures.. thanks in advance!

I have a dwarf gingko, 'Chase Manhatten.' Easy to keep, a little less tough than the species. I keep mine in morning sun and dappled shade in the afternoon. Slow grower. 'Munchkin' may be even slower.

Many/most of these varieties are grafted which can pose problems. Also, if you buy a small one it will take a very long time to trunk up. In my case I was lucky enough to find a cutting grown plant with decent trunk (Meehans Miniatures in MD).

Gingkos generally are easy to grow and insect/disease resistant. On the other hand, they grow slow and are difficult to ramify.

You need to start with something decent, you won't get there with a little grafted stick in a pot (without a decade or two).

Thanks for sharing.. Any pictures?

What soil medium do ginkgos like? If I get one, a tiny one, will surely grow it in a big container. What's a good cheap planting medium/mix that is well draining too?

And can you graft a dwarf ginkgo foliage into a normal ginkgo?

You cannot plant into too big of a container, the soil will never dry and growth will be lousy. See the article about "overpotting" on EvergreenGardenworks.com

What kind of soil? There are many threads on any bonsai forum. I cannot add anything to what exists.

Grafting - I don't know.

Gary gave you good advice.

I would use the same bonsai mix you use for your other trees, a deciduous mix would work well. They have no ''special'' needs, so what every mix you are already using would be fine.

They will air layer, and they will grow from cuttings, though there are tricks with taking cuttings that I have not mastered yet.

Dwarfs will be slow to develop trunks, so cuttings and small grafted plants will be a decade or more in development.

If you like ginkgo then check out these folks. Mr. Ginkgo

Caution most if not all are grafted. I have purchased from them. Small grafts on on those I have purchased. Trees were as advertised and good service. They will respond to emails. OH THEY HAVE OVER 50 VARIETIES!

I tried a couple of them, both died. The first one did not make it through the winter in the garage. It was posted here on the forum:  Ginkgo Biloba "Mariken".

The second tree never had much of a chance of making, it did not have any fine feeder roots on it. I like them very much and would try another one if I could find a nice one.

I would also recommend "Jade Butterfly". My local nursery brought in several large balled and burlaped ones. The nursery does not sell balled and burlaped trees of any kind. Well I saw this one had a really great informal shape already. So I decided to buy it and the nursery manager was walking inside with me and she informs the tree was half off!!! I did not know that when I went to buy it. It was so big I had to bring the truck down to put it in. It took 2 of us to load it own the truck. I brought it home and tried to lift/slide it into a wheel barrel, I grabbed the ropes and slide her off. Disaster struck as the tree was to heavy for me and the tree went right down to the pavement missing the wheel barrel. I was pulled down to the pavement as well and then I let go of the ropes and was sling shotted backwards. I fell hitting the back of my head on the pavement. Well some how I managed to pull the thing up to the garage and built a very large wooden box with wheels on it for the tree. It spent several years in the box right next to the garage getting eastern light and then shade from the house. I then decided to start removing the clay soil and was having difficulty doing it. So I wheeled it down to the street and bare rooted it with a hose and repotted in a big bonsai pot. I could pick the whole tree up with one hand. It took the pot just fine after bare rooting it. I used turface, scoria, mushroom compost and maybe pumice. I wired it a year latter and the tree responded to the wire very well. Removed it a couple years latter when it started to dig in. I had it on display at the Denver Botanic Gardens Bonsai Pavilion this summer. Jade Butterfly have very small leaves and it does heal old wounds. This one had some type of trunk injury and the wound was closing up. It is a very large Bonsai.

I have another Ginkgo that I am working on. It is some type of column type, don't remember the name. It is wintering outside in a gravel bunker tucked under a bench. Been this way for 4 years now. I chopped it back several years go and it responded back well to chopping. No problems with chopping at all. It is going to make a nice tree some day. It will make a medium size tree.

You will have to check my website. I made a Ginkgo page full of useful information on them. You can find it here: Ginkgo biloba Bonsai

I am going to add the Ginkgo vendor to my site.