Super Mame in training...

I have over 60 super mame bonsai in training, mostly Premna microphylla..some are less than 1 inch in size.

Here is one about 1.5 inch... To find suitable pots is another issue, fortunately I got quite a lots recently in China...

To train ideal ramification structure in super mame and the maintanance are much more difficult than large bonsai...

cool! I mean that woke me up

roo......very nice robert
and cleaver technique.....
few questions..
what is the size of the plate where are your mame collection?
does the roots goes out of the pots to colonize the plate?

and where do you get these very nice pots?

Hallo Robert, allow me to ask you, what is this black substrate?

Andreas, it is vulcanic sands from Indonesia we are using for all of our bonsai for more than 50 years in Indonesia. It's better than akadama, now is widely used in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China..and much cheaper. Many people think akadama is better because it's from Japan, but from my experience, it is not better. Our vulcanic sands fullfil all the required criteria as good bonsai soil, doesn't breakdown and can be reused and reused.

Cram, I put them on another shallow bonsai pot, can be any size. They are inserted half into the soil in order to maintain the moisture and let the roots go through during the training.
I got those mini pots in China, very nice, many different model and size, but not cheap.

BTW, anyone know why they are placed tilting...?

BTW, anyone know why they are placed tilting...?
euuuh...maybe to let them grow and devellop foliage in the good inclinaison ?
or to keep the enregy in all the foliage(even low branches) by not favorizing the heads?

i was asking the plate size to get the proportion...

could you send me in pm the link or adress of the chinese little pots?...please...

Robert Steven wrote:Andreas, it is vulcanic sands from Indonesia we are using for all of our bonsai for more than 50 years in Indonesia. It's better than akadama, now is widely used in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China..and much cheaper. Many people think akadama is better because it's from Japan, but from my experience, it is not better. Our vulcanic sands fullfil all the required criteria as good bonsai soil, doesn't breakdown and can be reused and reused.

Cram, I put them on another shallow bonsai pot, can be any size. They are inserted half into the soil in order to maintain the moisture and let the roots go through during the training.
I got those mini pots in China, very nice, many different model and size, but not cheap.

BTW, anyone know why they are placed tilting...?

Thank you for you explanation. It seems to be good substrate, but how said Walter, you can plant trees almost into the everything. I should to try this sand, but in Europe it will be too complicated to obtain it.

You are right Cram, by tilting, I try to push more energy to the grow the foliage
because they are too small and their roots are not that strong to push to the ends. Plant physiology..the closer a branch to the horizontal, the slower it will grow; below horizontal, the tips will stop growing, instead, water-shoots will grow.

I am not sure of what you mean by plate ? Do you mean the wooden pedestal on the second picture ? It's about 6 cm width.

BTW, I got those mini pots in Shanghai..and I am selling them here in Indonesia (scrool down to see the MP series) : http://robert-steven.ofbonsai.org/perlengkapan-bonsai/

Very good technique of developing super small trees. What's the other species Robert other than the premmas? I have some small leaf variety of Vitex trained in super small size too? Do you train that specie too?

regards,
jun

I find Premna the best for super mame because I can train the ramification structure, aging the bark and reduce the leaves to extreme size and tough... The most difficult point to make small bonsai is not the size, but to make them look like big tree even small..

Thank you for shedding some more light on the world of minis!!! I love tiny Bonsai, and would like to have more in my collection. I have a couple of tiny trees in training, but nothing like your trees! Are these grown from seed, or are they cuttings? Which is the best way for developing such trees?

Thanks to Premna can be easily grow from cutting.

Tell you the secret trick to obtain the best and fast Premna material for super mame. I have the "mother-tree" of Premna on which I train the foliage pads' ramification as normal bonsai, once the structures are done, I simply cut the side branches (normally at least I can obtain 6 - 10 potential super mame materials) and stick into the pot. When the roots system developped, I repot into the mini pot and continue for refinement as some tiny branches may die. However, the old bark texture is already there as wellas the basic branching...

I thought that may be the "secret" trick, so I've begun training trees using the "mother plant" approach. It just seems like the most logical approach to growing such tiny trees. Even as tiny as they are, it seems that this would take a long time to grow from seedling. Do you know of other trees that make good minis? Thank you for your prompt response!


G

Robert Steven wrote:Andreas, it is vulcanic sands from Indonesia we are using for all of our bonsai for more than 50 years in Indonesia. It's better than akadama, now is widely used in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China..and much cheaper. Many people think akadama is better because it's from Japan, but from my experience, it is not better. Our vulcanic sands fullfil all the required criteria as good bonsai soil, doesn't breakdown and can be reused and reused.[/b]

Yep, Malang Media. Like Robert said, this is very good potting medium. Because it is well aireated, plants prodice an incredible amount of roots in no time. Recently, it has been also imported to Taiwan.

By the way, nice trees Robert. You can also use Neea buxifolia, Seribu Bintang (Serrisa foetida), Phyllantus neruri and ulmus.

Kind Regards,

Jose Luis

Yes, there are few species you can make mini bonsai like Jose mentions, also the small leaf Fukian-tea, however, I doubt if there is any that can bit Premna in term of the leaves size and bark character in such small size.

Here are my Erethya microcarpa, small leaf Fukian-tea, but still can't be made smaller than 2.5 inch considering the proportional leaves size.





...compare to my 2 cm (less than 1 inch) Premna...

The leaves on your premnas are incredible It reminds me of the leaves on "artillery fern"! I'm not sure if I can find any premna where I live, that's why I ask about different types of plant for this style. Thanks for the info! Thank you too, Jose Luis!

I don't think you have Premna, but you can try the small leaves Elm, they make good mini bonsai as well...

Yeah, it doesn't appear that it's available here I'm planning on purhasing a 'Hokkaido' Elm soon. I've been wanting too, but I'm not sure how I feel about ordering one off the internet. I guess if I only plan on using this as a "mother" plant, it doesn't really matter though, huh???

Robert Steven wrote:Yes, there are few species you can make mini bonsai like Jose mentions, also the small leaf Fukian-tea, however, I doubt if there is any that can bit Premna in term of the leaves size and bark character in such small size.

Here are my Erethya microcarpa, small leaf Fukian-tea, but still can't be made smaller than 2.5 inch considering the proportional leaves size.





...compare to my 2 cm (less than 1 inch) Premna...

These are so cool!

buenas noches SR ROBERT, me ha gustado mucho esta colección de mames , ya tengo algunos de pequeños y cada dia me atraen
más, la técnica de la maceta inclinada no la conocía y la pondré en practica,

También estoy con usted en el tema akadama, con lavas y otros materiales, me va mucho mejor que akadama, hara unos tres años que ya no uso y me he ahorrado muchos problemas
gracias por poder ver su trabajo, me gusta mucho lo poco que conozco de usted, pero lo considero una persona practica en este arte

un saludo desde españa

Thanks guys..Gracias..谢谢。。。。

Just to show you, here are some of my handmade mame bonsai pot collection..some are only 1 inch in size.

awesome pots Mr Robert.