My Lemon Tree, Cashew Seeds and a Fern
[WATCH VIDEO] Today. I’m going to share some tips on pruning a lemon bonsai tree, which I’m also going to be repotting. My fern and I’m, going to be planting. They put in growth spurts, they sit there dormant for a long time gaining energy, and then they put out a big growth spurt and then they sit there dormant for a long time again.
So this is the time where it’s starting to grow. So i want to prune it back to size. It’s, getting a little tall and yeah get it a little more compact. I’ve had my cashew seeds here, soaking for two days now, and they have plumped up and ready to plant.
So i’ll get those in pots, and I have a fern here that’s, sort of an accent plant for a bonsai show. If there ever is one someday, and there will be. If i turn it around, you can see, the back of the pot is broken, so i’ve got to put it in a new pot, and i ‘ Ve got some nice pots by Wayne that i can put them in. I’m, going to start by pruning the lemon tree back, getting rid of all those tall straight sections on it getting some more compact growth kind of down below with some hard pruning.
I’m, going to start the pruning now. So this is the front of the tree. I marked it long ago right there, so i want to prune a lot of these branches back um there’s, a tall one here i can prune back so I’ll take it back to here, because i have two branches coming off here and here like that, i’ve got a branch coming out the back here that i don’t really need, because i have a branch here and one here. I could take that one right off.
Let me just see i don’t know it’s, not a bad branch. I think i’ll, keep it. I’ll, just prune it back to here, like that. Getting it more compact, i’ve, got a branch that sweeps out here there’s; no growth in this area, so i’m, going to have to do a hard prune there.
So i’m, going to take it off right here, so here i go that how’s, that looking now looking better, i’ve got a long branch out the back here that can get pruned off. I’ll. Try to there for starters, and i’ve got this one. It’s too long. I need to prune it back. So i’m, going to go back to here like that, so there’s the front of the tree, so you can see it’s, a lot more compact now so when the new growth comes in it’ll kind of fill in the tree won’t, be so long and tall here’s a look at the lemon tree from the front view. Now i do have to repot it into a slightly larger pot. Maybe an oval pot with this as the front view, i think it’s developing nicely it ‘ S got a lot of subtle movement in the trunk, which is you know, kind of unusual on a lemon tree.
Usually they grow so quickly that you get the big straight sections on the trunk, but this one i’ve, been pruning. It clip and grow over many many years, so it’s, developing a bit of character to the trunk.
So i’m happy. I’ll, be uh, be nice to start developing this canopy on the tree and yeah. We’ll, keep doing updates in the future. So let’s plant the cashew seeds. Next, i am ready to plant the cashews.
I have my rubber glove on the oil from these cashew nuts or seeds is very toxic and can cause a severe skin rash. So you ‘ Ve got to be really be careful handling them now this glove. This is an old dishwashing glove.
It does have a few holes in the finger here, so i’m, going to have to be very careful to try and not get any liquid inside my glove. I’ll, be very careful all right. So the first thing i’m going to do is drain off some of this water.
That’s in the bucket when the water settles in the bucket. Here i can see a like an oily film on top and that’s, the oil that’s very toxic. So i’m going to drain that out and then i can handle the seeds and they’ll, be a little more dry, so it won’t get in my glove.
All right. I’ll drain. The water out now so there’s. Four seeds that floated you can see there’s. Another two coming out now, all the rest remain sunk on the bottom. Okay, let me pick up those ones that fell out.
I think they’re viable. All right, i’ve got my soap and water on hand. In case i start getting a skin rash. I can always just spray my skin and clean off the oil. I’m going to plant three seeds per pot and i think i’ve got maybe 10 pots, so that’ll, be plenty to do the amount of seeds. I soaked all right so here i go. These pots come with drainage screens built in to the bottom, but they’re little large and my particles would fall through.
So i put some auxiliary drainage screens in the bottom. I’ll just hold them in place. While i pour some soil on top all right here, i go. This is my bonsai soil. I’m using it’s. Half perlite and half safety’s; orb for fuller’s; earth.
Whatever fuller’s, earth is i don’t know. I just use it okay, that’ll. Do now i’ll, get out the seeds all right. I’ll. Pour the seeds into the trays here there we go and now i can select which ones i want to plant all right.
So here i go now it looks like the seed is attached careful on my finger. There is attached at the top here so usually i plant the seeds the way they would fall off the tree. So this is the top where it’s attached, so it would fall down that way.
So i put the c shape with the belly button upwards, so the seed will go in like this. The c-shape, the belly button upward just like that. I’m picking out nice plump ones here’s, another one. We’ll, put it that one in here like that, and this one’s, a good plump looking one, but this one over here.
These cashews are fast-growing trees. That’s. Why? I’m only putting three per pot. I was going to put one per pot, but i thought i don’t think i have that many pots. So three, it is okay, so i’m gonna leave them sticking out of the soil like that.
A bit now i’ll, give it a thorough watering. These cashew seeds came directly from the country, laos and i’ve, read that you have to plant them within about four weeks of picking them, so they don’t last long.
So these these are very fresh seeds. They should do quite well. Here i go with the water. Let the magic begin. I’ll put the seeds in the greenhouse because i don’t want squirrels getting in digging up the nuts.
Here i go with the next batch of seeds here’s, a nice fat one! Stick that in there like that, another nice one here that one can go in like this, and here’s, a good one. Okay, i can water. Those now okay and that one can go in the greenhouse too i’ll, just keep repeating the process until all the seeds are planted.
I think i’m, going to go five per pot. I’m planting. The last four seeds i’ve got i’ve used up some of that old soil. I had it’s, sort of a mix of bonsai soil and garden soil. It doesn’t drain near as well as the bonsai soil.
I’ll show you that when i water it, but i’m hoping it works. Okay to germinate these cashews okay. So here i go with the watering and you’ll, see how it pools up. So, even though this is a very porous soil, it pools up on the surface like that takes a while to drain through and that’s, because all those spaces between the particles are clogged with fine finer particles.
So it takes a long time to drain on the plus side. It does retain a lot of water, so you could, probably you know, skip a day of water and water this every two days, whereas the you know the new bonsai soil would be.
You’d, have to water it once or maybe twice a day, so you can see it’s still pooling in there. The water all right so that can go in the greenhouse. All right off comes the rubber glove. If i can get it off, it’s, a really warm humid day.
Here today there you go. Oh that feels better all right. The last thing i want to do today is plant that fern in a new pot. Come on Crackers. Stop for a bug she ate a fuzzy caterpillar don’t step on them, slower.
That was a worm sticking its head up. You didn’t get it though. Oh it’s, tripping on your feet. There, oh jeez! Sorry! This is my fern accent plant. It just started growing in one of my bonsai pots and to me a fern means you know: lushness ferns grow in ideal, growing conditions, rich moist, soil out of the way of the wind, so usually in the middle of a forest or a protected area.
An old growth forest, so they can be an accent plant to many trees. They can be an accent plant to tropical trees or you know cedars and larches to it gives the feeling of an old growth forest. Okay. Well, let’s, get it out of the pot which shouldn’t be too hard because it’s already half out of the pot there.
It comes okay, so there is a drainage screen in the bottom down. Here i’m, hoping i can get out quite a matter of roots down here: wow, a really good amount of roots that’s, not easy to get out at all there.
It goes so these kind of roots i don’t need to rake them out or anything. I’m just going to sort of loosen up the root base here and put it in the new pot. I bought four of wayne’s. Pots at the kw bolt size society’s parking lot swap meet, so i ‘ Ve got this one with kind of a brown almost like a copper, colored glaze on it. I’ve, got sort of a bluish, greenish gray glaze on that one.
This one’s, a metallic it’s really cool reminds me of stefan’s pots. I’ve, never seen that in a glaze before it’s really cool, and then i’ve got kind of a bamboo colored one i’d, say reminds me of bamboo anyway, so yeah, those the four Pots i’m, going to try the fern in each of these pots and we’ll, see how that looks, and maybe which looks best all right here’s pot number one.
It looks nice in that pot pot number two. I think i like pot number one better. It had that kind of brown that picked up the uh. You know the older leaves of the fern pot number three, the metallic one i don’t i don’t think it does anything for the planting, though, and the last one pot number. Four again, it looks. Okay, i think it’s too bright. It takes your eye, goes away from the fern down to the pot, so i think pot, number one is the ideal choice.
This one here yeah. I like that one, a lot to plant the fern. I’m just going to place it in the pot kind of in the middle like that, and then i’m going to fill it with soil around the existing root mass and then i’ll work.
The soil in a bit so just kind of like slip, potting it because it is kind of out of season and ferns don’t, really have like woody roots. Anyway. They just kind of have fibrous roots. I i believe now they will grow a trunk up on the ferns.
So you can, you can create a tree fern. I’ve, never seen one as a bonsai. I don’t think, but it’d, be kind of exciting doing that and again i’ve, always wanted to do a jurassic park kind of theme, with a big dinosaur, ferns and prehistoric looking trees.
Maybe monkey puzzle trees, something like that. That looks really cool and ancient. I’ll, be coming up sometime in the future. I’m sure. Okay, so i’m just going to get the soil kind of worked in now. It’s, all looking very good sure, like this pot, that’s for sure i really like this pot.
I think it suits the fern really well, okay, a little more soil around the back side. Here, doesn’t really have a front, i guess, but okay, that is looking good. Let’s, get it watered all right. Here i go with the water.
I’m, going to trim off some of the older leaves that are hanging down from the bottom, so i can see into water this. That is looking better. So what will complete this is to have some moss covering the surface of the soil here.
That would really add to the lushness, so that’ll, probably happen all by itself. It’ll, probably grow moss. If not, you know if we ever have a show coming up, i’ll plant moss at the base here, all right, more water.
Now here’s, an example of how an accent plant can complement a bonsai. It gives it a kind of a natural setting. I had fun today trimming a tree, my lemon tree planting my cashew seedlings and repotting, my fern, that’s all for today.
