Before After

This project was a lot of fun.

Recently I’ve become enamored with small bonsai. “Shohin” (meaning “a small thing” in Japanese) or “Mame” (meaning “bean” in Japanese) are the classifications for small bonsai. The latter are 5 to 8 inches and the former 2 to 6 inches. Not surprisingly, their pots are smaller too, and with that additional reduction in pot size comes slightly different care needs, like more frequent watering and greater care when wiring.

In my opinion, shohin and mame bonsai are easier to care for in a city dwelling from the simple perspective that they take up less space. Thus, if you want a larger collection with variety, shohin or mame might be a good alternative for you. But sizes still require outdoor space of some kind. A small deck or back yard will do, preferably with direct sunlight. While direct sun isn’t desirable for all mame trees, you can easily craft a covering screen to provide shade or protection to those trees that can’t tolerate stronger sun (early spring and mid-summer).

So, with my latest interest in shohin and mame bonsai, I decided to re-pot a larger Shimpaku juniper that I bought last year. During the re-potting, I combined pruned both the top and the root system hard; experts say you should only do one per season but I threw caution to the wind. In the end I removed  90% of the top and almost 90% of the roots to fit a 1 1/2 inch (25.4 mm or 2.54 cm) cascade style unglazed pot. It’s only been two days since the re-potting, so it’s anyones guess if the tree will survive. Below are pictures. See what you think. Below the pictures is a brief description of how I turned this much larger tree into a tiny mame tree.

The tools I used were a root rake, a wooden chopstick, a concave branch cutter, a pair of find nosed tweezers, a wire cutter, two different widths of wire, and a pair long scissors like trimmers.

To start, I cut off the wire holding the Shimpaku in its original pot. Then I slid the tree out and using the rake and chopstick removed all of the old soil. Then I cleaned the roots with water and prepared to trim back the main branch. I left 4 sets of two branches each on the main trunk.  Then I removed the first two sets closest to the root ball. This left 2 set of branches on each side. I cleaned these up by removing a few needles from the under side and where each branch meets the main trunk. A few twists to remove brown branch ends completed the pruning. Next, I wired in the mesh screen, added a wire for securing the bonsai, and a light layer of small pebbles on the bottom. A small layer of all-purpose bonsai soil from Bonsai West in Littleton, Massachusetts followed. The tree was then wired in. This is always the most difficult part for me. I’m not sure why but I’ve not got the knack for securing a tree with a single wire, but after some trial and error, to my surprise the tree was secure. I then added more soil and worked it with my chopstick making sure the soil well positioned amongst the roots. I left a small lip gap at the top where I placed cut up rehydrated sphagnum moss. Then I used a double-strand of wire to bend the trunk of the tree more profoundly then it had been in it’s prior pot.

And the wire helped to turn the branch area up at the end. I think I might need thicker wire at the end because I want a more pronounced shape. Maybe at the end of the summer.

For more information about shohin bonsai, read this post at Bonsai Empire, or this post about mame bonsai. Also, Shohin-Bonsai Europe is a great resources for information about smaller trees.