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Yamadori and aftercare Text and photos by Morten Albek
Pinus sylvestris
Yamadori is the Japanese word for collected plants from nature. The best time for Yamadori is in early spring for deciduous trees, and during autumn or very early spring when the task is to collect most evergreens.
One of the best specimens to collect in the wild is Pines. Especially mountain Pines will show great maturity and strength trough the rough bark on good old specimens.
Yamadori is the way to get high quality trees. It takes a lot of time, but it is worth the entire struggle if you want the best. At the same time one comes in close contact with nature, and it gives me a certain relationship to a tree collected from the wild. The collected trees from the wild have the maturity that is so valued in bonsai, and Pines from nurseries doesn’t process these qualities.
Open minded When collecting from the wild, it is important to keep your mind open, in order to see the wild tree as it will be after it has been styled years from now. What you should really look for, are the trunk, because the soul of the trunk is showed in this part. Without a powerful trunk, one doesn’t get a powerful bonsai. The formation of the branches is almost without importance, because in many cases it will be possible to style the tree at a later point, by arrangement of the branch structure.
Furthermore Pines have the great advantage that their branches bend easily, if not very old and thick. On the field it will be possible to make a rough cutting of very long branches, but it should be done with care, and remember to seal any wounds with cutting paste immediately. The less you cut in field, the better chances it has to survive the removal from its birthplace. In some cases it is necessary to balance the mass of foliage to the volume of the roots, to keep the tree alive.
Rock steady or loose? Carefully examine if it is possible to remove the tree without risking its life before trying to remove it. It is better to leave a fine specimen at its birthplace rather than destroying it in egoistic eager to remove it. As a ground rule it is often possible to collect the tree, if you can make it move at its stand ort. If it is standing solid as a rock, the roots will be growing deeper down into spaces in the cliff. You will therefore most possible not get any of the necessary short roots that can sustain the life of the tree, when it in future will have to live in the narrow space of a pot.
This one was not possible to remove without risking its life, so it is still there, enjoying its wild life.
Aftercare It is important to give the proper aftercare to Pines (and other specimens as well), in order to get them to survive. The point is to get an unbroken clump of soil and roots when digging. Dig around the tree first, and ensure that there are a good amount of roots in the soil ball digged out. Before lifting the tree, a sheet of clothing is wrapped around the root ball, and tied tightly to hold the clump together. This is in order to secure the roots from breaking when the tree is lifted from the ground. Add mosses around the root ball, and lower trunk, to keep it moist. Mosses often are found close to Pines in their natural stand ort.
Wooden container After the collected tree is brought home, plant it in a wooden container, with a very well draining soil. Only remove little of the original soil when replanting, so the new roots just gets in contact with the new soil. Carefully remove a little of the original soil with a wooden chopstick, but don’t cut any roots.
It is important that the roots are as intact as possible when the tree is planted, because the removal and cutting of roots in the field is very stressful, especially for old specimens.
Patience is a must be When the tree has gained strength again, after one, two or more years, and shows significant signs on strong growth and health, it can be replanted or trained. But not both in the same season! Chose what’s best for the tree, and wait a year to do the next stressful operation. Pines are very sensitive to stress, and every operation, wiring branches, cutting i.e. will stress the tree in different levels. Therefore only do one major operation a year to secure the trees health. Time is also wasted when a tree have to recover from overdone work in the eager of making a shortcut. If you follow the rule of one operation a year, you will achieve results much faster than doing everything in a one time span.
Guy wires It is important to secure the collected tree properly in the training box in order to protect the roots from breaking. After repotting, the roots will begin new growth again after a while. But new roots are very fragile, and will easily break if they are disturbed. This can happen when the container is moved or wind shakes the tree. Are roots broken at this early stage, where the tree hasn’t regained any strength yet it can be catastrophic.
Therefore it is necessary to secure the tree properly in the container. Wires are lead trough holes in the bottom of the container, and fastened to the thicker roots. To further stabilise and secure the tree, it is wise to add guy wires between branches, and the wooden container. After a full growing season the guy wires can be removed, if the tree is showing sign of good growth. Lead the guy wires trough a plastic tube or alike, in order to protect the branches. (See photo).
Daily aftercare Normally repotted, stressed or weak trees should be placed in shadow for a month or two, but Pines prefers the sun. If hot weather arrives, it is though advisable to keep semi shade during the hottest ours in the middle of the day. Use organic fertilizers right from the start in a very mild solution. Mist the needles as often as possible, at least two or tree times a day. The tree will also benefit from a mild solution of a leaf fertilizer. And most important is to spray the leaves with a vitamin B-fertilizer, to strengthen the tree as much as possible. Several products can be bought at bonsai dealers.
Mosses If possible it is recommendable to collect some long fibred moss from the ort where the tree is found. The moss has a very positive effect to the tree, as they provide the tree with hormones and vitamins, if the moss is placed nearby the roots and on top of the soil. At the same time, the moss keeps humidity at the area they covers. Long fibred moss is used widely when air layering trees, because of their beneficial effects.
Restitution It is important to let the tree rest after it is collected. When potted the tree should be left in peace, and only be nursed with watering, misting and fertilizing. The ground rule is to not at all working at the tree until it has shown significant signs on strong growth. This can take a while, and at least one year. In some cases one may wait fours seasons before any work can be done to the tree.
Especially very old trees needs some time to recover. But it is worth while to wait, in order to not loosing a valuable specimen. The time spend waiting, will easily be earned in by a strong tree, which will be able to tolerate the styling afterwards.
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