I read through this thread and am actually amazed by the amount of misinformation it contains. I'm not sure if that is related to how far we've come in the art and science of bonsai since 2006 and the posts reflected beliefs that were popular 12 years ago, but I'll hope that's why much of the info is so 'off'. *********************************************************************************** Shielah - Apple embryos (seeds) are almost always dormant at the time of harvest. Several weeks at 32- 40*F (0-4*C) is necessary to release the seed from dormancy so it can germinate. To grow normally, apple trees NEED 500-1100 chill units that only accumulate at temps between 33-45*. If they do not go through a normal dormancy and do not get the number of chill units to properly release the tree from it's dormant state. Chill units were formerly called chill hours, but it was discovered that not all temperatures contribute equally to the chilling required to release a plant from dormancy. The second number is the number of chill units that accumulate on a per hour bases at the temp or temp range preceding Degrees Fahrenheit: <34.5* = 0.0 c.u 34.7* – 36.3* = 0.5 c.u. 36.5* – 48.4* = 0.1 c.u 48.6* – 53.8* = 0.5 c.u. 54.5* – 60.6* = 0.0 c.u. 60.8* – 64.4* = -0.5 c.u. >64.4 = -1.0 c.u. Degrees Centigrade <1.4* = 0.0 c.u. 1.5* – 2.4* = 0.5 c.u. 2.5* – 9.1* = 1.0 c.u. 9.2* – 12.1* = 0.5 c.u. 12.5* – 15.9* = 0.0 c.u. 16.0* – 18.0* = -0.5 c.u. >18.0* = -1.0 c.u. A classic symptom of insufficient chilling is delayed bud-break and a lazy spring flush of growth. Also, a tree might have a small tuft of leaves near the tips of the stems and be devoid of leaves for many inches proximal to branch apices (below the growing branch tips). Lower buds will break eventually but full foliation is significantly delayed, production of reproductive parts (blooms fruits/ nuts/ seeds, …..) is reduced, and the tree is weakened. Additionally, not meeting chill requirements contributes to heavy suckering or water shoots emerging from lower parts of the tree, which can be a problem, obviously. Also normal development of next year's buds can be impaired. The age of a tree is measured ontologically as well as chronologically. Cuttings from a tree that is capable of blooming are, at the moment they are taken, already ontologically much older than your tree from seed - even with no roots yet having grown. Trees from seed can take many years (up to 25 for hawthorn) to reach sexual maturity/ bloom / bear fruit, while cuttings from a tree capable of blooming have already attained the sexually mature stage. Your tree, so do as you wish, but the tree would, w/o question, demonstrate its appreciation for a cold winter rest and a nutritional supplementation program that relied heavily on an appropriate fertilizer in lieu of the apple cider thing. That you can manage to keep the tree alive w/o it's cold rest shouldn't be viewed by others as a clarion call to follow the same path. Al

Hi Ben.. I live in a 3rd story apartment in London Over the past few years I have been growing some Crassula to provide partial window screening.. My original plan was to have them shaped something like African savannah trees. It has sort of worked.. Although not strictly savannah like, this one has turn out best I think.. One problem I have is the older leaves tend to fold down, which is not bad, but not so savannah like. I would prefer if they were more horizontal. Any advice on that? Great page by the way, there are many useful tips here.. Ian

Hi. You've (unknowingly of course) made the classic newbie mistake in bonsai. You bought a "mall-sai" (sold by the thousands in malls nearby) from a roadside vendor who seemed so knowledgable. 1) He was no more knowledgable than your puppy, except in appearing to be so, working on the Karate Kid image of a bonsai expert, 2) if you keep a juniper 'well-watered' (never mind indoors) and "out of direct sunlight", you'll have a totally dead tree in about 5 mins. Allow more of the crappy, water retaining, peat filled potting soil it came in to dry than less of it between (good) waterings from the top, not by immersion in the sink, and give it lots and lots of good light all day long if possible (dorms are not noted for having same). Every species is different, so what you read about dormancy MAY be true for some trees in some climates for some time, but not necessarily all, BTW, but in any case, yours obviously won't get any so there's no point in going into it now. It's unlikely your tree will survive for long in that mix (trust me, it's crappy) and even if you were to peel off the layer of glued on pebbles on top (or is there miraculously not one of those - Wal-Mart's full of them) so you could judge wetness, etc., it wouldn't help much as your tree's not going to get the other conditions (air circulation, humidity - and don't go spraying it though please - etc. etc.) it needs indoors. Also BTW, the older trees that guy had are likely only l0-15 yrs old and they'd be the ones to shell out $20 for, not a '3 yr old' (more likely 2). Chalk this one up to experience and if you really want to get into bonsai, find a local club to join before spending another cent, as they can guide you as to what and when to look for and how to care for them (and if your environment's suitable) properly. I suggest you wait til you're out of the whole dorm situation first, though, as even tropicals (the only trees that can be grown inside) will have major light and humidity issues there. So sorry to sound so cynical and down, but yours is the oldest story in the book and is played out all day long all over the world - China cranks out millions of what you got every day, which is really more of a cutting, or stick-in-a-pot, and it's chances of every becoming a 'bonsai' are pretty thin.

Any specific willow cultivars? I think pliant trunks are needed for beginning the braid with at least 3 saplings. I also like dwarf cultivars for keeping the resulting tree at 5' height or less, perhaps that necessitates an upright (not weeping) growth habit for pruning off the growing tips. As to corkscrew trunks, I was not thinking of braiding them, but letting them naturally intertwine for increasing the effect. The highly contorted Harry Lauder's Walking Stick Corylus avellana 'Contorta' is unfortunately not reliably hardy in my area, and the other cultivars seem to contort (much) less. Hence, my thinking of intertwining multiple corkscrew trunks. If that works, one could control the amount of contortion in the overall tree by intertwining a higher or lower number of corkscrew trunks. As to braiding multi-stem shrubs, yes, that may work also. Maybe a follow up in the shrub forum is appropriate, depending on how this thread goes. Another aspect to discuss is fusing the trunks (or stems), perhaps inducing it by scraping off the bark where the trunks touch.