Carnivorous Plant Bonsai?

[DragonsEye]

Dragon, Do you grow bonsai?

LOL I have played around with bonsai, Acro. But, alas! I found that I often lack the patience and vision to do well at it. Doesn't prevent me from being filled with awe and admiration for beautifully bonsai'ed trees though! Someday, perhaps, I will put forth the effort to try again.

I didn't know that kusamono & shitakusa were dwarfed plants. Aren't they just plants that are selected for their appropriate (small) size?

There is very little dwarfing that can be done to many of the plants used, which is why they usually outgrow their usefulness in the work and need replaced. Take grasses, for instance. Even should you find a grass that naturally stays short, you still have the issue of it spreading beyond the space you wish it to take up -- and in the case of a smaller kusamono or shitakusa piece, there isn't a lot of space to start with. (Have you ever experienced the "joy" of trying to keep grass from spreading from the lawn into a flowerbed or vegetable garden? Grass is a tenacious WEED.)

You are quite correct that plants which naturally remain very small are the preferred material, but
1) sometimes there are no minis that have the "look" one is going for;
2) sometimes suitable minis are unavailable -- whether do to scarcity or simply far too expensive for what one can afford; and/or
3) when all is said and done, plants grow ... whether up or spreading outwards.
With plants like trees/shrubs that have a single main stem, root and branch pruning can be done. But how does one go about pruning a plant like a grass or fern (even a super short variety) that spreads outwards often by runners? And if you should desire to incorporate more than one species of plant (which is not uncommon in kusamono & shitakusa), how do you prevent one species from muscling out another in the long term? Generally speaking you can't. So at some point the piece needs to be dismantled and redone. (Which is not always a bad thing ... one tastes may change over time or a new plant or rock, et cetera may inspire one to do something different with the piece.)

And . . . Orchid Lovers, check this out:
Orchids as Bonsai (or would this be kusamono or shitakusa?) : http://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=431

Hard to tell from the pictures, but I believe that the 1st and 3rd ones in the left hand column would be considered "saikei" -- miniature landscapes. The others could be used as shitakusa but I would suspect they would more likely be kusamono (centerpieces in their own right as opposed to as living décor to augment a bonsai display).

 

[Dexenthes]

I believe it can be done and I believe that Nepenthes are the best candidate. The reason I say so is much like EdaxFlamma, I had a ventricosa that I kept very stunted and had died back to the roots a few times. Eventually it ended up with a rosette that was smaller than when I purchased it two years earlier. You have to keep the Nepenthes hovering back and forth between periods of good environmental conditions and then also neglect or abuse. The only reason that I believe this is sort of like bonsai is because the pitchers on the plant start to take on an inherently mature look while still only being the size of a small seedling's. This is not the best picture, but this N. ventricosa was at least 4 years old at the time of this photo but maybe as old as 6 or 7.



Also I have plants right now that are the exact diameter as when I received them two years ago. Their pitchers certainly look more mature than when I got the plants, yet they are still only the same size. I achieved this through a thoughtless amalgamation of intermittent neglect and abuse. Or maybe I suck at growing Nepenthes?

Either way if I ever get property and a greenhouse I am going to devote at least one plant for bonsai purposes.

 

[mcantrell]

I'm trying to remember the name, but there was a specific subtype of Bonsai that came into production after WW2. They weren't Bonsai, not exactly, they were more like Bonsai meets Bonseki. Instead of a single tree growing in miniature, they were micro-landscapes.

Something similar could be done with Carnivorous Plants, I imagine. Take a 11" pot, give or take, use something like clay to partition it off slightly, and make a miniature bog or swamp with it.

Edit: Found it. The term is Saikei.
http://www.bonsaiprimer.com/saikei/saikei.html
http://www.saikei.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saikei

Something like that could work with smaller CPs. Moss or suitable Utricularia for ground cover, with suitable Carnivorous plants.

 

[meadowview]

Hi Folks:

We did "bog bonsai" a number of years ago utilizing Atlantic white-cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) as the confer on a hummock with dwarf Sarracenia purpurea, sphagnum, Drosera, and Utricularia. This combination mimics natural hummocks found primarily in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, but also other white cedar locations. Sarracenia purpurea can be replaced with S. rubra or S. psittacina dwarfs. This bonsai set-up is a good way to utlize Sarracenia "runts".

Sincerely,

Phil Sheridan, Ph.D.
President and Director
Meadowview Biological
Research Station

 

[Adelea]

Mirabilis Mini (my stunted nep)
It may look like a basal (due to the stem on the side) but its in a pot with Norhiana X spathulata as it is so small and just wanted to shove it out of the way.

 

[Dannyday22]

Has anyone ever made a bonsai style planting using Carnivores?

Has anyone ever made a bonsai style planting using Carnivores?

I have been looking everywhere for this. Someone posted this photo on a Facebook group I'm in.. it's amazing!! I had asked the OP how he did it.. a few of us were asking but he didn't slip. So I decided to look into it. I read that there are no hardy carnivorous plants, yet this guy has a hardy trunk on his nepenthes. He was asked if he added dead wood, he said no its the same plant, and I believe him. Here's why:

I looked into bonsai plants, and the different things you can do to young plants to make them appear old. Looking at the young plants they use that eventually harden, they were about the se hardiness as the nepenthes was originally. ( his nepenthes is called nepenthes ventrata, I also have this plant) my ventrata has leaves all the way down to the base of the stem. His nepenthes bonsai doesn't, it looks as if it all the leaves were cut off. Then, you can see it looks like a branch that was cut off from further growing, there is a technique you can do that induces growth of basal shoots, called air layering, and this can actually thicken the trunk or stem, and nepenthes are known for their basal shoots that can sprout after every node on the stem. Then it was cut once it was at the desired thickness or was maxed. At the same point, where the basal shoot was grown, you can see a hole in the stem, making it look like a branch was there, I forget this term, but there is also a technique in bonsai where you can injure the stem with a knife, cut into the stem and remove the top layer, exposing the inside of the stem. This will turn into a scar, and swell as it heals. Thus creating a nice thick trunk. I am still curious to how the bark was created, but I belive by cutting off all the leaves, this might just happen naturally

The only other nepenthes bonsai that I have seen is the one in the Savage Garden book.


I have recently cut up nepenthes ventrata, similar to this one, and have started the process to see if I can mimic how it was done. I belive he over waters his because the leaves going yellow, but who knows.

 

[Acro]

Thanks for posting on my old thread! Some may complain, but if the subject is still relevant, than I see no problem with starting it back up.

That is a unique plant there! Would love to see what you create!

I wish I could say more, but I don't know enough about bonsai techniques to comment. That is besides: thanks for posting!

 

[adnedarn]

N. 'Effulgent Koto' pulls off this look for me...