Characteristics and cultivation techniques of Populus tomentosa

Huang Yang

Alias: Holly spear, Masagi.

Scientific name: BuxusmicrophyllaSieb.etZucc

Family and genus: Populus tomentosa.

Tree species characteristics: Populus tomentosa, also known as melon seeds, thousand-year-old dwarf, evergreen shrubs or small trees of the family Populus. The trunk is gray and smooth, with dense branches and four-angled branches. Leaves opposite, leathery, entire, elliptic or Obovate, apex rounded or retuse, surface bright green, abaxially yellowish green. Flowers clustered in leaf axils or branch ends, blooming from April to May, flowers yellowish green. The cucurbit fruit is oval.

The genus also has yellow poplar with spoon-shaped or oblanceolate leaves, dark green and glossy surface, and pearl yellow poplar, evergreen, shrub, leaf-shaped and glossy. The above two kinds of trees are graceful and are precious species for making bonsai.

Populus tomentosa is produced in the provinces and regions of central China, and it is wild in the mountains below 1300 meters above sea level. There is a lot of cultivation in the Yangtze River basin and its south. Like light, but also more resistant to shade, suitable for fertile, loose, moist places, acid soil, neutral soil or slightly alkaline soil can adapt. Strong sprouting and resistant to pruning.

The production of bonsai

(1) drawing materials

Seedlings propagated by sowing or cutting can be transplanted to pot for several years. The old pile can also be selected from the mountain. After digging, the long root system and dense branches are trimmed, and the billet is raised in the open field for 1 ~ 2 years, and then processed in the basin.

(2) upper basin

① selection basin: boxwood perennial oil green, it is appropriate to use purple sand pottery basin, basin color to purple or light yellow is better. The shape of the basin depends on the form of the shape. The cliff type should use a deep thousand-cylinder basin, while the oblique type or curved dry type should use an oval or rectangular basin.

② soil: the bonsai soil is cultivated with mature pastoral soil or rotten leaf soil mixed with appropriate ridge bran ash, which is suitable for fertile and loose, and the loam with good ventilation and permeability is the best. It is advisable to carry lodging soil on the old pile.

③ planting: yellow poplar is more hardy and can be carried out before sprouting in spring. When planting, the root system should be trimmed too long and too dense, and do not make the root fossa bend in the basin. Newly planted boxwood should be placed in a semi-shady place.

(3) modelling

Populus tomentosa has strong germination. Before modeling, the trunk can be cut off to sprout new technology around or below the cross section, and then climb the branches according to the requirements of artistic modeling, and it is better to use brown silk in spring. It can also be roughly tied and cut to make a cloud sheet or steamed bread, or processed into a natural tree shape. The trunk is made into oblique dry type or prone type according to the natural trend. If the poplar pile scene is embellished with a beautiful stone, it will become a "boxwood bow". Populus tomentosa is very resistant to pruning and strong germination. in order to maintain a beautiful tree shape, it must be processed and reshaped frequently.

Maintenance and management

(l) watering

Huang Yang likes to be moist, and bonsai needs to be watered frequently to keep the basin soil moist, but not stagnant water. During the high temperature in summer, water should be watered and foliar water should be sprayed in the morning and evening.

(2) fertilization

During the growing period from May to August, you can apply 2-3 fertilizer and water of thin cake, apply base fertilizer once in winter, and use manure or crumbs of dry cake.

(3) pruning

Cut off overgrown branches, overlapping branches and extra branches that affect the shape of the tree at any time during the growing period. Populus tomentosa sprouts faster, generally after sending new shoots, the first 1-2 nodes will be cut off to prevent overgrowth. After fruiting, boxwood should be picked in time so as not to consume nutrients and affect the growth of trees.

(4) turning the basin

It is usually carried out once every 2-3 years, and it is better to do it before germination in spring. Combined with turning the basin to cut off part of the old roots and over-long and dense roots, replace the old soil and plug it with fertile and loose culture soil to facilitate the root system development.

(5) Disease and pest control

The main pests of yellow poplar are shell insects and yellow poplar rulers, which can be killed by manual brushing or sprayed with 1500 times of 80% dichlorvos, or with 40% omethoate 1000-2000 times. The main disease is coal fouling disease, which will cause defoliation. The key to prevention and treatment is to remove shell insects, and often spray foliar water to wash dust to make it grow well.

Watch. Poplar bonsai trees are graceful, with leaves as small as beans, thick and shiny, evergreen all the year round, and can be watched all the year round. Yang Pai boxwood bonsai, branches and leaves after cutting processing, into a "cloud sheet", as thin as cut, and then embellished with rocks, elegant and picturesque.

The young leaves of Populus tomentosa are young in spring, and the trees are green and pleasing to the eye. The ancients chanted Huang Yang's poems, the poplar tree, the woman to branch thousands of heavy, Ye Shenpu jade, according to the ancient Qiu long. It depicts the grace of boxwood, which is an excellent material for family to cultivate bonsai.