by Jim Hagan

Herb visited the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society in May 2001. He is a very unusual guy. He could have had an athletic scholarship (4 minutes and 7 seconds for the mile) but instead took a music scholarship at the University of Oregon and then later changed his major to landscape design. Herb’s long and varied career includes managing a nursery. Thus, his knowledge of nursery stock is a given. Herb and I went to various nurseries looking for a tree suitable for his demonstration. At the second nursery we found some Hinoki Cypress that looked good. Herb said these trees looked so good that he thought they must have been grown in Oregon. When I paid for our selected tree I asked where they purchased their nursery stock. The cashier said most of their stock is purchased from Lake County, Ohio. I asked if they ever buy trees from Oregon. He said yes. They purchase most of their ornamental trees from Oregon and, in fact, the tree that we purchased was from Oregon.

During Herb’s visit I made the following notes:

Herb’s demonstration tree was a Hinoki Cypress that had been balled and burlaped and then placed in a black plastic container. After Herb removed the tree from the plastic container, he pointed out the numerous white roots that were growing through the burlap. Herb was very careful not to damage these white roots. When asked why he didn’t just cut off about a third of the bottom soil to reduce the root ball, Herb said that he did not know enough about the roots—the only live roots might be those growing through the burlap. Cutting off the bottom third may cut off all the living roots and kill the tree.

Herb then started removing soil from the top of the ball. He removed more and more soil without finding any roots. But as he removed soil the trunk spread out further and further. Herb eventually removed about eight inches of soil from the top of the root ball without finding any roots. The trunk diameter instead of being just the 2 inches above the root ball had now flared out to almost six inches in diameter. The result – a gorgeous tree that I wished I had kept for myself instead of purchasing it for our club.

Herb cut down the 15 gallon plastic container to about half its original size. He then placed soil in the bottom of the container and gently returned the much reduced balled and burlaped root ball to the original black plastic container.

The Hinoki was much too tall and had to be reduced. Usually, the speaker takes out a saw and cuts off the top. Instead, Herb made a large cut, with a concave cutter, through most of the trunk. Then he pulled down the top of the tree until it cracked. He pointed out that cutting the trunk with a saw leaves an unnatural flat surface. But, by tearing off the top you have a remaining trunk that, although scarred, can be used as a jin or further reduced if no jin is desired. 

Herb kept track of the foliage that he removed. He kept removing foliage until he reached a point that he could not eliminate any more foliage without threatening the survival of the tree. He had removed about 40% of the foliage. I have been to many workshops where we remove 80% of the foliage and 60% of the roots. The mortality rate is usually very high.

Herb said he would not re-pot this tree for 1 to 2 years. At repotting Herb said he would bare root the tree using a garden hose to remove all the soil. I disagree with Herb on this point. I would remove only one third of the old soil each year. I have found that using a garden hose to remove the old soil destroys many of the very fine feeder roots and lessens the tree’s rate of survival.

The demo tree was a Slender Hinoki Cypress var Gracilis. Herb pointed out that this tree does not bud back on old wood. Thus, you have to be very careful in removing limbs – what you see is what you get.

One member brought in a ficus grove to the workshop. It needed serious rearrangement. Herb said that this is not a good time to redo a ficus grove (later in the summer would be better) but he did so without major turmoil to the roots. When he was finished he said that the size of each tree in the grove should be in proportion to the major trees of the grove. He said that if you have a tree in the grove that is about ½ the diameter of the major tree then its size should be about ½ the height of the major tree. A tree that is only ¼ the diameter of the major tree then its height should be only ¼ the height of the major tree. After Herb’s explanation it makes sense to me that the height of trees in a group planting should all be in proportion to their diameter. I have never heard or read of this size relationship.

Herb said that he uses 50% shade cloth over all his trees throughout the summer. Shade cloth is like a window screen. It is a mesh. The thicker the mesh the less the light that goes through it. A 50% shade cloth allows only 50% of the sunlight to go through to the plants. We asked Herb why he uses a shade clothe when he lives in an area with high rain and often overcast conditions and also if he use this clothe over his pines and junipers. Herb said that he does not like any of his trees to be in the full blast of a brilliant sun. He finds that by shading his trees they all remain healthy with a vibrant green color. He feels that the full summer sun stresses even pines and junipers. He also explained that in Oregon they have cloudy skies, rain, and mist up to June. But, once summer arrives their skies are cloudless throughout most of the summer which is why he brings out the shade clothe in summer.

Herb said that you can often encourage budding by scarring the trunk and rubbing rooting hormone into the wound. Herb said that success rate is greatly increased if your attempts are made at a nodal site. 

Herb fertilizes his collection every week with full strength fertilizer. He alternates between the various brands of liquid fertilizers. He avoids cakes as they often attract pests. He uses Osmocote in his soil mix and insists that to be effective it must not be sprinkled on top of the soil.

Hinoki Cypress (and all cypress and spruces) are magnets for spider mites. Use Isotox to eliminate them.

Herb does not finger pinch Hinoki Cypress (contrary to the advice of many masters). Instead he simply prunes out foliage fronds that are too long, which allows the remaining fronds to grow out. Herb likes to prune all fronds that are growing at undesirable angles (such as straight up or straight down).

One member brought in a Japanese maple. Herb said the best way to encourage fine branching is to allow the branches to grow to three sets leaves and then cut back to a single set.

Herb uses a combination of hemlock bark and volcanic ash. Herb was asked why he uses bark while Dave De Groot (in Seattle) has eliminated all bark from his mix because of salt contamination. Herb replied that in Seattle the wood products are often floated in salt water during harvest and often have high salt loads. In Oregon Herb uses hemlock bark which has no problems with salinity due to those trees being transported in fresh water.