Maiden69
Masterpiece
This thread will be to track the progress of my kotohime. I bought it from MattO March 2021 in a 4" pot. It was transferred to a terracotta pot with akadama/pumice/lava 3/1/1 as at the time I didn't know much about growing trees out. It was on the pot for 3 years, the first 2 it was sitting on top of a bench, on the last I had already set up a few trees on the ground so the kotohime was moved on top of the mulch in one of the grow beds to allow a few roots to escape.
Not much has been done through the years. Other than keep it alive and try to prevent severe leaf burn because of the Texas sun. I will probably let a branch grow freely and air layer the rest this season depending on how it responds to the repot. There were plenty of roots left on the tree, it was cleaned out of all akadama, and moved into a #1 Rootpouch so I can move it into a grow bed as soon as I get them built once we move into the new house. The soil it is in now is a 50/50 mix of Bonsai Jack monto clay and bonsai block, which is what I use for all deciduous on the grow beds.
March 2021
Late spring 2022
Early spring 2023
August 2023
March 2024 Every JM leave in the pic except 2 small puffs in the middle are from the kotohime. I guess growth in the pot with akadama made it push laterally like a kiyohime instead. Hopefully once I set up the new grow area with shade cloth and with a free draining soil, plenty of water and nutrients this think will start growing as it should.
The pic below was mostly for my mikawa yatsubusa, but you can see how far the kotohime spreads. Each one of those plastic pots are 6 3/4" and the koto reaches over to the zelkova seedling on the far left of the picture.
Not much has been done through the years. Other than keep it alive and try to prevent severe leaf burn because of the Texas sun. I will probably let a branch grow freely and air layer the rest this season depending on how it responds to the repot. There were plenty of roots left on the tree, it was cleaned out of all akadama, and moved into a #1 Rootpouch so I can move it into a grow bed as soon as I get them built once we move into the new house. The soil it is in now is a 50/50 mix of Bonsai Jack monto clay and bonsai block, which is what I use for all deciduous on the grow beds.
March 2021
Late spring 2022
Early spring 2023
August 2023
March 2024 Every JM leave in the pic except 2 small puffs in the middle are from the kotohime. I guess growth in the pot with akadama made it push laterally like a kiyohime instead. Hopefully once I set up the new grow area with shade cloth and with a free draining soil, plenty of water and nutrients this think will start growing as it should.
The pic below was mostly for my mikawa yatsubusa, but you can see how far the kotohime spreads. Each one of those plastic pots are 6 3/4" and the koto reaches over to the zelkova seedling on the far left of the picture.
