Recent content by JJshives

Here's one I have that I took a leap of faith with this year in mid February as new growth was starting. Its a coast live oak I collected 4-5 years ago. As you can see in the pics, it was very healthy with strong growth prior to repotting and severely root pruning. I wish I was better at taking...

After researching all of your suggestions I'm thinking Cedrus Deodorus. I'll have to let it grow and see if I can confirm. Are the pics not good enough for bark identification?

This tree was given to me and I'm not sure exactly what it is. The former owner had it sitting in the same place, in the same pot for at least 15 years. Its not in the best health but I'm hoping from these 2 pics we might be able to narrow it down. Or maybe its obvious to some of you. Any help...

To me, this would be the most effective means of creating an interest in the 15-35 crowd. Except, I would call it "cross-promotion" and not limit it to gardening related hobbies. I'm 35 and even though I liked the idea of bonsai when I was much younger, the idea to try it for myself came from my...

I air layered a coast live oak and it did just about the same thing. I would expect the sphagnum to be full of roots by the end of spring after the tree has had some time to wake up and put on some new growth. You can find my thread here on BonsaiNut with some pics. It went from callous to a pot...

Couple more full tree shots.

Here I have a coast live oak I collected sometime within the last 18-24months. It was in the landscape in the front yard and needed to be removed. I thought it was interesting as it had a little "kink" in the trunk where it was damaged at some point as a small seedling so I potted it up to see...

I think it looks great. An amazing tree thats very well ramified and developed. I would love to see the lowest branches brought closer to parallel to create a bit of separation in the canopy. I don't know that I've ever seen guy wires on a ficus but you could try it out and then if you don't...

I need to trim back the branches that I left on originally because they had the only remaining leaves and I was being cautious. I think I'll wait until next year before the spring growth to do that however.

I think this one can be considered a success at least in terms of survival. Whether it has potential as a bonsai is still to be determined. After only about half of the layer pushed any growth in April/May, the rest came alive with the second flush of growth that all the other oaks are showing...

I had more pics and notes including dates but got a new phone and computer over that time. I may have the pics and data on the old computer but the battery is dead. To be honest I had given up on this layer more than once. It wasn't until I saw the callousing in late January that I thought it...

So I started an air layer on a coast live oak in my yard about a year and a half ago and recently separated it. My only previous attempt at an air layer was with a ficus and apparently they are one of the easiest/fastest so thats not saying much. I didn't find much info about successful layers...

What about letting it run as long as necessary then thread grafting the branches back down to where you want them? Is this an option here?

Would the Bayer granular systemic be an option indoors?

To me (inexperienced and untrained), this is not a natural representation of any tree I've ever seen before, but is an example of experienced and well thought out bonsai technique. When I've seen pictures of "world class" trees, there is something natural about them that makes me forget about...