Recent content by pmalelis

I thought it was funny. I look back occasionally on my older first posts and not only do I laugh at some of my questions but also at the smoke replies. Keep em coming sir. These are impervious to mites btw.

Just an updated picture with a better background to see where I am going with the trunk line. I have decided to do the reduction in 3 phases. Per BVF's advice. I think this will also give me the opportunity for grafting practice with scions aplenty coming off of this tree.

My tree is now brown?

I picked most of it off. They kind of fall off with white powder inside. What do I do to get rid of it?

I have gotten a bunch of this growth from a black pine I am nursing back from weakness, Here is a picture for reference.

I have this Shimp I bought from Brent about 3 years ago and it has been growing out nicely. It has a portion of dead wood naturally near the root base that I had started to expand last year. However the lower trunks length of straightness has always bothered me and when viewed from the side...

It is discussed here https://live.bonsaimirai.com/archive/video/spring-fundamentals

I have a kishu shimpaku where even pencil thin branches are so stiff they barely bend, where as I have 3 other regular shimps from Brent that the branches of similar size can be easily bent or twisted. Is it the variety? What causes variability in flexibility? What's even more confusing is...

Yes will likely purchase today, thanks for the nudge. Any thoughts on initial approach? I am thinking to cut it back hard in the fall to chase foliage to the trunk and grow out another 3-5 years for a larger tree. I do have 4" itoigawa whips available for graft, what are the considerations to...

I went back for pictures

Please forgive me for not taking pictures, I know, I will more than likely head back tomorrow. However I was at a local nursery where I have managed to find some really good finds recently in the midst of hundreds of other stock. Today stuffed in a corner was a Juniper with near perfect...

Always loved Bill's raf scots pine. Container grown from seedling. It inspires me.

Well here is a quick update on this $7 Green Sargent Juniper. It has not skipped a beat in the last 4 years. Growing in ground with a few chop backs last year. Trunk is really thickening, and foliage is about 3/4 mature. Some really interesting branch structure developing for what could...

Break down, as in composting it myself? I was thinking of buying pine bark nuggets and doing this, but wanted something ready to use.