My Story and a Juniper

I was going to just post the tree but I knew someone would ask where I got it and I would have to tell the story anyway so here you go. My father was really big into bonsai in the 80s and 90s. His teacher was Khan Komai and he worked a lot with Harry Hirao. He did many demonstrations and was very active in the bonsai community. His name is Tom Scott if anyone out there remembers him. My father passed away 7 years ago and although he did not have nearly as many trees as he used he still had about 10 pretty solid trees and some nice material laying around the yard. I grew up around Bonsai and went with my dad on countless juniper digs but never actually worked on trees myself. I decided half heartedly to care for his trees after he passed and the first year was not a good one. I lost several nice trees and the ones that were alive didn't look very nice. So the second year I decided to educate myself in bonsai and put the effort necessary to maintain the remaining collection. So the third year is when I became hooked and started buying my own material and started expanding the collection.

Juniper
So about 4 years ago I was looking at the juniper and noticed branches were dying. Upon closer inspection I noticed small holes in the dead wood and when I grabbed the trunk and my fingers just right through the wood. Termites were eating the inside of the tree, probably for years, but there is very little signs by looking at the outside. So I started picking at the week wood and before I knew it the whole back of the tree and smaller areas of the front were gone. There was actually holes through the whole tree. Here are a few pics.



I wasn't sure what to do about this and I did some research and didn't find much. To this day I'm not sure if I handled this problem correctly but this is what I did. I sprayed tree with a insecticide called Borers and patched tree with Bondo. I stained the back of the tree and left the front white to match the dead wood.

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Besides the termite damage the tree took a soccer ball to the crown two years ago and whole top was hanging by a thread. I wired back together and hoped for the best. I didn't touch the tree except repotting for two years for fear the crown would die and the whole tree became over grown but healthy. Here is a not so good picture from a few week ago before I started working on it.



To be continued

So here is the tree after a few week of on and off work. I'm pretty sure this is Juniper Prostrata but not positive. The foliage is not as compact as Shimpaku.
This foliage still has week area but overall I am very happy with it.

Wow... that's a f@!King story and a half. That sad sad tree glad to hear it's doing better.

Nice story and you've done well with the tree. I remember the name Tom Scott from the 90s when I was just getting into bonsai.

rockm said:

Nice story and you've done well with the tree. I remember the name Tom Scott from the 90s when I was just getting into bonsai.

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Thanks for the compliment on the tree. I will be posting several more trees from my dads collection similar to this one, including some nice material like the one in my avatar. It's also nice to hear you remembered the name Tom Scott.

There is a Tom Scott in Chattanooga who was known for growing Trident Maples, and making display stands.

A very poignant yet uplifting story. My only question is why did you patch up the damage. If you eliminated the culprits then why not leave it and make it the front?

Adair M said:

There is a Tom Scott in Chattanooga who was known for growing Trident Maples, and making display stands.

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Not the same Tom Scott. I googled Tom Scott Bonsai several times in the past and the Tom Scott from Chattanooga is the only one that ever comes up. My dad did have some trees in the old annual California Bonsai Society magazines but there is not any other published info I can find. Thanks anyway.

thomas22 said:

Not the same Tom Scott. I googled Tom Scott Bonsai several times in the past and the Tom Scott from Chattanooga is the only one that ever comes up. My dad did have some trees in the old annual California Bonsai Society magazines but there is not any other published info I can find. Thanks anyway.

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Oh, I know it wasn't the same Tom Scott. But it seems both were active at about the same time.

Great story! Thanks for sharing.... Pretty cool legacy!
And it looks like a damn fine patch job!

Vin said:

A very poignant yet uplifting story. My only question is why did you patch up the damage. If you eliminated the culprits then why not leave it and make it the front?

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The side with all the damage would not make a good front for a few reasons. The main branch would be angling away from the viewer and the branches on this side were weak and sparse. The current back is not pretty but the question is would it have been better off without the bondo. I was only doing bonsai seriously for about two years and my thinking was to protect the tree from the critters by patching all the holes in the tree. Could I have lime sulfured the back as shown in pic 2? I'm not even sure that was dead wood. I'm curious to hear what others would have done in this situation.

I think I would have treated the dead wood and used it as an element as long as the tree could support itself.

Was the tree self supporting? Once the termites were killed, it would have been fine. I would have just treated with lime sulphur.

This is a tree also with trunk styling by termites. It's worse than yours, there's only a single live vein, and you can see through the trunk in many places. It's been this way now for 25 years.

And the branches could have been brought forward. Or even, new branches grafted on!

You're going to hate what I'm going to tell you, but that trunk was probably worth $10,000. Before bondo.

10K, my wife is going to kill me. Seriously though, the tree is stable without the bondo and I think I may have made a mistake but there is no reason why I couldn't remove the bondo one day. It will not be any time soon but It may be something to consider in a few years. Making current back the front would be a long process but not out of the question. Nice tree by the way Adair.

Ouch! I'll add my voice to the chorus of bondo lamentation. That trunk was absolutely beautiful . . .
Oh well; it's a sentimental tree, and at least it's still alive. Perhaps you will discover an insect that eats bondo instead of wood

I was trying to think of what to say, but all I could come up with was "bummer".

what is bondo exactly? the carving work of the insects looks so amazing, is there no way to remove the bondo and keep the carving work intact?

best regards
Herman

aha

http://corvaircenter.com/phorum/read.php?1,383696,383698

YukiShiro said:

what is bondo exactly? the carving work of the insects looks so amazing, is there no way to remove the bondo and keep the carving work intact?

best regards
Herman

aha

http://corvaircenter.com/phorum/read.php?1,383696,383698

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Herman, bondo is an epoxy kind of product that is made to repair cars. Once dry it can be sanded and painted. It's very hard. I have seen it used successfully to fill hollow trunks on deciduous trees where the the tree, like a trident maple, can callous over.

Thomas, I'm not sure you could ever get all that bondo out of the nooks and crannies. You did what you did to save the tree in honor of your father. So the tree will always have sentimental value to you. That's worth more than any amount of money. You wouldn't have sold it anyway...