Celtis Sinesis / Africana

Dorian Fourie

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I bought this tree in Nov 2015 off a guy who was reducing his bonsai collection. I saw some potential in it as it got a good start and I knew I could take it further.

Sorry for some of the bad images

He got the material in June 2009
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The big problem with the tree was the large wound on the front.

He had cut back some of the thick branches and started to rebuild a branch structure
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He had planned to try and get this area to close up.
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By 2011 there was some nice twiggy growth happening on the tree but the wound was still not growing closed properly.
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By Oct 2012 one of the branches from the tree was being used to try and fuse and bridge up the wound
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Dorian Fourie

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After bringing the tree back in Nov 2015, I left it to settle as the temperature and climate was considerably hotter and more humid from where I got it.

In Dec 2015, the tree had settled nicely and was growing like crazy. I did some light work on the tree by removing some of the growth and just keeping the shape.
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There are 2 wounds higher up the tree that were bothering me but luckily one cannot see them when looking at the tree from the front.
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Dorian Fourie

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The wound on the front was really an eyesore and because of the size there was no way that I was going to be able to close it up. I created a virtual image of the tree on how it could possibly look with me carving out the front of the tree and carving away the wound right into the trunk

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During the month of April 2016 we had some unseasonal autumn rain and strange heat and it caused the tree to start budding again.

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At the end of Autumn (May 2016) the tree still had a few leaves on it as we headed into winter.
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Dorian Fourie

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During the winter months, I deliberated over the tree on how to proceed and in August when it was time to repot it, I took it to a friend of mine Hannes Fritz (A real bonsai guru) and we had a look at the tree and on how we were going to proceed.

Firstly we decided on the front and agreed that a potting angle change would be needed too. The tree needed to come slightly more forward and it would improve the overall view immediately
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Next Hannes agreed that the wound would never close up and that carving it would be the right way to go.

Firstly we drew the outline of where we would carve and then proceeded to remove the outer layer of bark.
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Once the bark was removed, we believed it was definitely the right step in the right direction.
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Next was the pot. I love the green pot but I was told to look at a rectangular pot that was also nice and shallow. Hannes used one of his pots to give me an idea of what it could look like.
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Dorian Fourie

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After bringing it back home, it was time to repot it. The buds were starting to break on the tree
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All the wounds had been prepped for carving
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I need to find a pot that I could put it in. I decided on a pot that I had a ficus burtt davy in. I liked the shape but also said to myself that it is not the final pot but something that will work nicely for the next 2 - 3 years and I refine the tree and carve out the centre of the trunk.
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I made sure that I remembered the angle change when I repotted it.
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Just a comparison between before and after the repot.
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Dorian Fourie

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By the end of August I wanted to start carving out the centre of the trunk.

I have a small dremel so I got myself some carving bits and got to work. As this is my first tree that I ever carved, I decided to really take it slow and only do small amounts at a time. There is no rush as I also have much work to do on the branches.
Before and after first carving.
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2 Weeks later the tree had filled out nicely with leaves and I decided to carve some more.
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Before
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After
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This is what the tree looked like Mid Sept 2016
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Dorian Fourie

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By the end of Sept 2016 I decided that I need to start working on pulling the branches downwards and they were too upright for me and did not create the overall effect that I was wanting.

I secured a thick wire below the lip of the pot and this would be where I would anchor my guy wires for pulling down the branches.
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After securing the wire around the trunk and the bottom wire, I twisted the wire so that it slowly pulled down the relevant branch.
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There was also 2 roots coming out of the side of the tree. Only one of the roots would be visible from the front so in order for it to thicken up, I had to remove the other root.
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Once that was all done, it was back into the garden with the tree.
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This is a comparison with before and after the wiring and pulling down of the branches

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Dorian Fourie

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So every few weeks, I have been carving a small amount off the centre trunk and then leaving it to dry out again before doing it again.

In November I had stopped trimming the lowest branches so that they could grow outwards more and increase the overall size of the canopy.
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During the month of December we had quite a large amount of rain. Due to my own negligence I thought the tree was getting enough water but it wasn't. I went away for 2 days and when I came back the leaves were wilted. Over the next few days, they all died and were falling off. I decided to defoliate the tree and hope that it would reshoot and rebud.

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Dorian Fourie

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By mid January, I had been carrying the tree in and out on a daily basis. If it was too hot, it would come into the shade, if it rained too much, I would bring it onto the veranda so as to make sure it did not get too wet.

After 2 weeks of stressing, the first buds had started to emerge much to my relief.
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At the end of Jan 2017, I removed all the guy wires from the bottom branches and put new ones on again and pulled the branches even further down. Over the next few days, I will move to the rest of the branches and work on pulling those down too.

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So there we have it for now. The journey over the last 7 - 8 years.

Thoughts and suggestion, critiques welcome
 
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