$17 nursery Yew

[Steve C]

I picked up this 5g yew from a local nursery last week when they were marking them down to $17. (grabbed two of them). I liked this one because it had a decent trunk size to it and I have been really wanting to try my hand at some carving, shari/jin since I have never attempted any of that before so I figured for $17 you can't beat that for something to practice on. So I picked up some lime sulfur off ebay and some wood carving bits for the die grinder from the local hardware and have been having some fun the past couple days working on this. Since I did so much top work on it I ended up not touching the roots and just uncovered the trunk and put it into a big pot I snagged at a yard sale today for $5 and put a little 8822 on top the soil. Figure not messing with the roots at all will give it a better chance to recover.

Somewhat pleased with the way it came out considering this is my first ever attempt at any sort of shari / jin as well as first time doing any carving. Wish the pics would show the depth/shadow of the carving better because it has much more depth in person than the pics lead on. Once I see if it will survive I may end up down the road turning the more upright right branch into a deadwood at some point but figured I would leave it as is for now.

BTW....having never done deadwood before I have to say, lime sulfur stinks! lol

 

[queenofsheba52]

Looks good to me!

 

[Steve C]

Not quite done yet but practiced a bit more on the 2nd of the $17 yews I bought last week. Been fun playing around with something new the past few days but gotta get back to some real work now tomorrow

 

[Vinnie Charity]

Yew did a great job on this one...corny, I know...

 

[coachspinks]

Nice job! That first one looks great! I am still looking for a Yew. Hint, hint.

 

[Rid]

Where’s the picture of the receipt??!??!!

Just kidding, good find

 

[TN_Jim]

Nice thread and work. I’m on your boot heels having just pick up one similar that was a steal.

I’m wondering tho..my inclination would have been (and is w/ mine) to saw the rootball in half.

Why did you not take this route? Any thoughts on this from the community as well..?
Thanks

 

[Steve C]

Nice thread and work. I’m on your boot heels having just pick up one similar that was a steal.

I’m wondering tho..my inclination would have been (and is w/ mine) to saw the rootball in half.

Why did you not take this route? Any thoughts on this from the community as well..?
Thanks

My thinking on not doing any real root work this time was mainly because I bought these mostly to practice carving/shari/jin for the first time on them. Doing that is a lot of stress on the tree with the carving and such so I figured leaving the roots alone till next year would probably give it the best shot at recovering without issue. Or at least thats what I'm hoping because I really liked the way they both came out so I'm hoping they both make it through this winter alright (fingers crossed)

 

[BobbyLane]

heres a young yew tree growing in the ground where i live...looks similar
my Mini Cooper for scale

ive recently been doing some work on a couple of nursery yews myself, the bulk of the work is done and the plan will be to keep them dry over winter and in spring reduce the root ball, while adding better soil.

 

[Steve C]

Holy crap that is huge lol. It's funny the things you notice around town when you're into bonsai. There's a juniper I see a few blocks over when I'm on bike rides that has the coolest trunk movement to it. It's on one of the city owned medians in a subdivison. Ohhhh how I'd love to strap and shovel to my bike one day lol. I'll have to take a pic of it one of the rides and show you guys.