2018: the three year bonsai time capsule

Anthony

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After 3 years, there was no noticeable change and of course
the epic fail at the 3 to 4 inch trunk.
Good Day
Anthony
 

Brian Van Fleet

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Here's #2, shimpaku air layer with 3 trunks, separated in 9/14. I anticipate making this a wide, low tight shohin with some nice Jin and Shari, which I started adding in June this year.
2016: repot and incorporate more Jin and some Shari to give trunks some movement. Prune mid-summer to compact, wire in fall.
2017: more Jin, refinement wire, source nice pot.
2018: detail wire pads.
I repotted this in 2017, and left the wires on until 2018, so it was slightly behind schedule, but otherwise good.
2015 and 2018:
96876B3C-D745-448A-B88C-BBD543FCA78A.jpegBF60F574-46B2-4080-ACEF-29CF3AC3A060.jpeg

Reminder, this is the format I want us all to use when updating...even if it’s an “epic fail”.
 

Nybonsai12

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I've got a few cool things planted that have been left to grow out, not sure 2018 will see them as masterpieces but we will see.
My very first ume. I put in the ground a few years ago. Been growing out since and I chopped this spring(first pic). Pruned back the new growth recently because it was unruly and its pushed new branches that will remain unchecked the rest of the season. I'm not sure how to address the reverse taper from the bulging at the moment or even what the best course of action would be to make the best tree but we will see. Very much learning as I go with the this one so mistakes will or have already occurred.

Plan for now:
2016: dig up, get roots in check and get into a pot. Let adjust and prune back if necessary
2017: depending on 2016, prune back if needed and wire new growth to create shape, give movement
2018: prune and continue to wore for shape? Or so I think....

So here we are a few years later. Didn’t follow my plans at all!

I didn’t dig until this spring as I decided to let it get a little thicker and did another chop. While the trunk seems to be shaping up nicely, the roots had really escaped are all those years on the ground. It flowered a few times while in the ground when winter would allow it and it has nice white flowers. I let it grow unchecked this year. It’s sulking at the moment. Not sure why but could have something to do with the three 90 plus degree days following weeks of on and off rain. The goal now will be starting to ramify while continuing to get roots in order. I really like the trunk movement and base. We shall see where we are at in another few years. Cool thread @Brian Van Fleet

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wireme

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Rmj.
2016 fairly substantial pruning and set position of cown branch.
2017, prune and grow.
2018 all wired up hopefully.
Repotting, ? Someday.
Deadwood cleaning and minor carving, anytime.

I did follow the schedule above. Didn’t do the anytime stuff yet. It was prune and grow and a few guy wires until last weekend when wire went on. If not for updating this thread I probably would have given it a couple more years of prune and grow before wire styling. I was a bit surprised to see that I was able to create more or less the canopy I’ve been planning on with what was already there. I did have to put some kind of absurd curlyque action into the upper portion of the lower left side so the internal structure there is not really satisfactory. That’s only temporary though and a good test of the desired outcome.
 

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Dav4

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Parsons juniper grafted with Kishu foliage over last 3 years.
2016- going to get wired out and the branching established
2017- Repot into a better one then the current, refine the canopy
2017- More refining, followed by a crap load of pinching...
It got wired out completely and moved into Clay King soil in 2016 and had lots of carving done. In 2017, it was thrown from it's bench during a blizzard, partially torn from the pot, and lost several branches. In 2018, it was re-potted and lightly pruned only. It would have been re-wired this spring if it hadn't had the root trauma last fall, but I think it looks pretty good considering....
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Vin

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Procumbens Nana:
So here is my Pro Nana Cascade that apparently failed. Everything was going great in 2015 and 2016. There was a ton of foliage and the tree was extremely vigorous. Then, near the end of the Summer last year I wired it. Slowly, it started dying and I just couldn't seem to get it going again.

July Update.JPG Pro Nana Cascade 9.1.2018.jpg
 

Vin

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My Shohin Boxwood rescue that I've been working on for a couple years or so.
I've had this Boxwood for six years. It has progressed well up until I put it in a bonsai pot. I did not deviate from my plan but the growth has been extremely slow since it started living in a bonsai pot. It has been in the pot for 2 and a half years. I plan to repot it in the Spring of 2019 in the same pot and see how it goes.

F. Shohin Boxwood 4.25.2015.JPG Shohin Boxwood 9.1.2018.jpg
 

Vin

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Finally, a first look at my Parsoni Juniper I picked up in June of this year:
I have really pushed this tree the last couple years and I need to give it a rest. I still want to remove more foliage to increase the amount of Jin. Most of the foliage that remains will be to the right. I repotted it last Spring and it responded very well. I'm happy with the progress so far.

Pro Nana 2015.JPG Pro Nana 9.1.2018.jpg
 

Brian Van Fleet

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#3, cork bark elm. 2nd generation root cutting, already showing great base and trunk movement.
2016: repot, reduce root system to fit in Koyo pot. Wire all branches.
2017: continue developing secondaries, close wound.
2028: show...somewhere...
This one went pretty close to plan, actually managed to show it before 2028.?
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Kathy Shaner critiqued it a year or two ago and mentioned she wanted to see it a bit more “open”, it was very compact.
 

sorce

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Also a bit further healed already.
I may opt to remove the taller section.

May of '17 this got rebasketed.
I sawed the low branch flush and the top one just below that low mark, where the basket ends.

All this grew from a bud on the inside of that top nub. That grew free in 17.
Cut back early spring 18 and 2 days ago.
Cleaned out the holes today.

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S
 

barrosinc

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2. Ulmus Minor

barrosinc-ivertical-2da-0024.jpg

This one has a couple more branches just a bit longer than those... I like this stump a lot! I will wait for the growing season to decide where to take it.

First one.
I tilted this but I think I misplaced it in the pot...
I have been working the branches

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Dav4

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Ok, I'll play!
#1 Bald cypress, collected 13 months ago. No work done, but had it's first wiring and the chop carved 2 weeks ago.
2016- Reduce the roots while exposing more of the basal flare, get into a smaller cement mixing pan. Cut back the leaders and rewire, defoliate and work on ramification
2017- Reduce the root even more...bonsai pot? More defoliating and ramifying, maybe more carving.
2018- Rinse and repeat...
Ok, this one has grown vigorously each year and has progressed well... it unfortunately photographs poorly because of it's size ( about 6' tall and 100 + pounds) and location. It was re-potted into a large mica pot in 2016, unwired, cut back several times to build ramification, and the chop scar was carved again to add interest. In 2017, it was rewired, re-potted into a 26" wide stoneware pot, and cut back multiple times to build more ramification. This year has been mostly growing and cutting back... it would look great right now without foliage but it's the wrong time of year to defoliate, so... And I apologize for the 2 "after" shots... this one looks so much better in person but it's so hard to grab a good picture with decent detail and too big to move for the photo op:rolleyes:.
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Gary McCarthy

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Adair M

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A skinny JBP:

View attachment 80849

From the top: you can see the back branches are developing ramification.
View attachment 80850
I have unsuccessfully tried to graft on a primary branch on the lower left. I have pulled a back branch forward to where a branch should be, and it looks pretty good, so I think I’ll just work with what I have. I was repotted in spring of 2016. And it really liked the new soil, and grew wildly out of control. It’s taken it a couple years to settle back down. Next time I repot, I will look for a smaller pot to help keep this beast contained.

It’s not wired. It was decandled on July 4th, and this fall, I will pull old needles and completely wire it. Probably repot into something smaller next spring.

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leatherback

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Berberis, dug from a field, trimmed back and wired in early 2015

Did not have much of a plan, but to develop branches & maybe put it in a nicer pot. Not sure yet where this is going. I lost a lower branch due to not thinning the foliage enough. And am still developing a lower left branch. Coming along well enough for me.

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leatherback

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Carpinus betulus, Airlayer, separated september 2014, picture winter 2015

No plan here either. Starter on removing the thickest branches. Grew new branches and reduced the toplength. It is struggling a bit to get to speed. Sowill repot again this year and maybe give it a bit more rootspace.

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leatherback

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Larix Kaemferi. Club auction purchase, april 2015. Note all the dead branches. Spent all summer recovering.
Removed the dead branches. Brought the lowest living branch up in a sort of mother-daughter style. Brought all the other branches down. Now the basic structure is set, I supose I need to start refining and get the needle-size down. Also the daughter now has too many branches I think.

Larix2015.jpg
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leatherback

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Juniperus, near-given to me by TT, as it was very weak in winter. Picture summer 2015

Recovered. Wired twice. Deadwood work, change of angle and here we are in 2018. I think this is the one which progressed most in the three years.
Juniperus_2015.jpg

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ColinFraser

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. . . let's toss this Olive in for good measure. In three years, it will either have branches, or have been dead for 2-1/2 years!
I decided to go with the former rather than the latter option. There are still some holes in it, but it does, in fact, have branches! I just carved off all of the big stubs, chopped the top back harder (went through one round of a 6-foot sacrifice for a new tapering segment), and mostly just clip-and-grow for the branches . . .
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JudyB

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It was hard for me to pick what to post here, as most of my things are works in progress, and I expect a lot from most of them in the next few years! Realistically, these are the ones that move fast enough to think that in 3 years, I'll have a reasonably showable tree, or close to that. Hawthorn, that I've done a lot of editing on. I have a couple thread grafts that are doing well, and I expect them to fill the void on the left where I cut off a massive branch that was too straight out off the trunk. Going to tip it to the left and turn so all 3
trunks are visible from each other. The canopy in the wide shot is the shape I'm looking for, although of course all the new growth from this year will be cut back after dormancy and restarted.
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Sold, but to a guy in my study group. Still a work in progress but filling in nicely. Sorry no picture of current.
 
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