A few pine seeds, 6 years later.

Shun

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Hello!Did you happen to meet the said professional and get more information about his techniques, if I may ask?
Thank you.

Oh yes. I Know him personally, he lives in the same town as myself! (he's famous around here because he has the only one Araucaria angustifolia bonsai maybe in the world!) Had forgotten about this post. Planning to go there maybe tomorrow and hope that he still has some so I can take some pictures and get some more info on the JPB cuttings to share with you guys here.

Thank you for the reminder!
 

Shun

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There are several types of Araucaria,

What I have seen in latin america is people trying to bonsai with other than angustifolia sp.

bonsai-45.jpg


a pic with the owner to get you and idea of the size:
o-bonsai-ideal-curitiba.jpg


and one in the nature. As a rule, all Araucaria angustifolia trees are straight as a pole (they are "always" formal upright.)
araucaria=.jpg
 

barrosinc

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stupid question.... when (time of year) do I cut a large jbp sacrifice branch? Or half at least?
 

Shun

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Hello!Did you happen to meet the said professional and get more information about his techniques, if I may ask?
Thank you.
Ok so I got around his bonsai shop and asked him how he's done it.

Basically he takes one year old shoots, clean for fungus for a few days before cutting it. This kind of shoot:
20180712_095035.jpg

Then he pots them in sand (which he has previously treated for fungal infection aswell.. he says he wets the sand and microwaves it then pour it in cold water.). After that he covers the whole thing in clear plastic bag and places it in semi shade. In about 3 months this is what you get:
IMG-20180712-WA0004.jpg

Here are some pics of some of his cuttings(they are about 2 years old)
20180712_095152.jpg20180712_103858.jpg20180712_104004.jpg
 

namnhi

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Ok so I got around his bonsai shop and asked him how he's done it.

Basically he takes one year old shoots, clean for fungus for a few days before cutting it. This kind of shoot:
View attachment 200747

Then he pots them in sand (which he has previously treated for fungal infection aswell.. he says he wets the sand and microwaves it then pour it in cold water.). After that he covers the whole thing in clear plastic bag and places it in semi shade. In about 3 months this is what you get:
View attachment 200772

Here are some pics of some of his cuttings(they are about 2 years old)
View attachment 200773View attachment 200774View attachment 200775
Thanks for sharing. This reenforce what Anthony said he did but with more pictures. I will have give this a try next year.
 

Anthony

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Hmm, To avoid the chemical bit, we use sterile commercial
peat moss / perlite,
But we just stick any and everything, with a touch of rooting
powder.
Use full sun --------- hmm ?

Given as gifts, so matters not how many take.

Also we only propagate, the ones that are fastest at trunk
thickening. Been giving all the slow seedlings so the others
can practice at growing / health.
Then a few years later, the real stuff.
Even at one out of five, we are on overload.

Good To see others doing.
Good Day
Anthony
 

rollwithak

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I don't think that book has the BT article in it about exposed root pines. There was an exposed root article in the same issue as the Pine-from-seed article - I think that's BT #22 (I had a copy but can't find it now). It's a shame you didn't ask a month ago because I just started about a dozen more of them and I could have taken photos. But a basic overview would be something like this:

Start ideally with a 1- or 2-YO pine seedling -trim any long roots so that there is a small circle of roots, they should be relatively evenly spaced and come out of the bottom of the trunk all at or near the same place and at a steep angle. Meaning that they should not look like roots on an informal upright or other bonsai where you want them to exit the trunk and form a perfect spread. instead you want the roots to look like they flow into the trunk so that later it becomes harder to pick out the junction.

I use a pond basket - square, about 12 or 13", probably equivalent to about 2 gallons as the base container. Then I take a one gallon container and cut the bottom off of it to form a tube. I anchor that to the corners of the pond basket and bury the bottom edge about an inch below the soil line in the pond basket. Sometimes I use two 1-gallon nursery containers with the small ends both cut off and then stick them together to make the tube.

Fill the pond basket with bonsai mix, the normal stuff that you use. Then fill the gallon container with a mix of large and small pumice. You could use other materials but pumice wont retain nutrients so the roots will grow through it into the bonsai soil. You can use lava rock or even pebbles or whatever...the key is that there be particles up to about 1 inch in size or even a bit larger, you could put rocks in there if you want. This causes the roots to have to go around the particles so that they are not all straight when you expose them later. You don't want big air pockets in the soil so mix smaller particles down to about 1/8 inch in between.

Leave a couple inches of space at the top of the tube - take the seedling and hold it in the middle of the tube. Add bonsai soil around it until you fill the tube to the top. Anchor it in place with something from the top. I use guy wires attached to the copper wire that I use for shaping the trunk. Do not try to anchor it from the bottom as you would a mature bonsai because you want the roots to grow freely.

Let the tree grow for one season and then start removing the tube. Keep in mind that the height of your tube above the base container will determine how much root you are exposing and thus the height of your "trunk".

Here are a few examples:

The largest of the ones I posted previously. Note that after exposing the roots that grew through the pumice I bent them to the side. Often the roots will have some small movement from the soil but no larger movement so you can stake them or try to wire them to add a curve or twist after they have been exposed.

6820733311_761bc48c43_z.jpg


From the top - notice how the roots are not spread but flow into the trunk smoothly
6831804450_40feca77a6_z.jpg


Most of the rest of these are three years old. Here is one where I exposed the roots last year but decided that I wanted them to be longer so I put it on top of two more gallon containers this winter so that I could expose more. Dont forget to wire the new growth to harmonize with the roots.

6831803724_4f88316be6_z.jpg


On this one I originally spread one root away from the others and twisted a bud through the gap so that the tree would be intertwined with itself

6831804050_44b2f16907_z.jpg


If you have a 3-YO or a tree that already has longer roots you can try wiring them as a clump to make your trunk. This has it's drawbacks in that it's easy to create reverse taper in your "trunk"

6831802734_c230abde73_z.jpg


Same tree from the top:
6977929913_983c90cc74_z.jpg


Chopsticks stuck in between the roots on this one to spread them apart.
6831801192_a7d047c7f9_z.jpg


This one started as exposed root when it was 2 months old - but I decided to extend the roots slightly so put it in this container.

6831802974_f0492ee7bb_z.jpg

6831800768_9c74cc4d73_z.jpg


Hope that helps. Personally, other than the large pumice or lava part - the most important thing is to just use your imagination and experiment with things. Remember that you'll always thank yourself later for adding a twist or curve to something young and pliable.

Cheers,

Eric

Hi Eric, how would you modify this approach if your goal was to do a root over rock and emulate a pine growing through rocks....
 

Eric Schrader

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Hi Eric, how would you modify this approach if your goal was to do a root over rock and emulate a pine growing through rocks....
Hmm. Not sure I understand the question - do you have a photo example of what you're trying to do?
 

Eric Schrader

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Hi All,

Sadly and happily I only have two of this batch still. I sold the rest of them to fund my current efforts to make many many many more.
I have about 10,000 JBP, some of which are for sale on Bonsaify now including bare-root 1-year olds and potted 2 Year olds.
As I'm now full-time bonsai, running a nursery, I plan to continue doing YouTube videos and I appreciate all your support!

From my first batch, the two that I have remaining are the cascade exposed root and the large root over rock. The latter will be the subject of an upcoming video I think as it's looking quite nice.

Cheers,

Eric
 

Shogun610

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Hi All,

Sadly and happily I only have two of this batch still. I sold the rest of them to fund my current efforts to make many many many more.
I have about 10,000 JBP, some of which are for sale on Bonsaify now including bare-root 1-year olds and potted 2 Year olds.
As I'm now full-time bonsai, running a nursery, I plan to continue doing YouTube videos and I appreciate all your support!

From my first batch, the two that I have remaining are the cascade exposed root and the large root over rock. The latter will be the subject of an upcoming video I think as it's looking quite nice.

Cheers,

Eric
Congratulations!, living the dream
 
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