acacia nigrescens exposed root
- Thread starter jason biggs
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jason biggs
Chumono
This is what we call knob thorn. The younger trees have knobs on the trunk, hence the name...
I have been battling for years to develop the canopy and it is finally starting to take shape...
Do you think the base looks ok or should I bury the roots ??
It does give the tree character but those thin roots are never going to look decent - I have had the tree for 17 years and before I
trunk chopped it at the time, it was taller than it is now...
I have been battling for years to develop the canopy and it is finally starting to take shape...
Do you think the base looks ok or should I bury the roots ??
It does give the tree character but those thin roots are never going to look decent - I have had the tree for 17 years and before I
trunk chopped it at the time, it was taller than it is now...
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
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I really like the bark, it is a very nice feature. The best feature of the tree, it should be the emphasis or focal point.
My personal preference would be to bury the roots, so only the very top quart of each surface root was exposed near the trunk. But that is my northern temperate forest as my ''model'' approach to bonsai. I would cut off that one highest root, as it is really annoying. It may take several years for the bark under that root to form and heal so the absence of that root won't be obvious. IF that crossing root had been removed 10 years ago, it would be a fairly attractive ''nebari''. I feel this crossing root really is a detractor. Take that highest root off.
I would also bury the roots to the point that the space underneath was no longer visible. Again, this is my personal taste. The ''raised'' position the tree is in right now, with the exposed roots is somewhat ungainly, though many do like roots exposed to this degree. My hope is that by burying the roots, you can get more surface roots to sprout around the base of the trunk. You want a radial distribution of roots like the spokes of a wheel. At least bury it until you have your apex fixed, for a few years, to see if any new roots pop in the right places. You can always raise it again later.
Although, I can see this ungainly stilt root being appropriate for a ''desert scene'' where the sand, soil, has been eroded away.
I agree, your apex needs fixing. Your horizontal branches are almost ''too horizontal''. The angle branches leave the trunk usually follow a theme. The same angle either repeats all the way up or progressively becomes more vertical sequentially as you move up the trunk. Right now you have 2 big horizontal branches, one near vertical branches and everything else seems to come off them. Not much else. You either need more branches from the trunk, or you need to let the near vertical branch.run and produce the future side branches for the tree.
For a north temperate tree in a field look, the distance from the soil to the first branch is normally about 1/3rd the height of the overall tree. In this case your vertical trunk needs to be grown out so that it is at least 2 times the height of the distance from the soil to the first branch. Then the second one third is the area where all the branches are an they branch. The outer 1/3rd is the area where the fine branches and leaves are. This is only an idealized guideline, it is not a ''rule''. just helpful when you don't know what to do.
Peniereif flat top styles - modelled after the natural appearance of the acacia in the desert or sub Saharan arid regions, the distance from the trunk to the first branch is still about 1/3 the height of the tree, or else it is about 2/3rds the height of the tree. The subsequent branches, much like the ''broom styles'' the branches are angled more vertical, and reach up, but unlike the Broom, where the canopy forms a hemisphere, the canopy of an acacia is either flat from browsing or a low dome from dry winds.
But you can see, the completely horizontal of your 2 main branches looks a little un-natural. They also form a ''bar branch'' a visual stop point the eye tends to focus on.
I would remove the largest diameter of your 2 horizontal branches, replace the large on with a new one from the new vertical leader that is heading up. This way no 2 branches would originate at the same level of the trunk.
But these tips are my preferences, from my point of view in the north temperate forests of north America. Use your local landscape trees to guide your choices. My comments are to help you decide for yourself what you might like to see.
Hope this helps
My personal preference would be to bury the roots, so only the very top quart of each surface root was exposed near the trunk. But that is my northern temperate forest as my ''model'' approach to bonsai. I would cut off that one highest root, as it is really annoying. It may take several years for the bark under that root to form and heal so the absence of that root won't be obvious. IF that crossing root had been removed 10 years ago, it would be a fairly attractive ''nebari''. I feel this crossing root really is a detractor. Take that highest root off.
I would also bury the roots to the point that the space underneath was no longer visible. Again, this is my personal taste. The ''raised'' position the tree is in right now, with the exposed roots is somewhat ungainly, though many do like roots exposed to this degree. My hope is that by burying the roots, you can get more surface roots to sprout around the base of the trunk. You want a radial distribution of roots like the spokes of a wheel. At least bury it until you have your apex fixed, for a few years, to see if any new roots pop in the right places. You can always raise it again later.
Although, I can see this ungainly stilt root being appropriate for a ''desert scene'' where the sand, soil, has been eroded away.
I agree, your apex needs fixing. Your horizontal branches are almost ''too horizontal''. The angle branches leave the trunk usually follow a theme. The same angle either repeats all the way up or progressively becomes more vertical sequentially as you move up the trunk. Right now you have 2 big horizontal branches, one near vertical branches and everything else seems to come off them. Not much else. You either need more branches from the trunk, or you need to let the near vertical branch.run and produce the future side branches for the tree.
For a north temperate tree in a field look, the distance from the soil to the first branch is normally about 1/3rd the height of the overall tree. In this case your vertical trunk needs to be grown out so that it is at least 2 times the height of the distance from the soil to the first branch. Then the second one third is the area where all the branches are an they branch. The outer 1/3rd is the area where the fine branches and leaves are. This is only an idealized guideline, it is not a ''rule''. just helpful when you don't know what to do.
Peniereif flat top styles - modelled after the natural appearance of the acacia in the desert or sub Saharan arid regions, the distance from the trunk to the first branch is still about 1/3 the height of the tree, or else it is about 2/3rds the height of the tree. The subsequent branches, much like the ''broom styles'' the branches are angled more vertical, and reach up, but unlike the Broom, where the canopy forms a hemisphere, the canopy of an acacia is either flat from browsing or a low dome from dry winds.
But you can see, the completely horizontal of your 2 main branches looks a little un-natural. They also form a ''bar branch'' a visual stop point the eye tends to focus on.
I would remove the largest diameter of your 2 horizontal branches, replace the large on with a new one from the new vertical leader that is heading up. This way no 2 branches would originate at the same level of the trunk.
But these tips are my preferences, from my point of view in the north temperate forests of north America. Use your local landscape trees to guide your choices. My comments are to help you decide for yourself what you might like to see.
Hope this helps
Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
The texture of the bark is scrumptious! ?... was...expecting a bit more of a show for the exposed root. It's exposed...but seems more like quirky nebari than exposed root.
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