Bonsai fun over the last month...

Paulpash

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This thread will record some of the things I've been doing with my trees over the past few weeks. I'll add to it over a few days as I get time to do some retrospective photos - I'm very bad at documentation so I usually just get on doing stuff til it gets dark.

OK first off is a Birch I did today. This seeded itself in my growing bed over a decade ago so I grew it on then dug it out 3 years ago. The last pic is it guy wired & wired out as it is today. A few more seasons and it should be a full image. Birch are rewarding yet a little scary tree to grow as bonsai due to them randomly dropping branches. IMG_20171227_160952_DRO.jpgIMG_20171227_153455_DRO.jpgIMG_20170331_191709_zpssgi6mnpz.jpgIMG_20190305_152831.jpg
 

Paulpash

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Next up is a Field Maple. Wired out. Another from the growing beds, over 20 years old with nice, aged bark starting to form on it. It has a plate nebari, 15 inches or so in a nice Dorda pot. The white ties are coarse branches that are going to be used as 'internode soaks' and will be removed once the first flush is over. Field maples are v strong growers so more buds = shorter internodes. It won't be fed for a few months & I'll pinch out growth if it starts to get coarse. They are easy trees to graft so I can easily add more branches to the primaries where needed.

A few pics of the base, pot and previous iterations and the final pic will be as it is today. The lower branch will be grown out untouched this year. 20160401_151244.jpg20160401_151207.jpg20160401_151101.jpg20150921_155510.jpgIMG_20190223_160823.jpg
 

BobbyLane

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Nice. i like the spooky feel to the branching on the birch.
the field maple is starting to take shape now too.
 

coh

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Regarding birch dropping branches - you might want to listen to the podcast Ryan Neil did with Dennis Vojtilla. Vojtilla has had good success with birch (won the
deciduous award at the 2016 National Exhibition with a birch) and in the podcast he talked a bit about how he has worked to overcome the problem with birches.
I don't remember the details because I don't have any birches but they did talk about it.
 

Paulpash

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Raining really hard today so literally ran out and then back in again. First up is a few Larch grown from seed, inspired by a lovely guy on another forum who grew these little gems wonderfully, called Arihato and has since passed away. Potted into small pots I had knocking around after a few seasons in pond baskets. The second one will have the sacrifice cut off next year.
 

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Paulpash

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Firstly, apologies to @ConorDash - I promised to show this a few weeks back. It is a maple I dug up and put in a crate & was a tree I thought I'd killed so it went into the ground to recover.

My wife's mum got ill so it languished by a seat for a few years while we shared the burden of looking after her. When I tried to pick it up it had sent out strong roots through the crate bottom and was really hard to get it free.

I chopped off a lot of thick roots to get it in a smaller container that's 40cm long and I've done a little wiring. The top needs regrowing. I took 3 or 4 wrist thick air layers off this.

First are the bits I chopped off the roots. Second pic is the bare bones, chopped tree. Next are the air layers & the final pic is it in the original crate.
 

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Mike Hennigan

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That birch is really something else! Very nice! What species is it? Pendula?
 

Paulpash

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That birch is really something else! Very nice! What species is it? Pendula?
I think so - there are a few dotted around here. Going to put it next to a big Blackthorn I have - really good contrast in the trunk colour & texture. I'm really liking bark as a decorative feature these days - just as you would with fruit or flowering species. I bought a couple of young Chinese Quince and a Stewartia cutting last year to grow on to add to the collection (probably when I retire).
 

Mike Hennigan

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I think so - there are a few dotted around here. Going to put it next to a big Blackthorn I have - really good contrast in the trunk colour & texture. I'm really liking bark as a decorative feature these days - just as you would with fruit or flowering species. I bought a couple of young Chinese Quince and a Stewartia cutting last year to grow on to add to the collection (probably when I retire).

Yea that white bark is stunning. Would love to see a pic of it next to your blackthorn.
 

WesB

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That field maple is sick af! Woooo what a gem!
 

Paulpash

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Did a little pruning and wiring of this Spruce on tufa. Originally grown from seed this tree and two similar saplings, all in small plastic plant pots, were offered up at the club auction for the princely sum of 99p. They didn't sell so I took them back home, planted this one on a bit of tufa rock that had dropped off a bigger composition and sold the other two on fleabay. I like it because it's unusual - you don't see too many small Spruce cascades on rock. AA battery for scale.
 

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Paulpash

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Trimmed up this Shohin Elm in a textured Erin pot.

A few flowers too - double red Quince & a Kojo no mai to brighten up a cold day. The kojo will need a repot into something smaller when it's finished flowering - I missed the window of opportunity last year.

Finally, my black composite boards have arrived so no more having to maintain wooden benching - yay!
 

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Ali Raza

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Next up is a Field Maple. Wired out. Another from the growing beds, over 20 years old with nice, aged bark starting to form on it. It has a plate nebari, 15 inches or so in a nice Dorda pot. The white ties are coarse branches that are going to be used as 'internode soaks' and will be removed once the first flush is over. Field maples are v strong growers so more buds = shorter internodes. It won't be fed for a few months & I'll pinch out growth if it starts to get coarse. They are easy trees to graft so I can easily add more branches to the primaries where needed.

A few pics of the base, pot and previous iterations and the final pic will be as it is today. The lower branch will be grown out untouched this year. View attachment 230418View attachment 230419View attachment 230420View attachment 230421View attachment 230422
Love that plant
 

Paulpash

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More messing around in the garden...

Cryptomeria clump basic style - it's been mistreated pretty badly - pruned, wired, Shari, so it will be left to grow all this season. Yes, it's rough but good enough for now..
 

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Paulpash

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I am building the bones of a maple raft while it's still on the stock tree. This will be layered soon and, all going well, it's usually ready for separation by September. Fun free material to play with :)
 

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