Erndogy
Mame
Hi all,
Ive been doing some bonsai stuff in the backyard lately but haven't posted anything up anything due to a stupid, almost smart (but free) phone and my laptop taking a dump. I'm going to try to post more stuff in the near future..
Anyway, here is a Ca live oak I bought a couple years ago and have done nothing with but chop it down when I first got it. I decided it was a good time as any to take a look at the roots and re-pot it. This guy had roots coming out of the can it was in at the nursery I got it from. ( I actually bought two of them for 10 bucks each) It had been sitting in the same spot for about 5 years. I knew it would have a pretty big tap root..
After chopping it down it died back a bit and had suckers growing out of the base. I have a book by a well known British bonsai artist, I can't remember of his name right now, in which he states that John Naka taught him a technique in which he could get branches to grow out of a "V" notch by tightly wrapping the trunk so it is forced to bud in the notch. (at least that's what I understood when I read it then)I forgot what kind of tree it was he did it with but it worked and he was developing it for a few years until it was stolen. I'll try to find the book and post info if anyone is interested.
When I chopped it it was in a "V" and I wrapped it as tight as I could with some tape I have used for branch bending but I didn't get the same results. I removed the tape and just let it be.
So the first thing I did was try get rid of one side of the "V" notch and removed the suckers and one branch that was growing on one side of it. The "V" was what died back and the wood is very hard so I didn't finish it. I'll have to carve it later. The roots didn't look so good and the tap root was thick. It was a bear sawing it off. I didn't completely remove the tap root because I was afraid of leaving too little roots. So I decided to pot it up with some sphagnum moss wrapped around where I want roots to grow and then come back later and remove the rest of the tap root. Let's see if it survives...
Ive been doing some bonsai stuff in the backyard lately but haven't posted anything up anything due to a stupid, almost smart (but free) phone and my laptop taking a dump. I'm going to try to post more stuff in the near future..
Anyway, here is a Ca live oak I bought a couple years ago and have done nothing with but chop it down when I first got it. I decided it was a good time as any to take a look at the roots and re-pot it. This guy had roots coming out of the can it was in at the nursery I got it from. ( I actually bought two of them for 10 bucks each) It had been sitting in the same spot for about 5 years. I knew it would have a pretty big tap root..
After chopping it down it died back a bit and had suckers growing out of the base. I have a book by a well known British bonsai artist, I can't remember of his name right now, in which he states that John Naka taught him a technique in which he could get branches to grow out of a "V" notch by tightly wrapping the trunk so it is forced to bud in the notch. (at least that's what I understood when I read it then)I forgot what kind of tree it was he did it with but it worked and he was developing it for a few years until it was stolen. I'll try to find the book and post info if anyone is interested.
When I chopped it it was in a "V" and I wrapped it as tight as I could with some tape I have used for branch bending but I didn't get the same results. I removed the tape and just let it be.
So the first thing I did was try get rid of one side of the "V" notch and removed the suckers and one branch that was growing on one side of it. The "V" was what died back and the wood is very hard so I didn't finish it. I'll have to carve it later. The roots didn't look so good and the tap root was thick. It was a bear sawing it off. I didn't completely remove the tap root because I was afraid of leaving too little roots. So I decided to pot it up with some sphagnum moss wrapped around where I want roots to grow and then come back later and remove the rest of the tap root. Let's see if it survives...
