Coastal Redwood

misfit11

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I just bought this Redwood yamadori stump from Zack and Bob Shimon of Mendocino Coast Bonsai at the REBS annual show yesterday. I've been wanting a Redwood since I started doing bonsai almost 10 years ago. Redwoods are literally growing in my backyard and I graduated from Humboldt State University which is famous for its redwood trees (among other things if you know what I'm saying
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) so I have a strong personal connection to this species. Anyway I decided it was finally time to pull the trigger and drop the $$$ necessary for some decent stock. The tree stands a little under a foot tall, has a 4 1/2 inch base and has lots of natural deadwood on it. I'm very excited about this trees future and am looking forward to its inevitable evolution.
The show itself provided me with loads of inspiration and more than a little self-loathing of my own trees.
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Does anyone have any advice, tips, styling ideas, critiques, etc.?
 

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PaulH

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Nice material. Gotta love Bob and Zack's stuff. I've got a few too. You're going to have a lot of fun with that.
(By the way, it was good meeting you at the show yesterday. It's always good to put a face with the people I talk to here.)

Paul
 

misfit11

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Thanks, Paul.:) Good to meet you as well. I hope you had a nice time at the show.
 

misfit11

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I originally wired this out and gave it its first styling back in late 2011. Well, I had also repotted it in better soil but failed to wire it into the pot (there is only one small live area on the trunk so I didn't really know how I'd go about doing that...oops!). So given that it was able to move around willy-nilly the tree responded by dropping virtually all of the branches. Fortunately, Redwoods are very forgiving (in this region anyway) and new growth soon returned from the trunk (following Kathy Shaner chastising me and stabilizing the tree in the pot). Anyway, here it is now after starting from scratch. Kathy thinks I can show it in as quick as a year. That may be a bit of lofty goal, but who knows...
 

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fredtruck

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Do a search about coastal redwoods in Bonsainut. There is some very good advice about pruning scattered here and there. Be persistent and read everything. Coastal redwoods are a lot of fun, but they are also a lot of work to stay on top of the growth. Water and feed.
 

october

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Very nice. I assume pic 1 is the front. I also think that after the tree grows some branches, that pic 2 might also make a good front. You have nice taper and deadwood in pic 2.

Rob
 

Lancaster

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Nice stump! You will have it looking good in no time, I'm sure.

I think I have to get my hands on some of this material......

-Troy
 

Poink88

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I like pic 2 and pic 4 as front. Some branch may need to be re-positioned but IMHO, those 2 gives the best opportunity to display the deadwood.
 

misfit11

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Nice stump! You will have it looking good in no time, I'm sure.

I think I have to get my hands on some of this material......

-Troy

Thanks, Troy. Redwoods are great, but they can be tricky to work with. You need to pinch the apical growth as soon as you see an axillary bud. Otherwise they get waaaaayyyyy too leggy and if you try cutting them back like you would to a deciduous tree they respond by budding back at the trunk. This coupled with very vigorous growth means you need to stay on top of them.

You should get yourself one. I don't know how they'd do in Florida, but you would certainly have the humidity for them. Get a hold of Bob and Zach Shimon at Mendocino Coast Bonsai (http://mcbonsai.com/wp/) and see if they can ship to you. They are great people to deal with and have wonderful material.

Cory
 

misfit11

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I like pic 2 and pic 4 as front. Some branch may need to be re-positioned but IMHO, those 2 gives the best opportunity to display the deadwood.

Thanks, Dario. As far as the branch positioning is concerned, I agree. Obviously, this is very early in the trees development and things with change dramatically before we start to see the finished structure of the branches. Additionally, I was going on Kathy's suggestion of wiring some of those lower branches up rather than down. It's hard to see her vision of a tree sometimes, but I figure she knows what she's talking about and I don't argue much. :)

Cory
 

Poink88

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Can you share what Kathy's vision/goal for this tree is? I didn't know she gave you one. Thanks! :)
 
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