How to find the tree?

Smoke

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I wasn't going to post this to Nut, recently it just seems like a waste of time.
...but then I read this...https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/bonsai-for-real.40610/#post-688751

This material is not great or even outstanding, but it did have something and that is what I was interested in and finding that tree is seemingly impossible material.

It all starts in 2003 on a trip to Tehachapi with Harry Hirao to dig Junipers in the hills. This tree would come from right about here:
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I dug out the tree, and was excited because it was a twin trunk and seemed to split far down on the trunk, like all good twin trunk bonsai should. During this time I was starting to remove all the field soil and just wrap the root ball in wet sphagnum moss and shrink wrap.

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I packed the tree down the hill and put it into my truck, and took some time to see what everyone else had brought down. Some really cool stuff.

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Digging with Maria Kapra ( Peter Macasieb).

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Smoke

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When I got home it was time to put the tree into a growing container. I built a wooden box the next morning and planted the tree out. The tree was tied in with some rope.
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My hand to get a size on the trunk

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In 2004 I started some minor training. I jinned the top of the left trunk and started to pick out branches that I would keep and those that needed to go. At this time I just used garden loppers to remove big branches that I didn't need.

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In an effort to get the two trunks to talk to each other I felt that the left top had to bend over to get the apexes more in tune of each other. I needed them to point the same way and not oppose each other. I cut a notch in each end of a board and then winched over the top and secured it with a large twisted wire turnbuckle.

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Evry couple of weeks I would go out and remove the wire and pull the top over more and resecure it.

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Smoke

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Ten years later....2014
The tree now gets a pot. A large mica drum pot. The tree is planted out and another round of branch picking is underway.

!!Big problem!!

The two trunks still look terrible and I soon find out that it would probably take 25 years or more to grow enough new wood on that left trunk to keep the apex pointing right. I just don't have that kind of time. Lots of new shoots have grown in the last ten years. The jinned top ten years prior is totally covered with new shoots and foliage.

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Around 2008 I had made the hoaky shari down each trunk. Someone suggested I do this for visual interest. They probably had something much better in mind and mine just looks juvenile.

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In this view the two crowns diametrically oppose each other and it looks as if two trees.

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Smoke

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2015
Time for another round of reducing and finding good branching. Not easy to do with California junipers. They grow long and thin and foliage will look good with constant pinching but I never really took the time to do that with any of these I collected.

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The left trunk and it's apex that is jinned is totally out of site.

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Close up of the shari. It is now a water pipe and doesn't look so bad now, but I could have made it better...Bad Al!

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The tree is now all trimmed up and ready for some actual wire and trying to make something out of this thing. Up until now the tree has been wired with copper. From this point on the tree will be wired with aluminum. I like aluminum wire for these junipers simply because the wire needs to come off so much more as they grow. While the trunks don't grow much some of these thin branches will girdle in one year.

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So mow some of the wire can be seen and the way, at least for me, the way I have to deal with the branching. It is long and thin and so I have to make best use of what I have.

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Much of the future form can be seen now and easily this will be a two headed tree. Now my solution for the two apex was to jin that left top and create a new apex that worked better with the right trunk.

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I also purchased a new pot for it.

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bonsaichile

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the only reason I dont have you in my ignore list is because from time to time you post threads like this, and I learned a lot from this one.
 

Smoke

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My three glamor shots of the tree after finishing.

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Present day Oct 2019
So now the tree was neglected with my wife and cancer and the tree was not worked on for several years. I felt motivated to finally turn this into something.

Let me take this time to talk about the tree. Something every one should do at the time of purchase. Do it then and you won't have to come home and post here on "please help me make something out of this." Purchase your material with a purpose. have a plan in mind before you take it home. If you just can't see the tree, then pass it by. Look for something better. You may not even find anything that day. But you went home with money in your pocket for the day you do see something extraordinary.


Let me list some things about this tree.

The pro's.
The tree is healthy and making foliage.
It is dense and has lots of choices to choose from.
It is well established in the pot and will continue to be strong.
The trunks wye low down on the plant.
The shari's do add some visual interest.
The base of the trunk is about 4 inches across.

The con's.
The tree is very tall, 48"
The right trunk and the left trunk is the same size, yet the right trunk is 16" taller
The two crowns still seem to oppose each other.


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Little different angle.

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Whats going on at the soil....???

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So now I decide to evaluate each trunk separately. First the right side.

pro's
Long thin trunk with good taper.
Could make an interesting Literati
Lots of branches and foliage to play with.

The con's
The right trunk is really long 48"
The taper while good is thin looking in relation to it's height.

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At the top of the right trunk is a split in the trunk that devides into two small sub trunks. For a Literati, one apex will have to be chosen. Problem is, the two main branches I need to make a canopy come from each sub trunk. If I lose a trunk to make one apex I lose 50% of the branching from which to make a canopy. There is a lot of old crappy wire in there!!!

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The left trunk.
The pro's
The left side is being show here from the back due to the branches obscuring all of the trunk from view.
The trunk has some good movement in it.
It has taper
It has good branches and lots of foliage to work with

The con's.
The trunk comes off the main trunk at a wonky angle almost 45 degrees.
Back of trunk is dead

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It does have a jinned top which means that all the branching is below the apex and can all be retained for canopy.

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Smoke

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After careful consideration of all the good and all the faults it was decided that I would retain the left side and cut away the right trunk. A quick examination found that there just were not enough redeeming attributes for a layer and that it should be removed straight away.
I just used a small Joshua Roth saw and it came off very easily.


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After the cut, looking directly into the sun I hold the entire right trunk with my enormous girth.

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I left the stub quite long for die back and then removed the bark with a pointed drag graver and knife.

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With that decision out of the way I must figure out how to best reposition the tree in a pot to make use of what I have kept. I cut the tree from the pot and begin looking for a suitable angle in which to replant the tree.

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That's a lot of ass right there!!!
The tree is pretty much upright in the pot and I like the angle, but look at all the root ball and dirt sticking out of the pot!

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Now I gegin to work on the ball and see if I can get it into the pot.

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Hartinez

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Let me take this time to talk about the tree. Something every one should do at the time of purchase. Do it then and you won't have to come home and post here on "please help me make something out of this." Purchase your material with a purpose. have a plan in mind before you take it home. If you just can't see the tree, then pass it by. Look for something better. You may not even find anything that day. But you went home with money in your pocket for the day you do see something extraordinary.

Took me awhile to get this. But THIS makes all the sense to me now.
 

Smoke

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I start to get the root ball whittled down to fit into the pot.

Step back look.....


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Take another look. I like it and tie in the tree. Back fill with new soil and water it in.

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No that I have a new tree standing upright in a pot , I'm now ready to style a tree. In the canopy there are a couple brnches that will not work into the fished tree. Either they are too big or they cross over the trunk and look silly.

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This big branch crosses right over the trunk and just will not work here. Branches should never cross the trunk. It is OK to allow some foliage to cross into the trunk space for a dynamic look but crossing the trunk is a no no.

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Now I begin to make jins out of most everything I'm not going to use. I can always come back at a lter date and just prunes away a jin that looks silly rather than have a bald spot in the canopy that can be filled with a jin rather than living foliage to add texture and dynamism.

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This is one unruly mess I have going on here!

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This is a good shot of the top of the tree. You can just make out the jinned top there and all the whips in which I will have to make new branches with. This is going to be a preliminary restyle and it will be done again next June as the foliage fills in.

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Smoke

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Now I move in and begin to fine prune all the branches. Just pruning back the super long growth and the stuff that makes it hard to wire. By now all the old wire is removed from the tree and it will receive all new wire. I have two pair of these cheapy plastic handled scissors. One all green and a pair with red handle white handle. I use them for the majority of my work. I start out with both sharpened and when it gets dull or gummed up I just switch to the other pair. The two will last about three hours of work and then a take a rest and sharpen.

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Still picking at the bark removing it here and there.

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Even some of these jins will be wired and hope they dry and keep their shape.

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I work from the bottom up. Wire a branch and bend it down and out of the way. All the way to the top of the tree. I wire the whole tree before I shape it.

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That big curvy branch to the left sticking up will be jinned. I jinned it and wrapped it with wire and bent it into a new shape. I removed the wire today to place another branch and found the branch just snapped right back to where it was. I took it back to a stub. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

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Here is a small thin branch jinned with wire on it.

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That's the roofline of my new patio I built in June. can't wait for the rain so I can sit outside and watch it flow into a gutter and not get soaked inside!!! I actually found time to stop and eat lunch outside while I was working on the tree.

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I began working on this tree Tuesday Oct 22. I wired most of the left side, but the tree just sat on the table for a few days.

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Yesterday the 24 I began applying more wire. As I move the branches down after wiring them I place them in the general place they will go so I don't move them around alot. This is the reason a lot of people lose so many branches after styling a tree. They move them around so much, they become girdled and just dry up.

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Smoke

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Today I set about to finish up the tree. I have about 7 hours in the tree from start to finish. After the wire was applied to the right half of the tree I could set the branch placements. This is the fun part of the whole process. This is what you work towards. Placed the branches, cleaned the pot, dressed the soil and built a backdrop for the beauty shot. Also took the die grinder to the cut off stub. Will work on that more later. This is the new one trunked twin trunk California.

Finished ....for now....get to do it all over again next June....yay!

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Back

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canoeguide

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Purchase your material with a purpose. have a plan in mind before you take it home. If you just can't see the tree, then pass it by. Look for something better. You may not even find anything that day. But you went home with money in your pocket for the day you do see something extraordinary.

Thank you for this fantastic advice.
 

JudyB

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nice documentation! Those digs must have been a hell of a lot of fun.
How about loosing the left trunk altogether on this one?030.JPG
 

Smoke

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nice documentation! Those digs must have been a hell of a lot of fun.
How about loosing the left trunk altogether on this one?View attachment 268296
Thats what I did remove. I just couldn't use the right trunk in the look you see. If I had been smarter back then I could have kept that look of the tree on the right. 14 years later all that branching is huge and in fact most of that is now gone or has been turned into jin. Why do they have to grow?

It will be interesting to see how the tree does over the next year and the further reducing I may be able to achieve. I have yet to actually have a "branch" on a California yet.
 

Smoke

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nice documentation! Those digs must have been a hell of a lot of fun.

They were. I met so many cool people on these trips. The eating lunch back at the trucks was the best part. Everyone stood around and watched Harry come by with his saw "cutting off everything he thought you didn't need". I wish I would have let him cut more on the day of collection.

This guy is just crazy!!

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I miss Harry Hirao!

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Atom#28

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Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to share this. This right here is why this Bnut has become my favorite place to learn.
 

Warpig

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Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to share this. This right here is why this Bnut has become my favorite place to learn.
By far, well done smoke! You do make some good progression theads. Amazing tree you made a whole new tree out of it.
 

PABonsai

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This is an incredible thread. Very nice work. Thank you for this @Smoke. Your contributions are very much appreciated.
 

coh

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nice documentation! Those digs must have been a hell of a lot of fun.
How about loosing the left trunk altogether on this one?View attachment 268296
I thought this was the most interesting iteration out of all the photos shown. Think if that jin on the right was removed it would have worked better as it takes the eye out of the scene.
 
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