AlainK

Imperial Masterpiece
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I'm afraid the top is dead. But no worries, you can grow a new leader, and even keep a tiny jin if you like... 👍

larix2.jpeg
 

Ruddigger

Chumono
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Montclair, Ca
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This larch has come a long way. I wish I could keep them down here, but there’s no way. This new front you chose has nice branch placement, but you lost some of the character in the trunk movement. Always a trade off, I suppose.
 

jeef16

Sapling
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New York
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wow amazing!! I got a japanese larch from Bill Valavanis, seeing this progression gives me a lot of hope and excitement for its potential. I repotted it this year into a colander in pure akadama, how did you find the colander worked for your larch?
 

parhamr

Omono
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wow amazing!! I got a japanese larch from Bill Valavanis, seeing this progression gives me a lot of hope and excitement for its potential. I repotted it this year into a colander in pure akadama, how did you find the colander worked for your larch?
Photo 4 in post 1 shows the larch put on a ton of growth in 2015 with the colander. The recommendation from Ryan Neil is to prefer pumice over than akadama for development because the akadama leads to really fine roots (which is good for refinement) but can be a little limiting to development growth. That said, larches love moisture and the akadama might be just right for your climate — few things have hard rules!
 

jeef16

Sapling
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Photo 4 in post 1 shows the larch put on a ton of growth in 2015 with the colander. The recommendation from Ryan Neil is to prefer pumice over than akadama for development because the akadama leads to really fine roots (which is good for refinement) but can be a little limiting to development growth. That said, larches love moisture and the akadama might be just right for your climate — few things have hard rules!
thanks for the info, I chose akadama + colander because I wanted to develop as much feeder roots as I could within a year. The pot the larch came in was rather small and I was ultimately unsure about the overall quality of the rootball. I figure that if I can increase the ability to take in more nutrients for the tree it would allow me to transition to a grow box with some hopefully better results in the future. I'm experimenting with 60/40 coarse perlite and akadama mix on my trident seedlings too
 

WNC Bonsai

Omono
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I use composted pine bark instead of akadama, along with pumice and haydite. It holds a lot of moisture, increases CEC, promotes mycorrhiza, helps with acidity, all without clogging the soil. My Japanese larches have grown like crazy in that mix and my American larches love it too. I have 15 of the former and 10 of the latter. Here is a shot of my larch nursery, all repotted this spring. Once they are firmly recovered I plan to wire a couple but the rest are reserved for 2 forests.

58E8B516-0706-4B20-98E9-D743EC953A85.jpeg
 

Darth Masiah

Chumono
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well, i guess my little zone 8 winters should be enough to keep a larch alive. a little trepiditious, though.
 

WNC Bonsai

Omono
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well, i guess my little zone 8 winters should be enough to keep a larch alive. a little trepiditious, though.
If you do I hope you are up in the highlands and not down in the sweltering flats. I am at about 2200’ elevation here in the mountains so larch seem to be able to take it. I still would suggest you get Japanese larch as they seem a little more hardy than their American cousins. However they are very aggressive growers and will shoot up 3’ in 2 years and can be bean pole straight if you don’t wire or chop them early on.
 
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Britanny, France
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Beware of larch cuttings: they grow with a bottom dominant pattern. That what I have observed with a larch I have obtained from a cutting and it has been confirmed by a researcher in forestry. That is also why for forestry larch is not propagated by cuttings.
 

ibakey

Mame
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Paris, France
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Really enjoyed this larch progression thread.! Time for me to get a larch tree of my own!
 

parhamr

Omono
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I gave it a Keizan oval and changed the planting angle. The photo kinda sucks due to how busy the background was at this time.
1FF2BFAC-7ED8-4DD7-9817-F6C4A5097958.jpeg
I rotated it around 10 degrees clockwise, but probably should have gone another 10. I tipped it to the left by a few degrees, as well.

Overall, this will be an intermediate step.

Circled around the bottom of its previous pot was around 24 inches of coarse roots!
 
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Southeast Wisconsin
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Absolute banger of a progression thread — and inspirational for me as I start a few small tamarack in Wisconsin. I especially admire the season where you nixed the bottom five branches. Insight and commitment that I very much respect. Well done and thank you for your documentation!
 

parhamr

Omono
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We’ve had a bit of a cold April, so the larch is in leaf but holding back on elongation. It’s made for a wonderfully even needle length.
B2DC16A8-6915-472D-897E-873519DF142B.jpeg
 

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hampton

Mame
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How did this fair this season? Wonderful progression. I've recently become obsessed with larch and this is very inspiring
 
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