0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
I”ve posted much of this in bits and pieces as part of discussions in other BNutter’s threads. In this thread, I am simply trying to assemble the whole history for my reference and for noobs to see an example of how the bonsai adventure goes sometimes. For the rest of you, I am always receptive to having my ego massaged - feel free.
Back in 2010 I found a nice little ‘Thunderhead’ JBP in a local garden center’s annual ‘Lemon Sale’. Since I was an air-layering maniac at the time, my initial action was to attempt layering off the top. Armed with Bonsai4me’s advice, I applied a wire tourniquet instead of cutting a girdle and made some notches in the bark just above it. I dusted them with 3000 ppm IBA, and wrapped it in damp sphagnum covered with a split plastic storage bag.
After a year, the stem had swelled quite nicely above the wire, but there was no hint of adventitious roots. So I re-cut the notches through the bark, closed it back up, and waited another season. In May 2012 I found the beginnings of a few roots, so I cut some more notches and dusted them with IBA powder. Near the end of June I found more roots and replaced the bag of sphagnum with a pot of Turface.
Finally, in early Sep 2013 I harvested the layer. I posted this picture of the layer and remember receiving lots of advice (as well as being immersed in one of my first BNut pissing contests which are still a cherished BNut tradition!).
The bottom half was still stuck in the same nursery soil it had been in since long before I bought it. I bare rooted it, like I had several mugos and other things before, in early May2014. Shortly thereafter the needles started to rapidly turn brown, but I held on, against reason, until they were all brown and the buds had turned hard, brown, and were easily flicked off. Lesson #1 learned (HBR thunbergii, don’t totally bare root them from sticky dirt/soil).
Obviously, I was left with the top, my thunderhead on its own roots. I repositioned like this on 7 Apr 2014.
The following Oct I trimmed off quite a lot, trying to find a basic tree for the future and resolved to let the trunk run to fatten it up.
It grew and grew but never really thickened. See that bit of wire I applied to hold that descending branch? It never bit-in, in any way, in three years of growing!
So I chopped it off, kinda liking what I found. I moved it to a different pot this spring, and this is what it looked like after cleaning it up a bit, less than a month ago.
Other than experimenting with select branches, I haven’t ever decandled it. This, of course. is the heart of my plans for the next few years - to see what I’ve got with some further development and a dash of refinement. I think there is hope for it and for me getting it there.
Back in 2010 I found a nice little ‘Thunderhead’ JBP in a local garden center’s annual ‘Lemon Sale’. Since I was an air-layering maniac at the time, my initial action was to attempt layering off the top. Armed with Bonsai4me’s advice, I applied a wire tourniquet instead of cutting a girdle and made some notches in the bark just above it. I dusted them with 3000 ppm IBA, and wrapped it in damp sphagnum covered with a split plastic storage bag.
After a year, the stem had swelled quite nicely above the wire, but there was no hint of adventitious roots. So I re-cut the notches through the bark, closed it back up, and waited another season. In May 2012 I found the beginnings of a few roots, so I cut some more notches and dusted them with IBA powder. Near the end of June I found more roots and replaced the bag of sphagnum with a pot of Turface.
Finally, in early Sep 2013 I harvested the layer. I posted this picture of the layer and remember receiving lots of advice (as well as being immersed in one of my first BNut pissing contests which are still a cherished BNut tradition!).
The bottom half was still stuck in the same nursery soil it had been in since long before I bought it. I bare rooted it, like I had several mugos and other things before, in early May2014. Shortly thereafter the needles started to rapidly turn brown, but I held on, against reason, until they were all brown and the buds had turned hard, brown, and were easily flicked off. Lesson #1 learned (HBR thunbergii, don’t totally bare root them from sticky dirt/soil).
Obviously, I was left with the top, my thunderhead on its own roots. I repositioned like this on 7 Apr 2014.
The following Oct I trimmed off quite a lot, trying to find a basic tree for the future and resolved to let the trunk run to fatten it up.
2014-10-29 15.10.34.jpg
Note the anchoring bit of wire around the trunk for holding down the left branch
It grew and grew but never really thickened. See that bit of wire I applied to hold that descending branch? It never bit-in, in any way, in three years of growing!
So I chopped it off, kinda liking what I found. I moved it to a different pot this spring, and this is what it looked like after cleaning it up a bit, less than a month ago.
Other than experimenting with select branches, I haven’t ever decandled it. This, of course. is the heart of my plans for the next few years - to see what I’ve got with some further development and a dash of refinement. I think there is hope for it and for me getting it there.