Little Ponderosa

[darrellw]

I had the photo gear out today taking pictures. Here is a little Ponderosa that I bought from Jason for my daugther. We repotted it about a month ago. It was in a 1 gallon pot, pretty much upright. We were excited to find a good chunk of trunk under the soil. She is going to take this to Walter Pall's workshop in a few weeks. She is thinking it will be a cascade of some sort.

If anyone has any other thoughts or ideas, she would appreciate it. Walter makes you talk about your tree before the workshop, so we are working on what she will say.

-Darrell

 

[bonsai barry]

I'm having a hard time visualizing the final tree. Let's hope it back buds!

 

[rlist]

Hey Darrell. Glad your daughter will be attending the workshop. This tree came from your trip to the field, right? If so, make sure there is more discussion of the future than actual work. I am not sure this tree will be ready for anything drastic... That said, this will be a great project tree for the both of you to work through the years.

See you next week.

 

[darrellw]

Hi Barry,

The thick part of the trunk has more movement than this angle shows. And all of the rest of the branches could be tied in knots, so there is lots of potential to change the look. It should back-bud at least half way from the tips to the thick trunk from my experience.

Hi Rich,

Yes, this is one that I picked up last month. The repotting really didn't touch any roots, once we removed all of the loose soil (without any roots), the rest fit almost perfectly in this pot. The tree didn't seem to miss a beat from the repotting, so I think it will be up for some work at least. But it will be a good tree to practise wiring on, that should keep her busy!

-Darrell

 

[Jay Wilson]

Hey Darrell,
This is a nice little tree. If it will back bud as you hope (or even if it doesn't) I don't think you'll have any problem making a good bonsai from it.

Be sure and update us after you get Walters take on it.

Jay

 

[darrellw]

Here is a quick update on this tree. First, check out Walter's Travelogue showing some work on the tree:

http://walter-pall-travelogues.blogspot.com/2007/07/workshop-in-portland-part-1.html

And here is the tree as of a few weeks ago. It is tied to the board because the weight of the wire made it very unstable. It is putting out lots of new buds, though only in the existing foliage right now. But I'm pretty sure we can force some further back over time. Note that this is the first tree she has ever wired.

-Darrell

 

[irene_b]

I think she did a very good job of wiring!
Mom

 

[darrellw]

I think she did a very good job of wiring!
Mom

The funniest thing was that I was expecting to help her a lot at the workshop. But Walter would have none of that! If he had a ruler I'm sure he would have rapped me across the knuckles. He said I had my tree to work on, and she was doing just fine.

-Darrell

 

[Chris Johnston]

The funniest thing was that I was expecting to help her a lot at the workshop. But Walter would have none of that! If he had a ruler I'm sure he would have rapped me across the knuckles. He said I had my tree to work on, and she was doing just fine.

-Darrell

Ah, the Teutonic ways! Hey, its a great little tree and will do well in future. Good luck!

 

[darrellw]

Update on this little guy. We repotted in a week or so ago. Used a shorter, slightly wider pot, as it was pretty unstable in the other pot. It had filled the bottom of the old pot with new roots, and you can see it is really budding out.