Lorax7 JWP #2 progression

[Lorax7]

Picked up a new tree. Starting a progression thread for it. Haven’t done anything to it yet. This one is a Japanese white pine ‘tanima no yuki’ cultivar.

It is grafted, but the graft is quite low to the ground. I'm not sure what the rootstock is. Currently, I'm waiting for the weather to warm up a bit before I repot it into a pond basket. Planning to wire just the trunk and put some movement into it now, while it's still young and flexible. Then, I'll just let it grow out and put some girth on the trunk. The tree is approximately 3 to 4 years old.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Nasty graft but time "should" heal all wounds. Still fairly thin would suggest adding whatever trunk movement needed now while still easy to do. Be careful to not stress graft join.

 

[Lorax7]

Nasty graft but time "should" heal all wounds. Still fairly thin would suggest adding whatever trunk movement needed now while still easy to do. Be careful to not stress graft join.

I disagree on the graft. Nothing really nasty about it, in my opinion. There’s a nub leftover from where the rootstock’s original foliage was removed, but 2 seconds with the concave cutters will take care of that and make it flush. I’m quite happy with the graft, in fact, because it is so low to the ground. If it were higher up, the tree could potentially get that weird stair step effect one often sees on imported JWP bonsai that are on JBP rootstock. With the really low graft, any bulging due to growth rate differences between the rootstock and the scion will basically blend in with the flare of the nebari.

 

[Lorax7]

Ended up deciding to just go ahead and repot it now and do the two-step if we get a significant cold snap. Trimmed the nub on the rootstock flush as well.

 

[Japonicus]

growth rate

Stunted greatly by removing sacrificial apex.
Best time to wire and prune is Fall.

What is the new apex now, the heavy extended branch with wire or the slender branch with no wire?
What are the 2 soil layers?

 

[Lorax7]

Stunted greatly by removing sacrificial apex.
Best time to wire and prune is Fall.

What is the new apex now, the heavy extended branch with wire or the slender branch with no wire?
What are the 2 soil layers?

I didn’t prune any foliage at all. The only thing that was trimmed was the leftover (dead) nub on the rootstock where the nursery had previously removed the original non-grafted foliage after the graft took. They didn’t trim it flush with the trunk, so I fixed that. I wired it in spring because I can and I see no reason to wait.

The bottom soil layer is coarse, sifted perlite. The top layer is Superfly Bonsai’s traditional mix, which is basically akadama, pumice, and lava.

 

[Japonicus]

I didn’t prune any foliage at all.

I only mentioned that because the difference in these 2 photos
appeared to be recent posts with a significant height reduction between the 2.

These 2 photos were posted only a couple days apart.
I think your graft will look ok in at least 5 yrs, but 7-10 yrs will be pretty undetectable.
Looks well placed to me.

 

[Lorax7]

I only mentioned that because the difference in these 2 photos
appeared to be recent posts with a significant height reduction between the 2.
View attachment 430854View attachment 430855
These 2 photos were posted only a couple days apart.
I think your graft will look ok in at least 5 yrs, but 7-10 yrs will be pretty undetectable.
Looks well placed to me.

Yeah, it’s probably just hard to get the full picture of what’s going on from only one side. Here’s a view from above looking straight down on it. All of the foliage is still there. I just bent it around in lots of twists and curves to put movement in the trunk while it’s still young and limber.

And from two other sides:

 

[Japonicus]

Yes it's very hidden and just looked like the upper half had been removed without any details
mentioning what had taken place. I'm pretty sure I read the entire posts, but missed it if it was included.

 

[Lorax7]

It has grown enough that the wire was already starting to bite in, so I removed the wire today. This year’s new growth is starting to show the snow white bits that are characteristic of the ‘tanima no yuki’ cultivar.




My plan for now is just to let it grow vigorously and, periodically, cut back to stimulate branching and hopefully get some back budding to occur lower down on the trunk.

 

[Lorax7]

Put a bit more bend in the bends:

 

[Japonicus]

I like the grafting job

 

[Lorax7]

I probably should explain a little more about that U-shaped bend at the end of the trunk. That part is a sacrifice branch. I bent it today mainly just to get the foliage off of the soil surface (which is where it was after I did the first bend) and to get the tip pointed up. I'm not going to leave that U-shaped bend tied up for long. So, I'm anticipating that it'll spring back some (but set the branch enough to still keep the foliage off the ground and still keep the tip mostly pointed up) and it won't be quite as obvious a U shape.

 

[Lorax7]