My shimpaku shohin.

[Giga]

I was gonna say all it need was to thicken the foliage pads and your golden but now what?

 

[Dav4]

SH$!, what happened?

It grew two inches this past spring!!! I'm still playing with branch placement but there you go...

 

[Nybonsai12]

looking really good filling in. Can't believe the growth spurt, guess it liked the tighter pot?

 

[Dav4]

looking really good filling in. Can't believe the growth spurt, guess it liked the tighter pot?

It has grown a lot...but the increase in height was all man made. This past spring, I cut a slot in the back of the upper trunk, cranked it up as much as I dared and held it in place with a chop stick cut to size.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Lol, I said to myself "how in the heck" but figured anything is possible....

I like the taller image now more than the prior shorter squat image. Good stuff dave.

 

[Vin]

It has grown a lot...but the increase in height was all man made. This past spring, I cut a slot in the back of the upper trunk, cranked it up as much as I dared and held it in place with a chop stick cut to size.

That 'splains it Looks like your tea bags are doing the trick. Any special fert in them?

 

[Dav4]

That 'splains it Looks like your tea bags are doing the trick. Any special fert in them?

Plantone!!!

 

[drew33998]

View attachment 68403 The deed's done, and I didn't even need a shoe horn.

View attachment 68402

There's something about the outside picture that really speaks to me.

 

[coh]

Interesting decision to make it taller. I'm wrestling with a similar issue, I've got a yew that has very similar deadwood. I can't decide whether to make the overall tree shorter like your original style (March photo), or taller like the new one. The problem with mine is that it doesn't have a nice thick trunk like yours does...just a number of smaller trunks. Which makes me think the shorter style might work better.

In any case, this is a beautiful specimen!

Chris

 

[Dav4]

Interesting decision to make it taller. I'm wrestling with a similar issue, I've got a yew that has very similar deadwood. I can't decide whether to make the overall tree shorter like your original style (March photo), or taller like the new one. The problem with mine is that it doesn't have a nice thick trunk like yours does...just a number of smaller trunks. Which makes me think the shorter style might work better.

In any case, this is a beautiful specimen!

Chris

Right. Usually, the mantra is to make the smallest tree possible, and that's what I tried to do with this one. I was hoping for a true shohin, but even at it's shortest, this one was still too tall. The thing that bothered me the most was that it only looked good from the designated front...from either side, it was just a blob of green with the apex barely identifiable from the back and side branches. Stretching it up almost 3" gave it that defined apex it was missing, and makes it more like a real tree. Current dimensions 12" by 15" wide with a 3" trunk and 6" root spread.

 

[Dav4]

12" tall by 15" high...

 

[Vin]

12" tall by 15" high...

What's 3 inches either way between friends?