My two Japanese Larch

[DaveV]

Hi All, Here are my two Japanese Larch that I was referring to. I acquired them this winter from a club member. I just finished styling them last week and as always, I wish I would have taken some before photos. I plan to keep them in their growing boxes this season. Would like to know how to develop fine branching and short internodes. Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

Thanks

Dave V.

 

[Brian Underwood]

Nice material, both with promising futures. The wiring needs work though. You shouldn't need as many guy wires as you have there, as the branches should be easy enough to bend with a pair of channel locks clamped to the wire. Try to wire each and every branch for movement and proper placement.

 

[crust]

Yikes..they look like they have been growing very robustly. Larch can get awful course when growing fast. The root flare is pretty good but I would consider plans to get taper in the upper portions at minimum and possibly in the lower portions also. One could cut back to gain taper on the tops and graft on some sacrifices on the bases if you wanted. I agree with Brian on wiring everything out if you intend to keep them as they are. If you keep the shapes as they are slow them down and wire out the finer growth.

 

[JudyB]

These are nice, you should think about cutting the fatter branches back as they seem a bit heavy for the trunk, that is if you're happy with the trunk development as it is.

It's pretty easy, Japanese larch throw a lot of material out each and every year to work with. Once the shoots lengthen to about 1.5 inches or more, prune them back to about a third of their length. You can pull needles off the bottom of the branches to keep it neater. You may need to pinch more than once, as they can really shoot out.
You should try to keep your pruning towards the early season, late pruning can result in large coarse knuckles. You probably know about repotting, if not, make sure you repot before the buds pop all the way. I do mine when they look like tiny shaving brushes. If you do it after that you risk the tree.

The Colin Lewis article in Bonsai Today issue 79 available at Stone lantern (cheap) is well worth the cost, and lays out pruning for bud selection step by step, and better than I can describe it. Dave Joyce's book "the art of natural bonsai" also has some decent info for larch.

 

[DaveV]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Brian, I am not sure what channel locks are. I will wire the smaller branches soon though. Thank you Crust for your input. Judy, Yes, I did order that issue of Bonsai Today from Stone Lantern yesterday - thank you.

DaveV.

 

[amkhalid]

...graft on some sacrifices on the bases if you wanted...

Interesting... never thought of this. Is this what you and Nick do to thicken precise areas?

 

[fore]

Nice material, both with promising futures. The wiring needs work though. You shouldn't need as many guy wires as you have there, as the branches should be easy enough to bend with a pair of channel locks clamped to the wire. Try to wire each and every branch for movement and proper placement.

Brian, channel lock pliers to help bend wire...what a great idea! I've been putting off buying another pr. of bonsai pliers just for money's sake. But using the channel locks is affordable and, more useful than bonsai pliers when bending. Thanks for the idea Brian!

DaveV, this is what Brian was talking about:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...angId=-1&keyword=locking pliers&storeId=10051

Chris

 

[crust]

Amkhalid,
Well Nick has but more often he just got small stock with lots of super low branches then grew them out for a decade or two. I have fumbled around with lower sac-grafts but most of the stock over grew in the ground in my abscence so I have no good examples. Some of the ground stock may have potential yet I will have to see this spring.

 

[amkhalid]

Amkhalid,
Well Nick has but more often he just got small stock with lots of super low branches then grew them out for a decade or two. I have fumbled around with lower sac-grafts but most of the stock over grew in the ground in my abscence so I have no good examples. Some of the ground stock may have potential yet I will have to see this spring.

It is a clever idea. I could see it working very well on larches.

 

[DaveV]

update on my Japanese Larch

Here it is now. Placed in a bonsai pot a few weeks ago.

 

[DaveV]

I know it is looking like a Christmas tree, but that seems to be how it is going now.

 

[JudyB]

Did you straighten the planting angle from the first set of photos? I think I liked it better a little less upright to be honest. But it sure is Green! J larch can put on some huge summer growth.