New JBP Seedlings for shohin

[CrisisM0de]

Hello again every body!

I was finally able to purchase a couple JBP seedlings from Adam's Bonsai and received them this weekend. I think I must still be returning to normalcy from quarantine because there presence in the mail was probably the highlight of my weekend.

I slip potted them into a conifer mix last night... I didn't realize they would arrive in such a small amount of soil and, sadly, I was not prepared. Pond baskets sold out everywhere and soil fell right through the colander; I had to go with terra cotta, but I suppose that may look nicer anyway.



First, winter. I am getting nervous about it as this is my first year with bonsai, my research started late summer. I expect I will kill trees, but I really, really don't want to kill them by screwing up winter. I have 5 other trees, 3 in nursery pots (dawn redwood, boxwood, mugo, scots, and an 4 year~ JBP). My plan for those was either an unlit, attached garage, or an upright plastic tote set on the ground with the trees mulched in. I am not sure if one is better than the other (safer)? I am curious if seedlings need a specific plan, or if they can be tossed in with the other 5 trees?

Second, I was wondering about the bar branch on the left seedling. I know the tops of these trees will be sacrificed, but that bar branch seems low enough to possibly be part of the tree. Is the removal of this next spring or the following spring ideal? I don't want reverse taper to develop from that bar branch... right?

My initial plan for these seedlings was to develop them as shohin. I have read the 'alternative approach' on Bonsai Tonight a few times and plan to use this approach for wiring:



I have also browsed Google Images quite a bit as I looked for inspiration and perhaps that is getting ahead of myself, but I love these 2 trees:



I know these two trees are significantly older than my seedlings. I know these were created by people with faaaar more knowledge than I.... But, if I understand correctly, the work toward creating similar trees will begin with wiring them as seedlings. I am assuming the wiring will look slightly different than the example from Bonsai Tonight. Is it as simple as picking the initial shape and creating it? I think the first bend in the cascade must have been made similar to Bonsai Tonight's example, but the one on the left doesn't seem to be as drastic. It looks like its bent backwards almost 90 degrees and then is wavy up to the top. I am wondering how this tree was developed and what the initial wiring would have looked like? Does anyone have any direction on this, or articles to share?

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Keep reading Bonsaitonight, Jonas is incredible at developing stock! It is as simple as following the trunk likes and making the wire do what you want it to do.

 

[CrisisM0de]

@Brewing and Bonsai I will keep reading through Jonas' blog, its really great information! Thank you for drawing those out for me!

I wouldn't imagine I would create the entire shape from just the seedling unless I was planning on a very, very small tree, correct? In the cascade, for example, I assume I would set only the first bend and then guide the tree into the next direction in the following years? And from reading Bonsai tonight, the size I make these initial bends will more or less dictate the final size of the tree.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

The top picture has definitely had root work done, and sacrifices used to thicken the bottom. Sometimes you use the initial seedling as your trunk, but usually you use buds that pop as your main trunk section later on down the line.

The bottom picture doesn’t seem to have much taper (thick to thin). A sacrifice probably ran straight out the top to thicken the whole trunk section.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

For an example, this is a pitch pine seedling I am training as a Shohin. The taper it has so far was achieved by growing a whip straight up, chopping it at the blue arrow and using a side branch as the new trunk section. The green arrows are buds that may be used as the next section in the future, and the red arrow is the next sacrifice that will be removed down the line.

 

[CrisisM0de]

@Brewing and Bonsai thank you, I think I understand... basically the most I will likely use is the very base of the trunks?

This one would probably work to start into cascade than with these 3 small branches used for thickening? I think it looks like a boxer right now with its fists raised. Part of me wants to preserve that look to the end, I think I have seen a JBP that looks like that on Facebook.