NorCal Poms

[n8]

This project originates in the Early Days thread.

In July, I chopped down one of the trunks of a pomegranate in my front yard, divided it into four sections and stuck them in sand with an additional bucket of sand on top, covering about 2/3 of the trunk. Today, after two months of spring-like growth from the sections, I pulled off those top buckets to see what was going on. Here's where we are today.



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[n8]

Plan is to get these out of the sand and into training pots soon, but I wanted to carve while they were still steadily anchored in the sand. I tried some hand carving and Dremel, before realizing that I needed a bigger tool. Pomegranate wood is tough! Took some advice from this thread and spoke with my teacher about power tool carving. Got myself a die grinder and some router bits and went to work today.

These may all get chopped down further. The segments from July's chainsaw session each have several inches below the sand line (the big ones, maybe up to a foot? - I don't remember), so more trunk will be exposed when they're repotted and I'll have to take that into consideration when I see what's been happening down low. They'll also be worked on by hand and with small bits on the Dremel. The goal with the grinder is to reduce and remove a lot of wood.

Pretty happy with the start of these and welcome any input. Die grinders are fun!

This is the least interesting of the segments from July and was my practice tree to get the hang of the tool. Took off the flat top and cut in around some nodes.




This pom is from an air layer (12" circumference) from two summers ago. It had lots of cuts from where the mother tree had been pruned by previous tenants. I dug into each of those and tried to make them more interesting. It's pretty nobby up top, so I need to figure out how to handle that.

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Once warmed up, I did some work on the most interesting segment, which has a neat, natural hollow and is hollow/rotten through the core. It's still quite square up top, so I think I need to carve one side down a bit more.

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[n8]

Pom updates!

Moved the 2018 air layer into a trainer, removed branches and started some wiring on main branches.



Did a test repot one of the 2019 chainsaw cuttings in late January. Amount of roots grown in seven months was good, but could be better. It's not dead, but clearly struggling in comparison to the pom cuttings left in the sand. I'll wait until it's warmer to repot the bigger cuttings. They'll have stronger roots and the heat should keep them rolling right along in a few months.



Here are the other three chunks:

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Here's a 2 inch round I threw in a pot in June 2019. Did nothing but plop on top of some soil. It's rooted and thrown a few branches.

 

[rich815]

Excellent. Those look great. I like Poms. Got three nice ones going myself down here in the East bay.

I also did something similar with some willow branches. Both rooted quickly and began new branches in abundance. Not sure how I’ll make them into pre-bonsai candidates but for now they’re growing well.

None produced any Sierra Nevada Ales for me though. Gotta learn your trick...

 

[n8]

I moved two more out of the sand a couple weeks ago. Root mass was a bit better than the first 2019 chainsaw cutting and I cut back some of the super-extended growth. I guess it was only about a month later, so I shouldn't have expected much. We had some rain in the forecast and it was in the 90s, so I figured I'd give it a shot. They both seem to be doing well.

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I transplanted the chainsaw chunk that I think has the most potential yesterday. Similar root mass again, and it's a little frightening to look at them in comparison to the trunk size, but these poms seem to thrive in the heat and we have decent humidity due to a nearby creek. Again, we had rain in the forecast last night and a bit more this week. Seemed like a good time to do it. Stoked on the weather for garden/bonsai work, fishing and another week of morel hunting. Usually pretty damn dry in the Sacramento valley from early May through October/November. We also got out for our last valley hike of the season; high country from here on out.

Needed a little help from my son to hold this beast in place while I arranged roots and anchored it to the pot. I'll post another update in a few weeks, but I reckon I'm not touching these again until next spring. Should probably cut back some foliage on this one.

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[n8]

Did some wiring.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Both are coming along. Nice.

 

[n8]

BeastoidPom is starting to look good. Gave a little haircut and wiring this weekend:



I didn't have high hopes for this one (the end of the original trunk), but I think it's taking shape. Need to get in there with the die grinder and carve out those old branch cuts:

 

[n8]

PomDate

Really happy with these three. They love the Central Valley heat. Great species for my area.



I am giving this one to a friend tomorrow. Kinda blew his mind how I showed him how easy it was to root massive cuttings. I do not need two massive poms and I wanna expand the NorCal Pom Brain Trust to see what he does with it.

 

[n8]

Nice fall yellows.

 

[BrianBay9]

Just starting on my first pom now. Do you do anything with your cuttings other than just plop them in a pot? What season do you take them - late spring I presume?

 

[n8]

Just starting on my first pom now. Do you do anything with your cuttings other than just plop them in a pot? What season do you take them - late spring I presume?

You can see the origination of these trunk cuttings here: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/the-early-days-progress-thread.39525/#post-667477

I took them during blazing summer heat at the end of July and sunk them in sand with a top bucket also full of sand. This thread starts two months later when I removed the top bucket.

If you can get your hand on large chunks of pom (or olive), they root incredibly easy during our hot months.