Ok I admit, my juniper too does pot :)

[armetisius]

See how it grows on you???

So does athletes' foot but I don't tolerate it either.
The whole point of my tirade was "get off your a$$ and learn, at least some of it, yourself."
90% of these "ID this please" posts would be gone if some of these milk toast fed 'children',
or perhaps I should say childish acting a$$e$, were told to "go to a nursery every once in a
while." Going regularly and examining the ones you don't know may lead you to a plant you
actually love. And in the run of a year or so you will know more than you think and learn
while actually getting--wait on it; they'll run if you hit them with it too quickly--some exercise.
But the real benefit? you may actually be able to chime in when someone says, "wat iz dis?",
and be right.
Now technically, the OP did post a bonsai. The work might not be what you or I would have
done or quite what many of us would consider bonsai but, with this as in art, I like to think of
it this way; Michelangelo did not get the commission for St. Peter's until he was 70. Things and
people develop, mature, and gain skills through the years. Same way here.
Kudos on the pot and equally so on the tree. BUT do not take offense when someone who has
been producing "masterpieces" for years takes umbrage with your 'crowing' over, what is to
them, "refrigerator art". Or take offense at their comments meant to urge you along the way
towards better designed bonsai. However the OP does make the same point I have said for years
"buy cheap crap to start just to see if you can keep a tree in a pot alive." Many cannot even in
a nursery pot & I am always happy about that. I run a small nursery. If everybody could grow in
a pot, I would be moot & broke.
Just my observations on the matter.

 

[M. Frary]

"ID this please

Foemina.

 

[armetisius]

Foemina.

a$$

 

[Alain]

So does athletes' foot but I don't tolerate it either.
The whole point of my tirade was "get off your a$$ and learn, at least some of it, yourself."
90% of these "ID this please" posts would be gone if some of these milk toast fed 'children',
or perhaps I should say childish acting a$$e$, were told to "go to a nursery every once in a
while." Going regularly and examining the ones you don't know may lead you to a plant you
actually love. And in the run of a year or so you will know more than you think and learn
while actually getting--wait on it; they'll run if you hit them with it too quickly--some exercise.
But the real benefit? you may actually be able to chime in when someone says, "wat iz dis?",
and be right.
Now technically, the OP did post a bonsai. The work might not be what you or I would have
done or quite what many of us would consider bonsai but, with this as in art, I like to think of
it this way; Michelangelo did not get the commission for St. Peter's until he was 70. Things and
people develop, mature, and gain skills through the years. Same way here.
Kudos on the pot and equally so on the tree. BUT do not take offense when someone who has
been producing "masterpieces" for years takes umbrage with your 'crowing' over, what is to
them, "refrigerator art". Or take offense at their comments meant to urge you along the way
towards better designed bonsai. However the OP does make the same point I have said for years
"buy cheap crap to start just to see if you can keep a tree in a pot alive." Many cannot even in
a nursery pot & I am always happy about that. I run a small nursery. If everybody could grow in
a pot, I would be moot & broke.
Just my observations on the matter.

I like you!
I'm the OP, right?

 

[M. Frary]

I like you!
I'm the OP, right?

Me?

 

[Alain]

Me?

Yes, I like you too!

And btw, to answer you question: 'How does the dirt stay?"
After receiving it's first spring shower yesterday night not that well I have to say...
I'm not sure, i'll have to check more thoroughly this evening but it seems that the rim is gone or going...

 

[M. Frary]

Yes, I like you too!

That'll wear off soon.

 

[Alain]

Ok,
I think I finally understand what seems to have pissed so many people with my post, it's because I called my little tree a 'bonsai'.

I though I have been clear on that but obviously I wasn't.

If I called this little tree a 'bonsai' while I will call this one:


a pre-bonsai if I make a post on it it's because my little buddy is wearing the shoes I made for him!
That's it.

I know that the tree itself isn't a bonsai (although I am really convinced that it has all the potential to make a very decent shohin if I don't kill it first and take care of it properly. I am also convinced that it is already much more of a bonsai that any juniper bonsai you could find in most of the un-specialized retailers) but it has it's pot!

If I am not mistaking bonsai means literally 'tree in a pot'
Well that's it, the pot part is done.
Unless my pot doesn't work for reasons I didn't see coming it's its and it has always been as it was already this tree I had in mind when I made it.
http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ok-i-admit-i-do-pot.20540/

Bonsai is a funny art because it evolves.
When I did my other shows the art was there and it won't change, unless I repaint on because I become tired of it.
Well the pot's part of this particular 'bonsai' won't evolved anymore.
And that's my first tree in this case, as I said, repeatedly.

Now if I'm still offending some people, well, too bad I guess...

 

[armetisius]

Yes, I like you too!

And btw, to answer you question: 'How does the dirt stay?"
After receiving it's first spring shower yesterday night not that well I have to say...
I'm not sure, i'll have to check more thoroughly this evening but it seems that the rim is gone or going...

Not sure if I understand this correctly or not; by, ". . . but it seems that the rim is
gone or going. . . "do you mean the pot's rim is breaking up or is the collar of muck
it should have been edged with falling away. If the former--no advice; sorry.
If the later use that black mud they sell as canadian peat mixed 4:1 with hair.
Curlier the better. Honestly it does matter; got a box of beard [my own] waiting
on a "root over rock" assembly time. 3" long or more wavy hair acts as re-bar would
in concrete but can easily be slipped from the collar with tweezers after it binds up
well enough.

 

[armetisius]

Ok,
I think I finally understand what seems . . too bad I guess...

All else aside I would have STARTED with this one.

 

[Alain]

Not sure if I understand this correctly or not; by, ". . . but it seems that the rim is
gone or going. . . "do you mean the pot's rim is breaking up or is the collar of muck
it should have been edged with falling away. If the former--no advice; sorry.
If the later use that black mud they sell as canadian peat mixed 4:1 with hair.
Curlier the better. Honestly it does matter; got a box of beard [my own] waiting
on a "root over rock" assembly time. 3" long or more wavy hair acts as re-bar would
in concrete but can easily be slipped from the collar with tweezers after it binds up
well enough.

Ok, here I'm not sure I understand...

Anyway: false alert! The 'rim' isn't going anywhere
What I meant by 'the rim' was not the rim of the pot (which is fine, fragile, but fine) but the external part of the dirt that I though was flush away by the rain:

I had a very quick look at it yesterday while going to my job and it was the impression I had.
But in fact it wasn't that, it was just the dirt on the side of the roots that was a little bit washed out:


Nothing that some moss won't be able to stabilize I hope (and for the moment no harm no foul as the tips of the roots are still in the dirt)!
I'll do that this week end (and learn in the meantime that in a general way it's better to start to paint the background first now that there are some anchorage wires on top ).

BUT! I am seriously interested to understand your own point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What do you mean you use your beard!
I don't have a beard!
What is this recipe for muck? I always wonder how to make that (for the ROR I have in mind)

 

[Dav4]

You seem to have a pile of exposed roots with some nursery soil mixed in at the bottom? Junipers are tough, but even they need to have the majority of their roots covered by soil...moss isn't enough. Muck, a mixture of peat and fine clay particles, would do the trick.

 

[Alain]

You seem to have a pile of exposed roots with some nursery soil mixed in at the bottom? Junipers are tough, but even they need to have the majority of their roots covered by soil...moss isn't enough. Muck, a mixture of peat and fine clay particles, would do the trick.

Ah ok!
In fact I didn't do any modification to the roots while passing the tree from the colander to this pot so I though it was fine but I'll 'reinforced' that this week-end.
Otherwise the dirt itself isn't the one form the nursery (well there are some remaining) it's the mix I made with Brent Watson recipe as a starting point (but I added more perlite on the level at the bottom of the pot, i.e. underneath the root ball).
i plan to put a much more definitive soil when I'll re-pot my little buddy but this won't be before a while as for the moment it will first try to survive all that nonsense!

 

[JackHammer]

It might be worth it for you to read Brent Walston's article The Rules of Bonsai

I do have to say that your stone slab pot is very nice. I think it deserves a better tree though.

Do people here typically agree with Brent's rules? I took a look around but I didn't see a thread discussing.

 

[canoeguide]

Do people here typically agree with Brent's rules? I took a look around but I didn't see a thread discussing.

"Rules" is a strong word - "tips" would be more appropriate. In general, the content in that list didn't originate with Brent. It's a mixture of John Naka, et al. mixed with "common sense" and a bit of dogma.

One could do worse that take advice from that list, though.

 

[PA_Penjing]

Do people here typically agree with Brent's rules? I took a look around but I didn't see a thread discussing.

It's a little vague but not incorrect. for example rule number 1 is a tree should be six times the height of the width of the base. That's a pretty thick bonsai, but I have seen great ones that were only 4 times as tall as the base but the general rule is a 1:6 up to 1:12 ratio, unless it's literati. But frankly most folks that I meet just eyeball it and do what suits the tree. feminine trees usually have bigger ratios 1:12 and masculine will be closer to 1:6. There's a lot of great artists who do things by feel more than the old japanese standards. Especially when working with yamadori. But as they say, learn the rules before you break them.