Tanuki Fudu Shimpaku

R_F

Chumono
Messages
758
Reaction score
10
USDA Zone
9
This tree is in its first year of being grafted onto the wood of a Juniperus Procumbens. Sadly the original tree was a failed air layer but I just couldn't let go of the magnificient wood. So I'm trying a pheonix graft and so far so good. I think that this will make for a very convincing tree. I hope in a few years I'll have to tell people that it's actually a tanuki :D

Comments/suggestions welcome.
 

Attachments

  • Tanuki 1.JPG
    Tanuki 1.JPG
    81.4 KB · Views: 210
  • Tanuki 2.JPG
    Tanuki 2.JPG
    79.5 KB · Views: 167
  • Tanuki 3.JPG
    Tanuki 3.JPG
    66 KB · Views: 156
  • Tanuki 4.JPG
    Tanuki 4.JPG
    40.3 KB · Views: 137

R_F

Chumono
Messages
758
Reaction score
10
USDA Zone
9
A Few more Pics

I'm planning on wrapping it further up the trunk once it grows some more. And once it has squeezed itself into the channel I'm going to remove the nails.
 

Attachments

  • Tanuki 5.JPG
    Tanuki 5.JPG
    88.7 KB · Views: 92
  • Tanuki 6.JPG
    Tanuki 6.JPG
    66.9 KB · Views: 81
  • Tanuki 7.JPG
    Tanuki 7.JPG
    66.8 KB · Views: 116

bonsaiTOM

Mame
Messages
210
Reaction score
1
Location
Cedarville, NY, USA
USDA Zone
4
Ryan,

I do hope your shimpaku takes well to this "magnificent" wood. It makes for a wonderful graft project. Please keep us posted with updates!

Tom
 

october

Masterpiece
Messages
3,444
Reaction score
325
Location
Massachusetts
Hello Ryan,
I had commented in another place about this tree as well. I think your technique for this is oustanding. It seems impossible to tell that it is a tanuki.. and this is only the begining for the tree.:D
 

R_F

Chumono
Messages
758
Reaction score
10
USDA Zone
9
Hello Ryan,
I had commented in another place about this tree as well. I think your technique for this is oustanding. It seems impossible to tell that it is a tanuki.. and this is only the begining for the tree.:D

Thanks Rob ! :)
 

R_F

Chumono
Messages
758
Reaction score
10
USDA Zone
9
Ryan,

I do hope your shimpaku takes well to this "magnificent" wood. It makes for a wonderful graft project. Please keep us posted with updates!

Tom

Thanks Tom. I will definitely keep this one updated. It'll be a long term project for sure but well worth it.
 

amkhalid

Chumono
Messages
667
Reaction score
261
Location
Toronto
USDA Zone
6A
Nice piece of deadwood!

Its hard to tell from the pics but, if I'm not mistaken, it looks like the whip is following the low points or "valleys" in the deadwood. In other words, the live vein seems to be buried in the dead wood.

This strikes me as somewhat unnatural (again, hard to tell from the pics).

In nature, the live vein almost always looks like its resting "on top" of the dead wood. This is because the live vein continues to grow out, leaving dead parts behind it. It is very unusual for the live vein to be in the valleys of the dead wood, because typically the valleys are the parts of tree that have been dead the longest.

Not sure if what I am saying is clear, but the pics below better show what I mean. A wild tree and a famous bonsai (kimura juniper), both nicely showing the live vein "resting" on the high points in the dead wood.

Thoughts?

Ancient Juniper on Mangoustine Scatophage.jpg

kim002.jpg
 

Brian Underwood

Chumono
Messages
930
Reaction score
214
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
Your right, that is unnatural, but the hope when creating a tanuki (at least according to Jim) is that the whip will thicken to the point of spilling out of the channel you inserted it into. When this happens, the live "vein" will be raised, just as nature intended...
 

R_F

Chumono
Messages
758
Reaction score
10
USDA Zone
9
Nice piece of deadwood!

Its hard to tell from the pics but, if I'm not mistaken, it looks like the whip is following the low points or "valleys" in the deadwood. In other words, the live vein seems to be buried in the dead wood.

This strikes me as somewhat unnatural (again, hard to tell from the pics).

Well this is definitely a long term project. You are correct that the live portion is currently in the "valley" of the dead wood. Most tanuki I've seen (and maybe one of the reasons they aren't well accepted among many bonsai'sts) have the live portion literally placed on top of the wood from the start of the project. I think these artists do this to try to create an immediate finished tree that looks "natural". But in my opinion, to make a tanuki that is convincing it takes time and needs to start the way mine has so that it can swell up over the dead wood as it grows. This to me is the only way to make a convincing tanuki. Why have a tanuki that looks like a tanuki? I want my tanuki to be indistinguishable from any other twisty shimpaku.
 

R_F

Chumono
Messages
758
Reaction score
10
USDA Zone
9
Your right, that is unnatural, but the hope when creating a tanuki (at least according to Jim) is that the whip will thicken to the point of spilling out of the channel you inserted it into. When this happens, the live "vein" will be raised, just as nature intended...

Exactly :)
 

amkhalid

Chumono
Messages
667
Reaction score
261
Location
Toronto
USDA Zone
6A
Well this is definitely a long term project. You are correct that the live portion is currently in the "valley" of the dead wood. Most tanuki I've seen (and maybe one of the reasons they aren't well accepted among many bonsai'sts) have the live portion literally placed on top of the wood from the start of the project. I think these artists do this to try to create an immediate finished tree that looks "natural". But in my opinion, to make a tanuki that is convincing it takes time and needs to start the way mine has so that it can swell up over the dead wood as it grows. This to me is the only way to make a convincing tanuki. Why have a tanuki that looks like a tanuki? I want my tanuki to be indistinguishable from any other twisty shimpaku.

Gotcha. That is definitely a long term project. The live vein will be very thick by the time it outgrows the profile of the deadwood, but it will look very tight and natural.

I guess the alternative would be cutting out a trough for the whip as is usually seen with tanuki projects, but you are right that usually ends up looking like crap.

My last comment is that by anchoring your whip in the valley of the deadwood, you will be losing much of the character that piece of wood has. I'm not trying to be a pest here, just trying to point out some things about this project that strike me as unusual. I have never done a tanuki and find this very interesting.
 
Top Bottom