The Rosemary Thread

Poink88

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icapture,

Nice tree. :)

Can you post a pic of this tree about 90 degrees to the left and/or 30 degrees to the right? Thanks.
 

ABCarve

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About 4 months ago I stopped by this great nursery intending to allow myself to purchase one plant. I found an amazing Leucophyllum frutescens (aka Texas Ranger) that I just had to have, the trunk was just BEGGING for bonsai.

But then I stumbled across this Rosemary and well...you know how it goes.

This is the before and after:



The lower left pad did not make it. I live in San Diego and the sun is pretty intense here. That pad was an internal branch which didnt get much sun, and when I reduced the foliage and essentially exposed it I believe it was too much heat for too little leaf. But it still works, I kept the branch as kind of a dead wood.

Great plant though. I hope to back bud the lower right pad to build up its thickness.

Nice trunk! Good luck getting into a bonsai pot. I wouldn't do it this year...although you are in CA. I would poke through the roots...don't just saw the bottom off.
 

Neli

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Very good find. Whenever I trim a plant I keep it in the shade for week or two...and if I am not sure how a tree backbuds, I always leave some healthy foliage at the end and lots of insurance branches.
That said...see how it will back bud, before deciding on future direction. You might need to remove some more branches.
 

ABCarve

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Attack of the gaint tree frog

Caught this little guy snoozing in the rosemary. Juvenile grey tree frog....my favorite night creature. Don't know why he's green....they are chameleon like and could do a lot better blending in.
 

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ABCarve

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Spring is close enough!! Just got done with a repot and liked the results. Have a theory on why the don't like their roots played with. These plants don't seem to have any ability to heal a wound and that includes the roots. Poking around in there this time I notice prior roots cuts and they looked fairly nasty. Seems as though the entire root died entirely back to the core.
 

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Vin

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That my friend is in a very very nice pot! So, what would you recommend as a repot procedure? By the way, I'm with you on the deeper pot. That was the plan for mine.
 

GrimLore

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Attack of the gaint tree frog

Caught this little guy snoozing in the rosemary. Juvenile grey tree frog....my favorite night creature. Don't know why he's green....they are chameleon like and could do a lot better blending in.

That tree frog can only change from white/grey to shades of green. No idea why but we discovered those here last Summer - sticky lil things for certain o_O

http://bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/odd-visitor-here-never-saw-one-up-north.16278/#post-217908

Grimmy
 

ABCarve

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That my friend is in a very very nice pot! So, what would you recommend as a repot procedure? By the way, I'm with you on the deeper pot. That was the plan for mine.
When you get it out of its current pot, go at the root ball with a chopstick to knock away the soil and see what big roots are present. I wouldn't cut anything bigger than an 1/16".....more than that "could" (I'm guessing) be an issue. I had 1/8" root stubs that were dead from pruning. The small hair roots can be picked away as needed. Since your not removing big roots, pot size and style matters. Mine have always been in deep pot and so they will remain in one. If your trying to change to a shallow pot you can see if your roots will bend enough to lay in without breaking. I think its best to start with a young plant and keep it in one style of pot. My smaller tree gets root pruned every two years to keep the soil draining well and any outside roots from getting too large. It never skips a beat and never had any die back. This large one may continue to die back...time will tell.
 
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ABCarve

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Vin

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When you get it out of its current pot, go at the root ball with a chopstick to knock away the soil and see what big roots are present. I wouldn't cut anything bigger than an 1/16".....more than that "could" (I'm guessing) be an issue. I had 1/8" root stubs that were dead from pruning.
You would think it would be effected if the fine feeder roots were removed. Thanks or the insight.
 

ABCarve

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Literati Rosemary
This is the Rosemary from post #8. As you can see it was almost a gonner. Repotted last spring into a really dry mix which seems to have brought it back....a least the bottom part. The deadwood is difficult to strip the bark. I used a Foredom with a small steel wire brush, then lime sulfur. The fine twigging is amazingly flexible, even after a year of drying out. I felt it needed a nanban pot to fully realize its potential. Leaving it in the old drum pot another year could make the roots tighter and a more stressful repot. I didn't have to remove any roots, just spread them out a bit. I'm gonna cross my fingers.
 

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pitchpine

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It looks lovely with that deadwood! Crossing my fingers for you!

Laura
 

ABCarve

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Here’s an update. This character just seems to like a big pot. It had some fairly aggressive root work done this spring and didn’t skip a beat. The former pot was a 16” x14” round and this new one is 16” x 14” sq. plastic. Pretty convincing imitation for ceramic. I need to save all the weight I can. The deadwood caused by smaller pots works well.
 

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Vin

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Here’s an update. This character just seems to like a big pot. It had some fairly aggressive root work done this spring and didn’t skip a beat. The former pot was a 16” x14” round and this new one is 16” x 14” sq. plastic. Pretty convincing imitation for ceramic. I need to save all the weight I can. The deadwood caused by smaller pots works well.
That's looking fantastic! I had to put two of my potted ones back in the ground because they were slowly dying. It was in a pretty small pot. Like you, I'm going to stick with larger pots from now on. I have a few in the ground and one of them is really ready to be potted.
 

ABCarve

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That's looking fantastic! I had to put two of my potted ones back in the ground because they were slowly dying. It was in a pretty small pot. Like you, I'm going to stick with larger pots from now on. I have a few in the ground and one of them is really ready to be potted.
Thanks. This is the last pot!!!!! If it can’t live for a long long time in this one........well.....you know. The trunk is up to about 3”+ from just letting it grow. Just pruning to shape.
 
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Vin

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Thanks. This is the last pot!!!!! If it can’t live for a long long time in this one........well.....you know. The trunk is up to about 3”+ from just letting it grow. Just pruning to shape.
3"+, what are you feeding the beast?
 

Vin

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Curiosity got the better of me. I just went out and measured my largest ones that have been in the ground for 4 years if I remember correctly. I was quite surprised to find two of them at 2 1/2" and one at 3".
 
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