thuja from 6 foot to 6 inches

[jamie11]

hey people

this thuja was given to me and has been sitting in the back yard neglected not knowing what to do with it, knowing they arent the best to use for bonsai i figured it would be a good thing to practice on with chopping down, deadwood and working over.

so this is what i have done. it was originally quite tall 6 foot or more now stands 6 inches
trunk width at base is about an inch and a half.

attached is a virt of where i would like to go with it if it survives the harsh treatment i gave it, i rootpruned it down to less than a fifth of what it had originally and took heaps off it.

any comments and critisism welcome

jamie

 

[bonsai barry]

You were fortunate to find branching that low. I haven't had much luck with thuja, so I wish you well.

Jeff

PS It would be helpful if we knew where you lived.

 

[jamie11]

yes very fortunate to find it that low, i do have one question that i have no idea on, is there any chance that grafting of say shimpaku foliage or similar could be done onto this species of tree??

 

[snobird]

I don't think that shimpaku will graft to thuja although they are in the same family. Cypress (cupressus) has a better chance. Maybe look for a thuja with fine or juniper type foliage such as hinoki or sawara varieties?

 

[grouper52]

You may be eligible to win any one of a number of awards here:

The When-Life-Gives-You-Lemons Award

The Less-Is-More Award

The Go-For-The-Gusto Award

The Damn-The-Torpedos Award

Bravo, which ever one you chose. And if you're a newb this brave, then double bravo!

Don't know what would graft to it. What type of Thuja, BTW, and where are you generally?

 

[HotAction]

Way to be brave, if it wants to bend, this is what i'm feelin'. Good luck.

-Dave

 

[jamie11]

grouper,

i have been into bonsai for a couple of years, with no teaching or mentors, everything i have learnt is through books and reading on the net and just having a bit of guts to give something a go with nothing much to lose as far as i was concerned with this tree

i am pretty confident the tree is thuja occidentalis, it has the flat fan type foliage. light green lime (ish) in colour.

my are is actually Queensland, Australia not sure what sort of zone this would be considered to you guys over in the US i have constant temps of between 20 degrees celcius and 38 degrees celcius. humidity can be anywhere from very little at 10-20% to quite high of 100% or more.

hotaction, the tree could actually bend like that i would like to try and graft a different foliage onto it before i do this though as much as i am happy with how it has come out, i am not particularly a fan of the way the foliage is.

cheers

jamie