Toyo Nishiki Clump

[thumblessprimate1]

Here's a Toyo Nishi. I decided to make a thread to share since it looks like I'll be keeping this one.
I got this clump around the end of May and made chops to it and pruned the roots; must have been about 2/3rds of branches and roots that I removed.

About a week later buds started to pop.

After another week, the last trunk's buds popped. The others turned into lengthy shoots.

 

[fredtruck]

Very nice. Do you plan to raise the clump when you actually pot it so the connections between the sucker/trunks and the roots are revealed?

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Fred, I definitely will raise it up as the tree matures.

 

[aframe]

That looks like some vigorous growth; very heathy indeed

 

[iant]

No flowers yet? It seems like summer is half over here!
Ian

 

[Cypress187]

No flowers yet? It seems like summer is half over here!
Ian

I thought that flowers only grew on older wood, and thus not on those new green shoots.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Mine normally has flower in late winter or early spring, and yes it usually blooms on old wood.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Couple of shots.

 

[fredtruck]

You're making good progress with the toyo. Can't wait for the flowers.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Roots in unsifted coarse perlite. They have been growing out since fall 2015. I'll try to take a pic when I repot.


@sorce

 

[JoeR]

Roots in unsifted coarse perlite. They have been growing out since fall 2015. I'll try to take a pic when I repot.
View attachment 92226

@sorce

Excited to see how it looks, I potted mine in perlite with some pine bark.


Whats your fert schedule for this one?

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Nothing really structured enough to be called a schedule, yet. And I don't have it down to a science. So far I fertilized every week until the fall using any granular fertilizer I had. I tried Color Star for flowering plants and cotton seed. Some weeks I used Miracle grow. Because of how much I watered and how free flowing the soil is, I'm probably washing away a lot of fertilizer. I may fertilize differently when I put it in a bonsai pot and grow it in akadama several months.

 

[sorce]

Balls!

Is this in reference to the other post about watering it with mist?

I completely misunderstood "mister".

Jesus!

Now this takes me back to what @GroveKeeper , I think it was grove, said about letting all those escape into the ground to start powering the top...

That makes all the sense in the world....

Real nice!

Sorce

 

[thumblessprimate1]

I wasn't intending for the roots to reach the ground, they just decided that themselves. I had sitting on the ground and noticed the roots when I lifted it to put on a bench.

 

[sorce]

Makes me think of why I prefer my homemade pots over Colanders.

Besides price and longevity.

It seems these rounded bottom Colanders all allow for a lot of root growth downward.

I made mine a bit tall....
Next endeavor......
Only making them an inch tall or so, and much wider.
Contemplating leaving the bottoms drainless.......

Anywho......
I'm not downing yours, or upping mine....

But if you had all that energy going sideways, seems your be leaping and bounding toward faster excellence.

That 7% difference again.....only in this case.....it seems greater.

Sorce

 

[GroveKeeper]

You might want to look into a fertilizer where all of elements are soluble in water and ready to be absorbed by the plants roots.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Thinking about adding space.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

 

[thumblessprimate1]

There were some discouraging times at first, but overall working with Japanese quince has been so joyful each year. There still are more of ones with the same age as this one in the yard. I'll have to see what to do with them later.

As for this clump, I'm growing to like it more with the spacer; I have in mind tall, thin, and sparseness.

 

[barrosinc]

I like it with a bit more space, but maybe a bit less than the last pics.
Are you letting it flower this year? (does it make a difference?)