Ugly JBP project

[Beanwagon]

I picked up this jbp yesterday for $60. From what i understand it has been neglected in the shade for years, hence the low vigor.

It looked like a fun challenge to try and nurse back to health.



I gave it some wired today. I plan to repot this into a large container of pumice, scoria, perlite and fine pine bark, grow out the sacrifice at the top to thicken up.





Any and all feedback/advice is welcome.

 

[Cadillactaste]

A bit of advice...we do not work a weak tree. You allow it to recover. I have a neglected leggy JBP myself picked up this year. The only think I am offering it is heavy feeding regiment.

Notice...it sits in full sun...and only fed. Nothing else. It has gained a greener foliage under my care in doing so as well.

 

[Beanwagon]

A bit of advice...we do not work a weak tree. You allow it to recover. I have a neglected leggy JBP myself picked up this year. The only think I am offering it is heavy feeding regiment.

Notice...it sits in full sun...and only fed. Nothing else. It has gained a greener foliage under my care in doing so as well.

View attachment 381272

Cheers! I do appreciate the advice. I definitely did consider just leaving it for a season but.....couldn't help myself.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Just remember...a dead tree isn't fun at the end of the day. Patience...is something learned. The foundation tool to bonsai. Best of luck to you.

 

[Beanwagon]

A little update.

Since starting this thread I threw all caution to the wind.

I decided I would use this tree to experiment with diferent techniques on so I can gain a better understanding of this species.

It's very hard to get photos of this tree.

Anyway I made all the bends down more extreme.

I attempted bend the trunk by splitting it into 4 at the base. I wasn't able to get the leverage at this time so I decided to put some screws in to see if the scars from the split/screws would thicken the base.

I will probably try splitting further up the trunk next spring and bending more.

I'm assuming I will have to remove some of the branching to prevent reverse taper

I don't expect this to turn into anything nice. I am having fun experimenting though.

 

[Beanwagon]

 

[19Mateo83]

No guts no glory I guess….did you shoot the roots with a 9mm too?!

 

[Beanwagon]

I'm open to any and all feedback. Also if anyone has and ideas for extreme techniques you want me to try I'm all ears.

 

[Potawatomi13]

From what i understand it has been neglected in the shade for years, hence the low vigor.

It looked like a fun challenge to try and nurse back to health.

I gave it some wired today. I plan to repot this into a large container of pumice, scoria, perlite and fine pine bark, grow out the sacrifice at the top to thicken up.

WHY? Nurse tree back to health by stressing with wiring, etc? Tree needs Sun, H2O, fertilizer and LEFT ALONE to regain vigor. Ever consider asking advice BEFORE ham handed efforts to kill tree?

 

[Beanwagon]

WHY? Nurse tree back to health by stressing with wiring, etc? Tree needs Sun, H2O, fertilizer and LEFT ALONE to regain vigor. Ever consider asking advice BEFORE ham handed efforts to kill tree?

Why not? Yes I have considered many things in regards to this tree. I concluded that I wanted to learn more about this species and how they react to diferent forms of training. There is no better way to learn that to push something to the point of failure.

This tree presented a great opportunity. It was boring and relatively cheap.

I have repotted, split the trunk, heavily bent, trimmed and wired all the branches..all within the same season. This tree has continued to grow seemingly unaffected. I have learnt a lot more in a short amount of time than I would have if I pussy footed around.

Black pines grow amazing on the east coast of Australia.

 

[penumbra]

I know you feel like your are learning something here. Maybe you are and it eludes me. Who knows, maybe it will even live.
Wiring is atrocious and bends are unnatural, but maybe that is what you are after.
Poor tree.

 

[Beanwagon]

I know you feel like your are learning something here. Maybe you are and it eludes me. Who knows, maybe it will even live.
Wiring is atrocious and bends are unnatural, but maybe that is what you are after.
Poor tree.

I agree the wiring is terrible. The bend does not look natural at all. The tree is ugly as sin.

All the work I have done to this tree took place months ago. So I am pretty confident it's not going to die. For the moment anyway.

I have a few nice jbp that I have been training for 5+ years. I would much rather learn on a piece of material like this than something I have put effort into.

I also love a challenge of trying to make something cool from poor material. I have a huge challenge ahead of me.

I'm not trying to convince anyone as to if I'm learning or not.

 

[Beanwagon]

To summarise...

I am having a lot of fun messing around. I have set myself a challenge trying to make something cool from something incredibly ugly. Learning along the way.

 

[Darth Masiah]

 

[Beanwagon]

View from above.

Is this the ugliest tree on bonsainut?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Who knows? Maybe in 100 years will look like interesting Yamadori instead of another boring formulaic JBP.

 

[Beanwagon]

Who knows? Maybe in 100 years will look like interesting Yamadori instead of another boring formulaic JBP.

I'm hoping 10 years. I have some fun idea's to play around with.

I'm curious to see how others would have styled this from the image provided in the first post.

I would much rather try something radical.

 

[Beanwagon]

View from above

 

[Gbhphoto77]

I agree the wiring is terrible. The bend does not look natural at all. The tree is ugly as sin.

All the work I have done to this tree took place months ago. So I am pretty confident it's not going to die. For the moment anyway.

I have a few nice jbp that I have been training for 5+ years. I would much rather learn on a piece of material like this than something I have put effort into.

I also love a challenge of trying to make something cool from poor material. I have a huge challenge ahead of me.

I'm not trying to convince anyone as to if I'm learning or not.

Im no guru. But if the tree fails to thrive, how will you know what killed it so to avoid it in the future?

 

[Beanwagon]

Im no guru. But if the tree fails to thrive, how will you know what killed it so to avoid it in the future?

Well It didn't die. So I now know that it can take a lot of damage. I'm letting it recover for a growing season before I do anything else to it, because I want to thicken the trunk.

The hypothetical situation that you are asking has a lot of variables