What the hell did I just do???

[Adair M]

Yeah, for my very large trees in grow boxes, I've decided to try this... holes poked in the bottom to allow drainage but contain the ferts... so far, so good.

And they fit Groot’s nose better!

 

[Wilson]

Yeah, for my very large trees in grow boxes, I've decided to try this... holes poked in the bottom to allow drainage but contain the ferts... so far, so good.

Beast sized trunks, beast sized fert cups! This looks like some kinda crazy grow op you would see on the news!

 

[Dav4]

And they fit Groot’s nose better!

I love Invisible Fence... my bonsai garden is a Groot free zone!!

 

[JudyB]

Er um... Yaupon Holly...

Didn't know the leaves came out bronze colored. Ha! Stumped me...

 

[Dav4]

Didn't know the leaves came out bronze colored. Ha! Stumped me...

Yes, the buds come out reddish purple and the leaves are a ruddy brown until they green up... kinda cool.

 

[Dav4]

Where’d the trunk go??

 

[Dav4]

The smaller two are growing well, too...

 

[Adair M]

The smaller two are growing well, too...
View attachment 203806View attachment 203807

Seeing your fertilizer cups reminds me of a funny story:

Boon made up a big batch of dry fertilizer (blood meal, cotton seed meal, bone meal, etc) in one of those Rubbermaid totes and put a lid on it. They were then going to bag it up into tea bags later. Well, they forgot about it. An it sat outside for several months. Other things got stacked on top...

Well, comes the day when Kaya (Boon’s apprentice) decides to straighten up a bit, and he had forgotten what was in the bin...

And he opened it up. Somehow a bit of water had gotten in, and it fermented! And, well, it was as if a dozen Groots all passed gas at once! Poor Kaya was about knocked out!

It’s still there... a time bomb waiting for the next victim!

 

[coh]

Sounds delicious! Bonsai beer, made from fermented blood, cottonseed and bone meal. Yum...

 

[Adair M]

Sounds delicious! Bonsai beer, made from fermented blood, cottonseed and bone meal. Yum...

Ever opened a refrigerator that’s been unplugged and not running?

Yeah, THAT!

Only 1000 times more intense!

 

[Dav4]

Seeing your fertilizer cups reminds me of a funny story:

Boon made up a big batch of dry fertilizer (blood meal, cotton seed meal, bone meal, etc) in one of those Rubbermaid totes and put a lid on it. They were then going to bag it up into tea bags later. Well, they forgot about it. An it sat outside for several months. Other things got stacked on top...

Well, comes the day when Kaya (Boon’s apprentice) decides to straighten up a bit, and he had forgotten what was in the bin...

And he opened it up. Somehow a bit of water had gotten in, and it fermented! And, well, it was as if a dozen Groots all passed gas at once! Poor Kaya was about knocked out!

It’s still there... a time bomb waiting for the next victim!

Yeah, unfortunately some of my cups don't drain as fast as I'd like and there's a distinct "poop" odor back there if the ferts are fairly fresh but sitting under water for a day or two....

 

[coh]

Ever opened a refrigerator that’s been unplugged and not running?

Yeah, THAT!

Only 1000 times more intense!

I saw an episode of "Hoarders" where a woman went around collecting dead cats and stored them in her fridge. When someone went in there and opened her fridge, they found basically liquified cat.

I can only imagine what that smelled like...(sorry Dav4!)

 

[namnhi]

The smaller two are growing well, too...
View attachment 203806View attachment 203807

Dav,
When are you going to start working on these? I have 4 that collected a few months ago. I need to get them into a good soil first but I would probably follow what you do to these.
NN

 

[Dav4]

Dav,
When are you going to start working on these? I have 4 that collected a few months ago. I need to get them into a good soil first but I would probably follow what you do to these.
NN

Good question. These have all grown well post collection, but you can see how brutal the roots were cut back this past spring. I may do some very judicious pruning shortly, but won't go beyond that until next spring when I'm planning to pop them out of the containers and check out the root situation.

 

[namnhi]

Good question. These have all grown well post collection, but you can see how brutal the roots were cut back this past spring. I may do some very judicious pruning shortly, but won't go beyond that until next spring when I'm planning to pop them out of the containers and check out the root situation.

You are a year ahead of me. The plan is to do major roots and branch reduction in Spring and put them into good soil to grow. In no hurry....

 

[Dav4]

You are a year ahead of me. The plan is to do major roots and branch reduction in Spring and put them into good soil to grow. In no hurry....

Me, either... these are one of many decade long projects I've currently go in the works... let's hope I live that long.

 

[Dav4]

This one was next on the list for re-potting. I wired it out last fall with what I thought would be the best front... should have waited for this year's re-pot.


My proposed front did not develop roots like I had hoped... lots of very large, dead or mostly dead root stumps to deal with...


Time to break out the power tools!!


The root spread on this side of the stump is pretty darn good.... hmmmmmmmmm.


Flattening the root ball


Here's the big boy potted up in a stoneware pot for the first time, and the new proposed front. The root spread is fantastic, but unfortunately, the largest trunk falls away from the front. Possible options include building the apex off of the largest trunk back toward the front, or chopping the largest trunk away and turning this into a true sumo. We'll see...

 

[River's Edge]

This one was next on the list for re-potting. I wired it out last fall with what I thought would be the best front... should have waited for this year's re-pot.
View attachment 229196

My proposed front did not develop roots like I had hoped... lots of very large, dead or mostly dead root stumps to deal with...
View attachment 229197View attachment 229198

Time to break out the power tools!!
View attachment 229199

The root spread on this side of the stump is pretty darn good.... hmmmmmmmmm.
View attachment 229200

Flattening the root ball
View attachment 229201

Here's the big boy potted up in a stoneware pot for the first time, and the new proposed front. The root spread is fantastic, but unfortunately, the largest trunk falls away from the front. Possible options include building the apex off of the largest trunk back toward the front, or chopping the largest trunk away and turning this into a true sumo. We'll see...
View attachment 229202View attachment 229203

It's fun seeing how hard the southern crew is working this time of year. that's a monster base.

 

[quietobserver]

Duly noted... I thought I had some but I guess I drank it all.

Gobble Gobble...

W T 101 will have you sweating 20 proof at work the next day....

 

[Dav4]

I re-potted the little guys today. Good root growth for sure, so they’ve both been moved into decent training pots.