Yamadori Mt Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) No. 1 The Twins

[Deep Sea Diver]

Made a connection to acquire two Mt Hemlock groups. Both dug in the alpine areas somewhere outside Mt. Rainer park boundaries. Here’s the first, more straightforward project. (The other is more complex.)

Two trunks and at least one seedling together. Height of the tallest twin 41”.

Any initial thoughts, on horticulture, styling etc would be most welcome.

Five views follow, first four each 90 degrees around the trees. The final image after the group‘s media was teased back to fit in an Anderson flat and temporarily packed with bark to keep stable and roots warm. Thinking of switching media to bare root 1/2 the tree as soon conditions permit and I get 3/8 pumice (2/3/22) in for a base layer this Thursday.

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Will post the other one soonish!
Best
DSD sends

 

[19Mateo83]

Those are pretty hemlocks!

 

[Potawatomi13]

Checked Michael Hagedorns site/Mtn Hemlocks?

 

[HoneyHornet]

Nice extraction,looks like you took a good amount of earth, how was the root mass?teased out did u uncover bunch of fine feeders?looks like a compact rootball should work really well I’ll be following the progress

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Thanks!
The plants were circled and undercut. We are just leaving them in the native soil until the end of Feb.

Then it’s1/2 bare root for the Twins and likely on a heat mat in the cold greenhouse for a couple months.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Huggz13]

Made a connection to acquire two Mt Hemlock groups. Both dug in the alpine areas somewhere outside Mt. Rainer park boundaries. Here’s the first, more straightforward project. (The other is more complex.)

Two trunks and at least one seedling together. Height of the tallest twin 41”.

Any initial thoughts, on horticulture, styling etc would be most welcome.

Five views follow, first four each 90 degrees around the trees. The final image after the group‘s media was teased back to fit in an Anderson flat and temporarily packed with bark to keep stable and roots warm. Thinking of switching media to bare root 1/2 the tree as soon conditions permit and I get 3/8 pumice (2/3/22) in for a base layer this Thursday.

View attachment 418188View attachment 418189View attachment 418190View attachment 418191View attachment 418192“

Will post the other one soonish!
Best
DSD sends

Nice!

 

[River's Edge]

I am pretty sure you have received some advice on the Hemlock repotting. But I have to disagree with your plan of action based on them being in entirely native soil at this point. Also I am unclear as to when they were actually collected and what recovery time they have had from collection.

My practise has always been to proceed more slowly with a specific approach that was suggested by Michael Hagedoorn when I was taking intensives from him. The process always varies dependant on what is found in each root ball as I proceed.
But basically the first stage of the repot focuses on the bottom and central core. with some edge work done.
The second stage bare roots 1/2 of the overall but in sections, dealing with the weakest areas first. ( so it may not be just one side)
The third stage completes the remaining sections.
Two key reasons.
1. Hemlock are very dependant on feeder roots closer to the surface so dealing with bottom and central core first allows for new roots and recovery in areas that are generally the weakest.
2. Hemlock often have some very large anchor roots and larger rocks embedded in the native soil. They are most often in the central core and dealing with this gives the best opportunity to creates lots of new soil for new roots without disturbing the near surface feeder roots.

Michael has some good write ups in his blog archives that are worth exploring! if you have any questions, my explanation is very brief, send me a pm and I will either elaborate or we can talk.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Thanks so much @River's Edge for this information. Along with your advice I spent a good deal of time reading. watching videos, and talking through the process, especially with the PBM Curator. So here goes…

Both Mountain Hemlock clusters were barked in their containers for the spring. We waited for the buds to start to green up.

The buds just began to green up this week. This was our trigger for the repots.

Here’s the Twins ready to go.



Bark removed, teased back the soil to uncover the root tips on the side. Teased the soil back on the bottom, core and underneath across to the edges.





Prepping the Anderson flat



Adding the media. This is a 3:1:1 mix including charcoal and some biochar on the surface later on.

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Wired down and ready to add the rest of the media and chopstick around the rootball etc.



All finished watering in. We plan to do some reduction pruning in the fall.



So our second Mt Hemlock clump done! That’s about the last of the major work for the spring except for two Mugo we will do in a month or two

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Japonicus]

Looking good DSD. Hope all repots thrive for you this year.

 

[River's Edge]

Thanks so much @River's Edge for this information. Along with your advice I spent a good deal of time reading. watching videos, and talking through the process, especially with the PBM Curator. So here goes…

Both Mountain Hemlock clusters were barked in their containers for the spring. We waited for the buds to start to green up.

The buds just began to green up this week. This was our trigger for the repots.

Here’s the Twins ready to go.

View attachment 433338

Bark removed, teased back the soil to uncover the root tips on the side. Teased the soil back on the bottom, core and underneath across to the edges.

View attachment 433339

View attachment 433336

Prepping the Anderson flat

View attachment 433337

Adding the media. This is a 3:1:1 mix including charcoal and some biochar on the surface later on.

View attachment 433335 .

Wired down and ready to add the rest of the media and chopstick around the rootball etc.

View attachment 433333

All finished watering in. We plan to do some reduction pruning in the fall.

View attachment 433353

So our second Mt Hemlock clump done! That’s about the last of the major work for the spring except for two Mugo we will do in a month or two

Cheers
DSD sends

Well done, neat touch maintaining wire position on the root ball with the stakes. Also good to see the high tech trunk modification for the twins.
If you consider further trunk modification, MT. Hemlocks are quite pliable, however they take considerable time to set in position. I usually plan on two years growth for thicker branches and trunks to remain in the new position once the wire or restraint is removed. The Bonsai Jack is of particular benefit when working with Hemlock trunks. I found the key was to exploit the small natural movement directions at multiple levels to get combined movement rather than attempting one bend. The mt. hemlock seems to naturally change direction in small amounts and working with the natural direction makes it easier. It is amazing what can be accomplished in stages over time.
Based on these pictures it appears you are thinking ahead and well on your way.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

(Thanks so much Frank! I’ve learned a lot from you!)

Gosh it’s been a bit since the Twins were updated. Since then they have gone through two cycles of bending.

The first with the aid of Jennifer Price with wire alone. Got some decent bend, yet needed more dramatic movement in the larger trunk to move away from the ‘vanilla look’.

The most recent was two weeks ago, with Aarin Packard. This cycle included rebar and blocking to move the larger trunk into position. This was another great learning experience!

Here are the Twins today

Front


Backside


Did I mention this is a project by my better half?

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[queenofsheba52]

Very nice indeed!

 

[Bavarian Raven]

You really went to town on them. :0

 

[andrewiles]

Looking great.

 

[Nybonsai12]

nice progression so far...how bout seeing some of that atlas cedar in the background

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

nice progression so far...how bout seeing some of that atlas cedar in the background

Thanks!.

The BAC is a tree newly transferred into our herd. See…

Blue Atlas Cedar rehab - Inherited tree

This Blue Atlas Cedar bonsai is one of the many trees owned by my Father in law. It was a full cascade then.. A couple years before Dad passed this tree (amongst others) was given to his oldest son. My better half and I repotted it over five years ago. Since then hadn’t seen the tree. A...

www.bonsainut.com

Cheers
DSD sends