Shimpaku Finally Styled.....

[Ryan1979b]

Hey all I, decided to attempt to restyle a Shimpaku I have has sitting in the yard for about 2 years now(25cm tall from soil), I’m not sure why I bought it, impulse I guess but I always knew there would be a little tree in there somewhere. It has been in a large training pot for the last 2 years which helped develop some denser foliage and branches. I decided to bite the bullet re-pot it & give it a bit of a makeover....hehehehe...

Anyway below is the first styling, I know it’s not there all the way there yet. I still think there is a bit of work to do on the crown & maybe bringing it to the left a bit more. Also the branches on the right need to be adjusted now looking at them. So far I’m happy with the progression. I’m fairly confident that it will survive the re-pot, which I still always get nervous about. I only ended up removing about 10% of the roots but I did soak and tease out about 50% of the external roots to free up the old soil. Potting mix is a mixture 40% Premium bonsai mix, 50% Diatomite, 10% sphagnum Moss. After care: Soaked in Seasol solution for 10 mins and placed in full shade where I will leave for 3-4 weeks.

Opinion and advice are more than welcome..

By the way sorry about the crappy plastic pot it is but I find them to be perfect intermediate training pots, plus there cheap...hehehehe

Shimp 2 Spring 2009small.jpg

Simpaku 2 Spring 2010 small.jpg

Cheers All

[rowan]

What a great transformation, well done.

[archie1979]

Hey Ryan nice work looks great

[Jamie]

very nice mate,

did you wire as far as you could, to the tips? try and space out the foliage a little so it is not so heavy at the ends, even pinch back hard if need, that will give you the density you want at the tips, if you want backbudding, trim back by a third to a half of the foliage and it will start shooting back down the branch but more than likely in the junction of the branch to the trunk.

very nice though mate will make a fine tree!

[Ryan1979b]

I think your right Jamie, I might have to do a bit more pinching back & fine wiring of the tips to try and lighten them up a fair bit. Some budding back on a few branches wouldn't hurt either so I can bring the foliage a bit closer to the trunk.

[blkrota]

Nice work