AusBonsai

Work is pretty flat out at the moment, and I have a few freelance projects on the go, so with a rare child-free morning I went to dig some more trees

I was mostly after hawthorn with a bit of interest - most of the trees I've come across have been very straight with no taper. These ones aren't too bad but it would've been nice to have some more time out there. Next time!

The victims

The carnage

Some chopped olives

Some chopped hawthorn

Olives nicely potted up

And hawthorn potted up
I don't have room for all of these so will keep a couple and probably sell or trade the rest if they survive

Great stuff Greg, are you going to be using the bag method for the hawthorns?
If I don't get a chance to dig some of my own I may be interested in buying one or two of yours

Nice trunks. How long did these take you to dig out? All hand tools I presume?

SquatJar wrote: ↑May 31st, 2020, 2:18 pm Great stuff Greg, are you going to be using the bag method for the hawthorns?

I've got the hawthorns at the bottom of my little greenhouse; hopefully that does the job.

nozila wrote: ↑May 31st, 2020, 3:15 pm Nice trunks. How long did these take you to dig out? All hand tools I presume?

Yep hand tools - a trowel, secateurs , pruning saw and a hatchet for thick roots that are annoying to get to with the pruning saw (doesn't get used too much unless I get annoyed!). Probably about 5-10 minutes per tree, except the two small olives that I just ripped straight out. I didn't have a huge amount of time (I should get at least some work done) so I gave up on another olive that I'd spent about ten minutes on and still wasn't budging at all. These were all dug from a 45 degree slope which slows you down a bit!

If you’re a member of the S.A. Bonsai society you should have been emailed today the details for the upcoming dig at the Onkaparinga gorge. Soooo many olives! Hope to see you there.

Matt.

Not a financial member


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I’ve got these two olives an owner offered but I’m not sure if it’s too difficult to dig out.


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Matt S wrote:If you’re a member of the S.A. Bonsai society you should have been emailed today the details for the upcoming dig at the Onkaparinga gorge. Soooo many olives! Hope to see you there.

Matt.

Would love to come if at all possible.


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Olives we dig over here are relatively easy to get. Just dig around the base to clear some space then yank the trunk sideways. Roots are quite brittle so any down roots just break off and the whole trunk comes out quite clean.
Rather than worry how hard it would be to extract the trees consider whether the trunk will be suitable for bonsai. Lots of time wasted digging trunks that are just plain ugly and will never make good bonsai.
My tips: Look for trunks - that have some taper or can be chopped to side branches for taper; that have some bends or can be chopped to side branches to induce bends.
Olives can take quite a while to grow new leaders and heal cuts and stump bonsai is not really a recognised style.

thanks for the tip. i will judge the olive and its potential once i see it this weekend.
Do peacharine and mandarin make good bonsais?

Peaches an their hybrids tend to have relatively large leaves. One thread recently with a grower frustrated that he had not been able to take a peach.
They also don't ramify very well so always open and sparse looking as a small tree.

Manadarin could be good if you can master growing citrus in pots. I have not found that very easy so far.

Greg - Seeing how little root mass are on the hawthorns gives me hope for a couple that I have retrieved recently.

What do you recommend I do to best set up my yama hawthorn for success without a hothouse?
I've just got it (most cut back) planted in the ground for now while I get the others into grow boxes.

BlamJams wrote: ↑June 4th, 2020, 11:59 pm Greg - Seeing how little root mass are on the hawthorns gives me hope for a couple that I have retrieved recently.

What do you recommend I do to best set up my yama hawthorn for success without a hothouse?
I've just got it (most cut back) planted in the ground for now while I get the others into grow boxes.

Haha I'm far from the expert here, but from what I've read covering the tree with a black plastic bag to keep the humidity up helps: https://yamadori.co.uk/2016/01/04/impro ... -yamadori/

As to whether I've collected enough root mass...

Matt S wrote: ↑June 4th, 2020, 7:11 pm If you’re a member of the S.A. Bonsai society you should have been emailed today the details for the upcoming dig at the Onkaparinga gorge. Soooo many olives! Hope to see you there.

Awesome, I emailed my membership form in last night and now I'm all caught up with the details. The dates coincide with my daughter's second birthday weekend so I'll see how I go there!