AusBonsai

Well now, let me introduce you to the tree that's been giving me the every time I try to figure out what to do with it! After much uhm'ing and ah'ing, I decided to get some movement into the trunk (which was originally totally straight), and that is where it stood last week. I used a trunk splitter and it has been healing for about a year now.
I have this thing about cascades and literati styles, so I thought that I'd try to do something a little different and go for a sinuous elegant little literati, and so without further ado, let me introduce you to the new tree!
The intention is to create two levels of foliage on the cascading branch and drop 'er into a small round drum style pot. I'll probably also try to get a little more movement into the trunk in the future to make the current bend a bit more obvious.

Thoughts? Comments? Be honest!

Cheers,

Andrew

It's certainly gone from "there's something in there somewhere" to "this is it"!
Nebari works, the trunk tapers convincingly, and the drop is strong. Think about it for a while, but could you do without the left -side jin? It's a strong sideways movement on an up-and-down tree, at the same level as the dropped branch. Maybe cover it up and see whether the tree looks stronger.

Nice job.

Gavin

Hi Gavin,

Thanks for the feedback and compliment. The jin is a point of concern for me. I think you are right in that it is definately too big and dominant at the moment. I have decided to leave it on for now as once it is off, it is off. I'll probably do a few virts once the foliage pads have taken shape a bit. The individual needle supporting branchlets need to be bent up. I'll probably end up reducing it bit by bit until it either works or is gone completely.

Cheers,

Andrew

hey andrew this tree is looking great with the new direction you have given it. i think removing or redirecting the crossing root would synchronise the nebari. this one will become a very nice elegant tree with some age.

Nice change Andrew

the jin def too big and you will fix that, but I think it needs more movement above the Jin? Maybe accentualte the bend to the left then the fall over the top

Ken

OK pine experts - I need help!

Here is my tree today:
Looking a bit sorry for itself! Now I need to bear in mind that it is winter and the tree will lose some needles, but this many? Looks fishy to me! As you can see there are plenty of new buds, and I took off the wire in the hopes that it would allow less restricted sap flow. Will these buds make it? Is the anything I can do to keep it going? Foliar feed etc? Its pretty cool h now (8 to 16 degrees) so I'm not sure whether the tree will even take up food!
Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks,

Andrew

The new buds look just fine. What I think has happened is needle die back of the old needles because of the drastic treatment previously or from excess fert. I would not fert too much and just let the new needles grow and then pluck off the old ones when the new ones fill out a bit more in a couple of months time. You could even trim off all of the brown tips now as they are serving no purpose.

Andrew, when did you unwire the tree mate?

G'day Andrew

Definitely looked better, but at least the buds look ok and are pointing up now. Mate I reckon just too much too soon. There was a lot of strength in the growth you cut off originally and I think it affected the flow into the remaining foliage. Maybe leaving the stubs and not jinning straight away would've helped.

I would leave it and not prune or remove anything yet. Start with some seasol every couple of weeks for now untill growth starts.

Tony

I think any issues with the transformation would have turned up during summer rather than now. I'd suspect a watering, roots or possibly feed issue. Anyone been using herbicide recently? Can you lift it out of the pot and check condition of roots? It appears to be sitting on a sand tray Is that necessary at this time of year? or am i seeing something else?

New growth does look ok so there is still hope.

Hackimoto wrote:The new buds look just fine. What I think has happened is needle die back of the old needles because of the drastic treatment previously or from excess fert. I would not fert too much and just let the new needles grow and then pluck off the old ones when the new ones fill out a bit more in a couple of months time. You could even trim off all of the brown tips now as they are serving no purpose.

LOL - Not from excess fert! I did take quite a bit off the tree and gave it a good bend, so I suspect that's more likely. Thanks for the advice Hack.

Craig wrote:Andrew, when did you unwire the tree mate?

About two weeks ago Craig. Once I noticed the significant browning of the older needles. I thought it may help to increase sap flow to the buds. I did leave the cable tie in there to try to keep the branch in roughly the same position, although it has sprung back about 2 cms.

Cheers

Tony Bebb wrote:G'day Andrew

Definitely looked better, but at least the buds look ok and are pointing up now. Mate I reckon just too much too soon. There was a lot of strength in the growth you cut off originally and I think it affected the flow into the remaining foliage. Maybe leaving the stubs and not jinning straight away would've helped.

I would leave it and not prune or remove anything yet. Start with some seasol every couple of weeks for now untill growth starts.

Tony

Hey Tony, I think you may be correct. I did chop quite a bit off, and if memory serves it did bleed a bit. A lesson learnt for me!

Cheers

shibui wrote:I think any issues with the transformation would have turned up during summer rather than now. I'd suspect a watering, roots or possibly feed issue. Anyone been using herbicide recently? Can you lift it out of the pot and check condition of roots? It appears to be sitting on a sand tray Is that necessary at this time of year? or am i seeing something else?

New growth does look ok so there is still hope.

Thanks for the response mate.

Watering was actually suggested by a local grower as a possibility (check drainage). It has been pretty wet here recently. I don;t know of any herbicides being used recently, but my other pines look pretty much normal on the same bench. The tree is in a very sandy mix, and has never been repotted other than a slip-potting into this mica pot a few years back. It will need root-work in the coming years, but only once it is looking healthy again. There are probably a lot of redundant roots after that top-chop. The bench is my standard bonsai bench, and the mix you see it sitting on is a 3 to 10mm sandstone gravel that I cover my benches with to provide humidity in summer. Funnily enough, my trees love it and are constantly growing roots into it. I'm starting to think it may just be the mix of my future! The roots always look lovely and strong and healthy in there! Perhaps I'll move it out of the rain and put it under the eves of my house out of the wind. I'll pull it out of the pot tonight and take a photo of the roots and mix.

Thanks for the ideas.

Cheers

PS: I have a Natal Fig that a mate gave me a few months ago, and I was thinking "Wow, this is not draining well!". Well I had a look under the pot (sawn off 20 litre paint bucket) and to my amazement found no holes at all!!!!! The guy was growing it in a pot with no holes!!!! Go Figure! It's now my no pot bonsai tree growing quite happliy sitting on my patio with no pot at all, and all of a sudden, guess what . . . . it's pushing new growth!

Hi Andrew, i would have left some branches to draw sap up the trunk. To much to soon i would say. You can still design the tree whilst leaving branches to assist recuperation. Hope it pulls through for you.