AusBonsai

hey guys i bought this little guy on monday and thinned it out removed some inner weak growth and dead branches
i intend on leaving this little guy as a shohin i think, it now stands at 150mm high and 300mm wide.
i was wondering if i should touch the roots? because i'am itching to get it into its new pot

any idea's, advice, approval...................... abuse haha is very welcome

Probably too cold down your way to root prune it now. I would leave it until Spring.

i like it mate, not "bonsai" exactly but still looks cook and will look better over time i think.
Wat is the name that was on the tag when u bought it, pretty sure i was gunna buy one of these just the otherday.
All in all, look cool i would leave it till very end of winter and have look at the roots and slightly tease and prune, then into a shallower pot and gradually get it ready for a bonsai pot

This would look good with the african flat top style

thanks bougy sounds like a plan

thanks pat i'm hoping so to!! haha it said it was a baeckea "la petite"

its funny you say that velvet i was thinking the same thing

I have 2 still in the ground and they put on heaps of trunk girth in 2 years, so maybe consider that.
I will dig them later in winter and pot up.

Do a web search for an South African Bonsai artist, Charles Ceronio. and Pierneef style.
Acacias are commonly found in that style over there, but not many here I think

Ken

hey ken i would love to see some photos when u do pot them up
i had a look at some of charles work an its fantastic!! i'm curious about the use of acacias, because i was told they are relatively short lived? i definitely want to try a Pierneef style with this little one
have you done any root work with this type before?

hey just a little update just incase anyone wanted to see it haha
i re potted it into its first bonsai pot on friday got to love a rdo
hopefully i havent cut off to much root
should i change the angle to make it lower on the left handside
or lowering the right hand side branch to horizontal and have 2 separate pads

I like it mate.

matty-j wrote: have you done any root work with this type before?

sorry missed this one before.
When I potted up mine i was fairly harsh on the roots and took about 2/3 off with no issues.
When I planted the 2 in the ground out, i root pruned them fairly hard and both bounced back. I have not dug them up yet.

Ken

I would both change the angle to tilt it to the left and trim the foliage to make two seperate pads. That is my preference rather than just having a boring horizontal lump of foliage. I had a great one of these but put it into a too small bonsai pot and it dried out and died, so be aware of keeping the water up

kcpoole wrote:

matty-j wrote: have you done any root work with this type before?

sorry missed this one before.
When I potted up mine i was fairly harsh on the roots and took about 2/3 off with no issues.
When I planted the 2 in the ground out, i root pruned them fairly hard and both bounced back. I have not dug them up yet.


hey ken i removed about 1/2 and dug into the bottom of the root ball and cut any thicker courser roots that were coming out
its seems to be going fine after 5 days its still green so

Bougy Fan wrote:I would both change the angle to tilt it to the left and trim the foliage to make two seperate pads. That is my preference rather than just having a boring horizontal lump of foliage. I had a great one of these but put it into a too small bonsai pot and it dried out and died, so be aware of keeping the water up

hey bougy thanks for your thoughts mate after you said it, it got me thinking and i had a play with it tonight
i adjusted the angle slightly and gave it a trim which was probably not a bad thing since i removed 1/2
the root mass so removing some off the top cant be bad i dont think
anyway after looking at the pic i took the right hand side of the right pad looks a bit long and over hangs the pot
so ill think ill shorten that a touch tomorrow and wire 1 or 2 more branches but i think it looks a lot better