AusBonsai

Mid winter is past at Shibui Bonsai so it is time to dig and prune the field grown trees.

I've got one whole row and parts of another 2 rows cleared now. These are a couple of the 27 tridents I dug out of that bed this afternoon. This shows underneath the root base showing that all downward growing roots have been removed or cut very short. Pruning the lateral roots short like this makes sure they continue to divide and ramify. Removing downward roots forces the tree to rely more on the laterals and seems to cause the base of the tree to spread and widen significantly.

Shibui nice looking stock trees there- but how's ya back?

How much are they going for ? thanks

Digging is the easy bit because all the roots are only one year old. Another plus for regular root pruning.
Bending over to prune is the harder part. I'll take a chair out next time for a little more comfort.

4 hours of secateurs and branch pruners puts a bit of a strain on the right hand too.

Prices depend on the size and quality gramck. PM or email - neil@shibuibonsai.com.au if anyone is interested in purchasing Shibui Bonsai trees.

Lovely stock
I was wondering what the rough process of these two would be in regards to how long they've been ground grown and at what yearly intervals do you dig them up, root prune, then ground grow again?
Also if you were to be growing for trunk thickness would it be better to leave the roots longer or not root prune at all?
Sorry for all the questions, just wanting to know as I'm starting a few projects myself but dreaming of having rows upon rows of my own stock just like yours
Thanks
Beau

Ausbonsai is all about sharing bonsai information so feel free to ask.

The smaller trident is 3 years old. 2 in the grow bed.
The larger one is probably a year older.
Both of these have been dug and root pruned each year to get better root ramification and arrangement.

Leaving the trees in the ground and not root pruning will probably give a thicker trunk in the same time but experience shows that you don't always get a good root system that way. Often just one root dominates so after you've grown your nice thick trunk you then need to spend another 3-5 years layering or grafting to get decent roots.
As I pointed out above, pruning to favour the lateral roots really does cause the base of the tree to flare out, giving a thicker trunk at ground level than if you leave the downward growing roots. I think it is worth doing

Hi Neil,

Would you do the same process of nebari development for shimpaku and pines?

Cheers

You have always produced quality stock.. even several years back when I visited

Nice stock as usual Neil
Are you doing your dig days like a few years ago to get some help / train others?

Ken

Are you doing your dig days like a few years ago to get some help / train others?

Organising dig days turned out to be a real headache. Some people available one day but not another, avoiding rainy days, watching the people to minimise damage to the trees, etc .
Much easier to do them myself as and when I can get the time.
If anyone wants to help I'm usually digging through most of July, working around my other regular and irregular commitments. If we can manage to agree on a mutually convenient time I'm happy to have some company for a few hours.

Would you do the same process of nebari development for shimpaku and pines?

If you look really closely in the first picture you may be able to pick out a row of black pines in the top right corner. They have been in for 3 years now and seem to be growing slower than usual so I have not been digging them up each year. In the past I've just left pines and junipers in the beds for up to 5 years before digging them and most of them survive the transplant and root reduction. I don't reduce the roots of pines or junipers anywhere near as had as these tridents.
It would be interesting to compare pines that are dug and pruned each year with some that are planted and left. Remember that pines don't bud on bare wood so they need to be pruned every year or 2 to make sure you have buds and needles where you will need to prune back to when the tree is eventually dug up.
I note that Treeman has found that shimpaku juniper does not grow faster in the ground than in pots. They have certainly been very slow to develop in my grow beds too so it may not be worth wasting grow bed space on them.

Thank you for the info Neil.

Thankyou for sharing more valuable information Neil. All very much appreciated.
Now I feel better about leaving my junipers in their pots and making better use
of my grow beds where space is limited.
All your info is helping growers develop better stock, cheers
Bob.

I have a JBP in the ground and have always lifted it every 2 years.
Very slow the first year and not much better the second unless you leave a sacrifice on them to go mad.
Need to lift it soon again

Ken

Awesome to see guys developing fat bases.

I have a JBP in the ground and have always lifted it every 2 years.
Very slow the first year and not much better the second unless you leave a sacrifice on them to go mad.

I have left black pines in for up to 5 years at a time because they are so slow to grow initially (same with junipers). Still considering whether to dig the ones I have now. I try to leave selected sacrifice branches to add thickness but you do need to be very careful to keep viable shoots close to the trunk on branches that will make the tree after sacrifice branches are removed.
The few times I have root pruned and replanted pines into the ground they have died. Probably lack of follow up watering over summer. Do you have any tips on your method please Ken? - how much root pruning, branch reduction, follow up watering, etc