Thanks a ton for sharing, have saved every photo in one of my 'progression series' folders (crepes are one of my favorites!!
I know this is history now but have a question for you from this tree's beginning (I've got a large yamadori crepe right now that's just got <1' shoots!
), you said:
This pic is from about 2 weeks ago...the new growth has already extend to nearly 2 ft and new buds continue to emerge. To make sure that the large wounds began their covering process effectively I used cut paste on the edges of all the large wounds...the wounds have already begun to cover...I suspect that in 2-3 years with some vigorous growth they will completely cover over.
Can you elaborate on this 'completely cover over' of wounds? Do you mean bark would form somehow? I thought that, once the cambial layer is removed, that spot is dead and you'd only ever have deadwood there... any elaboration you care to provide would be incredibly appreciated, I've just purchased wood-working grinders and am starting to practice on topiary trees in my yard, am planning to do one of my bonsai soon - I wasn't even aware you could 'heal over' an area that'd been de-barked (well, not an area of any real size - obviously a nick in the tree would get scabbed and have a cambial layer over it once more)
Because most (almost all) of my trees are yamadori, and most quite large, I've got a
ton of areas where it's a situation of ~1" wide branch that's been lopped-off and has new shoots growing, I figured that - when those shoots were thick enough - that I'd be using my grinder to 'smooth out' the taper difference between the 1" branch I'd cut when collecting the yamadori and the new growth on it...I'd been thinking that these areas would become deadwood, and had been racking my brain trying to think of how to do anything aesthetically pleasing when I've gotta have deadwood 'caps' at the intersections of old/new growth!
Thanks again for posting and, damn, what a lucky / awesome find that was, and what you did with it was just 100% perfect!!