BillsBayou
Chumono
Paraphrasing Joe Day: Every tree needs a plan. If you know what the plan is, maintaining your tree will be made easier. When you look at your tree, with cutters and wire in hand, you can quickly make design decisions. If something grows out of place, you can quickly remove it before it becomes a problem. Development of your bonsai will be direct and goals reached in the shortest time possible. Only modify the plan when the tree forces you to modify the plan.
Joe said something like that; likely in fewer words.
Yesterday, I was asked why my 2025 numadori is so tall and what I'm going to do about the lack of taper. Today, I'm doodling the plan. I believe a bonsai should tell a story. Some stories are simple, some are complicated. This story is the latter type.
To illustrate the plan, I traced the tree in Adobe Illustrator. Sketched out branch placement and deadwood elements. The sketch shows what happens to some of our bald cypress. A storm comes along and snaps off the top of the tree. The trunk dies back to the highest branches, leaving a dead trunk above that point. Some prior injury or disease may have hollowed out the trunk. Dead branches can remain on the trunk or they can rot away. My tree will have a dead branch and a few knot holes. Lower branches will resemble the upper pads of a flat-top bald cypress.
And that's the plan. Dead upper portion will take up roughly a quarter of the trunk. Dead branches will be styled prior to killing them. Knot holes will be the result of completely removing sacrifice branches. The lower portion is styled something like a flat-top bald cypress.
I could stop there, but here's the full "Bill won't stop talking" technical details of the plan. You can read it, or wait for me to sell the movie rights.
There are trees on Blind River that have more knot holes than a piccolo. When a branch dies, it may rot all the way back to its point of origin. It doesn't necessarily rot the trunk, just the branch wood inside the collar. That's where you get the knot holes. Even live trees can have these knot holes. They're most prominent on hollow trunks. Most of us know how to create branches. I want to create believable, collared holes.
In the photos, below, you'll see the sketched out goal in the upper left. Hollow trunk. Jagged top. Significant deadwood jin. Branch and knot holes within the dead area of the trunk. Live branches in the lower portion.
The second frame shows how I will develop the deadwood features over a course of years. The tree does not currently have any branches. To create an interesting dead branch feature, I will need to develop and style the bones of a natural looking branch. To create a collared knot hole, I need a sacrifice branch that will be removed later. Over the next few years. I will be developing two types of branches. One will be a bonsai branch while two or more others will be growing wild. I'll only trim the wild branches if I need to balance the vigor of the tree. While the deadwood branches are growing, I'll also be growing the live branches. Letting branches grow wild at the top of the tree will stunt the growth rates of the lower branches. Slow growth is fine, but I don't want the tree dedicating all of its energy to the wild branches. Balance is the key.
The third frame of my sketch shows the branch development in the live area of the trunk. I count branches on a bald cypress trunk from the top-down, not bottom up. The first branch will be the highest and most prominent branch. The second branch MUST NOT be at the same height as the first branch. I've seen too many bonsai artists develop trees with as many as FOUR branches at the apex of a bald cypress. I say "NO!" to that.* The second branch will be lower and less prominent than the first. A third branch will be towards the back. The viewer does not necessarily need to see the end of the back branch, but the branch is needed to give the tree depth. Then finish out the tree with another branch or two. These will be the weakest branches**, so don't let them be shaded out by the top three branches. If there is room on the trunk, it would not be a bad idea to have a dead branch, a knot hole, or dead wood on the branches themselves. While this is not currently part of my plan for this tree, it would not be a significant change to allow this into the design. But only if I have the room. I don't want to make the trunk look too busy.
The formation of the branches in the lower portion of the tree will be more ordered than how flat-tops are developed. Chaos is not discouraged in the tops of flat-top bald cypress. There are plenty of 'C's and 'J's in a flat-top (another comment from Joe Day). If a branch grows back, towards the way it came, there is nothing discouraging it from doing so. However, the lowest branches of a tree must grow outwards from the trunk. Higher branches are cast deadly shade on lower branches. If a low branch grows back towards its origin, it is quickly shaded out. Thus, there are very few 'C's and 'J's in the lower branches. The lower branches of my design should reflect these growing conditions. The story told by the branches will suggest they grew in the shade of higher, now missing, branches.
Yes, if you're going to grow bonsai, you need to think of details that small.
The fourth frame in my drawing is where I kill off the branches in the upper part of the tree. By this time, the tree has been in development for several years. Branches that were developed for knot holes will have built up a well defined collar. When stripped bare, this collar will definitely show on the dead trunk. Branches that were developed for shaped deadwood are going to look too good to kill. Perfect. Let's kill them all.
Start with the knot hole branches. They will be cut as close as possible to the collar without cutting the collar. That will clear up room to work on the next part.
Next is to work on the branches that have been trained to look as great as possible. The initial design is to have one, but more may be possible. These will be cut to at least a third of their size. I don't want jagged stumps but something with movement and character. Jin pliers will easily strip the bark from live wood.
Stripping the trunk should be easy enough. But there shouldn't be any tool marks on the deadwood. It begins by using chalk to mark a curved line from the top of the top branch to the top of the second branch. The line will have a curve, a story. The ends of the lines should not extend any higher than the collars of each branch. The line can be a simple 'S' shape or it can dip beneath the level of the second branch. The line on the back of the tree does not need to be anything more complicated than an 'S' curve.
The bark will be removed by beginning at the top of the trunk. The bark will come off easily, so time and patience is needed so as to not pull off any tissue below the chalk lines. The end result should be a dead area above the line and living tissue below. The chalk line area will be wrapped with raffia or vet-wrap. The wood is going to dry out and I don't want the bark to die back lower than the chalk line. The raffia will be removed a few months later to inspect the wound.
My plan is to drill a wide hole from the top of the tree to roughly the level of the chalk line. I have a 1-1/2" (3.8cm) Forstner bit. It creates a flat-bottomed hole, but that's not important. The important part is that it removes all the wood within its diameter. Other hole cutting tools will be a cylinder of metal created to drill holes in flat, but not thick, materials. These bits produce a disc of wood or drywall that is thrown away. A Forstner bit will chew out all of the wood in the hole leaving nothing but kerf/sawdust. The technique for drilling out a trunk is to frequently pull the tool out of the hole; remove the kerf; drill a little deeper; and repeat. I have gotten a Forstner bit stuck deep in a trunk. Getting it out took me more than an hour. Going slow is the fastest way to make the hole. Drill the hole the same day (or within days) as you remove the bark. Don't let the trunk dry out before hollowing it. The walls of the trunk can chip and shatter when drilling dried wood. That will ruin the intended design and set you back years of work. I'm not a woodworker. That's just my experience.
I have a powerful corded drill for hollowing out the trunk. The Forstner bit has a big bite which requires a tool pulling higher amps. Cordless drills don't do the trick. Hollowing out the trunk is also deeper work than the Forstner bit can reach. For that, I have several drill extensions. The hole for this tree may be as deep as 18" (~45cm). This design requires specialized equipment, so don't start one without assessing the costs.
The lower, live part of the trunk does not need to be hollow, but it does need to allow the upper trunk to drain. For that, I have a 3/8" (9.5mm) drill bit. The "big drill" isn't needed for that hole, however, I'll need 4 feet of extensions to get all the way through the base of the roots. Once that drain hole is created, the trunk will begin to rot from the inside. That's okay. Bald cypress do just fine with a rotted interior. The second reason for the smaller drill bit is to keep the live area of the trunk from drying out too quickly. If it dries too quick, it will kill the living tissue on the outside.
All that will be left to do is to create the knot holes. The stumps created, when the wild branches were removed, need to be drilled/carved out. The hole cannot be wider than the inside of the collar. As the branch material is removed, the thinnest bit of branch can be left behind. After the hole is created, this thin material can be removed with more delicate action.
Then treat all the deadwood with lime-sulfur. As the upper portion dries, cracks may form. That's fine. The cracks will develop along the fibers of the tree and look natural. By not leaving tool marks on the trunk, the cracking will look very natural.
-----------------
Notes:
* G'head and argue with me. I dare ya.
** Weakest branches by design, but also by health.
-----------------
Well, crap. That's a lot of words. Did you read all of that? What the hell is wrong with you? Here are the pictures:
Joe said something like that; likely in fewer words.
Yesterday, I was asked why my 2025 numadori is so tall and what I'm going to do about the lack of taper. Today, I'm doodling the plan. I believe a bonsai should tell a story. Some stories are simple, some are complicated. This story is the latter type.
To illustrate the plan, I traced the tree in Adobe Illustrator. Sketched out branch placement and deadwood elements. The sketch shows what happens to some of our bald cypress. A storm comes along and snaps off the top of the tree. The trunk dies back to the highest branches, leaving a dead trunk above that point. Some prior injury or disease may have hollowed out the trunk. Dead branches can remain on the trunk or they can rot away. My tree will have a dead branch and a few knot holes. Lower branches will resemble the upper pads of a flat-top bald cypress.
And that's the plan. Dead upper portion will take up roughly a quarter of the trunk. Dead branches will be styled prior to killing them. Knot holes will be the result of completely removing sacrifice branches. The lower portion is styled something like a flat-top bald cypress.
I could stop there, but here's the full "Bill won't stop talking" technical details of the plan. You can read it, or wait for me to sell the movie rights.
There are trees on Blind River that have more knot holes than a piccolo. When a branch dies, it may rot all the way back to its point of origin. It doesn't necessarily rot the trunk, just the branch wood inside the collar. That's where you get the knot holes. Even live trees can have these knot holes. They're most prominent on hollow trunks. Most of us know how to create branches. I want to create believable, collared holes.
In the photos, below, you'll see the sketched out goal in the upper left. Hollow trunk. Jagged top. Significant deadwood jin. Branch and knot holes within the dead area of the trunk. Live branches in the lower portion.
The second frame shows how I will develop the deadwood features over a course of years. The tree does not currently have any branches. To create an interesting dead branch feature, I will need to develop and style the bones of a natural looking branch. To create a collared knot hole, I need a sacrifice branch that will be removed later. Over the next few years. I will be developing two types of branches. One will be a bonsai branch while two or more others will be growing wild. I'll only trim the wild branches if I need to balance the vigor of the tree. While the deadwood branches are growing, I'll also be growing the live branches. Letting branches grow wild at the top of the tree will stunt the growth rates of the lower branches. Slow growth is fine, but I don't want the tree dedicating all of its energy to the wild branches. Balance is the key.
The third frame of my sketch shows the branch development in the live area of the trunk. I count branches on a bald cypress trunk from the top-down, not bottom up. The first branch will be the highest and most prominent branch. The second branch MUST NOT be at the same height as the first branch. I've seen too many bonsai artists develop trees with as many as FOUR branches at the apex of a bald cypress. I say "NO!" to that.* The second branch will be lower and less prominent than the first. A third branch will be towards the back. The viewer does not necessarily need to see the end of the back branch, but the branch is needed to give the tree depth. Then finish out the tree with another branch or two. These will be the weakest branches**, so don't let them be shaded out by the top three branches. If there is room on the trunk, it would not be a bad idea to have a dead branch, a knot hole, or dead wood on the branches themselves. While this is not currently part of my plan for this tree, it would not be a significant change to allow this into the design. But only if I have the room. I don't want to make the trunk look too busy.
The formation of the branches in the lower portion of the tree will be more ordered than how flat-tops are developed. Chaos is not discouraged in the tops of flat-top bald cypress. There are plenty of 'C's and 'J's in a flat-top (another comment from Joe Day). If a branch grows back, towards the way it came, there is nothing discouraging it from doing so. However, the lowest branches of a tree must grow outwards from the trunk. Higher branches are cast deadly shade on lower branches. If a low branch grows back towards its origin, it is quickly shaded out. Thus, there are very few 'C's and 'J's in the lower branches. The lower branches of my design should reflect these growing conditions. The story told by the branches will suggest they grew in the shade of higher, now missing, branches.
Yes, if you're going to grow bonsai, you need to think of details that small.
The fourth frame in my drawing is where I kill off the branches in the upper part of the tree. By this time, the tree has been in development for several years. Branches that were developed for knot holes will have built up a well defined collar. When stripped bare, this collar will definitely show on the dead trunk. Branches that were developed for shaped deadwood are going to look too good to kill. Perfect. Let's kill them all.
Start with the knot hole branches. They will be cut as close as possible to the collar without cutting the collar. That will clear up room to work on the next part.
Next is to work on the branches that have been trained to look as great as possible. The initial design is to have one, but more may be possible. These will be cut to at least a third of their size. I don't want jagged stumps but something with movement and character. Jin pliers will easily strip the bark from live wood.
Stripping the trunk should be easy enough. But there shouldn't be any tool marks on the deadwood. It begins by using chalk to mark a curved line from the top of the top branch to the top of the second branch. The line will have a curve, a story. The ends of the lines should not extend any higher than the collars of each branch. The line can be a simple 'S' shape or it can dip beneath the level of the second branch. The line on the back of the tree does not need to be anything more complicated than an 'S' curve.
The bark will be removed by beginning at the top of the trunk. The bark will come off easily, so time and patience is needed so as to not pull off any tissue below the chalk lines. The end result should be a dead area above the line and living tissue below. The chalk line area will be wrapped with raffia or vet-wrap. The wood is going to dry out and I don't want the bark to die back lower than the chalk line. The raffia will be removed a few months later to inspect the wound.
My plan is to drill a wide hole from the top of the tree to roughly the level of the chalk line. I have a 1-1/2" (3.8cm) Forstner bit. It creates a flat-bottomed hole, but that's not important. The important part is that it removes all the wood within its diameter. Other hole cutting tools will be a cylinder of metal created to drill holes in flat, but not thick, materials. These bits produce a disc of wood or drywall that is thrown away. A Forstner bit will chew out all of the wood in the hole leaving nothing but kerf/sawdust. The technique for drilling out a trunk is to frequently pull the tool out of the hole; remove the kerf; drill a little deeper; and repeat. I have gotten a Forstner bit stuck deep in a trunk. Getting it out took me more than an hour. Going slow is the fastest way to make the hole. Drill the hole the same day (or within days) as you remove the bark. Don't let the trunk dry out before hollowing it. The walls of the trunk can chip and shatter when drilling dried wood. That will ruin the intended design and set you back years of work. I'm not a woodworker. That's just my experience.
I have a powerful corded drill for hollowing out the trunk. The Forstner bit has a big bite which requires a tool pulling higher amps. Cordless drills don't do the trick. Hollowing out the trunk is also deeper work than the Forstner bit can reach. For that, I have several drill extensions. The hole for this tree may be as deep as 18" (~45cm). This design requires specialized equipment, so don't start one without assessing the costs.
The lower, live part of the trunk does not need to be hollow, but it does need to allow the upper trunk to drain. For that, I have a 3/8" (9.5mm) drill bit. The "big drill" isn't needed for that hole, however, I'll need 4 feet of extensions to get all the way through the base of the roots. Once that drain hole is created, the trunk will begin to rot from the inside. That's okay. Bald cypress do just fine with a rotted interior. The second reason for the smaller drill bit is to keep the live area of the trunk from drying out too quickly. If it dries too quick, it will kill the living tissue on the outside.
All that will be left to do is to create the knot holes. The stumps created, when the wild branches were removed, need to be drilled/carved out. The hole cannot be wider than the inside of the collar. As the branch material is removed, the thinnest bit of branch can be left behind. After the hole is created, this thin material can be removed with more delicate action.
Then treat all the deadwood with lime-sulfur. As the upper portion dries, cracks may form. That's fine. The cracks will develop along the fibers of the tree and look natural. By not leaving tool marks on the trunk, the cracking will look very natural.
-----------------
Notes:
* G'head and argue with me. I dare ya.
** Weakest branches by design, but also by health.
-----------------
Well, crap. That's a lot of words. Did you read all of that? What the hell is wrong with you? Here are the pictures:
