Ah, someone knows Koi! Yes, Koi is my passion. I am still in the Koi and Koi Show circles, although I don't compete as much these days. That Showa I aquired as sansai, it won Young Champion a few timesas nisai and sansai, and Mature Champion at some point. More youthful days gone, he now resides happily in the pond.Nice Showa avatar!
Daaaaaaaaaaaang sonNo worries about having to wait for growth. If it lives, you'll be getting buds in a few weeks. You can expect 2-3 FEET of growth on a couple of dozen branches this summer in your zone. Hard as it may be, just water and feed it for the first year to grow a good root system.
I can't tell how tall it is, but I would suggest you chop it off now 24" to 28" above the soil level.....depending on your design plan.
This is one of mine at only 7 months of growing in the first year. I only trimmed a couple of branches back because they were getting in the way. The longest branch on this tree was 41" long.
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Shouldn't those trees be in a container that does not drain? Every thing I've read and what I've found is for them to be wet. NO Drain holes!!!!! That one is in a pond basket. Peat Moss, composted pine bark, and fines from bonsai soil. Put that and the tree in a container with no holes. Fill with water, let it get slightly dry, and repeat. Leave it alone except maybe some light wiring before branches get to thick to shape for about 2 years or till it's vigorous before doing much else. That pond basket is gonna be too dry isn't it???????????Collected a decent tree, decent taper and buttress. Was in a sandy area, so it harvested well. The other tree has no taper, a very slight line, and looks like nothing. But that's why I'm excited about it, I'mm hoping to make it more of a formal tree with elegance and class.
Sooo, for now they sit and wait. I expect I'll be watering all year with no signs of life, but will see some in 2021 spring push. If all goes well.
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My approach is that each tree should be looked at individually and not as a 'one size fits all' generality, especially newly wild harvested trees. BC's can do just fine in damn near dry sand. Not saying that's prefered, but I certainly wouldn't say that they belong in pots with no drain holes. And yes, indeed I want the small tree in a pond basket. I had the benefit of seeing and knowing that that tree has little to no roots- (this particular tree looked promising, but as I was digging I discovered that it was buried in white beach sand about three feet down with a poor root system) and in fact it may not survive. My idea is get water and prenty of oxygen to what remains, and in this particular tree I would say that keeping submerged right now would not be beneficial.Shouldn't those trees be in a container that does not drain? Every thing I've read and what I've found is for them to be wet. NO Drain holes!!!!! That one is in a pond basket. Peat Moss, composted pine bark, and fines from bonsai soil. Put that and the tree in a container with no holes. Fill with water, let it get slightly dry, and repeat. Leave it alone except maybe some light wiring before branches get to thick to shape for about 2 years or till it's vigorous before doing much else. That pond basket is gonna be too dry isn't it???????????