Boredom and a bush.

[M. Frary]

Is there any chance something like this can be treated as a layer and have a chance?
You know, tall cage full of sphagnum from ground to live cambium kinda deal.
Just curious.

I could but I can buy more and crank them upright. Plus I had 3 years into these towards trunk fattening. The next batch I'm using the escape method of bucket growing to maybe get them fatter faster.

After I got done wrestling that procumbens I was reading more posts about them and saw what you were saying about their flexibility. I'll probably try another one or two and see how this one reacts.

I started with small one gallon stock around a half inch or so in diameter. I didn't bend the branches. I bent the main trunk upright. If they are severely cascading tip the tree so the the trunk comes out at angle pointing the cascading part up. Then jam a stake in next to the trunk and crank it upright.

 

[M. Frary]

This was a snack for votes last winter also. They ate a lot of foliage but it made it. I think it looks a touch better.

 

[Rubberbandman]

Was a little bored today. Had to do something. This is a little procumbens bush I had growing,staked up in a bucket. It took a beating from snow last winter. Split the trunk,c rating some very nice reverse taper in the trunk.
After about an hour with clippers and a touch of wire this is what I have. If it makes it from losing 80% of its foliage and 30% of its roots it should fill in and be so so.
This is one I staked up a few years ago. The worst one actually. I'll probably bend that top down next go round. It was getting warm out there so I called it a day.View attachment 80028 View attachment 80029 View attachment 80030 View attachment 80031

That is very nice work!

 

[herzausstahl]

The next batch I'm using the escape method of bucket growing to maybe get them fatter faster.

Mike by this do you mean leaving it in the nursery container, healing it into the ground up past the drainage holes so the roots can escape into the soil (as Brent describes at evergreen)? Do you get good results with this? I have a couple grow beds, some things in the ground, but thought about this technique in a spot when I clear what's there. Thinking the benefits of it might be easier to reach & do any style wiring on the trunk if I want while it's growing out.

 

[M. Frary]

Mike by this do you mean leaving it in the nursery container, healing it into the ground up past the drainage holes so the roots can escape into the soil (as Brent describes at evergreen)? Do you get good results with this? I have a couple grow beds, some things in the ground, but thought about this technique in a spot when I clear what's there. Thinking the benefits of it might be easier to reach & do any style wiring on the trunk if I want while it's growing out.

That's exactly the thing I'm talking about!

 

[herzausstahl]

That's exactly the thing I'm talking about!

Thanks mike! As I've told Vance, I got interested in bonsai 8 years ago but my practical knowledge & consistent study is closer to a year. It's been more of a 2nd/3rd hobby following distractions by children (2 beautiful girls 8 1/2 & 4 1/2), my corner pond garden in my yard (see my pond post in the tea house), or work. So I have a lot of mismanaged, neglected stock in my yard. I'll share more in spring when the snow melts. But mostly my knowledge is from books, Brent's articles on his site, or the last cpl years here at Bnut. So bear with me if I ask dumb questions, I am trying to research before I do ask something that might've been covered. I am at least past the noob stages of asking about growing from seed, will this 1 gal plant be ready for a bonsai pot in a month, or why cant I make an instant bonsai like all my book tutorials show. lol I looked at 8 year old pics of those last week on my computer that died a month after styling. But I am glad to have found this forum that has a lot of knowledgeable passionate people as members, kind if like the pond forum I found when I decided to build one, couldn't have built them without their help,& knowledge.