pauldogx
Mame
Love the new pot. Its perfect. Really a great tree!!
Common Myrtle
- Thread starter Smoke
- Start date
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
Well...It's in the pot. Better pictures to follow when the top gets dressed. Note in the picture, a Sawzall, a die grinder, a dewalt drill, an arbor tech and a mini grinder with chainsaw attachment. We used all of them to get it into the pot.
PS, Brett (grizzlyone) Thanks for helping me repot this monster. It took half a wheelbarrow of soil and a few blocks of wood to steady it in the pot. It will also be noted that today I did it all over again since I was not as happy as I wanted to be with the repot. A two inch cut and all looks good.
PS, Brett (grizzlyone) Thanks for helping me repot this monster. It took half a wheelbarrow of soil and a few blocks of wood to steady it in the pot. It will also be noted that today I did it all over again since I was not as happy as I wanted to be with the repot. A two inch cut and all looks good.
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Rick Moquin
Omono
I followed this tree from its humble beginning. It's to bad the original pics re no longer on the site. It seems you are moving away from your original design. I will await your photos after "top dressing " to pose the question.
catfish chapstick
Chumono
great tree. bring on the photos!
cantstopsmilin
Sapling
Nice tree 
I really like where it is heading. One thing though that I noticed that bothers me is the lower left branch - mainly because of how small it is. Furthermore, when I look at the tree this branch seems to throw off the balance of the tree by moving the center of the tree more to the left rather than above the main base of the trunk. Perhaps this is not the case and only my perception of it, but I would consider removing the branch. Still a great tree though
I really like where it is heading. One thing though that I noticed that bothers me is the lower left branch - mainly because of how small it is. Furthermore, when I look at the tree this branch seems to throw off the balance of the tree by moving the center of the tree more to the left rather than above the main base of the trunk. Perhaps this is not the case and only my perception of it, but I would consider removing the branch. Still a great tree though Attachments
Attila Soos
Omono
Al, the lower branches are way too thin for a trunk of this size. Just an example, the second branch on the left side should be about 5-to-8 times thicker, at least. The trunk looks huge, the branches look tiny. Like the forelimbs of the T*Rex.
This is a big problem. And the myrtle is very slow to thicken.
What'chu gonna do?
This is a big problem. And the myrtle is very slow to thicken.
What'chu gonna do?
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I also noticed this. It's what keeps me from saying that at this point it is a great tree. I think it is the start of a great tree tough.
catfish chapstick
Chumono
Nice tree
keep the branch. i like it better with the branch.
i don't see why its such a big problem. like you say it makes the trunk look larger and more powerful, really pushing it to the foreground. it could function as an artistic device. a lot of bonsai appear to be exagerated distortions of nature.
Smoke
Ignore-Amus
Well what would you do? Should I just scrap it or continue to work on it? "I" think it warrents a respectable number of years to really criticise this piece at this point. Considering it just had it's fourth birthday as a freshly dug bonsai. Currently the limbs are about the size of a dime. I can expect them to be the size of a quarter in another four years. By that time 8 years of training will smooth out the rough edges and the limbs will look much better. I would not like the limb size much over a quarter in size.
As far as speed of growth, I have no idea how common myrtles grow in LA but up here they grow pretty fast. Much like a trident, especially if I were to let a branch go as an escape branch, which I may do this year.
edit: just so everyone understands this is not a Crape Myrtle, which is diciduous. The common myrtle is evergreen, which is why I have it under the patio right now. They do not tolerate frost well. Well they do, they just suffer with terrible leaves that get mottled, with brown colors like boxwood except it takes half the summer to get the green back.
There it is fresh from the ground four years ago......
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Smoke
Ignore-Amus
I will repost the series of pictures later. When I do you will see that I removed the lower left branch once already. It was much larger, or should I say it would have been much larger than the one that is there now. This was on advice from Kathy Shaner.
Can you expound on how puny branches on a tree like this can be an artistic device? I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm just saying that I would see you having a hard time convincing any school of thought that this could be an artistic device on material like this.
Let's not forget that the goal of bonsai is to create an image of a tree that looks like it is not manipulated by man. Scrawny branches without any real movement on trunk like this just scream out "manipulation by man".
But Al knows this and is working towards refining the branches.
Attila Soos
Omono
The reason I've brought it up was not really to put the tree down, but to point out a deficiency that should be addressed.
The solution is very simple, the branch needs to be allowed to grow as fast as possible, and as much as possible, in order to thicken. There is no other magic formula to this.
The problem I see is that you already put in into a nice pot, and treat it as if you are in the refining stage, and working on the final touches. On the other hand, if you want to thicken the branches in the shortest possible time, in order to have a superior quality tree as early as possible, you will have to ruin the pretty picture and have a bush on your hand again, at least for a period of time.
I just have the feeling that you are jumping the gun a little too early, which has the opposite effect on the desired outcome.
But, of course, if you enjoy the tree as it is right now, then that is what really matters. I can only speak for my personal taste, and not for what everybody else likes.
Personally, I like thick and heavy lower branches, that suggest maturity, while thin branches have a more juvenile effect on the tree. But that's just me.
There are cases where the picture represents a far-away view, and the trunk and the branches are relatively thin. In such a case, the result would show an old tree, in spite of the thin branches. But in your case, the massive trunk suggest a near-view of a tree.
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Attila Soos
Omono
I believe the same.
But there are many who see bonsai purely as a decoration piece, with no relevance to nature. They will say that there is nothing natural in bonsai anyway, so there is no point in emulating nature.
If that's the case, the image of being manipulated is quite appropriate. Creating abstract, geometric, and neat shapes looks pleasing to many people. They WANT you to know that their tree was manipulated to the extreme (see topiary).
If that is the case, I can't say that the above is the wrong approach, there is no such thing as having the "wrong" taste, in my opinion. It all comes down to what exactly are you trying to express with your bonsai.
(By the way, I am not saying that this is what Al's tree is trying to achieve).
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Smoke
Ignore-Amus
Where is the rule that manipulation by man is somehow tied to lousy bonsai?
So what I should be shootin for is a bonsai that somehow looks more natural, untouched by man?
More like these below? I see what you mean I have seen many of these in the forests when I walk around
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Smoke
Ignore-Amus
Attila Soos
Omono
Well, I am not trying to read anybody's mind, as to what they are trying to do with their trees.
The only thing we can do here really, is to say what "I" would do with the tree, based on "My" taste.
The poster of the tree can then take whatever he wants, from these comments.
The poster's intentions are also a mystery, some people post trees to get new ideas, others do it to get validation for their already pre-conceived ideas, other do it for the trip. There's no point of trying to figure out which one.
Rick Moquin
Omono
That is exactly the type of response that nurtures answers like this one. I bow once again oh great one!Where is the rule that manipulation by man is somehow tied to lousy bonsai?
So what I should be shootin for is a bonsai that somehow looks more natural, untouched by man?
More like these below? I see what you mean I have seen many of these in the forests when I walk around
As long as anyone sides with you, you are happy as a clam and strut like a peacock. But as soon as someone dare question what or why you are doing things you go off in a huff.
Before you slam me on this one, I posted you seem to have changed direction with this tree and I await your future work for my question. (post 24)
Rick Moquin
Omono
... couldn't have said it better myself.
