Ebihara maples

[thumblessprimate1]

M5, yes. Ebihara san is a skilled man. Looking at those pictures Scott posted, I can see the man was creative and really knew how to graft! Soon I'll be starting some trees using this technique. Thanks, guys.

 

[markyscott]

Here's a nice picture of the project to give you a sense of scale.



Scott

 

[thumblessprimate1]

A lot bigger than I thought!

 

[Giga]

that's a nice tree, I wouldn't mind it in my collection

 

[markyscott]

Back to the original tree. Spring is in full gear here in Houston. That really crept up on me. I've got all of my repotting done, but it's past time to clean up the top soil on trees I didn't repot. Here's what I do with trees planted on a board.

Here's the maple from last year

http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ebihara-maples.18215/#post-245530



By this time, there is a year worth of used fertilizer and debris in the soil. If I don't do this now, it'll be hard to water by the end of summer. Got to clean it up.

 

[markyscott]

Base is looking good.



Tilt it at an angle in a mixing tub.


Use bent nose tweezers to remove the top soil. Draw the tweezers radially away from the trunk. Dig deep - we're going to remove 1/2" - 1" of soil. The idea is to damage roots NOT growing radially to the trunk and leave those that are undamaged.




Work all the way around the tree.

 

[markyscott]

Now inspect the base carefully. Remove any dead roots. Cut them back a bit at a time until you see white in the center - you may get them to re-sprout.


Cut any crossing roots. Remaining roots not growing radially from the trunk may be adjusted with a nail (there's a board under there, remember).


Add fresh soil and work it in with a chopstick.


Work it down flat.

 

[markyscott]

Almost done.



Get some clean sphagnum and you coarsest sieve.


This is going to dusty and messing around with sphagnum is no joke. Please wear gloves and a dust mask for this. Grab a handful of sphagnum and rub it on the sieve, milling it fine.


Mill a good amount.


And layer it on you top soil.


The idea here is a simple one - the top of the soil is the first thing to dry out. You want to keep that somewhat moist to promote healthy growth of surface roots emerging in spring. Those are keepers, so keep them healthy.

 

[markyscott]

Good to go.


Word of caution - when you water for the first time, do it carefully or you'll blow the sphagnum away. I mist it first to wet it. Once it's wet it'll hang in there and you can water normally.

Maples are beautiful in spring. The little cups on the soil are fertilizer. I also use liquid fertilizer once a week. I start fertilizing trees in development as soon as the buds begin to move. Trees in refinement should not be fertilized until the leaves harden off.

Scott

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Really nice tree. Great base, sweet bark coming on, and seems to have good leaves too.

 

[markyscott]

Really nice tree. Great base, sweet bark coming on, and seems to have good leaves too.

Thanks Brian - that means a lot, coming from you.

This tree came from Don Herzog. I haven't been to his place in about three years. I remember him telling me that he was about to retire ...as a new shipment of trees was unloaded in his yard. I wonder how he's doing?

 

[Tieball]

Now inspect the base carefully. Remove any dead roots. Cut them back a bit at a time until you see white in the center - you may get them to re-sprout.
View attachment 97532

Cut any crossing roots. Remaining roots not growing radially from the trunk may be adjusted with a nail (there's a board under there, remember).
View attachment 97533 View attachment 97534

Add fresh soil and work it in with a chopstick.
View attachment 97535

Work it down flat.
View attachment 97536

Thank you....this posting was good useful information for me. And....I really appreciate the time you took to photograph the steps. Mighty fine!

 

[Dav4]

Cool stuff...another piece of the puzzle just fell into place. Thanks!

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

puzzle or be puzzled. That's whats cool about bonsai...

 

[Adair M]

Soji!

Well done!

 

[coh]

Good stuff! Thanks for posting.

 

[just.wing.it]

Nice tree, great job...
Thank you for sharing...

 

[Lars Grimm]

Wonderful and informative post Scott. Two quick questions for you:
1. How often do you remove all the soil? It seems like most of the soil underneath and along the sides isn't really getting "used" so is probably pretty fresh still.
2. How deep do you make the soil layer over the board? It seems like you want it deeper than normal because it will dry out so fast.

Thanks and please keep up the great pictures.

 

[markyscott]

Wonderful and informative post Scott. Two quick questions for you:
1. How often do you remove all the soil? It seems like most of the soil underneath and along the sides isn't really getting "used" so is probably pretty fresh still.
2. How deep do you make the soil layer over the board? It seems like you want it deeper than normal because it will dry out so fast.

Thanks and please keep up the great pictures.

Thank you Lars.

This tree was originally potted on the board last year. I'll probably repot next year or the year after. Timing is really not a matter of keeping the soil fresh, it's a matter of directing the root growth. There is only so much you can see and do during cleanup - you need to get in there periodically and direct and rebalance the growth before the roots get too thick.

When developing nebari, the surface roots are easier to develop if the tree is planted deeper than you would like the final planting. I probably have 2" of soil on top of the board plus abt 1/4" of sphagnum.

Scott

 

[carp]

Very glad you cautioned the handling of spaghnum. People have died from sporotrichosis.