zeejet
Mame
Context: At the time of this first post, I’m still relatively inexperienced in bonsai and especially with conifers.
I obtained this double-trunk Itoigawa pre-bonsai at a club workshop on 02 FEB 2025 - it was in a 2-gallon nursery container but appeared to have been slip-potted at least once prior as it was mostly in bonsai soil from what I could tell. Here’s what it looked like before any work:
After initial cleanup and thinning, copper wire was applied with some guidance from the instructor on only the trunk and a few thicker primary branches - not enough time to complete and I spent most of the session observing guided work on other students' trees. No major pruning was done except for a minor branch reduction/jin on the sub trunk - I estimate maybe 10% of the total foliage was removed through the cleanup and thinning process. The angle/distance between the two trunks was also reduced by pinching the two trunks towards each other with #10 copper wire and protective tubing.
Here it is after the workshop - again, we didn’t get to the rest and I was too indecisive to finish it that day.
I completed the remainder of the primary branches and some detail-wiring at home on my own about a week later based on online content I consumed as reference. I’ve never wired upper branches downward for an apex before so this is what I’m least confident about.
I was also shocked at how different the experience was wiring with copper (my first time). I knew conceptually that annealed copper starts pliable but work hardens and is thus easier to set using thinner gauges, but it was interesting to experience. However, it’s less forgiving of mistakes vs aluminum and you generally need to remove it entirely and start over.
I also decided to repot to a grow box with only minor root pruning. While the outer soil in the nursery pot looked like development bonsai mix (3/16” pumice, lava rock, pine bark), the core was clearly nursery soil - meaning it was likely slip-potted once before but with no attempt to partially bare-root, which is the conventional approach these days for replacing core soil without jeopardizing tree health with a full bare-root. In any-case, I was careful to only remove soil from one side of the core.
I chose to leave the rest of the core mostly intact as I removed some encircling roots and the thicker roots that extended from the bottom. I did notice the topsoil was extremely dense with spongy fine roots that were impossible to comb out without ripping - it felt like trying to pull my root hook through a scrub daddy sponge. I’m not sure what the protocol would be here if I wanted to pursue this further and reveal the surface roots so I mostly left it alone.
The grow box is made from cedar fence board held together with oxide coated wood screws and is 12” x 12” x 4” (about 2.5 gallons). I used the same soil the tree came in (sieved to remove fines) mixed with additional fresh pumice, lava rock, and bark of similar particle size (3/16”-1/4”).
Here is the final product of the initial report and styling - I could have done more minute detailed wiring, but for an initial styling and repot, I’m just letting it recover as-is as we move into spring. Will fertilize in March and update in a few months.
Any critique of my decision-making, technique, or styling choices are welcome and appreciated!
I obtained this double-trunk Itoigawa pre-bonsai at a club workshop on 02 FEB 2025 - it was in a 2-gallon nursery container but appeared to have been slip-potted at least once prior as it was mostly in bonsai soil from what I could tell. Here’s what it looked like before any work:
After initial cleanup and thinning, copper wire was applied with some guidance from the instructor on only the trunk and a few thicker primary branches - not enough time to complete and I spent most of the session observing guided work on other students' trees. No major pruning was done except for a minor branch reduction/jin on the sub trunk - I estimate maybe 10% of the total foliage was removed through the cleanup and thinning process. The angle/distance between the two trunks was also reduced by pinching the two trunks towards each other with #10 copper wire and protective tubing.
Here it is after the workshop - again, we didn’t get to the rest and I was too indecisive to finish it that day.
I completed the remainder of the primary branches and some detail-wiring at home on my own about a week later based on online content I consumed as reference. I’ve never wired upper branches downward for an apex before so this is what I’m least confident about.
I was also shocked at how different the experience was wiring with copper (my first time). I knew conceptually that annealed copper starts pliable but work hardens and is thus easier to set using thinner gauges, but it was interesting to experience. However, it’s less forgiving of mistakes vs aluminum and you generally need to remove it entirely and start over.
I also decided to repot to a grow box with only minor root pruning. While the outer soil in the nursery pot looked like development bonsai mix (3/16” pumice, lava rock, pine bark), the core was clearly nursery soil - meaning it was likely slip-potted once before but with no attempt to partially bare-root, which is the conventional approach these days for replacing core soil without jeopardizing tree health with a full bare-root. In any-case, I was careful to only remove soil from one side of the core.
I chose to leave the rest of the core mostly intact as I removed some encircling roots and the thicker roots that extended from the bottom. I did notice the topsoil was extremely dense with spongy fine roots that were impossible to comb out without ripping - it felt like trying to pull my root hook through a scrub daddy sponge. I’m not sure what the protocol would be here if I wanted to pursue this further and reveal the surface roots so I mostly left it alone.
The grow box is made from cedar fence board held together with oxide coated wood screws and is 12” x 12” x 4” (about 2.5 gallons). I used the same soil the tree came in (sieved to remove fines) mixed with additional fresh pumice, lava rock, and bark of similar particle size (3/16”-1/4”).
Here is the final product of the initial report and styling - I could have done more minute detailed wiring, but for an initial styling and repot, I’m just letting it recover as-is as we move into spring. Will fertilize in March and update in a few months.
Any critique of my decision-making, technique, or styling choices are welcome and appreciated!
