Japanese Beech Forest

[barrosinc]

And I was thinking my beech forest was coming along!!!

...Something to aim for.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Such a beautiful and well-balanced image, Serg! World-class. Beech are so nice when they’re done right.

 

[Vin]

Such a beautiful forest and an outstanding tutorial that applies to a wide range of trees. I can't seem to be able to remove the algae from my many of trees using just plain water and a toothbrush (especially boxwoods). Do you use anything else other than water for some of your trees?

 

[JudyB]

What a beautiful image you've created, the canopy is really emerging into a mature form.

 

[MHBonsai]

Absolutely gorgeous. Lot of hard work showing in that winter image.

The only feedback I'd give is my eye is drawn to this spot. I don't know if in person it would be even obvious, but the congestion and crossing of trunks in the image keeps pulling me here.

Thanks so much for sharing your work with us!

 

[just.wing.it]

This forest is simply incredible...great work, great pics!
Thank you M5!

 

[MACH5]

And I was thinking my beech forest was coming along!!!

...Something to aim for.

Max they are slow as you know. Much slower to develop and much more challenging than maples in terms of coaxing them to ramify.

 

[MACH5]

Such a beautiful and well-balanced image, Serg! World-class. Beech are so nice when they’re done right.

Thank you Bri! As you know about three years ago I suffered a set back and was highly discouraged. It seems since then I have figured some things out at least to some degree or another. I am hoping to keep moving it forward.

 

[MACH5]

Such a beautiful forest and an outstanding tutorial that applies to a wide range of trees. I can't seem to be able to remove the algae from my many of trees using just plain water and a toothbrush (especially boxwoods). Do you use anything else other than water for some of your trees?

Thanks Vin! Yes you can try this: http://www.ottofrei.com/Micro-Pressure-Washer

HOWEVER... much care must be taken. It can easily strip off the bark right out of the tree if mishandled. It works beautifully. With beech I prefer too use a less aggressive approach since they have very delicate and thin bark. Obviously this ONLY applies to smooth bark trees.

 

[MACH5]

What a beautiful image you've created, the canopy is really emerging into a mature form.

Thanks Juds! I am very please with the way it is developing.

 

[MACH5]

Absolutely gorgeous. Lot of hard work showing in that winter image.

The only feedback I'd give is my eye is drawn to this spot. I don't know if in person it would be even obvious, but the congestion and crossing of trunks in the image keeps pulling me here.

Thanks so much for sharing your work with us!

View attachment 221444

Thanks @MHBonsai. I will look into it. It is very difficult to properly photograph bonsai and do justice since the camera tends to flatten images quite a bit. With that said, as spring rolls around, I will need to make some adjustments with some wire.

 

[coh]

Thank you Bri! As you know about three years ago I suffered a set back and was highly discouraged. It seems since then I have figured some things out at least to some degree or another. I am hoping to keep moving it forward.

It's looking magnificent, Sergio! If you don't mind me asking, what caused the setback? I don't have any beeches right now but you never know...

 

[MACH5]

This forest is simply incredible...great work, great pics!
Thank you M5!

Thanks @just.wing.it. Here is a back view of it. It was originally the front of this forest.

 

[MACH5]

It's looking magnificent, Sergio! If you don't mind me asking, what caused the setback? I don't have any beeches right now but you never know...

I don't know for certain. It could have been a couple of things during the winter of 2015. I store most of my trees in an unheated cold garage for winter. One day, the door was opened and accidentally left opened. The temp went down from about 38F to about 22F in a matter of minutes. I believe this did irreparable damage and many branches were killed. The second thing was that I may have kept it too dry during this period. Beech do not like to be dry any time of the year! I believe that one of these two things or a combo may have contributed to the set back. At the time I started to believe that this was an aspect of beech where it would shed branches arbitrarily and for no apparent reason. Gradually this made no real sense to me and began to look for causes.

 

[coh]

I don't know for certain. It could have been a couple of things during the winter of 2015. I store most of my trees in an unheated cold garage for winter. One day, the door was opened and accidentally left opened. The temp went down from about 38F to about 22F in a matter of minutes. I believe this did irreparable damage and many branches were killed. The second thing was that I may have kept it too dry during this period. Beech do not like to be dry any time of the year! I believe that one of these two things or a combo may have contributed to the set back. At the time I started to believe that this was an aspect of beech where it would shed branches arbitrarily and for no apparent reason. Gradually this made no real sense to me and began to look for causes.

Yeah, I always wonder about those species that people claim "drop branches for no reason." Usually it's just that we don't know the reason yet.

The only trees I've lost so far were due to under-watering during winter, so I can relate to that. I'm a lot more careful about checking them now (every thaw during the winter). That winter of 2015 was the really cold one where a lot of people up here lost their JBPs (Feb 2015 was especially bad).

 

[MACH5]

I want to add that all of the trees have now fused together after so many years forming one larger system where I believe that all trees share their collective resources for the greater good. While this is beautiful to see as they form one unified piece seemingly melting into one another, the draw back is that now, if not very carefully managed, the stronger trees will only get stronger killing the smaller weaker ones. This is akin to what happens in single trees where the upper branches will grow stronger shedding the weaker lower branches. I am specially vigilant and go after my larger trees in this forest much more aggressively to try and distribute the resources more evenly throughout all the trees.

 

[MACH5]

Yeah, I always wonder about those species that people claim "drop branches for no reason." Usually it's just that we don't know the reason yet.

The only trees I've lost so far were due to under-watering during winter, so I can relate to that. I'm a lot more careful about checking them now (every thaw during the winter). That winter of 2015 was the really cold one where a lot of people up here lost their JBPs (Feb 2015 was especially bad).

Indeed a horrible winter. I remember it well!

 

[0soyoung]

I just want a glass of something, a comfy chair, and to sit back and watch these beech.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

I just want a glass of something, a comfy chair, and to sit back and watch these beech.

I recommend Soju.

 

[barrosinc]

Max they are slow as you know. Much slower to develop and much more challenging than maples in terms of coaxing them to ramify.

Definitely.
I still have high hopes for the 9 red breeches i have left.
I made a 45cm oval pot for these.