Larix x eurolepis

[AlainK]

...or "Dunkeld larch". One from a dozen 2 year-old seedlings I bought in 1996.

August 2015:

December 2015. I had left the cones, which is an error: the branches with matures cones on are more likely to die.

February 2015:

 

[AlainK]

Leafing out:

 

[twisted trees]

I'm a larch junkie. Nice tree.

 

[Paulpash]

Would the base be better with those 2 high roots removed? Good tree regardless.

 

[AlainK]

Would the base be better with those 2 high roots removed?

It probably would, yes.

But this was among the first ones I worked with, from a batch of 2-3 year-old seedlings that I kept in pots for a couple of years. The roots were going downwards and I wasn't sure of which ones and how much to cut, so I wrapped the base with raphia thinking they would fuse - but they didn't.

I'm thinking of scarring them where they meet: this species heals well and fast, so maybe the base would look better: what do you think?...

Update:

 

[M. Frary]

I don't know about this model but tamarack can be layered. Maybe a ground layer,Alain?

 

[AlainK]

Maybe a ground layer,Alain?

Hmmmm...

Never tried that on this species, I don't think I will take the risk: as I said, it's from my early years in bonsai, so I have an affective relation with it: I prefer having it alive with a clubfoot than dead. Too risky for my poor knowledge of Larch...

 

[sorce]

All I know....

If you are looking at the roots that long...

You ain't enjoying this tree.....

If I had to hate something.....

It would be the almost mathematically perfect branching.

But it's beautiful....

Who cares!

Sorce

 

[AlainK]

Larix 94-04 : it suffered from a hot dry summer, some essential branches died, now it's recovering.

Next spring, I might put it in a much bigger pot to make it stronger, and not so slanting. With such a thin trunk, a larch in the wild would probably fall come a storm... That's part of the passion of bonsai : how to improve a tree that is neither good nor bad

 

[penumbra]

It is a lovely tree and the base has improved considerable on its own.
I think it is interesting that so many bonsai people obsess over things like these elongated roots. We see them every day in nature but think somehow we can improve on those we see in the wild.
Bonsai certainly helps to bring out the compulsive obsessive behavior in some folks. Probably all of us to some degree, minor or major.

 

[AlainK]

I think it is interesting that so many bonsai people obsess over things like these elongated roots.

... and I think that's a very interesting comment Really :

Actually, this is one of the first trees, in fact 2-yr-old seedlings I treated as bonsai. I didn't know how much of the roots I could prune, and since they came from uprooted seedlings in a nursery field, the roots were not star-shaped as we like our bonsai to have. So I wrapped the roots in raffia, spreading just the base in pots.

I have other ones I treated differently, like this one : https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/larch-larix-x-eurolepis-94-03.30116/ , or "big brother" that spent a few years in the ground (can't find the thread again, but there are some pics here).

In fact, I thought the exposed roots would fuse after some time, like they do on trident maples, but apparently, they don't

 

[AlainK]

It was a bit late to repot and wire it, but I did.