Ooh!! wow<$ ??WTF?? San Jose Juniper advice

[edprocoat]

Slick idea! Hopefully, it survives the work. I bet it will.

I hope so, thanks for the vote of confidence too ! So far the both of these have not skipped a beat but this was a very intrusive procedure so we'll see how it works out.

ed

 

[Poink88]

Looks much better.

I probably would have tried a less invasive procedure like a rebar jack first though. If it fails, then I'll do the hollowing.

Good luck!

 

[edprocoat]

Update on the larger side as promised, finally a brief respite from the rain.

This is what it looks like now.


BigNow by edsnapshot, on Flickr

The other side.


BigSide by edsnapshot, on Flickr

It grew laying on the ground, there was no growth on the bottom side. I wired some branches to fill it in some. I needed branches on the back so I used two thinner branches from the top and drilled holes through to the bottom/back, slit the bark open above and along the hole and put the branches in, like an approach graft using the plants branches. I closed the bark over and sealed it with Mortite clay rope caulk, and yes I removed the bark where it would join to fuse to the trunk. This one is on the first side through to the bottom/back.


Branchthru by edsnapshot, on Flickr

The other graft. On the second side going through to the back.


Branchthru2 by edsnapshot, on Flickr

Upshot, front view.


Upshot by edsnapshot, on Flickr

It seems to be doing well, keep your fingers crossed for me.

ed

 

[Bill S]

What do you see? What features of the tree prompted you to buy it?

Is there any reason not to wait patiently, water it, feed it, turn it around, and contemplate it until the solution presents itself? Is it bad if that process takes a year or two?

Good points, also as you wait, don't wait,work the roots that you said were potentially root bound. this may change your design options. Possibly by what may die off.

Then Bill see's his post come up on pg. 3 and will go back and see more, FIND THAT TRUCK, I'll take 5.

 

[Poink88]

I was worried about water getting through the tree wrap and laying in the wound and rotting it, possibly molding up and killing the trunk so I coated the whole thing with the black emulsion asphalt sealer TreeKote to waterproof it.

Ed,

Are you not worried of suffocating the tree trunk with this?

 

[Paradox]

Ed,

Are you not worried of suffocating the tree trunk with this?

I was also wondering about this. Seems like an odd thing to do and not that good for the tree. Never seen any one else that did this sort of thing before. Also thought it might be a real pain to remove .

 

[october]

Oh boy Ed, what are we going to do with you. Between the Mortite clay rope caulk and the black emulsion asphalt sealer, sounds to me like you are building a house and not a bonsai. The last tree here has amazing potential. Also, even though I cannot say with certainty just by the pics, I think you are making this much more work than it needs to be. I think this tree could/can be a great bonsai with just one good session of wiring.

Rob

 

[edprocoat]

Oh boy Ed, what are we going to do with you. Between the Mortite clay rope caulk and the black emulsion asphalt sealer, sounds to me like you are building a house and not a bonsai. The last tree here has amazing potential. Also, even though I cannot say with certainty just by the pics, I think you are making this much more work than it needs to be. I think this tree could/can be a great bonsai with just one good session of wiring.

Rob

Gee thanks Rob, while reading this and gulping a coke I started to chuckle at the house thing and shot some soda out my nose !

The Mortite is a building material, an inert clay caulk that covers wounds real good and sticks well until you peel it off. The Treekote is the old fashioned tree sealer used for pruning since adam did the nasty with eve. > Ruminations 5:16 And yea I say unto thee when removing a branch from the growth of any tree, coat the wound area with TreeKote to keep the insects and unclean things from invading the healthy cambium.


As for the last tree there are no branches on the backside/bottom at all thats why I did the graft thing. Its hard to see in the pics they way the branches grew, it seems the upper branches grew a canopy, then the lower ones grew down towards the roots to get from beneath the canopy to the light so I have a lot of 6-7 inch long sections of branches before there is any green. The branches that are thicker are stiff and seem to break when bent and there is no room to get into them to wrap it with raffia. I need some green on the other side of the trunk IMO.

ed

 

[edprocoat]

Ed,

Are you not worried of suffocating the tree trunk with this?

Dario, not really. I do not see where this would be any different than wrapping a tree branch with self sealing tape or for that matter when wrapping an air layer. My reason was to hopefully keep water from getting trapped in the carved area and turning to mold and causing rot. That would seem to be a definite possibilty and a sure way to lose the branch. I am sure that during the normal process of nutrients moving up and down the phloem and water moving through the sapwood there should be oxygen present.


ed

 

[edprocoat]

I was also wondering about this. Seems like an odd thing to do and not that good for the tree. Never seen any one else that did this sort of thing before. Also thought it might be a real pain to remove .

Paradox, its over a triple wrap of tree wrap, thats the black membrane stuff that they wrap tree trunks with instead of the cardboard wrap, its like a fine mesh and feels like cotton. I should just be able to cut it and peel it off. But I was wrong once ... there was another time I thought I was wrong, it turned out I was just mistaken....

ed

 

[edprocoat]

Good points, also as you wait, don't wait,work the roots that you said were potentially root bound. this may change your design options. Possibly by what may die off.

Then Bill see's his post come up on pg. 3 and will go back and see more, FIND THAT TRUCK, I'll take 5.

Bill, I missed this post. Its not potentially rootbound, its severly rootbound. I orginally sawed off the bottom 6/10's of the root mass after probing it for an hour and not finding any large roots, before splitting the trunk at the joint. If you look at the post directly above your reply you can see on the right the mass of roots woven like a loofa sponge. The whole pot was full like this as the plant was never repotted. That edge is turned up to get a straighter angle on the tree and expose the surface roots to air prune and die off as new roots grow beneath.

ed

 

[edprocoat]

Just an update on the twin trunk one.

Inspired By Vance and his video I thought what the hell ....

[video=youtube;WU9YJXwm64Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU9YJXwm64Q[/video]

ed

 

[Lancaster]

I like the video aspect. It gives more of a perspective look.

Good job keeping the tree alive. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Neli]

Nice work so far....You are getting there...I am sure with time new ideas will come to you.

 

[sorce]

I cut off some 5 gallon buckets and planted these. The big one is in a 9 inch deep one. I buried the roots and thus some of the trunk to let the roots grow. I plan on slowly moving down the soil line and drive the roots deeper, eventually removing the ones that sprouted from the lower trunk at the soil..

biginpot by edsnapshot, on Flickr

The smaller one is in a 7 inch deep one. I did not get the planting angle I wanted, noticed it after all was done, maybe next year.


Smallerinpot by edsnapshot, on Flickr

Under the foliage there was so much dead stuff it had turned to soil and roots were growing amidst the branches from the trunk. Its almost like it was trying to air layer itself.

ed

Like the tree. LOVE the pots!

Sorce

 

[berobinson82]

Like the tree. LOVE the pots!

Sorce

I didn't notice the hidden message until right now. LOL!

Excellent transformation, ed. The video shows and entirely promising tree and I look forward to revisiting this thread in another year.

 

[edprocoat]

I didn't notice the hidden message until right now. LOL!

Excellent transformation, ed. The video shows and entirely promising tree and I look forward to revisiting this thread in another year.

The message was on there for several months when one evening my wife said " What are those Chinese symbols, they look like a ck on the one and an fu on the other.... what ? grow up 54 year child "

ed

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Ed,I love what you have done - its great. A total do-it-yourself success.

By the way, for those that don't paint houses for a living, the Mortite Caulk rope, the oil in the caulk that holds it together is nothing much more than boiled linseed oil, perfectly safe for the tree. In fact one alternative to buying the various wood preservers to preserve dead wood after the bleaching with lime sulfur is boiled linseed oil. It is much cheaper than the Fornby's product and actually is the main ingredient of most wood preservatives. I would have used grafting tape, but I have a roll of it hanging over the work bench, the Mortite caulk is under the work bench. Paint and drop cloths are in the garage. I only painted houses while I was in college. Finally decided to pay someone to paint mine last year. I hate painting.

I also like that you made a pot with non-shrink grout. It should last a few years, especially if you embedded some wire mess or plastic mesh in the grout to give it strength. Even if you didn't it should last a fair number of years before freeze-thaw takes its toll.

Great job, good thinking on your work-arounds.

 

[edprocoat]

I was also wondering about this. Seems like an odd thing to do and not that good for the tree. Never seen any one else that did this sort of thing before. Also thought it might be a real pain to remove .

Here is the picture after the wrap and sealant that I put on back in October of 2013 was removed two days ago. I know this stuff caused some of you guys so much concern. I removed it, then seeing how the bark was starting to roll over where I gouged it out I decided to remove the aluminum wire I had placed inside the wound leaving a large hollow which I then filled with moldable two part epoxy stick. This is the white stuff that is rated for drinking water pipes "non toxic" so not to stress you guys any further. I packed the gouged area so now I have no worry about rot and the bark can continue to roll over and maybe eventually close the wound. I plan on painting the plastic dark brown in the meantime to hide it better. BTW my pots I made from non shrink grout and chicken wire as a frame failed miserably? The first time I have had this happen, they held up through the freezing temps when my soil froze last fall. When the weather got over 80 in Florida the pots both cracked from top to bottom, the one in 5 places and the other in seven places ! So bad that when I watered it ran out through the cracks and I could not ascertain whether water was getting in or just running out the side. I got some cheap Mica pots online and they are nestled safely once again, and when the rained stopped I took a few pics to share.


Front of my Twin Trunk.

SanJosetwin by edprocoat, on Flickr

The back side of this one.

Sanjosetwin2 by edprocoat, on Flickr

This is the other single trunk.

Front side.

SanJose1 by edprocoat, on Flickr

Back side.

SanJose2 by edprocoat, on Flickr

Well I like them, despite having one rude short sighted jerk tell me in another thread that I had destroyed the trunk on the twin trunk. lol @ that clown.


ed

 

[fraser67]

Wow! I remember when you posted this. Curious...how are you going to get the emulsion off? That stuff is nasty lol...though looking closely, I guess not much is on the actual tree hahaha. Cool idea.