shohin_branches
Chumono
Been wanting to assemble this forest for awhile. With my lack of space in the past It's mostly just been something in my head. American Larch are one of my favorite overall trees but I haven't had any nice larch bonsai for over a decade.
The large tree was purchased at a local garden center in 2019 (only $21) and potted in spring 2020. The whips were purchased bare root last spring from a local tree nursery and thrown into a pot together. They're pushing new growth so I had to start assembly.
I decided to use this pot that I got 20 years ago at a Bill Valvanis trident maple forest workshop. The drainage isn't great so larch should be alright with this one. I got this far on wiring up some anchoring structure when I remembered that the large larch had some jacked up roots when I last repotted it. First roadblock.
No problem, I bought this as a backup for the forest planting from a club member that has been building them. It's 2" deep. Brass screws for anchoring.
Well this knot is worse than I remember. I need to take better notes. So I did as much rootwork as I felt comfortable with and then a little more.
After all that hacking and cutting the knot was still about 3½" deep. This root trouble seems like it's more common among nursery stock I've been getting lately.
What a mess. I might have to start looking for a different lead tree. I almost had to bare root it to untangle the roots further. Found a few spots of rot so I mixed up some soil with less fines and more pumice and lava. Treated rot spot with physan 20 to get rid of whatever pathogen caused it and the old soil is going into the "cook me" pile.
I had these large trays I purchased over winter and forgot about. Threw some screen in the bottom. They're 6"x14"x14" so a little larger than I was looking for but will give them space for some big growth and development over the next two to three years.
Got two clumps put together so they can grow closer and have variations in spacing once the layout is ready to be assembled. I also was able to do more tap root reduction on the saplings.
I was really excited for this project so it's a little disappointing to not be able to get it in a nicer pot. Next attempt I want to have muck prepared. Not sure why I was thinking I could get away without it. Hoping that with better documenting I can plan a little better. In two years I'll purchase another round of whips to add in some more variation to trunk diameter. The remaining seedlings got put in other pots to start separate journeys.
The large tree was purchased at a local garden center in 2019 (only $21) and potted in spring 2020. The whips were purchased bare root last spring from a local tree nursery and thrown into a pot together. They're pushing new growth so I had to start assembly.
I decided to use this pot that I got 20 years ago at a Bill Valvanis trident maple forest workshop. The drainage isn't great so larch should be alright with this one. I got this far on wiring up some anchoring structure when I remembered that the large larch had some jacked up roots when I last repotted it. First roadblock.
No problem, I bought this as a backup for the forest planting from a club member that has been building them. It's 2" deep. Brass screws for anchoring.
Well this knot is worse than I remember. I need to take better notes. So I did as much rootwork as I felt comfortable with and then a little more.
After all that hacking and cutting the knot was still about 3½" deep. This root trouble seems like it's more common among nursery stock I've been getting lately.
What a mess. I might have to start looking for a different lead tree. I almost had to bare root it to untangle the roots further. Found a few spots of rot so I mixed up some soil with less fines and more pumice and lava. Treated rot spot with physan 20 to get rid of whatever pathogen caused it and the old soil is going into the "cook me" pile.
I had these large trays I purchased over winter and forgot about. Threw some screen in the bottom. They're 6"x14"x14" so a little larger than I was looking for but will give them space for some big growth and development over the next two to three years.
Got two clumps put together so they can grow closer and have variations in spacing once the layout is ready to be assembled. I also was able to do more tap root reduction on the saplings.
I was really excited for this project so it's a little disappointing to not be able to get it in a nicer pot. Next attempt I want to have muck prepared. Not sure why I was thinking I could get away without it. Hoping that with better documenting I can plan a little better. In two years I'll purchase another round of whips to add in some more variation to trunk diameter. The remaining seedlings got put in other pots to start separate journeys.
