The 'early days' progress thread

[just.wing.it]

I'll jump in on this one with a small Common Boxwood from The Depot.
I cut it back ruthlessly about 8 weeks ago, when I got it.
Its grown back a bit and I hedged it once since.
I decided to try something different with the roots this time. Instead of lopping off the bottom half, I left the very bottom intact and bare rooted all around. This leaves a cone shaped section of old soil in the center of the rootball and I back filled with lava, pumice and Fir bark.
I'll leave it in this container for a few years and see what happens.
I'm hoping that roots will take in the good substrate and I'll be able to dig out the center cone of old soil.
Its basically a Half Bare Rooting, but different.....we'll see what happens.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

post a pic of your start point, outline your plans for its future

fun thread good idea! Thanks @Paulpash

This is Deshojo #4 in my files (for my own records - so i don't loose track of which tree i've committed to this thread). This tree was taken as a cutting in spring 2017. In spring 2018 I purchased this tree along with many others like it, as well as the parent plant from which they all came (see third picture).

The first picture was taken March 2019. The second picture was taken 5 minutes ago (July 2019).

As for the plan -- my maple inspiration photos are divided by 'classic', 'twin trunk', 'multi trunk', 'cascade', etc. But then i have this folder where i put the maples that don't seem to fit any of my mental categories (see last 3 photos). They are 'free form' in a sense, at least for me. I hope that this deshojo will belong in that folder

in its next repotting this tree will be planted on a severe angle, and that top-left branch will continue to lead the way

 

[Orion_metalhead]

I think you want to cover the nebari at this point so the roots won't dry out

Will do. Thanks for the watchful eye.

 

[misfit11]

Here are those "Yamadori-Style" Junipers I've started. Not much to look at, but maybe in about 10 years or so...

Here's a link to the Jim Gremel Yamadori Juniper technique: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/twisted-shimpaku.4767/#post-62535

 

[Starfox]

Here are another two Hakea but this time they are H. drupacea. Same deal as before, both started from seed so about two years old. I have another but these two were left behind in their seedling tubs for too long but have now took off since repotting. Will let the one with the lean just grow for a while and the straighter one will be somewhat a practice tree to see how they respond.

 

[TomB]

post a pic of your start point, outline your plans for its future and update with pictures and a few words on how it's going once a year.

OK. I'll play.
This is (going to be) a group planting of Cretan maple, Acer sempervirens. This is one of the few evergreen maple species. It's a Mediterranean species.
I collected the seeds from a tree in a botanic garden in December 2018, and sowed them directly in this pot. First shoots appeared in March 2019, and this is what the group looks like now.
This is intended to be a shohin sized planting. I think it could be 'done' in 5-6 years. I'll keep it in this small pot at least until I have a 'meshed' root pad. After that it might temporarily go into something bigger for development. I'll look at the roots next spring and decide.

 

[Paulpash]

OK. I'll play.
This is (going to be) a group planting of Cretan maple, Acer sempervirens. This is one of the few evergreen maple species. It's a Mediterranean species.
I collected the seeds from a tree in a botanic garden in December 2018, and sowed them directly in this pot. First shoots appeared in March 2019, and this is what the group looks like now.
This is intended to be a shohin sized planting. I think it could be 'done' in 5-6 years. I'll keep it in this small pot at least until I have a 'meshed' root pad. After that it might temporarily go into something bigger for development. I'll look at the roots next spring and decide.
View attachment 255306

This I'm sure will be a fun project, @TomB. It's not a species I've heard of for bonsai but you've obviously done your homework. Does it need much protection from frost? As it's evergreen you can't just bung it in a dark garage - heated greenhouse? From the leaves I would never have guessed it was from the maple family.

 

[Johnnyd]

This is a Burning Bush I won at a raffle at my first bonsai meeting.
My plans are to plant it in my garden to thicken the trunk. I wrapped a wire around the bottom for a ground layer. I will post a picture of the ground layer when I dig it up in early spring.

 

[TomB]

This I'm sure will be a fun project, @TomB. It's not a species I've heard of for bonsai but you've obviously done your homework. Does it need much protection from frost? As it's evergreen you can't just bung it in a dark garage - heated greenhouse? From the leaves I would never have guessed it was from the maple family.

Just making it up as I go along really Paul - saw the seeds on the tree and thought I'd have a go at it. I'm planning to keep it in a small plastic greenhouse along with my other more delicate shohin. Time will tell whether it lives or not
I think these are still immature leaves - the ones on mature plants are apparently a bit variable in shape, but the ones on the original tree looked a bit like Montpelier or Trident leaves. It's apparently 'semi' evergreen so in our climate it might drop leaves, or might not.

 

[Starfox]

OK my last one until my next stick in a pot order is incoming which will be soon.

A Melaleuca ericifolia or Swamp paperbark.
Here it is as I first got it in December last year.



And here it is as of today after some wire and chopping.



Probably just going to continue a cycle of grow and selectively cut back on this for a while, it will likely bud lower down with more cuts hopefully so I can get more movement into it.
Original thinking was to try and go for the natural look for the species which are quite tall, long and slenderish trunks with some nice cloud type foliage at top but in saying that the base has a mean lean going on, hence the rock behind to keep it upright, so I may be able to work a totally different angle depending on what shoots where.

 

[Defect]

Here is my entry Corkbark Chinese Elm. Going to get in to a slightly larger pot and just let it grow for a while and thicken this bad boy up then chop it back hard and start over.

 

[Paulpash]

I'll add another - what is bonsai if there are no projects and seeing something develop, right?

Air layer of a maple - I prepped this long branch before layering, wiring movement and guy wiring over the future trunks of this raft style Acer. Lots of future tweaking of the spacing and shaping of the various trunks will be needed I'm sure. Lots of buds popping too so I'm happy to have options going forward to add or delete. This is the prep stage - put in the work to get a good set of bones to work with.

 

[Heitor Silva]

Here I am with a stick in a pot! It seems to be thriving indeed!
BIO: What we have here is a Ficus microcarpa cutting, taken from a tree which was about to be cut down.
Style: still waiting for its growth. However, I intend to build up a Neagari styled tree, since it is a fantastic style suited for ficus trees.

 

[SniffingKrylon]

Literally a stick in a pot. Had a big buttonwood in a grow box but it fell over, pretty ugly and not doing well, so instead of putting it back I dumped it but cut off the only interesting branch and stuck it in a pot.. a month and a half later, it’s growing roots and just threw out a few buds so I guess it’s going to make it. I wasn’t expecting buds so high, hopefully it’s grows better lower, I want this to be a shohin sized tree.

 

[Heitor Silva]

Here I am with a stick in a pot! It seems to be thriving indeed!
BIO: What we have here is a Ficus microcarpa cutting, taken from a tree which was about to be cut down.
Style: still waiting for its growth. However, I intend to build up a Neagari styled tree, since it is a fantastic style suited for ficus trees. View attachment 255442

UPDATE: Aug 9th. This cutting started to show me some nice buds! I will leave it untouched until March. Very happy with the results

 

[Bavarian Raven]

I have many stick in pots XD
I'll swing by later and post some )