The Tree Thread

[0soyoung]

After spending years trying to avoid every noob's initial desire to make literati,
I'm going for making a literati of this euonymus sieboldiana , exercising the principle that it won't thicken until the next segment is nearly as thick to make a wandering stem without taper. Plus, what could be better than a 'spindle tree' subject?
I just realized that I'm doing basically the same thing with this other piece
layered from the same plant and (and bit dry when I took the pic) - gotta get it on a different path next year. Why would anyone need/want two of the exact same thing?
And a third piece of the plant that I'm trying to make with exposed roots .

I hope that all will eventually be interesting and especially in fall when they ought to have dangling red-pink and orange fruits. Meanwhile, it is just gardening creating bonsai.

 

[Djtommy]

My tarantula fern swallowed its pot..

 

[Djtommy]

Since the above is not really a tree, here is an apple tree, still undecided weather I should use everything or remove the right trunk

 

[0soyoung]

an apple tree, still undecided weather I should use everything or remove the right trunk

The left has all my interest, but I'm don't think it works as well alone. Maybe just that far-right curving branch up top on the right?

This is the stump of a vine (is it close enough to being a tree?)
that definitely isn't the winter jasmine it was represented to be when I naively bought it almost a decade ago. I should have tossed it, but it keeps finding a spot on a bench and now a momentary place in front of my camera.

 

[Cosmos]

Bargain bin potentilla fruticosa "Mango Tango" from my favourite nursery.

I’m fairly excited about this one.

 

[River's Edge]

Since the above is not really a tree, here is an apple tree, still undecided weather I should use everything or remove the right trunk
View attachment 212223

I would consider losing the left side and cutting back the right to just below the straight section at the bend half way up on the right! Just below the stick propping the spacing for the left trunk. I like the potential for taper and movement on that side better along with shorter spacing between change of direction and taper. Just a thought!

 

[Wilson]

Oh the things we do to these little trees.

 

[Djtommy]

I would consider losing the left side and cutting back the right to just below the straight section at the bend half way up on the right! Just below the stick propping the spacing for the left trunk. I like the potential for taper and movement on that side better along with shorter spacing between change of direction and taper. Just a thought!

I don’t think I will remove the left but I agree the right side is cut too high.
I took an air layer there and was planning to remove it afterwards but it sprouted shoots so I thought maybe I can use it. Maybe I should still just chop it lower and see, possibility.

trident in training

 

[BobbyLane]

First steps on a nursery Spruce, Picea Pungens
IMG_6846 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_6837 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[BE.REAL]

@BobbyLane , may I ask what height it was prior to chopping, and curious when you did it too.
keeping with the spruce, I just collected this one from my Brothers yard(he signed papers on it the following day, sold and gone) a week ago, lots of time for it to get a trunk similar to yours!

 

[Nybonsai12]

 

[BobbyLane]

@BobbyLane , may I ask what height it was prior to chopping, and curious when you did it too.
keeping with the spruce, I just collected this one from my Brothers yard(he signed papers on it the following day, sold and gone) a week ago, lots of time for it to get a trunk similar to yours!
View attachment 212476

Hi mate, it was chopped by me a few days ago, it looked like this. its been pot grown for 8 years and two years in the current nursery container which is bursting with roots top to bottom.with all that in mind, advice will be different for a collected tree.

 

[MACH5]

Japanese beautyberry.

 

[Nybonsai12]

 

[BobbyLane]

Little bit more on my Spruce...
IMG_6883 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_6872 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

Thought i'd try my luck on the species again, ive killed a couple spruce in the past, usually down to wiring of weak shoots and or shoving into a bonsai pot too early. this time ive kept all the strongest branches that have 3-4 or more buds on them, it will also stay in this pot n the rootball reduced gradually. that will be enough work now

 

[0soyoung]

Bird's nest spruce (picea abies 'nidiformis'), about a week ago.

View media item 4896

 

[Djtommy]

Hi mate, it was chopped by me a few days ago, it looked like this. its been pot grown for 8 years and two years in the current nursery container which is bursting with roots top to bottom.with all that in mind, advice will be different for a collected tree.

that was quite bold. Have you chopped spruce like that before? I hope it’ll be ok but if this was an ezo spruce it would likely not make it.

Something fell on this tree and broke 2branches from the main trunk bit of a bummer..

 

[ihaveaspaceship]

My $15 dollar Coast Live Oak pick-up today. 5" trunk. Will be fun to mess with next spring.

 

[BobbyLane]

that was quite bold. Have you chopped spruce like that before? I hope it’ll be ok but if this was an ezo spruce it would likely not make it.

Something fell on this tree and broke 2branches from the main trunk bit of a bummer..
View attachment 212617

Hmmm, but was it really much different to what Ryan does in the nursery material video?

here's a monstrosity that i chopped before. according to the bonsai4me spruce article, spruce branches shouldnt be worked if they have one or no buds on them, so you can see how weak the below image was in comparison to the recent one




on the new tree, if you look closely, most branches have 3-4 or more buds on them. time will tell

 

[TomB]

I think Autumn has arrived in my garden. This windswept English hawthorn has been frustrating this year - it hasn't grown as well as it should have, probably due to the hot summer, and a huge section of craggy old bark flaked off leaving it looking like a mess. I was going to put it in a new pot (maybe a landscape slab) this spring, but now it might just go into a cheap growing pot for a year or two. I think the roots need to expand a bit.