Whats Going on in Smoke's Backyard?

[Tona]

Thanks Al,
Love the what's going on thread. Hope to bump in to you at the Convention at the end of the month.
Tona (Steve)

 

[JudyB]

Some nice eggs in those baskets. The pyracantha is looking great.
And oh snap, what is that green pot?! I love that pot, never seen anything like that.

 

[Smoke]

Some nice eggs in those baskets. The pyracantha is looking great.
And oh snap, what is that green pot?! I love that pot, never seen anything like that.

THAT is my attempt at American bonsai That is a pot for cactus that an American potter is doing. I thought it complimented my semi cascade trident that took second place three years ago in an ugly tree contest.

 

[james]

Pond baskets

Where are you finding those pink pond baskets?

 

[Smoke]

Where are you finding those pink pond baskets?

Same place I buy my underware. The Big Asia Market.

 

[Smoke]

Also took pics of three of the trees I have growing on Terra cotta plates. One is a five trunk, a three trunk and a two trunk.
The three trunk and the two trunk are further behind due to the trees having to grow larger to fill each of their single holes, while the five trunk was five seedlings passed thru one hole. The five trunk started layering itself in about 60 days.

 

[Smoke]

There is a thread about this tree somewhere. Just in case you missed it, the tree was dug from a commercial building. This stump was dug on 3/17/13. So I have been working it for 19 months.

 

[Smoke]

Thanks Al,
Love the what's going on thread. Hope to bump in to you at the Convention at the end of the month.
Tona (Steve)

Just going for Friday. Going just to Cheer on Victrinia and heckle Stacy. If he does another weeping style I may throw up right there.

 

[Milly]

Smoke, the second tree in post 195 is very interesting. What is it?

 

[Nybonsai12]

Smoke, the second tree in post 195 is very interesting. What is it?

I believe it is an elm. hope he chimes in if I'm wrong.

 

[Smoke]

It is a cork elm.

 

[JudyB]

That five trunk layer looks great!

 

[cmeg1]

Wow,I love the results of that 5 trunk tree.I have to give that a try,as I have 18 Zelkova cuttings that are straight and about 4 feet,but pencil thin.
I was aiming to make clumps from them by repeatedly chopping real low.
I will use both methods and see what happens.
Just curious,did you set the terra-cotta in a large colander or the growing bed?
Thanks for posting.

 

[Smoke]

I used a water saucer from a terra cotta pot upside down in the colander.

http://bonsaial.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/repotting-season-is-here-for-me/

http://bonsaial.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/clump-update/

 

[cmeg1]

Great links,thanks!
I think I like this method better.I am going to give it a try this Spring,and maybe different sizes like you have shown.Something to do with all these cuttings I have.

 

[Smoke]

Mired in bonsai club meetings, cancer treatments and being on call at work, the repotting continues. This little privit was a bird drop. It came up about three years ago and I put it in a 4 inch plastic pot. Over the years I have pruned on it, cut the leaves off and pruned some more. Never had wire, just directional pruning. Today it went into a Big Dave Rochester hand made pot. RIP Big Dave. A member here who died a couple years ago. Pot is 3 inches long by 2 inches deep. The sides are about 1/2 inch tall. The whole tree is about 3.25 inches tall.

 

[Smoke]

Once again for all those out there that think custom soil is what makes their plant grow.....guess again. This pad of roots circled the pot three times and pushed the plant out of the pot almost an inch, all without soil.

 

[Smoke]

This tree,



has been one that I have had a lot of fun working on thru the few years I have had it since it was dug. Mostly it was de-branched and started over. A new apex was started and the tree has grown well. Many branches have been grafted on and the tree was looking pretty good. This year was going to be the year I shoe horned it into a better pot. After taking it out of the colander I found that it had that dreaded claw that I worked on when I put it in the colander, but had forgotton just how large it was.







The trunk had a overhang in the trunk that was a fault. I tried correcting it with thread grafts but have still had no success with them.

 

[Smoke]

Today when taking it out I found a place that could help the tree make a better showing. The trunk under the bad place flared and could be utilized by bringing the tree up out of the soil more and removing some thick roots.

The two large roots I removed were over 1/2 thick. I just sawed them off. The tree does not need roots like this and it is better to get rid of them over a period of years anyway. In some cases some larger roots must remain to continue the flare on onto the soil. The big root with the small roots sticking out will be removed. One can see that the root was out of the soil by the dark line that was under the soil.



This other root, darker was behind it but on the same plane.


I cut them both off. I used a die grinder and dressed both the wounds. The double wound between them was also ground down for a smoother heal.

 

[j evans]

Nice job cleaning it up, good looking tree.