2009 ~ Spring Styling Contest ~ Poll

treebeard55 · 07-16-2009, 05:13 PM

Thanks, Mike. Keep working on that boxwood. A few years down the road you may enter it successfully in BOTM.

Matt, I agree: it seems hard to believe that so few people were on the site. I'm sure you, Jim and Phil are feeling a bit frustrated about that.

Since we're "'fessin' up," I'll admit I put a reminder at Bonsai-Nut forum, since there a number of people there who are also members here. Was going to do it at BonsaiVault, too, but most of the "overlap" there is also on B-N. Don't know how much effect it may have had ...

treebeard55 · 09-07-2009, 12:33 PM

Hello, all,

Just thought I would post an update on this yew's progress. This tree has grown well over the summer. It gets direct sun off-and-on for probably 6 hours/day, and the rest of the time is in open shade.

The first picture show this tree as of 2 days ago, nothing masked. This is the probable front.

The second shows the tree with a large, low sacrifice branch masked.

There a few colored arrows. The blue one points to the base of what will be the eventual main back branch. It was growing straight up; so I notched the base, wired it, and bent it over. The yellow arrow points to the zip tie I'm using to help keep the notch tightly closed while it heals. The orange arrow points to a branch that I may well remove eventually, tho the jury's still out.

And the blue/purple line shows where this tree will be layered in the next year or two. Those stubs right above this line aren't root stubs, they're branch stubs! As with most nursery-grown trees, this yew was repotted deep the last time, with much of the trunk buried. I actually have no idea how deep the present nebari lies. But this tree will be a semi-cascade, so I want the nebari at this line.

The last picture shows the tree from above, with that major sacrifice branch masked.

treebeard55 · 11-07-2009, 07:41 PM

I just needle-plucked this yew, and one other, this afternoon. Hopefully there will be a lot of buds breaking close to the branch bases next spring, so I can keep this fellow compact.

I'm going to repot this tree next spring, and the design might just change once I see what's below the present soil line! Stay tuned.

treebeard55 · 05-04-2010, 08:31 PM

Hello, all!

As I mentioned earlier, I think, my original intention was to air-layer this tree just below the branches I used, and get a shohin sized semi-cascade. But Tom Brown persuaded me to check the rest of the trunk, and the existing nebari, before I proceeded with an air-layer. I decided that, yes, I should at least check it.

A week or so ago I de-wired it, and, as can be expected, most of the branches reverted to one degree or another. (First picture.) I wasn't too surprised, or dismayed: I can re-wire in a year or two!

I also repotted it into a training pot (alias a hard-sided microwaveable roaster) and checked out what had been buried, when it was in the nursery pot. I decided that an air-layer is still the best way to go with this tree. The air-layer will have to wait a year, but now I'm sure.

The air-layer will be at the blue line in the second photo. I'll also remove the almost-hidden back branch shown by the orange arrow.

Yes, the tree is tilted in the new pot. That's so that, when I right it later, the branches won't need quite such drastic repositioning!

Phil · 05-04-2010, 10:43 PM

Thanks treebeard. I appreciate your keeping us updated as to the progress of the tree. Not many, well, actually none, have taken the time to do so in the past.

Oops...by the way, it's looking really good and.....still alive!

~Phil~

JLDoggett · 05-04-2010, 11:08 PM

Last years tree died after a valliant attempt to struggle through this past winter, Alas it could not take being eaten to the groud by mice...

On the other hand the previous years tree (which was smashed when the 60' maple tree landed on it in the ice stormmof 2008) put forth new growth on the remaining trunk as it sat atop the heap of materials to be shredded for the compost pile. So I have it back in a pot and will see how well it heals from losing half the trunk. Maybe I should do some photos when I get some free time.

treebeard55 · 04-14-2011, 07:58 PM

My little yew came thru the winter fine. Foliage buds are just starting to break, so I performed the airlayer today.

The first picture shows the tree before I started, from the eventual front (or angle pretty close thereto.)

I ringed the trunk, taking off all the cambium from the stripped area. The stripped area is as tall as it is to prevent the tree, if at all possible, from bridging the gap: I want it to sprout new roots instead! Rooting hormone powder (Hormex, I think, #1, which was all the garden center had) was liberally applied with a Q-tip; spraying with water first helped it stick where it's needed.

The plastic sleeve was cut from .04-mil polyethylene plastic. As some of you will know, research by the late Dr. J.R. Cody of Texas showed that polyethylene that thin will pass oxygen and carbon dioxide, but not water or water vapor. The sleeve was filled with wet sphagnum, to above the upper edge of the stripped area, and then closed with ordinary packing tape and a few staples.

The tree is spending the nite indoors, since our low tonite is supposed to get down to about 34 F (1 C.) Tomorrow I'll put an aluminum-foil shield around the upper part of the sphagnum ball, to deflect the sun, and find the tree a semi-shaded spot outside.

I hope to be able to detach the upper part, with new roots, at the end of the summer, so that it can have a couple of months to adjust after I pot it up.

treebeard55 · 04-14-2011, 08:38 PM

You'll notice in the 2nd picture that the girdling cut is made at a slant. That's to enable me to flip the tree back to the left, and plant it as a semi-cascade again, once the upper part has been separated. Here's a quick-and-dirty virt of the idea.

By the way, Phil or Jim, should these updates be in their own thread, rather than attached to the "sticky poll?"

JLDoggett · 04-14-2011, 08:55 PM

I will make them into a thread asap. Need to deside where and how.

View Poll Results: Choose your favourite
01-Koren Boxwood	0	0%
02-Cedrus Lebani	4	25.00%
03-Azalea	2	12.50%
04-Taxus	10	62.50%
Voters: 16. You may not vote on this poll

07-16-2009, 05:13 PM	#11 (permalink)
treebeard55 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Warsaw IN, USA USDA zone 5b Posts: 511	Thanks, Mike. Keep working on that boxwood. A few years down the road you may enter it successfully in BOTM. Matt, I agree: it seems hard to believe that so few people were on the site. I'm sure you, Jim and Phil are feeling a bit frustrated about that. Since we're "'fessin' up," I'll admit I put a reminder at Bonsai-Nut forum, since there a number of people there who are also members here. Was going to do it at BonsaiVault, too, but most of the "overlap" there is also on B-N. Don't know how much effect it may have had ... __________________ Treebeard 55 Steve Moore http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

11-07-2009, 07:41 PM	#13 (permalink)
treebeard55 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Warsaw IN, USA USDA zone 5b Posts: 511	Further update I just needle-plucked this yew, and one other, this afternoon. Hopefully there will be a lot of buds breaking close to the branch bases next spring, so I can keep this fellow compact. I'm going to repot this tree next spring, and the design might just change once I see what's below the present soil line! Stay tuned. __________________ Treebeard 55 Steve Moore http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com The most important bonsai tool is your brain. Last edited by treebeard55; 11-07-2009 at 07:45 PM.. Reason: correct typpo -- tyyp -- tyros -- TYPOS!

05-04-2010, 10:43 PM	#15 (permalink)
Phil A bit "Windswept" Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Chicago, Ill. USDA Zone 5 Posts: 1,051	Thanks treebeard. I appreciate your keeping us updated as to the progress of the tree. Not many, well, actually none, have taken the time to do so in the past. Oops...by the way, it's looking really good and.....still alive! ~Phil~ __________________ Please, always keep in mind that the typewritten word does not always convey what you wish to say, and to always treat others as you would have them treat you. Think twice-submit once. I started out with nothing....and still have most of it. "Its hell out there, give them hell back." ~ Prowler/Victor Gray 12/31/1943 - 11/24/2008

05-04-2010, 11:08 PM	#16 (permalink)
JLDoggett Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: New Hampshire, USA, Posts: 641	Last years tree died after a valliant attempt to struggle through this past winter, Alas it could not take being eaten to the groud by mice... On the other hand the previous years tree (which was smashed when the 60' maple tree landed on it in the ice stormmof 2008) put forth new growth on the remaining trunk as it sat atop the heap of materials to be shredded for the compost pile. So I have it back in a pot and will see how well it heals from losing half the trunk. Maybe I should do some photos when I get some free time. __________________ "Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and wrong....because sometime in your life you will have been all of these" And I further resolve to click on an ad, each time I visit, to help support the site and to be welcoming to lurking guests when you join! After all, you're already here.

04-14-2011, 08:55 PM	#19 (permalink)
JLDoggett Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: New Hampshire, USA, Posts: 641	I will make them into a thread asap. Need to deside where and how. __________________ "Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and wrong....because sometime in your life you will have been all of these" And I further resolve to click on an ad, each time I visit, to help support the site and to be welcoming to lurking guests when you join! After all, you're already here.

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