bonsaidad

After two years of waiting i finally dug up my small maple to place it into a grow box to reduce the roots.

I think i am happy with the results although its been said that the Neberi is not to clever, but to me if nature intended it to be this way, then so be it.
But anything above ground i can control to a certain degree, and manipulate it as i want to.

It would be interesting to hear your views on this tree in training.



Best regards BD Paul

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Old Chinese proverb says.
Go to bed with itchy bum.
Wake up with stinky finger.

Pup

I would be inclined to bury the roots to let them develop also. If you look at the back one it has daylight showing not a good look. JMO . Pup

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G, day I live in western Australia I have been trying for the last 20+ years with some success to grow Bonsai. I am a perpetual learner and an advanced beginner

Mortalis

You can improve your Neberi by grafting and wiring just as well as you can the above ground portion of the tree! Show your tree where you want it to go and its going to follow!

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"I'm ready to meet my maker, whether my maker is ready to meet me is another matter" W.Church hill.

bonsaidad

Thanks guys for the advice, and i will do this tomorrow as its going to be a nice day.


Best regards BD Paul

__________________
Old Chinese proverb says.
Go to bed with itchy bum.
Wake up with stinky finger.

treebeard55

Nice movement and taper to the trunk!

You probably know that you can graft in seedlings to fill in the nebari. I've seen photo essays of some outstanding results from that procedure.

(Altho, for whatever reason, all the success stories I'm aware of involve either tropicals or deciduous temperate trees. No conifers, which strikes me as odd.)

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Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

bonsaidad

thanks treebeard55 for your advice, and i have been thinking about these three large roots, with a view to removing them completely as the majority of the roots are below these.
As is usual, i will leave it in the box its in now, as the base will act just like a ceramic tile and spread the roots horizontally instead of down.
after a year or so i will remove the three roots and start to train the bottom ones.
How would you feel about this plan i have?.

Best regards BD Paul

__________________
Old Chinese proverb says.
Go to bed with itchy bum.
Wake up with stinky finger.

noissee

If you indeed have lots of roots below these, then you could go ahead and put wire tourniquets around the base of those roots so the tree will start the transfer process. know what i mean?

treebeard55

You know the tree, Paul.

That said: if the lower roots are strong enough to meet the tree's nutrient needs, I would suggest you go ahead and tourniquet those three top ones now, as noisee proposed. My reason: you're likely to get a basal flare where those three roots emarge if you leave them much longer. Once you raise the tree in its pot, that flare becomes an ugly ol' reverse taper.

If you were to do that now, the tree would handle the change quite well, as it's just into its spring growth flush.

__________________
Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

bonsaidad

Thanks guys, rain stopped me getting to the maple today, but its been forecast dry for tomorrow, and if this is so, then madam guillotine will be paying a visit.

I shall let you know how it goes tomorrow evening.



Best regards BD Paul

__________________
Old Chinese proverb says.
Go to bed with itchy bum.
Wake up with stinky finger.

bonsaidad

I have decided to try and keep these large roots, and bury them with the hope of encouraging finer roots to grow.
After carefully looking i found several smaller roots at the rear of the tree, so its not just the three large ones, so i hopefully develop these, and place them where i want them to go.

There is another method i have seen of growing new roots, and that is by drilling small holes around the basal flare, and packing them with rooting powder, and plugging the holes with matchsticks.


Any thoughts on this method?.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.



Best regards BD Paul

__________________
Old Chinese proverb says.
Go to bed with itchy bum.
Wake up with stinky finger.