Salvelinus

First of all, let me say it's great to be back. Sorry I've been gone so long. For those who don't know me, I used to be fairly active with this community. Lately I've been way too busy, but I'm trying to cut back. Maybe I will cut back enough that I can visit here more often.

I've been thinking about this community a lot lately as I've been working on a particular bonsai. It was featured on the previous Bonsai Chat in 2005 in a thread of the same name. It's come quite a long way since then, and I thought some of you who remember it might like to see it as it is now.

For those who do not remember the story, I've included the previous posts in this thread, so I don't have to re-type everything. Hope you all enjoy the story!

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson

Salvelinus

This is a tree I acquired in 2003 at a club workshop. I never really liked it. I had last choice, and this was the best of the bunch. It tapered well in the trunk, but had been chopped at one time (all of the workshop trees had been chopped similarly), and all the branches were coming out from the same spot.

Of course, that caused a big swelling and reverse taper which might as well have been painted hunter orange, it stood out that badly. Also, the branches were very long with foliage at their tips. Really not that big of a deal, though, considering the species. These trees will backbud like crazy for you if you just ask them nicely enough. Awful nebari, if you can even call it that. The plastic pot came with the workshop, and I'm not crazy about it, either. It's a nice training pot, though.

Anyway, here is a pic a few months after the workshop. It was suggested to use some of the excess branches as "instant aerial roots" by bringing them down and wiring them under the root ball. Interesting idea, but it didn't work. They kept sprouting leaves, but didn't root. They eventually died, rotted, and I cut them off. Some people believe you should keep almost every branch and use it in the design, rather than just get rid of it before it causes a problem or drains energy away from where its needed. Well, it was suggested that I keep those branches, so I did. Here's the result:

Attached Images

FR.MK-1.jpg (76.1 KB, 103 views)

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson

Salvelinus

Don't ask me why I kept it, but I did. I couldn't do anything to it--it repulsed me that much. I didn't think anything would help it. So I let it grow. It got scale over the winter and almost died, but I rescued it. Again, don't ask me why. I took some cuttings last year in case I decided to do some root or branch grafts. Anyway, since the last pic, other than light pruning from time to time and a repot into a much larger nursery pot, I've pretty much just let it grow. Here it is a couple weeks ago, from the back side:

Attached Images

FR.MK-1.jpg (97.4 KB, 77 views)

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson

Salvelinus

Well, for some reason over the last couple weeks that "bright orange" bulge at the intersection of all the branches was screaming to me: "I need liposuction!" I thought to myself, okay--that needs to just be carved down, and those overlarge branches just need to come off. I'll try that, and see what happens.

I started whacking and chewing with my knob cutters, and it actually started to look like it had some potential! It lost a lot of weight, and I think it'll feel better once it comes out of the recovery room. I had the choice of a couple trunks, and was glad I chose the one I did. I think the taper came out nice.

I pruned every branch to 2 leaves in order to force some backbudding, wired every branch, and it started to take shape. I elected to use guy wires for the two lower branches as they were thick and I could avoid using heavy wire on the trunk, especially over the large wounds.

I am planning to get an umbrella-like canopy eventually--we'll see how things work out. This summer, after it recovers, I'm going to repot and use the cuttings I took last year in order to start grafting in a nebari.

Here's the result. I'll post some other views later, so you can see the branch ramification. I'll also update as things change. I hope you had fun! As always, any suggestions are very welcome!

Attached Images

IMAG0167.jpg (79.4 KB, 79 views)

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson

Salvelinus

Here are some alternate views of the branch structure. The first is an elevated view of the back side, and the second is an elevated view of the right side. You can see better the size of the wounds, branch placement, and ramification.

Thanks for watching!

Attached Images

	Imag0168.jpg (64.9 KB, 30 views)
	Imag0169.jpg (78.6 KB, 29 views)

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson

Salvelinus

Here are some comments and questions from the previous thread:

My reply: The tree does break some rules. The first branch is below the "1/3" rule, and it also comes off the back side of the trunk. I've bent it toward the front to disguise this a bit. Actually, I'm not sure I will keep the tree this tall, anyway. I just wanted to spread things out and try to get some backbudding. Another thing that makes it look lower is that you cannot see the soil line in the previous photo.

To answer your question about the "liposuction," I first removed the branches that were unnecessary, then I started removing wood with a spherical knob cutter to the line I wanted. I expanded the wound to allow a nice blending into the rest of the trunk, keeping the base concave to avoid the swelling that will happen as it heals. That would just bring me back to square one! wounds with very sharp chisels to encourage quick &amp; smooth healing. Finally, I applied putty. All the while, I used Roy Nagatoshi's trick of dipping my tools in 1/2 strength Lysol to prevent infection.

All-in-all, I removed a lot of wood from that knob. I just hope it will heal well enough to be worth the effort!

My reply: I'm going to guess two years on the wound healing. Maybe three, but it's a vigorous tree, and grows well under lights in the winter. We'll see. . . .

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson

Mattbonsai

Great to see you Again Scott!!! Hope you've not worn yourself out too much!

Where did you buy the new tree?

What a transformation! Was expecting the bog standard Ficus Broom after seeing the second photo! Should've known you better!

Can't wait to see it in a Bonsai pot, once it's recovered.

-Matt-

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Salvelinus

Hi, Matt. Thanks for the welcome back!

Well, the updated photos are coming up. Had some trouble with the site freezing on my computer. Hopefully it will work now . . .

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson

Salvelinus

The following is another post from the old thread:

Sorry I don't have any pics to show right now, but I wanted to give an update.

The tree started sprouting buds everywhere within a week of the "surgery." I rubbed out every bud that wasn't growing where I wanted it, but left buds on the sides and, occasionally, the top of branches, and around the wounds to accellerate healing. In places, one "bud" created up to 5 new branches, so I had to do some thinning.

Between 3 and 4 weeks after I rehabbed the tree, the wire started cutting in, so I removed it. I had to be very careful, as the new branches were quite fragile and broke off easily (I lost one or two). I left the tree without wire for a few weeks, partly because I didn't want to break off any more branches, partly to let the tree regain some strength (like it needed it), and mostly because I didn't have time (work and headaches).

Yesterday I had some pain-free time available, and worked on this and a few other trees (thank goodness--they needed it desperately). My main issue was to improve the nebari. The tree had only 3 surface roots, plus about 1 1/2 inches of trunk below that, where more roots came off. I'm trying to reduce that part of the tree gradually, but I have to take my time until the surface rootage is sufficient to sustain growth.

Anyway, I took a few cuttings last year for this very use. I thread-grafted two into the base of the trunk flare. First I drilled a hole just slightly larger than the seedling, removed the leaves, and threaded it through. I sealed each side of the trunk, then repotted into a plastic grow-box. As the seedlings grow, they will fatten up and bond with the trunk cambium. Presto, new roots!

I'll try to get some pics up soon.

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson

Salvelinus

Okay, fast-forward a little more than three years . . .

The thread grafting I spoke of above did not work out so well. The grafts tended to die rather than taking, but one or two did take, and the wounds healed over quickly. Last year, I did an approach graft for a new root, and it has taken well. I've been cutting back the top of the seedling this summer, and will remove it entirely very soon. You can see it at the bottom right of the trunk, with the foliage wired straight back from the trunk.

The rest of the tree grew well. Actually, I should rephrase that . . . it grew like a BEAST. I had a difficult time keeping it wired, as the wires cut in amazingly quickly, and I have had little time to devote to rewiring this tree. I used some guy wires to bring the larger branches down a bit, as they were gradually heading for the sky, and even they cut in badly. Those wounds have pretty much healed this summer already.

My answer to the previous question about the healing time for the large wounds turned out to be spot on . . . two years and they were healed.

As the tree grew, it became obvious that I was styling from the new "back" of the tree. I turned it almost 180 degrees when I repotted it this summer, and I think it is much better now. It has had it's apex removed twice in order to keep the growth in check, and each of those apices were rooted. They have both turned out to be very nice little shohin trees with amazing taper.

So, I think that pretty much caught us up to this photo. I just recently rewired the tree, so I'll probably have to take it all off again way too soon. The black stuff on the upper trunk is rubber splicing tape, placed to pad the trunk from the wire as I bent that part of the trunk quite a bit. It was large, so I had to use a guy-wire to keep it in place. Basically, the splicing tape is there as a substitute for raffia. It also works well for grafting, and it sticks to nothing but itself.

I hope you all have enjoyed this story, and maybe learned a thing or two in the process. I know I did . . .

Thanks for reading!


PS: I had trouble uploading this photo, as it was too large. The size of the photo I did manage to upload is so small you cannot see much detail. For a larger view, please click through to my flickr site here: Tigerbark Ficus. Feel free to browse my site if you wish. I've been working on my photography skills lately . . .

Attached Images

2754248464_77708c27d7.jpg (93.9 KB, 96 views)

__________________
Namaste,

--Scott ><>

"There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamikaze pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." --Herb Gustafson