Fat little pine update.

Here is a tree I posted last April, a nice little fat Ponderosa Pine. http://jasonsbonsai.blogspot.com/2008/04/fat-little-ponderosa-pine.html

Today I brought it in and removed most of the wire because it was starting to bite in. I left the wire on the lower branches since it was still good. I also thought now would be a good time to start working it into a different pot. I have a really nice pot that I had in mind for it but it turned out to be too small for now. So I went with this pot from China I had laying around. The root growth is phenominal!! It was root bound in the old pot only after 2 years in that pot and 3 years out of the ground!

Before

Repotting.... Yeah, that pot is a bit too small.....

Finished for now... Back

Front

Soon I will needle prune and rewire the top 2/3 of the tree. I didn't cut any roots in getting it into this pot. In 2 years I will do a root layer (think underground airlayer) so that I can get the tree a bit more centered in a pot. I will update as I needle prune and repositon branches.

CorkBark Elm

Here is a corkbark elm that I got from Brent Walston at http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/

I got it 2 years ago, I can't find my pictures of it from then, but it was in a big nursery can, very root bound and had to be around 4 feet tall. Instantly I removed some of the tall branches and did some root work. The following year I got it into an Anderson flat. I really worked the roots pretty good to make them as shallow as possible. I also removed all big branches and let it go.

Here she is as of a few days ago

Mid way through...

Pictures of the tree after thinning, branch selection and some wire. This is a killer little elm.
New front (old back)

Back (old front)

The lighting really shows the corky bark.

Today I decided that I would put this tree in a pot. I pulled it out of the flat that I planted it in last year. For the soil last year I used a mix of lava and pumice in about a 50/50 ratio. The fine feeder roots were unreal. I was very happy when I tore into it!!! Excellent root growth! For scale, those pruners are the x-large Felco #13....about 12" across.

With future pot.

In a pot......I will keep my eye out for a nicer pot for the next re-pot. For now this will work fine, and I think once in leaf in the next few weeks it will look pretty good.

Back

Update Mugo Pine

Here is an update on a mugo from nursery material.

Last year Before

Last year, After

Today, 1 year after major work.

Today, after removing some branch's , thinning out old needles and readjusting some of the foliage. Obviously, I need to finish the jin on the right where I removed a branch. For now it is wired and in fall I will do the jin work. I am also thinking in the future the first branch on the left might go? But for now it is fine.... Not a killer tree by anymeans, but not bad after 1 year from a shrub.

Shohin JBP

This is a very old and unique Japanese Black Pine. You can tell it is a fairly old tree by the nice flakey gray bark. Here is the tree before any work.

Mid way through....

Done for now.... needle pruned, old wire removed and re-wired everything and changed the branch placement a bit.

Front

Back

Wet trunk

Cut Paste for scale.