Alpineart's Blog

These were set several months ago and basically watered when i remembered , however we have had an exceptionally wet Spring and Summer .The medium used for the layers was 75 % scoria and 25 %  spagnum moss . I have been using this mix on most of the layers set this growing season with very good results over spagnum moss only . These were potted into Bonsai pots to enable a flat root mass to be produced .With a selective hard trim , then wired and styled  they will sit in the weather in a water tray  and grow on . With very little information on the internet these will be left to their own device . The only info is caution when root pruning as the don’t like disturbance , however being a tea tree i take this info with a grain of salt as my experience with Tea Tree.s and Melalueca’s is they grow when pushed out of the ground and  into heaps ready for burning . I do plan to set another dozen layers on the same tree so either way i will have enough stock to test the information reguarding root pruning .Cheers Alpineart

This is another Tanuki/Phoenix Graft , this time i have used 2  pre- trained nursery stock plants . Whilst they weren’t destined for this project the stump/root demanded quality Junipers and the Shimpaku were ready and waiting . Another pine tap root was used and cleaned up as previous post and painted with lime sulfur to prevent fungus attack . I did  hit the painted wood with a blow torch just to tone it down a little and to aid drying . Again the juni’s were penciled onto the wood then grooved out to the desired depth ,  the  plants were then   attached with solid brass screws . Where the plant was too thin cable / zip ties were used to hold the trunks/branches in place  . A trim of the unwanted foliage i then placed some wire on a couple of branches to train them  for future jins . This will be power fed  and left to grow on for the next 2 seasons .Cheers Alpineart

This  juniper was a large nursery tube stock 2 years ago . It was planted on a piece of volcanic rock , potted into a large pot to allow for root run , selectively pruned  and power feed for 2 seasons . The trunk was basically trained with a bit of movement then left to grow on .When left untrimmed , root pruned  they quickly double/triple in size from the small stock plant  , allowing for a nice specimen to work with . I find most people hack these back too hard then regret the butchering and loss of jin material . The foliage that is left will still pump the small trunks to a reasonable size ,  then they will be removed for the jins .I estimate another 2 seasons of power feeding then the branches will be stripped and the final style will take place I have wired the future jins and spiraled them like a cork screw , this will give them added depth when completed .I have slip potted it, rotating the tree about 45 degree’s to show off the rock and the movement of the trunk .  The  training pot is about 30 % larger than the previous for extra root run . When slip potting i never root prune as this would defeat the purpose of using a bigger pot , simple tease the roots out and repot as per normal potted plant adding plenty of slow release fertilizer above the root-mass . I  hope to have a tree resembling this sketch in a year or two . Cheers Alpineart