My Greatest challenge ever

[alpineart]

Hi Webos . mate it is alive with the 3 thin leaders showing in the front of the pic . I have toyed with the idea of attempting to remove it with the roots on however its 90mm high and 150mm deep which would mean a big chunk of the main stump would be missing . If i removed it from the pot i may just be able to reduce the cutting size by around 1/3 90 high 100 deep depending on where the energy is flowing around the main trunk .

That branch actually forms 50% of the base on the other side , 35-40 % of the foliage is attached to this lower section . It would make for a very nice new trunk pre jinned , great taper and good contorted movement could be applied to the 3 leaders . I still have 5 other ground /pot layers here so i wouldn't be in a hurry to hack or reduce the base on this one although i believe it would be a vast improvement enabling me to roll the trunk over about 20 degree's to the right tidying up those roots that are very distracting ..

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

These are some of the layers that were collected from the original dig . Now re-potted into bonsai pots and placed nicely into the re-renovated front yard

P1100770.JPG

P1100771.JPG

P1100778.JPG

P1100779.JPG

P1100781.JPG

P1100780.JPG

.Along with a few other collected specimens , Olives

P1100745.JPG

, Elms were placed in the ground , cos i needed the big pot's

P1100747.JPG

The Azalea's are the ones i removed from the rear terraces to build the rock work .All of this material is for future bonsai .

P1100783.JPG

The stepping stones /path will go in tomorrow , enough hard yakka for the day .

Cheers Alpineart

[Reece]

You really don't fart around man!

Great stuff.....

Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk

[alpineart]

Hi Reece, no time to piss fart around . A before

P1100744.JPG

and after shot

P1100790.JPG

P1100791.JPG

The finishing touch

P1100793.JPG

Cheers . Alpine

[Elmar]

Flash!

Wanna come to Hedland and do mine!


Cheers
Elmar

[alpineart]

Hi Elmar , mate sounds like a plan , but there's more satisfaction in doing it yourself . Bloody long way to go for work .

Cheers Alpine

[Elmar]

Oh no, don't worry about the satisfaction! I'm all about sharing!

Looks great, well done!


Cheers
Elmar

[alpineart]

Been looking long and hard at this trunk everyday as it sits outside the back door .

P1110319.JPG

While it is a trick bit of gear ,I just couldn't help myself and made the decision to split the trunk off into 2 separate pieces .

P1110320.JPG

P1110321.JPG

P1110322.JPG

P1110323.JPG

P1110324.JPG

P1110326.JPG

P1110328.JPG

P1110329.JPG

P1110330.JPG

P1110331.JPG

I believe its for the better as the smaller section being straight detracts from the movement of the larger piece . Tuff titties cos its already done and dusted

P1110332.JPG

. I wont remove it from its present pot until I can locate another large pot to house the secondary trunk in .

Cheers Alpineart

[Truth]

Wow

You're a braver man than I am! Certainly a very special piece of material you have there, which despite losing some visual girth will definitely be made up by better proportions and movement. Keen to see what you make of this over time, alpineart.

[Pearcy001]

Nice work Alpine!

Trunkline will look soo much better IMO, although the foliage loss could be a problem? How much foliage do you think you'll lose? It's too hard to tell from the picture.

Could you please explain the wedges? I'm guessing the secondary trunk removal is done over 2 'operations' so to speak, in order to reduce stress caused by such a large cut?

Cheers,
Pearcy.

[alpineart]

Hi Truth nothing brave about it . The smaller section was going to be removed in any case so simply cutting it off and having an ugly scar or bulky stub to carve didn't fit the picture .

Hi Percy , the foliage on both trunks is about 50%, however it has had several trims and a rotation over the last 4-5 months that I didn't log and it is continually back budding so new growth is a plenty . The old saying "less is more" applies to this trunk as it is too congested with all the branches . The smaller trunk doesn't have much character but it a green trunk so I hope to keep it that way and do something with it . The whole operation was done in less than an hour , the root mass was checked out when I rotated the trunk , should be good for a grower .

The wedges are the easiest way to split trunks after an initial cut or two . The angle and curve on both sides didn't line up and would have been almost impossible to cut cleanly with the sabre saw even after following the growth lines . The wedges simply apply pressure and the trunk splits along the grain be it spiral , curved or straight grained timber . The outside curves cut with the saw are preserved and less damage is done to the surrounding bark .

Cheers Guys Alpine

[Pearcy001]

Hi Truth nothing brave about it . The smaller section was going to be removed in any case so simply cutting it off and having an ugly scar or bulky stub to carve didn't fit the picture .

Hi Percy , the foliage on both trunks is about 50%, however it has had several trims and a rotation over the last 4-5 months that I didn't log and it is continually back budding so new growth is a plenty . The old saying "less is more" applies to this trunk as it is too congested with all the branches . The smaller trunk doesn't have much character but it a green trunk so I hope to keep it that way and do something with it . The whole operation was done in less than an hour , the root mass was checked out when I rotated the trunk , should be good for a grower .

The wedges are the easiest way to split trunks after an initial cut or two . The angle and curve on both sides didn't line up and would have been almost impossible to cut cleanly with the sabre saw even after following the growth lines . The wedges simply apply pressure and the trunk splits along the grain be it spiral , curved or straight grained timber . The outside curves cut with the saw are preserved and less damage is done to the surrounding bark .

Cheers Guys Alpine

Thanks for the info Alpine. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next update

[alpineart]

Hi Percy , mate I haven't been doing much with bonsai around here just keeping most of them alive while selling a few off . As I heal up in body . mind and soul , the work load seems to be focusing on the building side of life "work"rather then the passionate /obsessive side being "Bonsai". Family have also taken up a larger slice of my "spare" time which seems to be keeping me from doing , the most I seem to do around here with bonsai is water daily .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Well we have had a few days of good rain , with the roots growing well its time to remove it and see if it will continue to grow . There is a narrow live vein feeding the growth on this smaller trunk however the roots were around 400mm long and very healthy , might be a survivor after all

P1110393.JPG

P1110395.JPG

with a base exceeding 100mm and the trunk about 350mm to the 3 main branches it has good potential .

This was basically undisturbed so it can just grow on , plenty of scope for this trunk and at 200mm plus it will make for a nice future bonsai .

P1110396.JPG

P1110397.JPG

The fronts aren't defined or decided on either trunk at this stage due to the splitting process .

Cheers Alpineart

[MoGanic]

Good vision in splitting the two trees mate, both will be stellar examples of your talent in the future.



Have nothing even half as big as this any more after downsizing for our move - despite having more space in the back yard to use... go figure. The wife no longer accepts "in progress" as an excuse haha, I think she's caught on that the beautiful tree's don't grow overnight!

Thanks for sharing as always Sir!

Mo