Alpineart's Blog

These are a few Sycamore Maple forest / groups that are in there second year of training . They were collected seedlings in Winter  ’09   and planted into a polystyrene box . This winter i set them up in trays as forest starters , now its time for a defoliation  then back to the benches .Some of the trunks are quite unique and again i may re-design the trays as they progress into larger tree’s Cheers Alpineart

This was collected from my mothers yard , i actually pinched it while she wasn’t looking . At 90 years old she is legally blind so she could not see the tree  and  kept tripping over it , she asked me to trim it so i trimmed it below ground level and brought it home .Planted at the wrong angle it grew in a windswept fashion  .I did replace it with a cutting growing upright . When i visit i do a lot of maintanence work at her place and collect all the self sown trees and plants she wants removed  for Bonsai .I have set 3 layers up top to keep for trainer rather than just hack them off . This will give me time to plan the finished article , cliff dweller or windswept . The shade cloth was placed over the pots to allow  360 degree rotation of the tree so as to promote even growth all around the trunk . I may just make a custom rock for the “cliff dweller/informal upright clinging style”  as a wind swept would be high on the upkeep due to the prolific growth .Cheers Alpineart

This was a tube stock seedling 3 years ago , slipped into a 30mm  flat tray and submerge in water for its first growing season .It took off  like a “gut shoot” greyhound dog , so during  the growing season i managed to set an air layer midway up the trunk . Not realizing the bark was so thick i found to my surprise the wood was only 5-6mm in diameter and the trunk at the point of the layer was 15 mm thick .I set the layer but didn’t brace the trunk and during a wind storm it was snapped off . .I sat the failed layer in water and at the first sign of roots i  potted it  up into a pot . It all but died back to the trunk however this season it has shot off and will make a nice trainer . The tree itself is well on its way to a flat top Swampy , just above the lower branch is where the layer was set , all the branching and foliage is in its second  season of development . The cypress knee’s were a fact of nature and then some assistance from me . In a confined space the roots grow and kink back because of the vigor in water growing {i would assume }.I noticed this on the first re-pot so i basically help them stand upright and created a few more by simply applying twist ties to the roots and allowing them to fatten up .Some of the man made ones have died off  because the kink in the roots was too severe . The trunk is around 25mm thick and the base flair is about  70mm below soil level  . The growing medium is 75% soft scoria  , 20% pine bark and 5%sharps  .This mixture or very similar is used in 95% of all of my plants ,  trainers , Yamadori and Bonsai . I have no desire to used  commercial Bonsai substrates as i would require 2-3 cubic meters and the cost factor would be out of the question .The mix can be used and reused time and time again , only adding extra pine bark as needed .When recycling the mix i simple wash out the fines   and re-apply . All in all its not a bad effort .Cheers Alpineart