Alpineart's Blog

This has been in the process of layering and training over the last 18 months .It was originally planted by the owner of my house many years ago . With a base of around 90mm it was removed by an excavator when i had the block cleaned up 15 years ago .It re-struck about 5 years ago and i simple cut it back not wanting to have it overgrow the veranda again .Now growing behind the cladding i installed 6 years ago it was time to destroy it or remove the cladding and save the creeper .I decided to layer the runner as close as possible to the house and then consider removing the cladding to save the trunk which has nice characteristics about it .Today i severed the runner and this is now my new trainer .It has been wound around a lime sulphured knarled piece of dead wood .Over the next few years i hope the runner will fuse together and create a solid trunk  . With a base of around 80-100mm when fused it will be a sumo type wisteria , a little different from the normal , having twin trunks and leaders. Well i was bored with the normal wisteria’s available at nurseries so this is a unique Alpineart special .

Cheers Alpineart

Well i collected this a couple of years ago

and while it was originally a triple trunk i removed 1 of the odd trunks  however now the  twin trunks they were too close for my liking ,

It has been in the pot since collection and today i decided to split the trunks apart and insert another smaller olive and try to fuse them together .I have never done this before so its an experiment in all area’s .They say you cant kill an olive , well i can and have killed more than i own .This didn’t go according to plan but in the finish it turned out very nice indeed.Using my 100mm angle grinder with a tungsten tipped blade attached i sliced down

both side as straight as possible

.The using a cordless drill i drilled a series of holes deeper

than the blade penetrated in order to split the base where required . Using a sash clamp in reverse in place some packing against the trunks to prevent too much unnecessary damage and wound the clamp outwards so as to spread the trunks ,

low and behold that big snap happened and the base split . .I opened the trunks to around 45 mm , then hunted around for a suitable candidate for the wedge insert .A poor quality specimen was washed and sized up for the job

. Measuring the trunk to be cut to fit into a wedge shape

i simply sliced it with the grinder/cutter until it was a nice snug fit .While its not perfect the majority of the cambium has and will line up so i cant see any reason why it won’t fuse together .The front of the tree took precedence over the rear so it was aligned fist ,

then a long stainless screw was used to hold it in place.To the rear of the trunks a couple of root graft were inserted to fill the voids

.With the job complete a 120mm Stainless steel Bugle screw was screwed through all 3 trunks completely securing the bases together .

I then wrapped some gutter guard around the pot and duct tape it together , alluminium wires were uses ti hold and stiffen the mesh .It was back filled  and watered .Now in a year or two this will hopefully be fused as one then the center trunk will be removed to return it to a twin trunk with a more open spread between the trunks .Finished height is 500mm width is 600mm and the base is around 250mm plus If it fails then its a good lesson learned ‘

Cheers and happy hacking . Alpineart

This was collected a couple of years ago , the tree itself was estimated at 60-70- years old .Standing about 3 m high its base was close to 500mm . Using an old bow saw with the teeth having extra set placed on them to give clearance i cut it off and trimmed it to fit into the car . When i returned home i simply flat cut the base to around 350mm and only 40mm in thickness .This was placed into a pot with coarse river sand and sat in a water/sand tray to retain moisture .After the first season it was transplanted into a 400mm planter tray .It has constantly suckered up at the base , however i managed to selectively retain quite a few well positions branches .The soil mix is basically pine bark and potting mix as my bonsai mix is too open for moisture retention for this species and size .I do have smaller olives in my scoria blend and they are growing well . Because the branches are growing upwards i have put some wires on to hold them clear of the dead wood to be carved , don’t want to severe a branch now . I began with the apex and carved and refined the straight section with some movement and thinned out for taper .I have also carved a section to represent several branches to add some extra character .With the apex finished i worked the lower dead section originally on the tree , this to was carved to represent several branches .It all needs refining however that’s a task for another day .With the carving finished i applied some wire to the branches in order to get some movement and establish a structure to work on in the future .With a quick trim and shape its all over .I will paint the carved sections with lime sulphur as the dark grey blends in too well with the foliage colour . I need to find a suitable container to house this bugger , at the moment i don’t have anything suitable  other than the tray its i now .

Cheers and Happy Bonsai . Alpineart