Alpineart's Blog

G’day to all who visit this blog , Ausbonsai.com  has had a change of server due to the high demand on the site .The site has encountered some difficulties due to this high demand and the current server was  unable to cope with this traffic .The new web address for the Ausbonsai site is   www.ausbonsai.com.au   , the blog address has also been change to  www.ausbonsai.com.au/blog/alpineart/

The new address has now been officially changed  however it will no doubt take quite some time for Google to catch up with the new server address.I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank Steven and the Ausbonsai tech support team for all their assistance and too all whom visit i hope you continue to enjoy the blog  .

As i have said on many occasions Ausbonsai is an Australian Bonsai site however all interested individuals from around the world  keen to participate in the Ausbonsai.com.au online forum are most welcome .

Its FREE to join and a wealth of knowledge regarding Australian Natives as bonsai along with the True Blue Aussie approach  making it a pleasurable experience . .

Cheers Alpineart

These are a follow up to the previous post . Keen to get things done around here i decided to ask for some help  which is a rare occurrence  at my place .These are a unknown species of  Golden Elm , i hope to be able to correctly identify them through the  Forum Members of Ausbonsai.com I have  removed them from the training boxes/bags and re-potted them into training pots .A little root pruning won’t hurt these trunks the root mass was well established . Finding pots big enough was a bigger challenge , however i managed to rob Peter to pot Paul . With the re-potting done i defoliated each trunk so i could see where to go with the first initial styling . I trimmed each individual trunk and the next day applied the wire and shape the trainers into differing styles .To give you an idea as to the size of these trunks the cream drum pot is 210mm x 70mm The dead wood is much larger than expected so some major carving will be done during the next defoliation or at Winter time .Up to 80 % of some of the trunks will be carved out and sculptured . These trunks weren’t treated with any wood preservers or hardeners and no rot is present .Some Elms have a high rate of decay after the are carved .I still don’t have a positive identification on the species here .I did attempt to split some of the dead wood with a tomahawk , alas it was a tad bit too hard and would have only damaged the root bases . As far as trainers go these are progressing well and nothing is set in concrete when it comes to the final style .

Cheers Alpineart

These elms were collected in 2009 from a nursery .I planted them into the ground for a season , then removed half of them for carving work and potted up half a dozen for root improvement and ramification , The rest of the stumps remained in the ground although i did remove them to trim the larger roots back . These few have been regularly trimmed and maintained , a couple  died . I believe i may have been too aggressive with the chainsaw or the lacked after care . Either way i still have around 18 trunks alive and growing well including a single tree at 3m high .I plan to air layer the twin apex off during the next few weeks .Time poor at the moment as i am still recovering from the motorbike accident and walking hasn’t happened at the rate expected .Doing this type of work on crutches is extremely challenging . Simple carrying a bonsai is bloody hard work .I will be slip potting these 4 trunks into bonsai pots this afternoon and allowing them to settle  , then trim them back and begin the process of styling them into some sort of Bonsai Trainers . With a good established root mass they will no doubt handle the transition from bag/box to pot . Being out of action for 3 months has seen a lot of stock tree die due to my inability to water and care for them . The price you pay for riding Motorbikes . It hasn’t deterred me from climbing back on nor diminished my enthusiasm for growing and collecting Trees , or shaping and styling Bonsai .These trainers will get a serious work over during the coming days ..

Cheers Alpineart