Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

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Jan
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Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

This walnut was also an abandoned orchard rescue (with owner’s somewhat mystified permission – who would want that?).
2007-10-14 Walnut Literati Bonsai in ground.jpg
I felt that the trunk had potential and, as I had some success reducing walnut leaves, I decided to dig it and see what could be done with it. The original trunk had died back and the plant had reshot from the base.

There were a number of large roots and a few finer ones so I left some otherwise unsuitable roots (which had some finer roots attached) to sustain the plant until it could grow new roots from the cut base.

I broke off one of the two upright shoots, (and later carved it), and trimmed off all but a few to branches.
2007-10-20_ Walnut_first_pot.jpg
In March 2008, I cleaned up the branch growth. Grommet (the dog) thought that I should carve the stub of the previously removed second shoot and made a start for me.
2008-03-08_carving.jpg
I know that all work on the tree has to be my own so I must point out that the dog was sent on her way and I did the carving.

At the end of winter 2009 the ugly root on the left coming from high on the trunk and the root that curled back on itself on the right were both removed. The tree now had good roots elsewhere and these were no longer needed.
2009-11-01_Walnut_2.jpg
I continue to tip prune the tree and to manage pests. This tree is also prone to the large scale which also tries to establish on the elms and wisterias. I remove these manually.
2009-11-01_Scale.jpg
It gets either weak sea weed fertiliser or slow release fertiliser depending on the time of year. At this time keeping water up to the trees in the hot drying winds we are having is the big priority (hydrometer often rests on the stopper with nothing to register) and all trees have wicks inserted and stand in trays of wet gravel.
2009-11-18_Walnut_watering.jpg
I use immersion watering with all the trees; it gives a through watering to the trees and is very water conservative. I water using a set of recycled deep twin tubs; one for watering and the other for draining. There is a container beneath the outlet to catch the drain water which then goes onto permeant plantings in the vegetable garden (strawberries, etc). We are on tank and dam water, with dams now too low to pump from (drought) I will have to start carting water to my garden tank from a river some miles away.

Reduction of the leaves on this tree has some way to go yet but should improve with time and root pruning. I am considering either full or partial defoliation (cut back to the two leaflets closest to the branch) to encourage a new crop of smaller leaves but I will not do so until the current heat wave eases up.
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Last edited by Jan on November 22nd, 2009, 3:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by stymie »

I viewed this progression with interest. Grommet had the right idea, Shall you be able to introduce trunk movement?
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

My first priority has been to build a new root system on the plant. When it was removed from the ground it had some fine roots but most were too heavy to remain. I cut them off and treated the cuts with honey. I have lifted the plant from the pot and seen evidence of good root growth so I removed the ugly roots that I had been using to feed the plant until the new ones grew.

The plant is quite supple so I have confidence that I can introduce some movement. I haven’t decided on the finished line as yet. I think that I’ll have to use a jack to bend it. I’ll pad the trunk well because the walnut bark marks easily. I tend to mull over styling decisions for a while. I find if I put things on the “back burner” inspiration comes to me eventually. I am looking at trees in nature and literati images to see what might work well for this tree.

Jan
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

December 22 I partially defoliated (cut back the leaves to the last two leaflets – too hot and dry this year to be too severe with them) this Walnut to try to get it to put out some new growth.
2009-12-22_LeafPruneBack.jpg
2009-12-22_LeafPruneFront.jpg
2009-12-22_LeafPruneLeft.jpg
2009-12-22_LeafPruneRight.jpg
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

This tree is 62cm from the top of the pot/soil to the highest point.
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

I’ve done a lot of reading, both on bonsai sites and in books, prior to attempting to introduce more movement into this trunk; being part of the comp is certainly pushing me to learn and attempt new techniques.

I originally liked the raffia wrap idea for the trunk; walnut bark is very soft and prone to part company with the underlying trunk/branch, much like young willow bark, so I wanted to protect it. A site where I’d been reading about the raffia wrap technique had an update recommending the use of electrical tape (cost effective, easily located, some elasticity, choice of colour) which made sense to me so I decided to try it.

I started at the bottom of the trunk, wrapping the electrical tape around the trunk, with the sticky side out, and overlapping each layer by half. I reversed the tape (to sticky side in) and started wrapping from the bottom again, overlapping by half the width and maintaining light tension on the tape (like bandaging a sprained ankle) to the top again. Wrapping this way should shed water from the trunk.
2010-01-29_TrunkTaped.jpg
I cut a motorbike tyre tube in a spiral (to make it easy to wrap the trunk for additional padding of the bark), then applied my heaviest copper wire and tried bending the trunk. Copper wire was not up to the job of holding the trunk in place so I replaced it with a steel wire (about 10 gauge soft fencing wire – substantially stronger than the copper) which, while better than the copper, was still not doing the job I had in mind.

Back to the drawing board – I removed the wire and looked for other options.

I decided that I needed a framework that could be anchored to the large base of the plant and used to pull/bend the trunk. A visit to the shed yielded a piece of scrap angle iron of a suitable length and size to do the job. My husband cut, bent and tack welded the angle iron into the pattern I wanted and it was back to the shade house for another try.

I cut a length of used motorbike tyre tube to wrap around the large base three times (six layers of rubber) to pad the area where the frame was to be anchored with a series of cable ties (available from hardware stores, very strong but easily removed when the time comes).

I padded the trunk (a layer of rubber tyre tube held in place by a piece of split 19mm poly pipe and backed by a half section of 1 ½ inch, thick walled, poly pipe) at the point where I was going to pull the trunk towards the frame with cable ties initially, until I could move the trunk close enough to start the nuts on the “U” bolt that was going to do the serious work. I wanted to increase the angle of the bend towards the bottom of the trunk.
2010-02-07_TrunkBent.jpg
I also wanted to bend the trunk higher up so a piece of pine timber was placed between the top of the frame and the trunk which was padded (rubber/split poly/heavy poly as above) to prevent damage to the bark. The points of the upper end of the angle iron dig into the pine timber (anchoring it) as pressure is applied to the trunk by the “U” bolt. The pine can pivot on those points allowing its angle to adjust as the “U” bolt was tightened, applying pressure to the upper part of the trunk and bending it.

A branch at the top of the older section of the trunk was not of use in my final design and was causing the trunk to thicken, creating an inverse taper so both it and the lump on the trunk were removed by tearing that section away with branch cutters leaving a natural looking shari.

The remaining top was bent into place with a wire, padded by a piece of split poly dripper pipe, and attached to the “U” bolt. A smaller branch was also bent into a counterbalancing position with wire padded with small split poly pipe and attached to the pine timber. The small branch at the very top was pruned back to let the two buds in the leaf junctions develop.
2010-02-07_ShootsTrimmed.jpg
The bracted leaves were pruned back to just the two leaflets closest to the trunk to encourage buds at the leaf junctions to form new shoots as the weather warms up again after a week of cooler temps.

The walnut was immersion watered to help settle any roots that may have been disturbed by the bending process and settled into a shaded spot on the benches to protect it from overheating because of the black rubber/black tape wrapping. It is back to regular maintenance while it sets into its new position.
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

With the leaves cut back on this walnut there wasn’t much of an autumn show of colour. The warm again/cool again weather seems to have played havoc with the autumn colour in our area. Like this walnut, most plants locally held their green, gave a flash of colour and dropped their leaves at the first serious frost.

This walnut has settled in for the winter. I’ve reduced the watering to keep it moist but not wet, and it still sits on its bed of moist sand to provide some humidity around the plant. In the river gorge we can have monster fogs some mornings that protect us from the frosts, but we can also have runs of clear days and nights with big frosts drying everything out. The cold winds can also be quite drying here so I maintain a bit of humidity and use a double layer of shade cloth to provide wind protection for the plants.

After a long run of fogs, grey overcast days and icy weather, today dawned clear and sunny; ideal for me to get a couple of images of this tree in its winter tracery. I’ll use this opportunity to take a clear look at the branch structure both in the physical tree and in the images. I find that an image sometimes can highlight an area with room for improvement that isn’t as obvious when looking at the physical tree.
2010-06-14_10.38.54_Walnut_2.jpg
2010-06-14_10.40.01_Walnut_2.jpg
Now this walnut and I wait for Spring and hope that the trunk is setting into its new line.

Jan
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Last edited by Jan on June 14th, 2010, 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

We’ve experienced a serious run of frosts and with the recent damp weather I have been thinking about the electrical tape and the possibility of moisture underneath it doing damage to the trunk or deadwood of the sharis.

I decided to remove the electrical tape where practical; it had done its job supporting the trunk through the initial bending process and was no longer necessary. Removing the tape involved a bit of contorted (my wrists and hands, not the plant) cutting with a small straight blade attached to a 15cm handle (part of my small kit of carving tools). I managed to remove all the tape not under areas where pressure is being maintained on the trunk to bend it.

The area beneath the tape was certainly moist but started to dry in today’s breeze. No apparent damage has been done to the bark but there was some mould/fungus starting to form in the depressions of the sharis. I’ve cleaned these areas with an old toothbrush and think that now that the trunk is again exposed to sun and air movement this should be no further problem. I feel happier with the tape and any potential problems gone.
2010-07-31_14.29.19_Walnut2_TapeOff.jpg
2010-07-31_14.31.36_Walnut2_TapeOff.jpg
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

The walnut leaf buds are starting to swell so I have removed the “bending hardware”, the last of the electrical tape and the rubber tube packing from the trunk. I don’t want to risk creating pressure marks in the trunk as the plant begins to move with the spring.

Again there was some mould on hollows/deadwood on the trunk under the electrical tape; the mould seems to have done no harm and was easily removed with a stiff, nylon brush. I may try tape again on smooth barked trees but can see that it is unsuitable where hollows allow an opportunity for mould to develop.

The roots were cut back significantly; walnuts seem to cope well with root pruning, to the point of being all but glorified cuttings. I have not taken it back nearly that far this time as I am happy with the existing root spread and simply want to establish a more compact root run. I will be maintaining only minimum foliage so the demands on the new roots will not be great.

I used an open sandy mix to promote root ramification, and incorporated some local, long stranded moss to help with even water retention, then mulched the surface with regular local moss for the moment (suitably coloured gravel will eventually replace this). I find that the roots of walnuts, indeed many deciduous species, seem to enjoy a proportion of long stranded moss in the mix in my very dry, “winter icy/summer hot” climate. The plant was watered in with seaweed solution at a little less than the “stressed tree” strength and won’t be fertilised until later in the season.
2010-08-30_Walnut_a.jpg
2010-08-30_Walnut_b.jpg
The plant was repotted into a round, dark unglazed pot. For me, the colour and texture of this pot compliments both the darker lower trunk bark, and that of the upper trunk, while enhancing the robust, masculine “feel” of this walnut. The pot diameter and depth balances the thickness of the heavy lower trunk of the plant well and augments the impression of root stability and tenacious grip that have allowed the walnut to survive the imagined ravages of wildlife and spring floods and yet, still prosper.
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by stymie »

It seems to be holding most of the bend that you introduced Jan. You are probably right to withhold heavier feeding. We await the foliage now.
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

This walnut is producing a generous number of shoots, but not all of them are going to be of use in my design for this tree; I’m hopeful that this indicates that it is also producing a host of new feeder roots after its rather severe root pruning. (My previous experience with this species indicates that they are very forgiving of severe root and top pruning)
2010-11-08_Walnut2Shoots.jpg
My next job will be to remove shoots on the trunk below the broken second trunk’s, carved area; this is always a favourite area for this tree to shoot as it trys to replace that missing secondary trunk. I will tip prune the shoots that I am keeping and hope that tip pruning them at this early stage will result in a shorter internode length and promote branch ramification. I had been hoping that I would have shoots advanced enough to have defoliated before the end of the competition to promote a second, smaller lot of leaves, but with this run of cooler weather delaying shoot development, defoliation will not be possible until possibly late December/January, this season.
2010-11-07__Walnut2_Shoots.jpg
The season has been very cool this year hence the late shoot emergence; they budded at much the same time as last year but development of the shoots has been very slow. We have had over night temperatures down to 3 degrees C, with significant wind chill factor, and days down as low as 9 C, again with wind chill. Last year daytime temperatures in this same week were in the low 30 degrees C range.

I will dress the soil surface now so that it has time to take on a natural look. I plan on retaining some pieces of the current moss that have interesting, golden, fruiting bodies and replacing the rest with water worn gravel, and some water worn “boulders” (pebbles), to paint a rugged river bank image as the imagined location for this tree.
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Re: Walnut 2 (presume Juglans nigra)

Post by Jan »

I’ve removed most of the moss from the pot and dressed the surface with a combination of pale, sharp sand and water worn pebbles from a stream. I’ve created small mounds of fine moss to simulate the grassed areas that can be found in the gravell beds at the edge of streams. I’m quite happy with this round, unglazed, dark chocolate brown pot for this walnut; I feel that it compliments the strong, masculine character of this tree and that the texture and colour of the pot compliment the dark, folded “rhinoceros hide” bark of this tree.
2010-12-21_09.48.36_Walnut2a.jpg
2010-12-21_09.49.48_Walnut2b.jpg
2010-12-21_09.50.11_Walnut2c.jpg
2010-12-21_09.50.11_Walnut2d.jpg
I have used an Australian native Rock Fern, Cheilanthes austrotenuifolia, in a small glazed, earthy red, square pot as an accent to reinforce the impression of a moist “streamside” location for the tree.
2010-12-21_10.14.44_RockFernAccent.jpg
The walnut tree and accent fern are displayed on a base of silver, weathered timber slabs; the walnut tree sits on a “stand” of weathered local granite and the accent fern is on a flat, round, buff coloured basalt river stone “stand”. I have used the rural landscape and distant mountains as a background to replace the traditional scroll in a bonsai display.
2010-12-21_12.57.57_Walnut2LowerTrunk.jpg
2010-12-21_12.58.19_Walnut2Shari.jpg
I am a little disappointed that the tree has lost some of the bend that I tried to introduce but, while the competition ends, the work on this tree and my plans for it will continue. This walnut takes defoliation well, shooting back with smaller leaves with successive defoliation. I was reluctant to defoliate earlier as it had been heavily root pruned before repotting, and growing a second set of roots so soon would have put considerable demands on the plant.

We have had a very unseasonal Spring this year, in fact we are now onto our third attempt at “Spring”, as the weather starts to warm up for a couple of weeks, only to be followed by a week or two of days with temperatures in single figures, and with heavily overcast skies. With plants starting to grow, only to have the growth stall with the cold weather, then start to grow again, I was concerned that defoliating would overtax the plant at the early stage.

This walnut will be defoliated in the near future as the weather seems to be moving towards summer, and reintroduced to its bending frame in Autumn 2011, when the roots have established. I thought that the full bend, as seen when first removed from the bending frame, was an improvement and would like to see that bend fixed into the plant permanently.

This last twelve months has really gone quickly! The competition has been the catalyst that I had hoped; trying trunk bending was something that I had put off for quite a while, but the competition gave me the push I had needed to get on with research in books, on AusBonsai and other sites, and finally put what I had learned into action.

It has prompted me to take my “potensai” (I’m having fun learning with my plants but they have quite a way to go before I would name them “bonsai”) and their training more seriously. My record keeping is now more detailed and regular; I hope this helps me to learn from both my mistakes and successes. Feeding, trimming and other regular maintenance are less random but still have to fit in with “life” when it gets hectic. Regularly reading, learning and taking notes (another aspect of my record keeping) from various sources, but AusBonsai in particular, have brought Australian natives to the forefront for me. I have collected and experimented with a range of local species with various results; where collection failed I am not giving up, just researching, changing my methods and trying again. Collecting natives has become an engaging quest for me and I get a real buzz out of those first new shoots that herald a success.

Thank you to all those contributors who have so generously shared information, and to those who run and maintain AusBonsai for providing such a terrific resource.

Jan.
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