radical approach to an ugly Cedar.

[dragon]

Nice work Bodhi and Andrew - now you got me thinking.....

bright idea.jpg

Lennard

lennard please dont think it is giving me a headache
andrew you have done a mighty fine job looking forward to its progress
cheers dean the terrible

[dannynovo]

Does anyone have thoughts on whether these techniques will work on Natives? Specifically our Callistimon? I suspect the trunks will break rather than bend but I may find out real soon as I have some tall ones that need to come down in size.


Ken[/quote]

Bodhi, Andrew,
As a novice with Bonsai.....this thread has inspired (i believe) a lot of people both novice and experience, to look at what can be attempted and hopefully achieved, by giving it a "go"......

Ken,
I was waiting for someone to ask the question on Natives.......I for one will be trying this technique.
on the uncleared section of my block of land i have a relative young Gum (approx 12months old) growing in an area which is destined for an outdoor living area in about 6 months time.
Anyway this would be a perfect oppertunity to try what Bodhi and Andrew have achieved. Question is i plan on doing the change whilst the tree is still in the ground....will this give the tree a better chance of surviving as it is in a stable growth enviroment for the allocated 6 months before removal?

Danny

[kcpoole]

Nice idea Danny
If you can do thin in the ground, then it should set in place much faster too

Ken

[bodhidharma]

If this is not the whole idea of Aus Bonsai then i do not know what is People inspiring other people to have a shot at it. This is how Bonsai Art will grow in Australia. I too, have been inspired by others on this site to .."give it a go"

Andrew, it would have helped if you had run two lengths of 5mm wire long ways with the tree and then wrapped the wire around that. It gives a lot more holding power.Bloody awesome job though Please keep us posted on the trees health.

[Andrew Legg]

Agreed Bodhi,

Problem was, I ran out of wire. All I had left was 2.5mm and below! Preparation is the key to success!

I gave a lot of thought to my bonsai progress to date a little while ago, and I realised (inspired by a guy called Juan Cronje) that I was just "doing" bonsai. Kinda going through the motions. I had a lot of trees (maybe 50 or so), but 45 of them were particularly ordinary. I had to make a decision; do I want to play it safe and end up with a bunch of ordinary material, or do I want to be more risky, and potentially come out with a few more decent trees? The type that put their head a bit above the average. A decided to go for the latter. Sure, I'll probably loose a few, but what the hell, they wouldn't have amounted to much anyway!

My bonsai decisions for the future are therefore to only acquire trees that can dance, and then give them some hot coals to dance over. I want to avoid "left right back, left right back, left right back" and get some funk into my bonsai.

PS: Juan is a guy who lived in a small remote seaside village north of Cape Town, and learnt bonsai almost entirely on the web. He embraced it and pushed the limits, and made me wonder why I was not doing the same. I actually met him here on AusBonsai!!! He now lives in Cape Town and is studying, so his trees have taken a bit of a back seat. Good bonsai and a good guy to boot. Made me take it up a notch!

[Dario]

Hi Bohdi and Andrew, great work!
Are they both still alive and well
Cheers, Dario

[billa]

Hey!!

They ARE two different trees...Im sure of it!! hmmm well it looks like you have a great impact on hard & stubborn things...maybe you should work on my wife?

[xtolord]

Hi
Its been 1 year now since the "operation"
Any updates on the tree?
Did it survive the ordeal?

[Andrew Legg]

Hi Bohdi and Andrew, great work!
Are they both still alive and well
Cheers, Dario

Yip Dario,

Mine is still ok. I'm in the USA at the moment, but when I get back to South Africa, I'll update with a new photo.

Cheers,

Andrew

[Barry1]

Just to echo some of the earlier posts that this is one of the most helpful forums around ,people willing to share and to provide inspiration
I more recently had the pleasure of being mentored by a guy on the sunshine coast who has been involved in this hobby for more than 30 yrs ! he said to me on my last visit never be afraid to try things with trees ...you will kill some that's almost a given but if you don't you will be paralyzed into doing nothing
Sometimes rules are meant to be broken and inspiration takes over

Barry

[bodhidharma]

Mine is alive and well also and i have begun work on creating a new head for it. No time for photos at the moment but i will update soon.

[Dario]

Thanks bodhi and Andrew, I am glad that they are both doing well after the technique used on your trees and I eagerly await the updates/pics when you get a chance to post them
Safe travels Andrew.
Cheers, Dario.

[Andrew Legg]

Well,

Since I got back from my travels a few months back, I thought it time to send that photo! Its go/no go time too as I've just repotted the tree. Its probably a little early for a repot, but the tree is budding hard, so I decided to take the plunge. This is not the final pot in which I see this tree, but more of an interim pot to get the root ball reduced. The mix the tree is in currently is terribly muddy sand, but since I gave it a bit of a hammering recently I've decided not to bare root it. I'll bare root in a wedge pattern over the next two pots and get some better mix in there slowly but surely. I believe these cedars are not partial to root disturbance, so let's see what happens! Hope it does not turn it's toes up!

IMG-20120826-00274_cr.jpg

Cheers,

Andrew

[Josh]

What a great post guys and awesome result on the trees. Just out of interest, what is the bebefit of putting the wire inside the trunk as apposed to just wrapping the outside. Do you get a better bend that way???? Keep the updates coming. This is awesome stuff guys, thanks

Josh

[bodhidharma]

Do you get a better bend that way???

Presumably, yes but i found that it did not hold as well as i thought. Cedars take a long time to set and the wire helps hold it in place. It also is supposed to hold the tree together better for radical compression. I have to admit though that i did it just to see what would happen. I did find that i could do almost any sort of bending and the tree did not come apart or lose its position.