What projects do you have on the go?

Jow · Post by **Jow** » November 20th, 2015, 9:19 am

I have a range of trees in a range of different stages but a lot of the time it's the basket cases and project trees that I get most interested in (especially when you've been plucking needles from ramified trees all day)

Which sparks the question, what projects are you working on and or are most interested in at the moment?

I've got a strong interest in grafting and always set a number of root grafts each season. Below is a trident from my last trip to shibui's that had a couple of grafts placed in some gaps in the nebari. It is growing well and hopefully will be ready for them to be trimmed flush by the end of this or next season.

What's going in in your garden?

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treeman · Post by **treeman** » November 20th, 2015, 9:42 am

Nice job Jow. Have you tried drilling right through the trunk and pulling through a seedling as well?

bodhidharma · Post by **bodhidharma** » November 20th, 2015, 9:45 am

Damn Joe, i don't know where to start. Get back to you on that one.

Grant Bowie · Post by **Grant Bowie** » November 20th, 2015, 9:51 am

I have got 3 very skinny and tall Pinus banksiana seedling that I dug up 2 years ago. They were very unstable but after 2 seasons have firmed up in the pots. This seasons growth has been very strong.
This season after they have finished elongating and hardened off I will reduce height and then in April or so wire some shape into the trunks with the idea of doing a three tree Literati setting in a few years time.

Grant

Craigg · Post by **Craigg** » November 20th, 2015, 10:14 am

Well my projects at the moment seem a little daunting but I have a reasonable time line I am working to so it shouldn't be too bad.

We are just about to move into a new house in Clifton ( about half way between Toowoomba and Warwick, and for the first time in about 20 years I will have space to call my own. So the first project is just moving everything in the next 2 or 3 weeks. It gets quite hot there, so the first thing will be to dig the beds for planting field grown trees although I won't be planting until it gets a lot cooler.

The second project involves culling a whole lot of trees, or just planting them in the garden as ornamentals. I am planning on 5 core varieties to grow and up to another 20 trees in total of other varieties. This should allow me to keep my budget in both time and financial terms intact.

My growing projects include 20 trident maples that have been developing from seedlings using the methods that Peter Adams describes. Some of these will be ready for branch development at shohin size nex year.

I have about the same number of Chinese elm that are being treated in a similar manner just to see what happens

There are about 5 Japanese black pine that I am working on and some of these will be ready for their first potting next year.

The areas I want to focus on as a project are the comparison of plant spacing for field grown stock, and documenting how well field growing works for me, both the challenges and things that go well.

Andrew F · Post by **Andrew F** » November 20th, 2015, 10:17 am

Semi cascades.

The basic guidelines of styling them and the sort of pots to accentuate them.
[Finding it hard to find any decent semi pots at all]

This is a collected eng elm from Graham I received earlier this year, I dont think if it had been styled previously. Only after one styling it has become one of my favourite trees, look forward to getting into a mudlark custom pot in the near future.

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » November 20th, 2015, 11:27 am

4 bankia serrata shohin prebonsai that will come out of the ground this weekend . Now been in the ground for 6 years . Ive been meaning to dig them out for 2 years now . They look promising . Ill keep one for myself and offer the other 3 up for sale at some point once they settle in there new black pots for awhile . Plan is to keep them in them for 2 years to recover then into a bonsai pot . Pics after the weekend

Jow · Post by **Jow** » November 20th, 2015, 12:24 pm

treeman wrote:Nice job Jow. Have you tried drilling right through the trunk and pulling through a seedling as well?

Yeah I have tried that. I find it is difficult To get the root end to graft together sometimes. The tip runs, fuses with that side of the trunk and then the roots die off as the sap flow is gained from the host trunk prior to the root side fusing.

This way I can let the top run and while it fuses it also is still developing the new roots and thickening them up. Once the scars heal over there is no real down side to this method.

Jow · Post by **Jow** » November 20th, 2015, 12:32 pm

Some interesting projects surfacing. I bet there are plenty more out there.

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That's a tree I wouldn't mind digging if I'd found it when it wasn't 15m high. Future project??

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Some more grafting success from this year. Yuzu bud grafted onto lemon. I have also had good success turning a few branches of my manchurian pear street tree into a fruiting variety. All good practice for future bonsai grafts.

treeman · Post by **treeman** » November 20th, 2015, 1:38 pm

Jow wrote:Some interesting projects surfacing. I bet there are plenty more out there.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1447986658.744827.jpg
That's a tree I wouldn't mind digging if I'd found it when it wasn't 15m high. Future project??

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1447986565.328040.jpg
Some more grafting success from this year. Yuzu bud grafted onto lemon. I have also had good success turning a few branches of my manchurian pear street tree into a fruiting variety. All good practice for future bonsai grafts.

I'd never heard of Yuzu before. I just looked it up. Frost hardy citrus! What variety do you have?
Sounds like you've gone berserk grafting everything in sight

Jow · Post by **Jow** » November 20th, 2015, 1:44 pm

Yeah I tried 4 different styles of grafts on the street tree outside to try some new techniques.

I've always wanted yuzu. It's a strange fragrant Limey lemon. Amazing flavor. When I get enough growth off that bud I might air layer one off to try it on its own roots.

Firecat · Post by **Firecat** » November 20th, 2015, 3:07 pm

Mine are all projects I'd say with larger trees in the 'project area and most of my display trees in another.
A real mixed bag of what ever I scrounge around with a few trees that are looking better than most.
My large plum dig and another plum cutting are my main fascination at the moment.

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My display benches

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GavinG · Post by **GavinG** » November 20th, 2015, 3:34 pm

I've had this for twenty years or so - it's actually a grapefruit tree! I bought it because the graft didn't look as foul as most citrus grafts, and have been slowly thickening/tinkering/muddling along since then. Stupidly, I did not consider that the leaves will always be enormous, and the fruit are as well. I think I thought it was going to be larger than it ended up. Hasn't flowered until last year (two flowers) - this year, it's gone completely mad! No idea why - it certainly wasn't fertilised more often. I virtually defoliate it when I repot it in spring, and cut it back to the last two buds on each stem, cutting out stuff that doesn't look so good. Because the soil was awful, and compressing year by year I ended up bare-rooting it and putting it in pure pumice - didn't turn a hair, and lots of very fibrous roots. It's now in 50/50 pumice and potting mix.

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There should be more citrus grown as bonsai, but smaller leaved species are certainly better. I'm not sure whether native citrus make good trunks, but they should also be interesting.

Gavin

Grant Bowie · Post by **Grant Bowie** » November 20th, 2015, 3:51 pm

That looks good Gavin, nice movement in the trunk.

Grant

Luke308 · Post by **Luke308** » November 20th, 2015, 4:06 pm

ROR Port Jackson Fig which I have grown from seed 5 years ago. Planted on a rock 2-3 years ago using alfoil (Thanks Shibui) and I defoliated it this week as I couldn't see the trunk. As you can see it has great taper, and plenty of branching options. It will be interesting to see what it looks like below the soil when I re-pot it in a month or so.

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