AusBonsai

Hi Grant
Ok thanks ,that's what I thought you meant but wanted to be sure. That's is what ill do I think.
cheers

Hi Grant,
I understood a bit. Thanks!
Quote:

From now on I will keep allowing the branches to grow in spring and always cut out any branches or branchlets where there are more than 2 branches from one point. This will cause back budding and will slowly build in taper to each branch. Do not keep constantly cutting back to nothing as you keep losing ramification. The more growth points on the tree or branch the slower each one thickens and this way the tree becomes more refined over time.
You said You will let the branches grow in spring. For how long, when will You cut them and how much?

Grant Bowie wrote:...(they) could have gone into deep bonsai pots straightaway and be wired in.

I used to think wiring trees into pots was a waste of time but have been doing it properly for about 3-4 years now and have found this one technique to be the most beneficial techniques that I use in bonsai.

Interested to hear others thoughts???

Scott Roxburgh wrote:

Grant Bowie wrote:...(they) could have gone into deep bonsai pots straightaway and be wired in.

I used to think wiring trees into pots was a waste of time but have been doing it properly for about 3-4 years now and have found this one technique to be the most beneficial techniques that I use in bonsai.

Interested to hear others thoughts???

Yes, very important when you are establishing a tree.

Grant

Grant Bowie wrote: The trees came out of the ground fairly easily but I cut off about 70 or 80% of the roots in a single flat cut across the bottom once I got them home. All three have survived but it may have been a bit harsh initially as it took about 4 years for the other two to firm up in the pots and grow good roots. They were in deep plastic pots for the first 2 years and that may have been a mistake and could have gone into deep bonsai pots straightaway and be wired in.Grant

Hi Grant, lovely Hawthorn!
Could you please elaborate as to why you suspect a deep bonsai pot would have been better than the deep plastic pot?

...(they) could have gone into deep bonsai pots straightaway and be wired in.

Was it to do with wiring the tree into the pot, or something else?...I ask because I thought the tree could also have been wired into a plastic pot too.
Cheers, Dario.
PS It is worth checking out Watto's AB Blog to see the work Grant did to it at BBTH, as there are a couple of really nice pics of the bark detail and the age of the trunk (click on the pics to enlarge them)...https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/blog/Watto/?p=1042

Neli wrote:Hi Grant,
I understood a bit. Thanks!
Quote:

From now on I will keep allowing the branches to grow in spring and always cut out any branches or branchlets where there are more than 2 branches from one point. This will cause back budding and will slowly build in taper to each branch. Do not keep constantly cutting back to nothing as you keep losing ramification. The more growth points on the tree or branch the slower each one thickens and this way the tree becomes more refined over time.

You said You will let the branches grow in spring. For how long, when will You cut them and how much?

Hi, I will try what I do with Ash; that is you cut back the stronger ones once they have reached say 10 or more leaves and leave the weaker ones to catch up. By the time you tip prune or cut back the weak ones; the stronger ones will probably need a second trim but you could cut back the stronger ones harder at this time(back beyond where you cut it the first time for instance)

Grant

Dario wrote:

Grant Bowie wrote: The trees came out of the ground fairly easily but I cut off about 70 or 80% of the roots in a single flat cut across the bottom once I got them home. All three have survived but it may have been a bit harsh initially as it took about 4 years for the other two to firm up in the pots and grow good roots. They were in deep plastic pots for the first 2 years and that may have been a mistake and could have gone into deep bonsai pots straightaway and be wired in.Grant

Hi Grant, lovely Hawthorn!
Could you please elaborate as to why you suspect a deep bonsai pot would have been better than the deep plastic pot?

...(they) could have gone into deep bonsai pots straightaway and be wired in.

Was it to do with wiring the tree into the pot, or something else?...I ask because I thought the tree could also have been wired into a plastic pot too.
Cheers, Dario.
PS It is worth checking out Watto's AB Blog to see the work Grant did to it at BBTH, as there are a couple of really nice pics of the bark detail and the age of the trunk (click on the pics to enlarge them)...https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/blog/Watto/?p=1042

OK; the deep plastic pot was huge and without the other 70% of the root system(that I cut off) it was probably just too big and the tree sort of drowned in the excess soil and water.

The tree was stable in the deep plastic pot but would have benefited from wiring in if it had gone into a deep bonsai pot. A deep bonsai pot is still relatively shallow if you know what I mean.

Grant

Grant Bowie wrote:

Neli wrote:Hi Grant,
I understood a bit. Thanks!
Quote:

From now on I will keep allowing the branches to grow in spring and always cut out any branches or branchlets where there are more than 2 branches from one point. This will cause back budding and will slowly build in taper to each branch. Do not keep constantly cutting back to nothing as you keep losing ramification. The more growth points on the tree or branch the slower each one thickens and this way the tree becomes more refined over time.

You said You will let the branches grow in spring. For how long, when will You cut them and how much?

Hi, I will try what I do with Ash; that is you cut back the stronger ones once they have reached say 10 or more leaves and leave the weaker ones to catch up. By the time you tip prune or cut back the weak ones; the stronger ones will probably need a second trim but you could cut back the stronger ones harder at this time(back beyond where you cut it the first time for instance)

Grant

Thank You darlin!
Now that makes a lots of sense to me!

Thanks Grant.
Cheers, Dario.

Grant Bowie wrote:

Scott Roxburgh wrote:

Grant Bowie wrote:...(they) could have gone into deep bonsai pots straightaway and be wired in.

I used to think wiring trees into pots was a waste of time but have been doing it properly for about 3-4 years now and have found this one technique to be the most beneficial techniques that I use in bonsai.

Interested to hear others thoughts???

Yes, very important when you are establishing a tree.

Grant

I consider it essential if you are using inorganic substrates to pot in, they have very little weight and holding power.

Ken

I asked Watto for the pic of one of my Hawthorn at BBTH and it is below before and after work.

I had to grind out a very heavy root at the front of the tree, a small trunk near the apex and a few other places as well.

Then wired and it will do for now.

After about 2 years of ramification it should be OK.

Grant

Hawthorn No 3.

The worst of the lot from root system and some branches failed to proceed on the right hand side.

Still to finish but hopefully over the weekend.

Grant

Thanks to Watto for this pic as well of tree no 1 before trimming, thinning, selection, unwiring, rewiring, defoliation and de thorning.
Grant

Update,

Today after trimming back the portions of foliage/branching that have not stopped growing and set terminal spike; this is to encourage flowering in the future. some of these will be shortened later in autumn.

The growth that was going to keep extending was shortened to encourage more ramification and back budding.
Grant