Flowering Apricot Progression

[Petra]

Woh, what size is that trunk, And why so many roots, does it need all them . I thought with all those feeding roots the trees dont need the larger ones.

[FlyBri]

Woh, what size is that trunk, And why so many roots, does it need all them . I thought with all those feeding roots the trees dont need the larger ones.

Gday Petra!

The trunk is about 70mm wide at the soil level, and currently stands at about 500mm at the tips of the foliage.

The reason I've kept so many of the larger roots is that I am trying to keep my options open for the creation of a (hopefully) great nebari. It is difficult to tell in the photos, but I probably removed ½-⅔ of the root mass during the repotting process. Hopefully the work I've done this year will pay off in years to come...

Thanks.

Fly.

[FlyBri]

Gday folks!

Looks like I was so busy concentrating on the lower trunk and roots that I had failed to notice a bit of nasty reverse taper near the top of the trunk...

Flowering_Apricot_Sep_09_23.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Sep_09_24.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Sep_09_25.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Sep_09_26.jpg

When I bought the trunk, I had visions of layering the top off the tree, and the area with the reverse taper would be a perfect spot to do that. However, a little more research into Prunus species as Bonsai has got me wondering about another way of dealing with the taper issue:

BF_Apricot_Scan_01.jpg

BF_Apricot_Scan_02.jpg

Looks great, but do I have that long to live?

Thanks.

Fly.

PS: I emailed the Admin at Bonsai Focus some time ago to seek permission to use these photos, but have yet to receive a response... If anybody at BF has an issue with me using them, please send me a PM and we'll discuss the issue. Thanks.

[FlyBri]

Flowering_Apricot_Oct_09_01.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Oct_09_02.jpg

[FlyBri]

Flowering_Apricot_Jun_10_01.jpg

[kcpoole]

Nice fly
You going to carve the top? Nice idea from B.F.

Ken

[Bougy Fan]

Hi Bri
2 questions - do you know what colour the flowers are and where do you get those tiny turnbuckles from ?

[bodhidharma]

G'day Fly, nice progression and nice alteration work. I love your experiments and adjustments. I also lust after an old apricot. All the flowering trees shown at Kokofu are apricots.

[FlyBri]

You going to carve the top? Nice idea from B.F.

Gday Ken!

I still don't know... I brought that branch up with the thought that it might be the new leader, or even a first branch, but now I'm not so sure.

2 questions - do you know what colour the flowers are and where do you get those tiny turnbuckles from ?

Gday Bougy!

No idea of the flower colour, but the buds are blushing a pale pink, so I suspect very pale pink/white flowers. We shall see...

Flowering_Apricot_Jun_10_02.jpg

The turnbuckles aren't that tiny, but they are the smallest I could find at my local hardware store. From memory, they cost about $5 for two.

Flowering_Apricot_Jun_10_03.jpg

I love your experiments and adjustments. I also lust after an old apricot.

Gday Bodhi!

The experiments and adjustments might be for nothing on this tree, as I still have no idea where to go with it. At least I know (think?) I have the roots going in the right direction...

Thanks all!

Fly.

[FlyBri]

The experiments and adjustments might be for nothing on this tree, as I still have no idea where to go with it...

Gday again folks!

At the risk of spamming my own thread, I thought I'd add a few images I found on the Interwebs that might be of assistance when it comes to styling this tree: Walter Pall Bonsai Adventures blog. (I had hoped to link those images to AB.c, but for some reason that is not working... ) Of greatest interest to me are the top image and the bottom two: I believe that I could achieve something like these trees within my lifetime.

Thanks.

Fly.

[kcpoole]

Do you think thos pics of walters have too long terminal growth? To me those 3 look too long and spindley
I do not wanna Get into a long critique of walters trees but

Ken

[Dumper]

nice prunus.

always wanted one as garden tree and as bonsai. the one i have in the front yard died because of the heat wave we had last year.

john

[FlyBri]

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_01.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_02.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_03.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_04.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_05.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_06.jpg

More to follow...

[kcpoole]

where is that Clappy Emoticon!
I love this tree Fly
The roots are Much nicer

Ken

[FlyBri]

I love this tree Fly

Gday Ken!

I hope you continue to love the tree once you've checked the following photos...

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_07.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_08.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_10.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_11.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_12.jpg

Flowering_Apricot_Aug_10_13.jpg

Looking at the photos, I could probably have been more assertive with the carving. I think I'll just let it go for now and see which bits of trunk survive before I do any more damage.

Thanks.

Fly.