AusBonsai

Hi ken nice work, haven't tried that method.just what bit your using in your dremil I have tried a couple but just seam to block up

davemc wrote:Hi ken nice work, haven't tried that method.just what bit your using in your dremil I have tried a couple but just seam to block up

Hi Dave, Only just seem this now.

I use a carving tool made from a metal Thread cutting tool

Ken

Update to say that both trees are doing real well and will be time to do some more in a few months. I will see if I can up date pics tomorrow.

The original bender has not marked the trunk too much which is good, and the top section has powered on so need to repot and see what the roots are like.

Ken

The airlayer is doing well. I will repot again at the end of winter and check is roots and see what we have.

Ken

the base of the tree was bent low down with my supertool and has stayed put.
I root pruned quite hard last year to get rid of a big lump under the nebari, so has recovered well with lots of top growth, so also assuem the roots are developing as well.
I will repot again this year, and if good then do the next major bend on it about mid trunk it will be a carved out embed the wire in it affair but will add soem timber blocks in the groove on top of the wire to hold it in place. I will doco the process and hopefully the success as well

Ken

The info on this post is really helpful however I just have a few questions about the Radiatas,

I have collected a few with about 80% success rate however I haven't repoted any of them yet.

Do you bare root at repot?

How much root do you remove at repot?

How long did the air layer take before you removed it?

Thanks in advance

Eugene

If they have recovered post collection and have grown well, are healthy and been well fed etc, and it has been a year or 2 since collection...your goal when repotting at this stage is to just remove the old soil and untangle the roots (very carefully). You do not want to prune any roots at this stage.
Some remove all the soil in one go, and others do half of the root ball now and the other half next time depending on how the pine has responded.
If you haven't done it before, then only do half of the root ball. Good after care is essential.
Dario.

EJZ wrote:The info on this post is really helpful however I just have a few questions about the Radiatas,


Do you bare root at repot?Eugene

How much root do you remove at repot?

If the soil needs to yes, With mine they came from a very sandy spot and had virtually none on them when I originally collected. Again when I repotted last year, I remove about 2/3 the root mass as most was coming from an ugly root at the bottom of the trunk which removed completely.

EJZ wrote: How long did the air layer take before you removed it?
Eugene

the layer was only one for about 3 months, Quite Vigorous growth I was surprised.

Well I did the deed last night
I have always been interested in the work of Pavel Slovak in Czechoslovakia and the amount of bending he can do on a tree, so was keen to get on with this one now.

I took the Tree to School last night as there are quite a few people to help If I needed it, and also to observe what I am doing and hopefully insiring others as well


After Repotting in March this year ( only a few months ago), it has been growing very strongly and felt well rooted in the pot, I decided to pull it out and have a look. The roots were vigorous and the new growth was strong I took it out of its pot as it would be far too hard to work on in there. As Kimura does, I wrapped the roots up in cloth and wetted it down so,
A, its smaller and much easier to handle
B, The do not dry out and or get damaged while torturing the rest of the tree

Now it was ready to start work

In prep of the work last night, and as we are not allowed to use power tools ( too noisy and messy), I did the carving in the afternoon to open up a groove in the heartwood of the tree of sufficient length to start and finish well above and below the are I wish to bend.
the groove is cut to the size of the wire you wish to insert ( yes the wire will stay forever), and is deep enough to relieve enough tension in the wood, and to hold enough wire

The cutting tool I use in my Dremel uses a ThreadCutter in a deremel, and was created by Bretts and described in this thread here viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5251&p=61504&hilit= ... rts#p61504

I inserted 2 lengths of 6mm Aluminium wire into the groove, and then covered this with a few strips of pine I stripped off a lump of timber.
My earlier test bend, i found that the wire moved out of the groove when I bent it and after taking off the wire, the wire wanted to fall out
After a year it probably does not matter whether it stays, but it helps fill the hole and hopefully make the bark rollover faster if it does not have to cover a gap?

The trunk was wrapped in Raffia soaked in water.
A trick i learnt from Grant was to tie it into bundles then put into water. When you want to use it, just grab the tie at the top of the bundle and it comes out of the bucket easily with no tangles
Just wrap with each bundle as is around the tree.

Quite a few helpers on the night was good, and thanks to Steven for grabbing my camera to take photos

One layer of Raffia directly on the trunk and then 3 longitudinal wires added and then wrapped in as well.

Now the fun starts with actually bending.
there are many ways to do this, Bending tools abound but if you want to get tight bends more than 90 Degrees on material this size and softness, I find that just as easy to use you own hands and knee.

Get the job at a comfortable position and pull against the knee and it moved easily.
A Japanese black pine of this size I would doubt that it will bend this much without major splitting and Mechanical benders.

Practice and testing is necessary to get these sort of results. I have been planning this bend now for 3 years

Quite a few onlookers

As always, there is a joker in the crowd and last night was Craig.
When I was trying to get the last bit of bend in it, stood behind me a broke a big stick! Scared the Bejeezus outta me as the though rushed thru my mind! "did it break" ?

Luckily no just a class clown

After the rain stopped this morning, I potted it up into a smaller training pot so it is easier to manage.

I finished initial wiring of the branches in order to position then to suit the new trunk line and they will now grow unhindered for 6 months hopefully

I shortened 1 large root and just trimmed the ends of the rest to fit in the smaller pot.
doing this much to the top of the tree stresses it enough so do not take much off the roots at the same time