AusBonsai

Those that read the drop in Sunday post today will know, I went with one of my clubs to a nursery. It is now a wholesale nursery but has some left over stock and pots. I went along mainly as a consultant ( fancy name for big head ) . That was to help the less experienced pick out good stock for future development.

Its bloody hard when confronted with stock like this for $30-00. They still bought the rubbish cos it was cheaper.
This is a juniper procumbens. I was going to use as a work shop piece at the end of the month. I decided against that because after 3 hours of flapping my gums trying to get them to buy decent stock I gave up.
When I got home I started work on it 1hour and 10 minuets later I have a what I think is a very nice Shohin in the making. So here are some shots of before and after. The height of the tree is 200 mms width is 270 mms. It will now rest until next spring. I will do some refinement wiring and pruning.
Then in August I will start to reduce the root ball. Pup

Very nice pup, shows what can be done by having a good eye and some vision in selecting material. Sure it will be a fine shohin in no time.

Here are a couple more shots of different angles

Thats great for an afternoons work

Well done Pup,
How do you get a job as a consultant to the uninitiated - sounds a great job, especially when you can reap the benefit of good stock to work with.
I'll be looking for your shohin in 12 months, it should look a treat.

tmaster wrote:Well done Pup,
How do you get a job as a consultant to the uninitiated - sounds a great job, especially when you can reap the benefit of good stock to work with.
I'll be looking for your shohin in 12 months, it should look a treat.

First of you must be able blow your own trumpet loud and clear. Have a skin like a Rhinoceros. OH!! and be good at it.
Blowing your own trumpet that is.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I am hoping it will live up to exspectations. Pup

Before I buggered my Chinese Elm. I decided to put this in a training pot.
I thought that 5 weeks should be time enough to know whether it will survive or not.
So here are some progression shots on its move from nursery pot to training pot. Continued next post

I am looking for elm or trident stock similar to this for the same price, something I can start to see a nice result with quickly without major reworking.
Its looking good old man, I would like to be in a place where styling comes second nature and good results can be achieved.

Hi Pup,

I like this one too. I am not sure if I was able to this "small tree" as you did.

I stopped at the first photo and tried to anticipate what you would do. I thought about cascade...
But I was wrong.

Are you treating the exposed wood with any chemical Pup?

Thank you and best regards.

As promised continuing
It is very important to get the soil into the root ball so you are replacing some of the old soil.
That is why I use the large knitting needle it allows you to work the soil in with out damaging the roots.
Do not use a stabbing action, more of a poking then twisting, so you open up the soil to allow fresh soil in.

daiviet_nguyen wrote:Hi Pup,

I like this one too. I am not sure if I was able to this "small tree" as you did.


Are you treating the exposed wood with any chemical Pup?

Thank you and best regards.

Daiviet, I will treat the wood with lime sulfur,but not for at least a year. If you treat it straight away you risk injury to the tree as the sap is flowing and trying to heal the wound. There is a danger that it could enter the sap flow.
Plus a year to let the wood age also helps it to look aged better.Pup

Hi Pup, is that a graft at that first major cut in the trunk?

And Daviet, I was thinking the same, going for a cascade... But you know, i like this better...

Hi guys,
nice work pup.
To all the enthusiasts just starting to get into styling from raw material, here's a tip.
Because most Juniper material we look at is of the "prostrate" form ( grows horizontally ), your first impression is to look for a "cascade " style. In the first instance forget about cascades, and look at the tree from all angles, ignoring the long "tail" (low branch). Assume the tail was only ever intended as a sacrifice branch to thicken the base. Remove it, Jin it or just shorten it. These are 3 early questions.
You'll be surprised what else you can see in the tree.
cheers
Dave

[quote="Marc"]Hi Pup, is that a graft at that first major cut in the trunk?

No it is not grafted, just taken of a large stiff branch that would have been a cascading branch.

Hi Pup,

Thank you for the instructions on lime sulphur. I have read Mr. Craig Coussins,
and I have been under the impression that we should apply straight-away. But
your explainations make more sense.

This is the lime sulphur that I bought and used:

http://www.yates.com.au/products/disease-control/concentrates/yates-lime-sulphur-spray-fungicide/

Do you use the same one too Pup?

Thank you and best regards.