AusBonsai

When I saw this thread viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12673 I thought 'you lucky .... great score, wish I could help the diggings A few weeks later I got a message asking if I wanted to join the dig? "Hell YES"

So today was the day, I hit the road at 7 hoping to be there by 9, it was a good run in & for once I was early! It was great to catch up with Ken and have a look over the whole patch. As the rest of the diggers rolled in it was good to meet a couple new faces & catch up with another ABer I know. With alot of chatter we all set about trying to find trunks amongst the tangled mass, with alot of pruning it wasnt long before they started to come out of the ground.

It was good digging with light soil so all came out with healthy rootballs, these were my first 2 trees, the one on the right will be split to create 2 trees once it has recovered. The plastic wrapping means they can be left bagged & just filled with water now I am home, a bonus as I dont have anymore tubs big enough for them to soak in The rest are soaking in a pair of clamshells, 2 in the one at bottom of the pic & 3 in the top one This was one of the first trees I spied but the last one dug, another that will be split to create 2 trees of very different character to each other. They will all be planted back into preprepared beds to recover for a couple of years then the fun can begin

Ken, a huge thankyou for the opportunity, if anyone personifies the spirit of Ausbonsai its you mate

Thanks Matt and glad you got them home OK.

I have just finished potting all mine up into pots or poly boxes. In theend I came home with 8, and one of which i split into 2 to give 9 all up.
1 very large, 3 large, 5 medium sized trees.

I Did not get to Soak them as I have nothing big enough but gave them all good water with seasol using at least 9 L on each one. I will re-peat this tomorrow.
No pics of them yet as the sun went down too early, but will do so tomorrow
Thanks for coming all the way from Newcy mate, Was great to catch up again.

Ken

Cheers mate, was a good run home, alot of caravans & more than a few boys in blue, lucky I was behaving

It was an opportunity not to be missed regardless of distance, I hoped for one or two, came home with 7 & will end up with 9 or more after splitting

I will post pics once I clean them up a bit more tomorrow & get them planted. This one will be an interesting challenge finding the tree within....

I ended up opting to pot them up rather than in the ground and with plenty of mix at hand I set to work.
They all came out with rootballs similar to this After 20yrs of kids crashing over them it didnt take much pressure for me to complete the split in the middle to create 2 trees. The first half has tons of deadwood along the top of the trunk & all the branches have been forced to grow downwards. The second half has some major movement & will be an interesting one to design. About halfway thru working them I had a visit from my mentor who was eager to see the results of the dig and claim a tree or 2 for his own collection. I had dug one with him in mind so was happy when he picked it. Then he honed in on one of my favorites, this powerful tree. From above it still looks very full, even after more trimming. Looking from underneath shows the incredible amount of branching to play with. After a further prune I couldnt reduce this one anymore, the 3 trunks might work out ok or it can always be split later. With 2 solid & distinct lines this tree will be split once it has a stronger root system. With another tree also being split I potted a total of 9 trees They have all had a good drink of seasol & been arranged in the shadehouse giving each its own space within the mass. Now the waiting game to see what survives....... A huge thankyou to Ken once again for the opportunity, the material made the trip & work well worth it.

Nice to see them all potted up Mate
Mine are potted up but still on the grass and no photos of each yet, but I took some group ones today

Hopefully they will have a good survival rate as they had lots of small roots in close

Ken

A very good score gentlemen and i would like to see a lot of posts on their progress.

Hi Guys , good to see them being saved . In the coming years there should be some very nice Junipers being styled , thats for sure .

Cheers Alpine

Serious monsters with good foliage close in - excellent score gentlemen. Best of luck with survival.

Gavin

Thanks all, with quality material like this I think a workshop or 3 might be the go in a few years time otherwise this lot will keep my brain sore for a decade trying to do them justice.

MattA wrote:Thanks all, with quality material like this I think a workshop or 3 might be the go in a few years time otherwise this lot will keep my brain sore for a decade trying to do them justice.

Totally agree with that matt..
Recovery first, then start planning

Ken

With a bit of dieback but definite signs of new life in most of them they were moved out to full sun about 2wks ago, I wasnt sure about the 2 biggest ones so they remained on twice daily mistings & part shade. 1 has since been moved out to full sun and while the other looks to be a goner, with no green foliage, it will be left in recovery until its been dead 12mths Bring on 2014!