AusBonsai

So I've had stump envy for a while now, seeing all the great bases others have dug up to work on. Finally got my wife's permission to dig up this Dwarf Myrtle (Myrtus communis 'compacta') out of our yard. Hopefully I can find something cheap to replace it.

I was half hoping to use it for the shohin comp, but it's a little too big for that. Which is good, because all I've really got is shohin material, so it will be nice to have something a bit larger to work with. One downside to hanging out on this Aussie forum is I can't always get the stuff you guys use - can't buy Seasol here, for example, so here it is soaking in some Superthrive.
I cut some of the branches a few months ago to see if it would back bud, and you can see the results of that, so I hacked the rest today and dug. I'll pot it up tomorrow and let it go crazy for a year. Should give me a good carving project, and a nice clump planting, lots of options to think about.

Nice little Stump
Funny that you compain about not getting our stuff, when we usually complain about not having access to what you do
Whats that saying "the Grass is always greener"

Superthrive will do wonders in place of Seasol, although I am surpirsed you guys do not have an equivalent seaweed tonic

Ken

kcpoole wrote:Nice little Stump
Funny that you compain about not getting our stuff, when we usually complain about not having access to what you do
Whats that saying "the Grass is always greener"

Superthrive will do wonders in place of Seasol, although I am surpirsed you guys do not have an equivalent seaweed tonic

Ken

Well, I don't live in the greatest bonsai city. It's big, something like 6 million people, but no good bonsai nursery. In fact, the local club charters a bus and makes a trip to California every year to buy from their bonsai nurseries. Combine that with the fact that I seem to be the only one here suffering from an Aus native obsession and here I am, haunting your forums, and getting lots of my info from here.

As for seaweed tonic, there probably is something somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. Could have something to do with my inland, dessert location. Superthrive on the other hand is in most of the big box stores that sell plants.

Nice, I would consider getting rid of most if not all of the secondary trunks now! I know you may see something there but I believe in the future you will wish you had just done the deed.

Bretts wrote:Nice, I would consider getting rid of most if not all of the secondary trunks now! I know you may see something there but I believe in the future you will wish you had just done the deed.

That may very well be true, Brett. I'll have to take another look tomorrow when I pot it up. I'll post pics from more angles then, too. I like the idea of a clump as it seems to be the growth habit of these, but it's always wise to be flexible when looking at something like this.

A nice little find L.H. I would agree with Bretts though. Maybe keep whats growing off the main stump and get rid of the rest. You will get much better growth on the main stump that way.

Here are some updated pics of my stump after potting, shown from four angles. I am out of the usual standard measures, so this empty 2 liter bottle will have to suffice.
Now it's resting in a shady spot, but it should still get plenty of light to grow. I'm glad I got this done on an early spring morning when it's only 29 C, it was hot enough out there.

So hit me with all your styling advice. As mentioned above, this is my first piece of collected material, so don't hold back. I'm hard to offend. I think the main choice now is should I remove all the extra branches or keep them. As you can see in the first picture, there is some odd movement in the main trunk, and that had me thinking of a clump style, but the main trunk is big enough that I could just go with that and cut the rest off now to keep energy directed to the main trunk (as suggested by Bretts and bodhidharma - thanks guys).

I agree with Bretts and Bodhidharma; the main trunk, with its wonderful movement, is for me the future tree, and the upright, broomstisk straight branches of the clump (as viewed in the first image) are at odds with that movement. For me, they would detract from the composition.

If you want to retain some of the "History" of the original plant as dug, you might consider one or more of those branches (that I would remove) for serious reduction in height (so as to not draw too much attension from the main trunk) and heavy carving to look like nature removed them. Maybe one or more cut off flush and hollowed out (making sure the hollow would drain well to prevent rot) or reduced to a short, heavily eroded stump (great carving opportunity!). Just my .

Enjoy the possibilities!

Jan.

The more I look at it, the more I think you guys are right, probably better to get rid of the extra straight trunks.

While searching for inspiration, I found this. http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t1176 ... dy-to-show Mine is slightly different in that it's the dwarf variety, but pretty amazing to see what can be achieved in a few years. What about trying for a mother-daughter tree similar to the one shown there? Don't know if I have a good secondary trunk for it, but I kind of like that style.

I was able to find that these are good for deadwood and natural ones can have live veins similar to juniper, so carving is a very real option for the main trunk and any smaller stubs. I think the main difficulty now will be having the patience to just let it grow for the summer. It will surely be easier once April hits and I can work on my trees for the shohin comp.

This thing has been pushing growth like crazy, so I did some selection of shoots today, just getting rid of the excess so that the growth will go where it's needed and not be wasted. I also removed a few of the extra trunks and picked what I think will be the front.
I like the half-dead trunk on the right in the photo, so I think I'm going to keep it. The root coming off of it is live too, and I kind of like that. I'm not sure on the small trunk on the left of the photo. I kind of like the visual weight that it gives, and the leaves are small enough on this that I think it could be made into a convincing secondary trunk. Might just look better without it though. The long branch coming straight up from the main trunk might become a new leader, or might get chopped in a bit, I'm not sure on that yet.

A year on. Starting to get somewhere. I need to carve soon though. Getting excited about the potential in this one, for something around shohin size it should make a really cool tree in the future.
The branch growing up at the top will be the apex, and right now it's growing wild. This thing thickens pretty slowly, so I'm giving it some time to thicken. The branches are surprisingly stiff. Working on this has been an interesting experience.

The tree is certainly recovered well from transplant and I think it has great potential.
I take it the new leader is the one growing vertical at top right of the picture. Why have you left the top of the stump and wired a branch right at the top of the stump, higher than the new leader?
I think it will be better in the long run to remove the excess from the old trunk with a sloping cut - like this: The sooner you reduce the stump the sooner it will be healed over and the sooner the new leader can start to merge with what is left of the original trunk.

If you are a bit adventurous maybe the trunk could be carved a little - or even connect some shari to the carved area? Again, the sooner that is done the sooner it will mature into something better.

Apologies for the primitive virts. Hope they convey my ideas in some way.

Neil, you've got a very good point. I was planning on carving it, but at the opposite angle, which would make my leader not work. But I like the leader on the right better as I think it adds more movement and balance to the tree. So I need to chop/carve more at the angle you have shown. I think a carve with some connecting shari will be the go as this species doesn't seem to grow/heal super quick. Time to get carving, which means I need to buy some tools.

G'Day LH,
Yes, I have to agree with shibu regarding your choice of leader for 2 reasons. Firstly, the rhs leader will give you a better taper and secondly, the rhs leader is thicker than the lhs and will give you quicker response in callousing over the cut.
Nice material I might add, it will be a bottler.
Cheers.........Brian