AusBonsai

So these trees I acquired over a year ago and have been sitting neglected in the corner for the majority of that time as I simply did not have the time to do anything with them and soon forgot about them (yes im a terrible person).
But now that I'm on my winter break I feel like something should be done although I am not very confident in my knowledge of bonsai although I obsessed over it last year and read through several books and stalked online forums

So I need help, are these trees even worth keeping around and if so what should I do?
Any ideas would help,
They were repotted last year, the left one is the plum and the right one is the chinese wisteria

I would take the opportunity to repot them into separate grow box's, start looking at styling options etc.
Once you repot individually you can take some pics from different angles (front on, side etc) and repost to get some more styling advice.

Nice looking trunks but a bit hard to judge size for that pic.
Repot them into individual pots without disturbing roots to much this time of year.

Take the usual couple of picks from pot level to see how they might progreass.

Ken

It's very simple:
* Rip them out of the container now
* Wash the roots and prune them back short and flat
* Cut off all the branches off perhaps leaving one for a new leader. Be ruthless about any reverse taper. Seal cuts on the wisteria especially.
* Plant on a slight angle in a training pot
* Let them rocket away all season but keep an eye on too many branches coming from the same place = swelling/reverse taper.
* This time next year, cut all necessary brances to 2 buds and wire them so they leave the trunk at the required angle.
remove the rest.
* Repot
* Repeat until you have a bonsai.

kcpoole wrote: Repot them into individual pots without disturbing roots to much this time of year.

Ken

treeman wrote:It's very simple:
* Rip them out of the container now
* Wash the roots and prune them back short and flat

Two very different opinions on how to handle the roots. Could you both explain your reasoning for your recommendations. Interested to know the idea behind your comments.

Josh.

Different opinions from different climates perhaps? Down here in Vic everything is well and truly dormant, I'm repotting like Treeman said. Others may need to wait a bit longer

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I'm with Mike, get them out, give them a good trim and pot them individually. There is the making of a couple of reasonable bonsai there.
PS - your scissors are a bit rusty!

You usually get a much better result with the roots if you start young like Mike recommends. If you leave things for a few years, you get thick course growth on both roots and trunk however this leaves gapping wounds if/when you need to cut back hard. OK on some quick growing/healing trees, not so good on the slower types. Some trees basically do not heal over in bonsai cultivation so you are stuck with wounds which can be turned into features. With roots the idea is to get many smaller feeder roots to sustain the tree whilst allowing some to grow reasonably thick to provide good visual appeal.
Both methods work it just depends on what you are trying to achieve.

Josh wrote:

kcpoole wrote: Repot them into individual pots without disturbing roots to much this time of year.

Ken

treeman wrote:It's very simple:
* Rip them out of the container now
* Wash the roots and prune them back short and flat

Two very different opinions on how to handle the roots. Could you both explain your reasoning for your recommendations. Interested to know the idea behind your comments.

Josh.

Mt reasoning is that I would not repot wisteria now if avoidable. I wait until they are growing well after flowering preferably. The wiki states you can do them in August once warming up, though I never have. https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index. ... e=Wisteria

The Plum you can do now typically, but these 2 trees are probably in poor soil with poor health, so I would be a little more circumspect and leave as much root as possible.
I tend to be more conservative with trees that are in poor health as I would prefer to take time and ensure that they are going to recover.

Re the cutting back hard and redeveloping. Yep I would probably do that too, but we have no idea from the OP as the requisite knowledge on where and what to cut. I suggested repot each to ensure the recovery, then repost decent pics of them so we can get a good look at them and give some advice and direction on both.
Be a pity to to rip in a remove some potential assets that we cannot see on this on photo

ps this thread reminds me of a similar tree I have treated similarly.
The Pyracantha in my Shohin comp, viewtopic.php?f=148&t=14754&p=154587 I obtained in a similar poly box and condition as the OP has here.
They had very poor condition and I had to carefully repot and care fro them in the first year to allow them to recover before working on them.

Ken

I forgot to mention one important thing in developing the plum. You also need to defoliate now and then during the summer and cut back and wire then also otherwise the branches may be too thick and stiff to move by winter. So twice a year.
As for repotting now, I think that if your night temps don't go much below say 5C (which is most of the coastal areas in Oz) there should be no problem with the wisteria either. Ceratinly not the plum. I repotted an old wisteria for a friend 2 weeks ago.
Most of my deciduous trees already have bud swell. Chinese quice is coming in to leaf!
Japanese recommendations for spring repotting are correct for there but during their spring they would have very cold nights compared to what most of us experience. The roots of all my deciduous trees are on the move now. They probably don't ever stop.
I would wait for bud swell on pines though.

kcpoole wrote:

Be a pity to to rip in a remove some potential assets that we cannot see on this on photo

There are no assets on these trees apart from the trunks Ken. Everything else must be cut off.

Have u seen them in person to judge that have u?
While you may think a piece of material has no assets, others may have different views and until i have seen decent photos or in mm person, i will not be silly enought to make such a definitive statement.

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These are some photos of a maple tree that I have and could also use some help

The other two trees are still waiting to get re-potted

This is a perfect time to rootprune both tree's,before new growth commences.If you live in a cold climate even better.Warm climate, still go ahead.Trim roots to grow in all directions, left, right, back, shorter to the the front,this will give you the opportunity for the future, to develop, a good root structure.Your tree will not suffer.They are now getting ready to burst out, as the daylight hours are starting to move.Do not prune until the end of summer,as this gives the plant the chance,to not only give you a better choice of branches,but also lets the roots develop to their full potential.Late January is a good time to prune,either tree,for the new growth that will develop, there is a chance of some of those flowering in the spring.Keep them in a sunny position at this time.

lolofied wrote:These are some photos of a maple tree that I have and could also use some help

The other two trees are still waiting to get re-potted

Hey Mate,

What's going on with those large surface roots that appear to be wrapping around the base of the tree?

I think this guy would benefit from a ground layer. Anyone else thinking the same thing?