Squamata First Progression pics

[Luke]

howdy
I have a plan for this wild little squamata prostrata stock to be an informal upright, very compressed and twisted, not much bigger than shohin.
A new leader has been picked and i will be removing the large lateral 'trunk' that wants to cascade (to the right).. keeping most other branches as sacrifice's.
the trunk and new leader will be wired to a 'spiral zig-zag shape'. although the base/start of the trunk has the movement already required
Then its into its new grow box (350x350x150mm) with a soil mix of 1 part 'crushed' expanded clay balls, 1 part grit and 2 parts bonsai soil.
>>Its difficult to show well in pics because it is very bushy and (2D ) but if you look hard i think the shape i see and want can be seen in the pics.
any advice? am i planning anything incorrectly??
cheers
luke
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excuse the pic quality.. i am outside on the deck, using the flash
cheers again
luke

[Jamie]

luke, this is a very rewarding way of making a yamadori style tree, i have about 20 od that are all thwisted to hell and back to accomplish this, they have only just been started though so not much to show, the smaller the branches the easier and better to twist and bend, i have found squamata a little bit more brittle than shimpaku but still do-able.

here are a couple of pics for inspiration, not mine although i wish they were i will eventually have something like them eventually

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the ones i have are 3-5 year plans just on trunk development, then another 2-3 on foliage structure, jin and shari work. it is a long term project but the outcome is vey much worth the time outlay.
the ones i started with were small shimpaku, with approx 15mm trunk size with lots of smaller trunks/branches coming off them.

jamie


edit- by the way these two trees are of shohin size, no bigger than 20-25cm

[Luke]

cheers for the inspiration champ! amazing bonsai's there!!! (made in japan id guess?).. hey, with your obvious devotion and knowledge of bonsai you will with out a doubt, have trees that nice!!!! . I have next to no shari or jin working skills as of yet, so this tree will be my test subject, Ausbonsai and the big black bonsai book will be my theory. (i wont be carving anytime soon though!) i still have much to learn and first things first!.... Create a new leader by removing the exsisting trunk at the right branch, leaving some wood for future shari and jin deadwood features.. then twist, wire, shape and repot into grow box (all planed for tomorrow).
On the subject of yamadori style... have u and or anyone seen the lindsay farr WOB episode that has the juniper which is actually growing in its own shari and jin???? i cant remember number episode if anyone can help??.. i think the tree was gradually turned upside down...? spectacular bonsai!!!!!!! great series too!

PS i started this post hours ago! ... i got side tracked by tv and 'youtube'! some how i went from bonsai videos, to 'balancing point' videos, to 'marble machine videos to freerunning videos... ..... no more coffee... must sleep now or shortly...

happy weekend
luke

[anttal63]

You still posting these photo's? come on mate! I like to be able to see a slide show, not off on off on. sounds like you got the right idea there mate go for broke!!!

[dayne]

hi nice shots jamie i too have some im doing this to check out some of linsay farrs videos of when he goes to the bonsai disrict and they show how to twist and jin great video

[Luke]

finally! iv got the attaching of pics to posts sorted!!! argh! i was copying the code from my gallery for each pic! sorry for the annoyance people!

juni squamata stock feb 2010 4.jpg

juni squamata stock feb 2010 1.jpg

luke

[dayne]

allso if possible leave as many branches on as possible this will help in the rapid thickening

[Jamie]

You still posting these photo's? come on mate! I like to be able to see a slide show, not off on off on. sounds like you got the right idea there mate go for broke!!!

i take it that was at me hows these for a bit more inspiration?----->

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[Luke]

You still posting these photo's? come on mate! I like to be able to see a slide show, not off on off on. sounds like you got the right idea there mate go for broke!!!

i take it that was at me hows these for a bit more inspiration?----->

nah jamie was directed at me... i was uploading my pictures in a dumb way! was bit slow in learning on that one i feel like an idiot!
why didnt you tell me i was uploading them wrong??
hey jamie is it possible to remove pictures from personal gallery? i looked but couldn't see an option.
cheers
luke

[Jamie]

You still posting these photo's? come on mate! I like to be able to see a slide show, not off on off on. sounds like you got the right idea there mate go for broke!!!

i take it that was at me hows these for a bit more inspiration?----->

nah jamie was directed at me... i was uploading my pictures in a dumb way! was bit slow in learning on that one i feel like an idiot!
why didnt you tell me i was uploading them wrong??
hey jamie is it possible to remove pictures from personal gallery? i looked but couldn't see an option.
cheers
luke

will look into it for you and get back to you mate.

[hugh grant]

hey luke
ive got a shimpaku that looks exactly the same as yours but its a little bigger i think. it was my first tree i bought for bonsai and i still havnt done anything at all with it there not the fastest growers on the planet i must say. but ill do something to it one of these days but im happy to just let it grow on

Hugh

[anttal63]

I like the branch under the one you are pointing out, as the new leader. I like the way it leans back and then can spiral forward again. Are you doin a shohin? If so you need to tighten the bends and turns up cause they stretch back out later. Now you got those pics right mate.

[Luke]

hey hugh. yeah they are slow growers, brittle (hard to wire), easy to over water(root rot)...etc etc.. this is why iv never got one... other than a little mame squag iv had for five years!
My larger new one got relocated to a larger room earlier today and had its cascade tail chopped off.
Its a stocky little trunk, im going to leave the 5 remaining branches on, to grow the whole tree out. (i am aiming for an informal upright in shohin size.)
i am going to feed and water religiously!!! soooo 'fingers crossed' ill have something to begin shaping in a year..

>pics of its slight trim and new grow box

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luke

[Luke]

I like the branch under the one you are pointing out, as the new leader. I like the way it leans back and then can spiral forward again. Are you doin a shohin? If so you need to tighten the bends and turns up cause they stretch back out later. Now you got those pics right mate.

hey cheers for informing me Antonio! id still be doing it wrong if you hadn't told me.. cheers... cant use the branch below on that branch, it 'was' the horizontal trunk ... it had no taper, and would have been a big job to bend! unless you mean the small branch bottom front right?... ill get more pics sometime, cant see enough in the ones iv taken.
luke

[Jamie]

i must beg to differ with shimp being harder to bend, if the movement and bending is done early they are quite flexible, i have bent branches up to 5mm over on themselves without having them snap and i have bent up to 10-13mm branches/trunks without raffia around aswell, not over on themselves but with quite a fair but of movement, but thats my experiences, a little trick to get this sort of bending is to withhold water for a day or two, dunno why but it does help