AusBonsai

I am interested in turning a 7 year yold red pine into a raft as it has some long branches without needles. Will roots appear on the old trunk if treated in the normal way OR would they be more likely to appear on 2 to 3 year old wood when under the soil? Has anyone had success with other pines?
goueber

Have not done either myself, But I asume as most pines will Layer, then no issue to make a raft out of them

Cut the bark where you want roots and apply hormone and pot them up See what happens I reckon

Ken

Ken

Thanks for those tips. By the way the pink thing is a tooth brush to give you an idea of size. As you can see the growth is very leggy and the side braches are quite thin with needles out fairly well on the extremities. The good thing is they can easily be bent and I suppose they could be arranged in all different ways underground to hide a myriad of sins. I was not happy to see two curl grubs hiding in the soil, not quite in the pictures.

goueber

hi mate,

this one could definately work well as a raft, maybe grow it on for a while longer and try and get some back budding and more branches, back in the days of bonsaitalk there was a fantastic raft forest made with similar material to this, i will try and find a pic similar to it, but that might be hard, but try think outside the square with the raft style and dont just use the straight trunk, use all the branches you can

jamie

After nearly twelve months I decided to finally start on my raft, having listened to advice from a number of people and having the right time of the year as well.
It had grown quite a bit, leggy growth with one branch at the top in particular, which I had wired and it had thickened at lot. Underneath i made about 17 incisions to get into the cambium layer on the main trunk and quite a few braches as well. I found a light weight pot measuring 70cm by 27cm and cut down about three quarters of it except for where the root ball went.

I was concerned about too much wire underneath on branches so I wired some off on the side of the pot. I hope that does not mean there will be a number of future trees in a straight line. I painted rooting compund on to the incisions as well. All in all I should have about 12 future trees but they can easily be cut off in the future and the smaller braches could be changed to different positions later. I added quite a bit of washed river sand (Condamine river) to the normal bonsai potting mix. I painted rooting compound on to the incisions as well on April 23, the day I potted it up. My biggest concern is my curiosity as I will be scatching around underneath regularly to see whether it has rooted or not. You know what killed the cat. But how long can I wait before I should have a look?

finished product

Good job mate looks great to me,
Now to leave it alone, don't disturb the roots for quite a while, hopefully it roots well
Thanks

that is going to be a little different
See what happens in a few years eh.

Just do not let the growth to become leggy again

Ken

The future main trunk is about as thick as my little finger, there are 2 smaller trunks to the right and then the main rootball higher up to the right. As you can see I have some other branches going under the soil and tied off to the side of the pot on the left. I am hoping that when it has rooted further up along the branches underneath that I will then be able to place the smaller trunks in different positions. I did not want to constrict the branches with a lot of wire wrapped around them underneath.

The red pine raft is going well, though it is not growing in a long section of raft. I have done two thread grafts and they have worked quite well. I have actually cut them off and they are growing nicely. I have not checked out the roots below yet. It seems a pretty tough old tree as I don't give it much tender loving care. The photo will come soon

Unfortunately the photo does not do justice to it. At the recent 'bonsai by the harbour' in Gladesville I was going to dispose of it but Mick Balzry suggested I do a workshop with the great Don on the Sunday, Don Deluca. I will repot it soon and it will be interesting to see if it has grown roots under the raft. Two threadgrafts are growing strong on it and also an approach graft but there is thickening in unusual ways in some spots. It is a very strong grower and the candles are already lengthening since the workshop in mid June, despite the cold weather. Naoki mentioned on the weekend that red pines are better for bunjin with their long needles and less compact branch structure.

Unfortunately the photo does not do justice to it. At the recent 'bonsai by the harbour' in Gladesville I was going to dispose of it but Mick Balzry suggested I do a workshop with the great Don on the Sunday, Don Deluca. I will repot it soon and it will be interesting to see if it has grown roots under the raft. Two threadgrafts are growing strong on it and also an approach graft but there is thickening in unusual ways in some spots. It is a very strong grower and the candles are already lengthening since the workshop in mid June, despite the cold weather. Naoki mentioned on the weekend that red pines are better for bunjin with their long needles and less compact branch structure.