AusBonsai

Gday folks!

Some of you may recall that I purchased a Flowering Apricot from Bonsai Society of Victoria's Sale Day earlier this year. Well, it has flowered (pale pink, as I half expected) and now it is time to repot.

Firstly, the photos from back in May 2010:



On Sunday last, I pulled the thing from its pot, and was very pleased to see the condition of the roots:
After I hacked off the bottom quarter of the roots using a sharp hatchet, I spent a good amount of time (close to an hour) digging through the roots with my Stick Of Poking. Here's how it looked earlier this morning (note that I have not cut any major roots yet):
I'm just now getting stuck into the thicker roots around the base, and hope to get some more pics up later today.

Thanks!

Fly.

Nice taper and movement in the trunk. Should be a bomb in full bloom. Will the roots permit a strong right lean to it - nearly a semi-cascade? Or maybe a left lean, with all the branching and flowers heading off westward? Just my thoughts, more than usually bent.

Gavin

WOW thats gona be sweet as in a pot with full flower

grats
Pat

Hi Fly,
I would remove the knob as shown with the arrow. This would give a nice taper.

Regards Ray

That's a nice tree Fly, I considered buying that one myself for over an hour, but I passed it up for 2 plum trees on the same table. Look forward to seeing it again when you have worked it some more. cheers, miyagiman.

Gday folks!

The further I dig into the roots of this little tree, the more I feel like it was a steal at only $150. There are a couple of areas that are devoid of large roots, but I can live with that for now. (I have begun a round of "toothpick therapy" using about a dozen pegs that I fashioned from bamboo skewers.)

GavinG wrote:Nice taper and movement in the trunk. Should be a bomb in full bloom. Will the roots permit a strong right lean to it - nearly a semi-cascade? Or maybe a left lean, with all the branching and flowers heading off westward? Just my thoughts, more than usually bent.

Gday Gavin!

The way the thick roots sit at the moment doesn't allow much of a tilt in any direction - as you can see by the latest photos. That's OK by me, as I quite like the orientation of the trunk as it is. Once I have worked out a "final" styling for the tree, I may need to tilt the trunk one way or the other, but I think that is some way off yet.

Tintop wrote:WOW thats gona be sweet as in a pot with full flower

Thanks Pat! It will be some time before I get the thing into a proper pot, but I'll be sure that you guys are the first to see it when I do.

mackray wrote:I would remove the knob as shown with the arrow. This would give a nice taper.

Gday Ray!

I will be carving out that knob at some point, but I will wait until I know what direction I want the tree to take.

miyagiman wrote:That's a nice tree Fly, I considered buying that one myself for over an hour, but I passed it up for 2 plum trees on the same table. Look forward to seeing it again when you have worked it some more.

Gday Miyagiman!

I'm glad you didn't buy this one - although if you had, I'm sure I would have picked up the one(s) you eventually chose... I'd love to see the Plums that trumped this Apricot!

* * *

By now, you will all have realized that I have not set my mind on a "final" direction for this tree. Initially, I had thoughts of simply pruning for shape and ramification, thus achieving a "finished" tree in a year or two, but all too often I see Bonsai in which the custodian has opted for ramification instead of a strong, cohesive branch/trunk structure. Looking at the tree now, the RH branch is far to straight and taperless, as well as being too heavy for the overall design. I need to work out some way around this problem before getting too stuck into growing a twiggy canopy.

Thanks all!

Fly.

FlyBri wrote:(I have begun a round of "toothpick therapy" using about a dozen pegs that I fashioned from bamboo skewers.)

That's all for now.

looking great fly an absolute bargain . this will be a very nice tree one day

keep up the good work, jarryd

Can we please have an update on your toothpick/skewer method? and see the tree's progress?
Thanks,
Luke

Hi, Excuse my ignorance but what is the "toothpick method"???

philf555 wrote:Hi, Excuse my ignorance but what is the "toothpick method"???

iwas just wondering the same thing.. im a complete novice but im goign to guess
maybe to propagate extra roots from here to help cut back onthe rootball size?

philf555 wrote:Hi, Excuse my ignorance but what is the "toothpick method"???

It is a method of getting the tree to grow more / better roots instead of grafting them on
The wiki page on Nebari has a few links to the relevant threads, https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index.php?title=Nebari

Ken

Thank you Ken appreciated

FlyBri wrote: That's all for now.

Luke308 wrote: Can we please have an update on your toothpick/skewer method? and see the tree's progress?
Thanks,
Luke

I agree. I would also like to see an update.
This the first time I have read about this thoothpick method and I can say I would like to give it a try on some pre-bonsais of mine.

Thank you!

yes, I would also like to see an update... did you get any photos of it in flower?