2018: the three year bonsai time capsule

[JudyB]

My beech, now that I have the leaf health thing figured out, I have a couple more years of inner ramification to do with this, and one straight middle branch to work on, and I think I'll be happy with this one.View attachment 81104

I thought that this one deserved an extra thumbnail shot naked from this spring...

 

[JudyB]

Stewartia! Love this thing, I'll edit the top left fat branch off next year, and move the back left trunk around forward a bit, as well as the right remaining apex. The little trunks around the edges of the pot are just hardwood cuttings that I stuck in there for giggles, and lookee, they took! I'll take them apart next spring at repot. This will remain a triple trunk.
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I did not keep the triple trunk, but am working hard on the secondary trunk now. These are slow to ramify...

 

[JudyB]

One more, my Red Beech. I may repot into a shallower pot next year, as it's such a strong grower.
OOPs, I just read that this is to be 3 trees only. If that is the limit, then I guess this one should go...
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Since I didn't update the Hawthorn, thought I'd throw this one back in. It's filled out very nicely. Looks great naked.

 

[Gary McCarthy]

I thought that this one deserved an extra thumbnail shot naked from this spring...
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Love the naked shot!

 

[thomas22]

3. Two Bougainvillea that have been somewhat neglected the last few years are now going to get my undivided attention over the next few years. I just gave they a repot two days ago so hopefully they will be looking good by 2018.

My Bougainvillea went according to plan but I am looking for better pots for both trees.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

We're at about 41 trees so far. Good stuff, any others?

We'll "seal" the vault on Tuesday 9/1/15 and open it on 9/1/18, loading the 2015 and a 2018 photo in the same post so it's cleaner and easy to toggle back & forth. Please post no updates on this thread meanwhile, elsewhere is obviously your prerogative. It will be good to skip over some time to see results after 3 years.

I'm adding one more: PP trident maple.

Been working to close the chops faster than they could rot out, while also developing some primary and secondary branches. Two contradictory tasks. The chop was drilled out, rot removed, and filled in with epoxy putty. It is closing, but slowly. The primary right branch was grafted on and growing strong. Leaf reduction is also coming along well.

The current photo was taken while I was working on a different display, but took the opportunity to get the update photo, not really an intended pairing. New stand by David Knittle, main pot is by Ino Shukuho, and the accent is erodium in a Tofu pot:

The tree is 6” tall.

 

[Vin]

I have really pushed this tree the last couple years and I need to give it a rest. I still want to remove more foliage to increase the amount of Jin. Most of the foliage that remains will be to the right. I repotted it last Spring and it responded very well. I'm happy with the progress so far.

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I wasn't happy at all with my pictures so I'm adding another of this one from the other side. Damn Samsung S9 takes better pictures than my camera.

 

[Benny w]

I'm so jealous that you guys can even go out and look at tree right now. Today is 100 tomorrow 100 then 102,102. I have do desire to go out and get sweaty trying to take a picture for five minutes. Long growing season is great but 80 degrees daily for 9 months would be better. This summer has broken a record for hottest summer ever recorded here.

You must be where I'm from. San Joaquin valley. Gotta love fresno county but the weather this summer has really sucked. My trees are not the happiest.

 

[Dav4]

An Acer palmatum 'Murasaki kiohime' I planted in the yard in GA 6 years ago as a 1 gal graft. Dug up in March of this year, air layer started in May.
2016- Separate the layer, reduce or remove some of the larger branches, +/- first wiring
2017- More wiring and root work, +/- root graft.
2018- More of the same

So, this one stayed on schedule through 2016- the ground layer was separated and the base screwed to a board to develop the new nebari.
In 2017, I decided to remove all the heavy branching using the Ebihara wedge technique where you remove large branches over several seasons. This year, I decided to use runners from those branches to start some thread grafting. The roots are developing nicely but the canopy will take decades to develop... time capsule 2028, anyone?

 

[thomas22]

1. California Juniper-Not sure exactly where I'm going with this tree yet but I'm sure I will figure something out.

Here is my second tree for the contest. California juniper that I didn't really have any idea where I was going with it. I took it to a workshop with Mauro and he
set it in the right direction. I just got done wiring this tree and it looks a little rough in the pic but I am excited about its future.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Here is my second tree for the contest. California juniper that I didn't really have any idea where I was going with it. I took it to a workshop with Mauro and he
set it in the right direction. I just got done wiring this tree and it looks a little rough in the pic but I am excited about its future.

Big improvement.

 

[thomas22]

2. Juniper Prostrata (I think)-Bought this at the local landscape nursery a few year ago for 5$. I have high hopes for it.

This tree is growing well but I am waiting for the trunk to thicken before styling. The two long branches going left are sacrifice branches that come off the trunk. One will be jinned and the other will be shortened. I'm going to up pot this tree next month to encourage as much growth as possible on the sacrifice branches. I think this could be one of my best trees in a few years.

 

[barrosinc]

I had forgotten this one... i wad taking the picture and realized i hated it and chopped it away the same time....

So this is a couple of months later it started to bud out at the top.

 

[Djtommy]

I'll throw one in. This is a very old Colorado blue spruce from Todd Schlafer. Collected about 4 years ago with a completely natural taper. In 2016 I will put it into a smaller wooden training box. In 2017 I'll do the first styling. In 2018 I will probably place it into a bonsai pot. I am excited about this tree! I think it has the potential to be one of my best. We shall see.

Hi @MACH5

Is there an update on this one? Would love to see it

 

[MACH5]

Hi @MACH5

Is there an update on this one? Would love to see it

Sorry Tommy but sold this one.

 

[MACH5]

Hi @MACH5

Is there an update on this one? Would love to see it

Hi @MACH5

Is there an update on this one? Would love to see it

Tommy this is what the tree looked like after it was styled by Mauro Stemberger and then tweaked further by me.

 

[leatherback]

Did not have much of a plan, but to develop branches & maybe put it in a nicer pot. Not sure yet where this is going. I lost a lower branch due to not thinning the foliage enough. And am still developing a lower left branch. Coming along well enough for me.

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A little update. And a start picture. So start to a week or two ago:

 

[Smoke]

I decided to add this post as Smoke because I started it as Smoke. I wanted to add to it before the year ended.

The pyracantha was doing quite well and the July before my wife died I had a bad sprinkler incident and lost some trees. I lost half of this one. Seems the same half @Brian Van Fleet lost! It made it to a new pot but now I have to make lemonade out of whats left.


Sorry for the glare the sun was right in my lens. Need another three years to salvage this thing.


The trident is coming along pretty nice. It has had two pots since the original post. Still a long way to go building the apex.



Pot by Yamafusa



This Prostrata juniper has had the large long branch on the right removed and still working on canopy reduction and branch selection. Coming along OK I think.



Lots of shari added to the trunk and the ever changing front???

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Looking good Al, bummer about the pyracantha. Mine looked like that for a year too. It’s dead as a hammer now.

 

[Smoke]

Looking good Al, bummer about the pyracantha. Mine looked like that for a year too. It’s dead as a hammer now.

You mean all of it died....