43 yr old Boxwood 1st bonsai pot

[jbhampton31]

I have a few of these old 43 yr old boxwoods (not sure the cultivar name) with major exposed roots. I know not everyone is a big fan of that style, but I really like them. These trees are as old as I am and have been kept in a greenhousen in nursery pots by an older club member. I bought 4 of them last yr and just put them in grow boxes. Last night I repotted one into it's 1st bonsai pot. I added some spagnum moss after the picture was taken. I put some rubber around the area on the guy wire was. I tried to plant it off center but it didn't work out how I would have liked.. I am still very new to this so any thoughts would be helpful. Thank you!

 

[Ininaatigoons]

You put it in a pot in March? How is it doing? What did you do with the others? Got pictures of the others? I don't know anything about box except they grow slow, but look awesome.

 

[jbhampton31]

Hey thank you! Yes they were all repotted in early spring all 4 seem to be doing well here a pics i just took this morning. Healthwise they seek great as far as styling them is concerned ai don't know exactly what to do with them other than occasionally pruning to shape.That is basically what the original owner was doing also. I got them all last yr in nursery containers.

 

[jbhampton31]

You put it in a pot in March? How is it doing? What did you do with the others? Got pictures of the others? I don't know anything about box except they grow slow, but look awesome.

i posted an update meant to send as a reply so you would see it. They are all doing well so far this summer

 

[Deleted member 47471]

Hey thank you! Yes they were all repotted in early spring all 4 seem to be doing well here a pics i just took this morning. Healthwise they seek great as far as styling them is concerned ai don't know exactly what to do with them other than occasionally pruning to shape.That is basically what the original owner was doing also. I got them all last yr in nursery containers.

Nice! I’ve heard wiring out the secondary and tertiaries to lay flat (all around the tree - front/sides/rear) is the best way to begin styling, ramifying additional branching, and backbudding. The foliage pads will be wide and more flat-ish like thin clouds.

 

[rockm]

Hey thank you! Yes they were all repotted in early spring all 4 seem to be doing well here a pics i just took this morning. Healthwise they seek great as far as styling them is concerned ai don't know exactly what to do with them other than occasionally pruning to shape.That is basically what the original owner was doing also. I got them all last yr in nursery containers.

So, at the risk of being a jerk, the original owner's "work" on these was at best conflicted, at worst neglectful. These aren't neagari (exposed root) style trees. That style has more order and some thought into root development and selection (and much more extensive) than what's been done here. There aren't enough exposed roots for neagari here. What's here is a mess of unpruned, unplanned roots that were likely exposed by soil eroding away and not being replaced. These should have been sorted out the first time they were potted up,

Continuing the path of the original owner will just give all those errors longevity. The worst thing is, it's entirely and pretty easily correctable. It's a matter of selecting the best plane of roots at the bottom and getting rid of the rest, covering what's left up so there is a decent nebari and selecting branching hard pruning it back to make more lateral branches. Alternatively, if you're set on neagari style, gradually expose more and more roots (they will have to be elongated in a taller container to continue much further) over time.

As things are now, these trees are in a "S%#@ or get off the pot" limbo. They're caught between styles and need some hard decisions. and BTW, wiring out branching on boxwoods is dicey. Hard pruning, cut and grow, is more effective.

Sorry, feel free to put me on ignore.

 

[jbhampton31]

no certainly you are welcome to your opinions and comments as the original post states I am a beginner. This is my 3rd yr in bonsai. I know the person who sold me trees is not a bonsai master, he is a 93 yr old man who had these trees as nursery trees when he ran a commercial landscape nursery. He sold them as nursery trees in nursery pots for $30 a piece to other club members. They are 43 yrs old. I wouldn't consider them a perfectly refined speciment trees. However for a beginner relatively 3 yrs in I still have a lot to learn as a hobbyist but have been trying to take on big projects but in my case may be a slow process to decide how best to proceed on things. This is also as noted their 1st bonsai pot, I got them last spring and slip potted to square commercial wooden grow boxes and repotted in to some of the few pots I have large enough. When I did this my club vp immediately asked my why I didn't cover more of the roots during repotting. So yea its a slow process and I am learning l. I also have a large cork bark chinese elm project that was grown and abandoned when a former club member got sick and passed
I never met him unfortunately but his wife held a bonsai estate sale when I.bought that elm, a few large tridents, and lots of other stuff that all need major work. Feel free to click on my profile and offer suggestions. I am learning and practicing patience and how to do what and when. I have another of these trees and took it to a club mettting where another member had me make some big chops to the boxwood and it's my least favorite big ugly chops covered in cut paste maybe that one will be salvageable one day, these boxwoods aren't perfect but not a bad start at under $40 each for trees as old as I am (43) and as a beginner at bonsai I don't have the answers yet just getting started.

 

[Coach_]

So, at the risk of being a jerk, the original owner's "work" on these was at best conflicted, at worst neglectful. These aren't neagari (exposed root) style trees. That style has more order and some thought into root development and selection (and much more extensive) than what's been done here. There aren't enough exposed roots for neagari here. What's here is a mess of unpruned, unplanned roots that were likely exposed by soil eroding away and not being replaced. These should have been sorted out the first time they were potted up,

Continuing the path of the original owner will just give all those errors longevity. The worst thing is, it's entirely and pretty easily correctable. It's a matter of selecting the best plane of roots at the bottom and getting rid of the rest, covering what's left up so there is a decent nebari and selecting branching hard pruning it back to make more lateral branches. Alternatively, if you're set on neagari style, gradually expose more and more roots (they will have to be elongated in a taller container to continue much further) over time.

As things are now, these trees are in a "S%#@ or get off the pot" limbo. They're caught between styles and need some hard decisions. and BTW, wiring out branching on boxwoods is dicey. Hard pruning, cut and grow, is more effective.

Sorry, feel free to put me on ignore.

Agree with wiring out Boxwoods is a bad idea. The tree will stop feeding branches that it deems are too flat. Lost several branches on mine last year after a lot of wiring to flatten some branches.

 

[jbhampton31]

So, at the risk of being a jerk, the original owner's "work" on these was at best conflicted, at worst neglectful. These aren't neagari (exposed root) style trees. That style has more order and some thought into root development and selection (and much more extensive) than what's been done here. There aren't enough exposed roots for neagari here. What's here is a mess of unpruned, unplanned roots that were likely exposed by soil eroding away and not being replaced. These should have been sorted out the first time they were potted up,

Continuing the path of the original owner will just give all those errors longevity. The worst thing is, it's entirely and pretty easily correctable. It's a matter of selecting the best plane of roots at the bottom and getting rid of the rest, covering what's left up so there is a decent nebari and selecting branching hard pruning it back to make more lateral branches. Alternatively, if you're set on neagari style, gradually expose more and more roots (they will have to be elongated in a taller container to continue much further) over time.

As things are now, these trees are in a "S%#@ or get off the pot" limbo. They're caught between styles and need some hard decisions. and BTW, wiring out branching on boxwoods is dicey. Hard pruning, cut and grow, is more effective.

Sorry, feel free to put me on ignore.

posted reply but forgot to reply so you'd see it...this also should have been posted on the new to bonsai forum pages but still new to the site navigation of this website also.