From gardencenter to The Trophy in Belgium

[PA_Penjing]

phenomenal!

 

[hemmy]

the first years I did the pruning at the wrong way, which resulted in too big branches, and just a few small twiggs....

You improved it a lot between 1998 and 2003, developing better taper to the branches. Did you take it to bonsai club workshops or consult professionals in that time? Or was the learning all on your own? In any case, very impressive.

Cheers

 

[Marco B]

@Marco B - curious if you would do anything different with the approach on this tree if you had the chance? 27 years is an impressive amount of time to invest on a tree, any advice you would share in hindsight that would benefit those reading on the thread?

Yes, for sure. Standard, beginners, advice when you 'do' bonsai is that you have to prune back shoots with 7 leaves, to 2 leaves, and remove all shoots that are growing in the wrong direction. Just cut and grow. That is what I mostly did in the first years. This result gave me a result showing on the photo in 2006: Too many thick branches and hardly fine ones. So, in general, cut and grow is fine, but also, you have to cut back deeper into the tree, to remove thickened branches. And also do some wiring instead instead of just cut. Just remove the last part of the shoot, eg: remove the last 3 leaves. Also you cannot keep the tree always in showcondition, because sometimes you have to build branches again, to get new majority.... And also, don't give too much fertlliser, and don't repot too often when a tree is in final stage.

But I keep learning, that proces never ends...

 

[Marco B]

You improved it a lot between 1998 and 2003, developing better taper to the branches. Did you take it to bonsai club workshops or consult professionals in that time? Or was the learning all on your own? In any case, very impressive.

Cheers

Nope, just learned myself by looking, and reading around. But also: look around you and try to understand trees; why do they grow how they grow?
I've started taking lessons in 2017.

 

[Ja_De]

Congratulations. The tree, the journey and the recognition... Awesome.

 

[vancehanna]

Well done!

 

[Marco B]

After the Trophy, in 2020, the tree wasn’t growing so well. So I decided to repot it in a wooden crate, and let hem grow, without pruning too much.. now it became a lot stronger again and it was time to prune it back to his old shape. The result is more fine branches and more mature. The final job is to repot it in his old pot!

 

[Adamski77]

r

After the Trophy, in 2020, the tree wasn’t growing so well. So I decided to repot it in a wooden crate, and let hem grow, without pruning too much.. now it became a lot stronger again and it was time to prune it back to his old shape. The result is more fine branches and more mature. The final job is to repot it in his old pot!View attachment 585498

ramification omg... I would think having this in a pot would result in much more coarse growth so longer internodes and thicker branches... this seems to be quite the opposite...

 

[Marco B]

Just to finish this story for now:
Yesterday I found some time to put it back in his old pot, and was ready to stay in my garden Tokonoma…

 

[Dav4]

Just so nice. That lowest left branch

 

[Marco B]

Just so nice. That lowest left branch

Thanks! The negative space above it, is an important reason to let this branch coming out in the composition

 

[JudyB]

I love how dynamic but yet balanced the tree is. That's what I always work toward, but it's not an easy task to have both. Congrats, what a great achievement!

 

[Dav4]

Thanks! The negative space above it, is an important reason to let this branch coming out in the composition

Exactly. Add in the beautiful ramification and you've got an amazing design carried out perfectly.