Making a new Rock Slab for my 5 Hinoki Cypress (Penjing)

[Dorian Fourie]

This is a great tutorial. Hope lots of folks read it, I feel this is the type of thing that gets this art out there for folk to try. Question about your soil and moss. Is it just the moss keeping your soil in place? I’d be worried a downpour would wipe mine out. Plus I’ve not really learned how to keep moss alive in my setup....

Thanks SW for the really great words. Appreciate it.

My soil is my standard bonsai soil mix and the moss is definitely there to keep it in place especially around the edges. I dont fill up all the gaps between the rocks with a cement or something and rather keep moss growing there to hold the soil in place. I am currently giving it a good water every day and no soil has washed away yet.

Keeping moss alive can be a real pain. I try to find a very fine moss and not one that creeps as that to me is the key to keeping moss on my bonsai. Any moss that creeps up trees is a no no and I avoid it at all costs. I also try to find my moss in areas that get plenty of sun as that also means its a much stronger and hardier moss. Most of the time my moss on my plantings only looks good (Definitely not great) but when its time to show, I make sure I tidy up and replace where it needs to

 

[Dorian Fourie]

So the weather is warming up nicely here in Johannesburg South Africa and I eventually decided it was time to get the Hinoki's into the rocks.

Firstly I decided to move the rocks from the left side that were so rugged and beautiful to the middle part so that they could be seen when looking from the front. I cleaned off all the moss and removed the soil.


After that I removed the rocks from the left side and glued in new rocks for the side. Once those had set, I took the rocks that I had removed and got them into position in the middle and got them glued down.



Now it was time to get the Hinoki's onto the slab.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Luckily it was the day of my monthly bonsai meeting so I took everything along and did it during the meeting.

The trees were carefully removed and very little work had to be done on cutting roots etc as the slab is larger then the previous pot.

Left side trees are in.

I then started working on getting the trees on the right positioned properly. It meant first getting some soil in before placing the trees.


Once the trees were in, I started to put the moss down. Currently I dont have much moss so what I had would have to do until I could get more.



Now the soil around the trees need to settle before I can place the final rocks into place along the river bed and some right at the back of the trees on the left to add to the depth and height.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Over the next few days, I have made sure that the Hinokis are settling nicely. Loads of water has been given.

I am happy with the process so far and hopefully over the next few years the trees will grow and develop. They are looking slightly rugged and I need to do a clean up on some of the branches. This weekend, I am planning to get more moss into position and add in a few more rocks.

 

[Carol 83]

Very cool project.

 

[Uncle Robo]

Beautiful!
Thanks for posting this. I'm going to try this on a smaller scale for my next Hinoki repot.

 

[Silentrunning]

That is a wonderful looking display. Thank you for showing us your procedure.

 

[Arcto]

Very nice thread. Question. When you moved the rocks, were they originally epoxied in? If so, how did you free them from the slab without causing damage?

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Very cool project.

That is a wonderful looking display. Thank you for showing us your procedure.

Thanks so much. Appreciate it

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Very nice thread. Question. When you moved the rocks, were they originally epoxied in? If so, how did you free them from the slab without causing damage?

Thanks so much. Because the slab is slate, a simply sideways tap with the hammer breaks it off easily. It only takes off a very thin layer of the slate and not breaking the slab. I actually found that due to the nature of rock, there is a greater chance of the rock crumbling and breaking.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

All coming together nicely