Projects in the Misfit Backyard

misfit11

Omono
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Location
Petaluma CA -Zone 9b
USDA Zone
9b
I like other people's idea of having a thread for some of the various project trees in my collection that aren't really worthy of their own thread. This way I can keep document their progress over the (hopefully) many years to come. At 50, I realize that I may never see some of these actually become proper bonsai, but so much of this hobby is the journey anyway.

Trident ROR I'm thread grafting on a new low leader.
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JM ROR I started last spring20240213_140204.jpg
Another Trident ROR I started for my kid last year
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I bought three one-yr old JBP seedlings with the intent of making them into shohin a few years back. I had missed the opportunity to get on board with the JBP from seed (and don't really have the patience for growing from seed 😜) contest, but wanted to give it a go in my abbreviated way. Here they are now, for better or worse. I'm definitely learning a lot at any rate...

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Kobudachi JM that I started last year, inspired by Bjorn's videos. Branches not wired are intended as sacrifices.
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I airlayered a branch off of the large JM in my yard last year. I inspected the roots today and found that there's a whole side of the layer that didn't form roots.
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I initially just thought to nick the callous, dust some root hormone on it, and hope roots sprout. After some thought, I decided to thread graft some roots on it.
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These will improve the nebari and hopefully prevent that side of the layer from dying. Also, the aerial portions will serve as sacrifices to thicken the base.
 
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I potted it up in a small colander in APL with coco coir added for moisture retention. I wired up the grafts with the possibility that I end up keeping some or all of them. Who knows? It might be a kobudachi thing at some point.
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@misfit11 have you had success with thread grafting roots? I've only tried one and failed but I also haven't seriously attempted approach grafting the roots either. I've got a few that will need it in the coming years. It seems when I thread graft a branch the exit side swells and grafts after the donor exceeds the hole width but the entrance side stays about the same diameter. Maybe the primary plant does more work to fuse on the root side?
 
@misfit11 have you had success with thread grafting roots? I've only tried one and failed but I also haven't seriously attempted approach grafting the roots either. I've got a few that will need it in the coming years. It seems when I thread graft a branch the exit side swells and grafts after the donor exceeds the hole width but the entrance side stays about the same diameter. Maybe the primary plant does more work to fuse on the root side?
Yes. This may be. I have had quite a bit of success with thread grafting. I've done both branches and quite a few roots on a Trident Maple of mine. Thread grafts are quite easily done. I have less experience and, therefore, less success with approach grafts. The drawback with thread grafts is you end up with a scar where the donor is cut off. For that reason, I won't allow the aerial portions of these to get very large before I cut them off (that is unless I decide to keep one or more for a multi-trunk thing here). I don't want large scars that will take a long time to heal.

All the smaller roots were grafts on my TM here. The one in the front is an approach. The others are thread grafts
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