TimIAm
Mame
Over at the Aus Bonsai forums, fellow Aussies watched as R3 developed (and continues to showcase) some stunning trees from the Bnut '6 year from seed JBP contest'.
I thought it would be even more amazing if an incompetent spectator with zero experience growing JBP (aka myself) could pull off something similar by following the same steps that R3 took in the same time frame. So began my 6-year-from-seed JBP non-contest.
I usually post updates every 6 months on the Aus Bonsai forums, but as we are heading into Spring I started doing work on these today and thought I would share some photos. My next update, which will be at 3 years will be in mid-October. I will come back and update this tread then. They were germinated in Spring 2022, which was October in Australia.
So, currently they are about 2 years 9 months.
The biggest challenge I've had so far is Sydney weather. Sydney can have days of non-stop rain where having a hundred trees sitting together gets a lot of trapped moisture. We also had a two week period during Fall last year where we had 3 days of 24C temps followed by 3 days above 35C ~95F. The majority of the trees suffered some scorching.
I bought them as a tray of germinated seedlings and there were about 140 in the tray, of which I have about 95 that survived. I paid for 100 and they were way overcrowded which is why some just didn't make it.
Heading into Spring, my current goal is to clear out the weeds (with a 100 of these, I don't have bench space to keep them all off the ground). Also, just some light root work and add slow release fertilizer. They all have a decent sacrifice branch going and plenty of buds growing low down.
1. Wet warm Sydney means plenty of growth (tree + weeds), even in winter.
2. Healthy looking roots growing against the edge of the pot.
3. This tree was wired at the end of Spring last year, it is time for the wire to come off. (odd camera angle makes reverse taper taper look bad, but it's fine)
4. All tidied up and ready for repotting
5. Cleaned up and fertilised. Lots of happy health growth down low and a strong sacrifice. Ready for Spring!
I thought it would be even more amazing if an incompetent spectator with zero experience growing JBP (aka myself) could pull off something similar by following the same steps that R3 took in the same time frame. So began my 6-year-from-seed JBP non-contest.
I usually post updates every 6 months on the Aus Bonsai forums, but as we are heading into Spring I started doing work on these today and thought I would share some photos. My next update, which will be at 3 years will be in mid-October. I will come back and update this tread then. They were germinated in Spring 2022, which was October in Australia.
So, currently they are about 2 years 9 months.
The biggest challenge I've had so far is Sydney weather. Sydney can have days of non-stop rain where having a hundred trees sitting together gets a lot of trapped moisture. We also had a two week period during Fall last year where we had 3 days of 24C temps followed by 3 days above 35C ~95F. The majority of the trees suffered some scorching.
I bought them as a tray of germinated seedlings and there were about 140 in the tray, of which I have about 95 that survived. I paid for 100 and they were way overcrowded which is why some just didn't make it.
Heading into Spring, my current goal is to clear out the weeds (with a 100 of these, I don't have bench space to keep them all off the ground). Also, just some light root work and add slow release fertilizer. They all have a decent sacrifice branch going and plenty of buds growing low down.
1. Wet warm Sydney means plenty of growth (tree + weeds), even in winter.
2. Healthy looking roots growing against the edge of the pot.
3. This tree was wired at the end of Spring last year, it is time for the wire to come off. (odd camera angle makes reverse taper taper look bad, but it's fine)
4. All tidied up and ready for repotting
5. Cleaned up and fertilised. Lots of happy health growth down low and a strong sacrifice. Ready for Spring!
