Todd Schlafer workshop... and my Douglas fir

[aml1014]

Hey everybody.
This weekend was the Todd schlafer workshop at my local club. I didn't have any trees really to do a workshop like this so I went ahead and ordered this beautiful old Douglas fir from @arcina at chobomsaiyamadori.com.
Gothe it for a great price and it turned out great after Todd and I worked on it.
Here's the day I recieved the tree.
Gorgeous old bark
At the workshop Todd and I discussed the tree for a few minutes then he set me to work on the tree. It took about 3 hours to wire everything, then I started seating the main structure of the tree. Once I was finished Todd came and helped me set the branching. It was very cool watching him compact this very leggy old tree into something beautiful!
Here's the only decent pic I got before heading home
And here it is this morning, unfortunately I bumped a few smaller branches getting it and my old pondy in the car. Talk about having the scariest car ride ever having 2 150+ year old trees riding shotgun and in the back seat.

I was extremely happy that there were only 2 placed on the entire tree that he fealt I could anchor and wire a bit better, which isn't bad for something with this much branches! just need to keep practicing.
All in all I had a great time and definitely recommend anyone to work with Todd, great guy, and work.

Aaron

 

[J. Adrian]

Beautiful.

 

[Dav4]

Nice old tree! I assume these bud back well with lots of fert and sun, which should be the goal with the foliage. Are you repotting this year? I'd be inclined to if the tree is healthy and you didn't whack off to much canopy, at least to see what's going on and reduce or remove the mounding, which can't be good for the surface roots.

 

[aml1014]

Nice old tree! I assume these bud back well with lots of fert and sun, which should be the goal with the foliage. Are you repotting this year? I'd be inclined to if the tree is healthy and you didn't whack off to much canopy, at least to see what's going on and reduce or remove the mounding, which can't be good for the surface roots.

It was collected in the spring or 2016 so it'll stay in this pot for this season, repot next. These do bud back pretty well in my climate. The tree is very healthy at this point, but I would rather be safe then sorry. Thanks for the comment.

Aaron

 

[Dav4]

Is that the originali pot it was put in post collection? The surface roots need to be buried... maybe build a circular screen barrier around the edge of the pot and back fill with pumice.

 

[aml1014]

Is that the originali pot it was put in post collection? The surface roots need to be buried... maybe build a circular screen barrier around the edge of the pot and back fill with pumice.

It is, that's a good idea, I keep the soil pretty moist in my climate as they don't like dry and hot lol so the surface roots are kept moist and are actually buried at this time. But I'll still probably take your recommendation that way some new roots will grow in the top (maybe) and assist in getting it into a nice pot sooner (again maybe lol).

Aaron

 

[Wilson]

Awesome tree Aaron! Great that you got to take it to a workshop with an experienced artist as well. You are getting a nice collection of old trees!

 

[justBonsai]

The quality of your trees went up a lot the past year. I've been getting some better trees myself. By the end of this year I should have some money saved up and will treat myself to one nice juniper.

Tree definitely needs to be compacted and I'm not to big of a fan of the rainbow bends on the right. I've heard that Doug fir back buds well too so that should be no issue.

 

[YukiShiro]

very nice work Aaron!

lovely tree

best regards
Herman

 

[Giga]

Looks great!