REPOTTING MY OLD YEW WITH A LOT OF DEADWOOD.

Hi, everybody, today it finally was time to take my old yew out of its ugly plastic container. I collected it in Wales in Nov 2007 with Tony Tickle and Enrico Savini and his student/friend/translator Ivo from (Italy). It was a yamadori find of exceptional quality and it was really sad to see that it lost most of its foliage during its first years away from its old home. But a small section did survive and over the last 3 years, it got, with a lot of TLC, healthier and started to grow like crazy! So now it finally was time to see what was hidden under the ground and to replant it in a new (temporary) bonsai pot! Below: The yew before I took it out of the plastic container! Look at all that amazing deadwood that I have to shape into an exciting and bold design!

Below: just look at all that amazing deadwood…makes my mouth water!

Below: Here I carefully remove it from its now opened the old pot, making sure that the rootball doesn’t fall apart!

Below: Carefully removing the soil from the outer layers of the rootball and removing all the thick and by now dead stumps, that was left from collecting the tree all those years ago.

Below: Carefully removing the old soil from between the tender small roots.

Below: Amazing deadwood and a very healthy rootball!

Below: In its new pot and working in the soil with a chopstick.

Below: The tree is firmly tight down to the bottom of the pot with wire.

Below: Finer soil is put on as a top layer and that finished this transplant.

Below: The Yew in its new (temporary) home for now. I think that this old yew will make a quite special fantasy tree with a lot of dramatic deadwood on it! I can’t wait to start working on its deadwood and foliage! But first, the tree needs to get used to its new home and I will only start to work when I know for sure that it is safe to do! This tree is too precious to me to risk anything that could harm its recovery! So I need some more foliage for its first styling, so for now I only shortened the long branches before they get too thick to bend anymore. With a copper wire, I pulled the main trunk more towards the centre of the tree. This wire will be tightened bit by bit during the coming season!