Hi, everybody,
the last few weeks it looked like summer was all ready here with temperatures around 20 degrees and above! Working on my trees in boxer shorts again, getting my first Bonsai related sunburn, while noticing that I have gained a few pounds during my winter hibernation! 😦 I repotted only a few trees this year, among them was my Taxus that my dear friend Tony Tickle once (a long time ago) brought along as a present when he visited my house. It had and still has a reverse taper and looked a bid like a lollipop! 🙂 I managed to grow some new roots higher up the tree bass and later cut off the to long root section! I over game the tapper problem by placing the root base against a nice moon rock from Indonesia that I had lying around, it has been growing like this ever since. Getting it out off the pot was difficult and I had to use some old chisels to very gently lift it out, trying not to break the fragile connection between rock and tree! First the matting roots were cut off with a old but sharp cutter and than the root ball that only consist out off fine roots was gently combed out and shortened by more than half it’s total mass! than it was carefully replaced into it’s old pot.
(click on pictures to enlarge)
The tree will be tinned out to promote dormant and inner back buds that are now starting to swell and to equalise the balance between root mass and foliage mass! Wiring and further styling will be don as soon as the tree is recovered from this repotting. Here is a picture of some off my Shohin in early full bloom ( Blackthorn Prunus spinosa).
My Prunus mahaleb are by now almost all in bloom and I will make pictures off them as soon as possible and post them!!! But now I want to show you guy’s a little trick that I picked up from a visit to the gardens of my Slovenian friends Tomas Kovsca and Roland Petek. They carefully bend down natural occurring suckers to create new roots! When I started I placed mosses all around the root base to extra promote these suckers and than it was hoping for some nicely placed onces that could be used to create new roots!
Picture 1: A new sucker has emerged just above the soil line. Red arrow shows a new root created last season.
Picture 2: A U shaped pin made from a old piece off wire will be used to bend down the thin and fragile sucker. Red arrow shows a root from last season.
Picture 3: The sucker is carefully bend down and hold in place with the U pin. Some soil is removed in the place were the sucker will com to rest, so that it is growing/facing to wards the soil. But leave enough space for the tip to grow for a Little while longer, gaining in strength allowing the new roots to emerging! That tip will be covered with soil later when I am sure it is surviving in this position!
Picture 4: Only 2 pins are enough to hold the thin sucker in place. Knottiest the remains off the mosses at the base of the sucker!
Picture 5: Red arrow: This new root still show the marks from the pins that hold it in place before! This root started a bit higher on the bass off the trunk and was bended down along the trunk line into the soil, looks natural I think! Green arrow: Shows a other new root. I think it is a great little technique to easily improve your root base.
Today whole day indoors because off painters doing the front off my house, gggrrr! But it was a good excuse to post something on my blog!! 🙂 There is much more to gome…but first it is a few days of dewiring 2 big once!!! So there will be some blisters ahead! 😉
Later,
Hans van Meer.
karamottobonsai@hotmail.com
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The Bonsai Blog of Hans van Meer 