Author Archive

Author:
• Monday, January 21st, 2008


This is what the tree looks like today. In a short period this tree has come a long way, but still a long way to go. In the Spring I will defoliate the tree, rewire, and maybe repot the tree. It is very healthy and doing very well. Jan 2008


Category: Bougainvillea | Tags: , , Comments off
Author:
• Monday, January 21st, 2008


Well here she is, in all her glory. The stand that I built with my neighbor (Heath) turned out great. That thing could hold a house. Its a good thing. Because we found the only way to do this was to pot it in place. The pot was prepared and placed on the stand. Some soil was added, then the tree. Then a lot more soil and finally a long watering. Yep, it’s not going to be moving anywhere for quite some time.


I know it looks like an elephant’s foot, but that is in fact the nebari of the tree. It measures about 24″ around, 6 inches up from the base.
Jan 2008


Author:
• Monday, January 21st, 2008


This is a picture of Mike Rogers using a grinder with a chainsaw blade to reduce and sculpt the roots so that it would fit into the pot. [Need a grinder]


Category: Emperor Bonsai | Tags: , , Comments off
Author:
• Monday, January 21st, 2008


On the back side of this tree I pull a branch up and to the side to fill in an empty spot. The branch itself has done very well mu the un-natural movement of that branch has always bother me. To take care of this issue I decided to use an approach graft technique.


To start a carved a small notch in the trunk of the tree that the branch will fit into. It is about 1/8″ deep.


Finally the branch was slid into place and held with a push pin until the graft takes hold. The entire wound was sealed up with cut paste


This is the branch that I performed the graft on


After a quick root prune and a new pot (actually a very old pot) the tree has taken on an entirely new look. This little guy is ready to pop out so Spring must be on its way. Jan 2008