I’m quite into my Larch at the moment and Hans Van Meer shared this on Youtube a few days ago. It shows a short video 360 of his very tasty European larch named ‘XL’ 🙂
I was interested in the two deadwood areas on the tree and if he was considering joining these together at some point. I asked him about this on the IBC Thread and he was kind enough to give this comprehensive reply.
Yes joining the top Jin with the deadwood section lower on the trunk is a work in progress. The tree is doing it all by it’s self! This might take a lot longer than doing it artificial by hand but it will look much better in the end! The bark is amazingly thick on this tree, in some places more than a centimeter, and is make up out of many layers of bark. By allowing that section of the tree to die back by it’s self, this thick bark will crack naturally and will eventually fall off, leaving a rough and natural looking edge between the deadwood and live bark! I could never get that edge to look that natural and beautiful if I would do it myself by hand or with powertools! So pattieance is the name of the game again!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
Bonsai Eejit 