Feb 16 2015

Escallonia Repot

Having taken a sneaky day off work I decided to do a little repotting. This Escallonia needed done as drainage was poor and I wanted to change the front and potting angle slightly.

Bit of a lip on the pot so out with the root saw.

A good mass of root but surprisingly not totally pot bound. Drainage issue must have been due to compacted fertiliser pellets breaking down into the top layer.

After a cut back and wash out. I did manage to get rid of the very last bit of garden soil.

Back into the Walsall Ceramics pot. I do want to change this at some point but am still looking for the ideal pot. A mix of Akadama and koyodama which proved successful last time.

Potted up and ready for a good watering.

The final image.

The slight front change and tilt below.

Next step will be the treatment of the deadwood. Tricky with the tree as the wood rots fast if wet , but also hard to get the right colouring as jin seal looks too harsh. You’ll see how I get on with this here of course.

Mar 5 2014

Sequoia Sempervirens Repot

I field grew this Sequoia for a number of years and last year I did a little basic styling to get the main branches placed. Here’s a previous post. I don’t know a lot bout the species but I’m fond of having novelty trees 🙂 I did a little looking about online and it soon became clear that they can make a rather nice bonsai. They appear to readily ramify. I decided that it was worth investing a little more time in this tree this year. It’s been in this pot for 3-4 years and it feels tight as a drum so the first step will a repot to establish exactly what I have here.

This is what I found in the pot. It’s been a strong grower. It was planted in a mix of moler and grit 50/50.

You will notice however that the top few inches appear empty and even a little at the bottom. I therefore had to investigate where exactly the nebari of this tree is. The base is swollen considerably, which is common with the species. It also sends out feckin hundreds of suckers!!

There was some serious growth in the middle though.

After removing the top 2 inches I eventually found a more suitable base level even though I had to remove a few heavy roots. This is it placed in a mica training pot. It will be given able time to recover and then some foliage refinement will be carried out. I also plan some carving at the base reaching up to mid tree. All a bit scrappy at the moment but this years new growth will make a massive difference.

Mar 1 2014

Friday Night Lights ….

… in the garage 🙂

Some friends came over last night to do a little tree work, mostly repotting, well, that’s not true, it was mostly banter and craic 😉

Ian B’s Cotoneaster

Michael the Wirer

Bertie’s Shohin Larch parade

Ben’s Pyracantha Lump

The gathering

Ben’s Trident before repot

Cotoneaster after repot

Ian B’s Mugo after repot

John Larch project

Still wiring

Hornbeam heave

Graham Juni

The lump repotted

Ian B’s Pyracantha before repot

Trident After repot

Pyracantha after repot

Hornbeam after repot

Feb 21 2014

Fuji Cherry

I repotted this fuji Cherry last week. I wasn’t happy with the lack of growth last year and wanted a look at what was going on with the roots. I also wanted to us the current pot for another tree. It is showing signs of flowering and I wanted to act now as it leafs out before the flowers finish.

Root growth had been poor in the 3 years that it’s been in this pot. I changed the mix and transferred it into a different pot.

A bit of TLC this year and nurture this one along I think. This was it a few years ago in Flower.

And a link to other seasonal photos of this tree.

Feb 20 2014

Ben’s repotting

and Ben’s trees from Saturday’s session.

A large Juniperus Squamata getting it’s first proper pot, this one from Ibuki via Willowbog Bonsai.

He was muttering something about nasal hair 😉

Looks like the wire is stuck in my eye!!

Tying in

Ibuki Pots

Potted up ready for further development this year. He can now lift it unaided 🙂

Deadwood ready for carving Mr Snart ?

Ben’s second tree was a very unusual literati Pyracantha. Still early days in it’s development but Ben needed to get it into a smaller pot to save a hernia operation!

Potted into another Ibuki Pot

And Ben’s 3rd tree of the day was this Boston Ivy, can’t wait to see this one in leaf Ben.

Feb 19 2014

Stephen’s Repotting

Stephen, Ben and Michael came to my home on Saturday to do a little repotting. I was doing a few trees of my own and it’s good to have company, advice and extra hands available.

Stephen brought two trees with him, an Alder, and a Korean Hornbeam.

Alder before

and after, what a difference a pot makes

and his Hornbeam before

And after, again, pots make a big difference!

Jan 26 2014

Video

Monster Hornbeam Repot

Another quality Video from Sandev.

May 1 2013

Purple Beech Repot

I hated the training pot that this Purple Beech was in and as another pot that was rather tasty looking became available, I decided to transfer it over.

This is the new pot

Apr 30 2013

Mother and Child Hawthorn

I’ve had this tree for about 10 years and have never done much with it. I pruned back now and again, I think I even wired it at one point a few years back. I toyed with the idea of layering off the top at one point last year but opted against it. I brought it into the garage on Friday night past for a look and after some tilting and thinking I decided that it was time for a little work and a repot.

This was it just off the bench. A big lump of wood.

Some nice movement in the trunk line, not a lot of taper but I still like the image.

I changed the front slightly to show the movement off better and tilted the tree into a slightly more upright position.

The root at the right hand side was possibly dead. I wouldn’t know until I repot.

I did some basic wiring and removed some of the unnecessary branches.

Transferred over to the repotting table.

Tools at the ready.

Mix at the ready too.

During the repotting I was able to get a good look at that root and although it was partially alive, it was extremely weak and I was able to remove and do a little basic carving. This can be refined at a later date.

This was the problem root. I needed to twist the tree about 20 degrees to a new front. This root would not allow me to fitr the tree into the pot at the new position.

I was able to remove the fine root from the last few inches without impacting to much on the health of the tree.

This allowed me to remove this portion to facilitate the new position.

About 2 years ago I remember nicking the underside of the baby trunk in an attempt to get it to root. Not a great success but it did root.

Outside for a watering. I had to get my eldest son to assist with the repot as it would have been impossible to do this on my own. He snapped a few shots while I was watering it in.

This is the new position. Pot is not ideal but the only one I had that worked. I now have a basic structure to work with and must admit that I rather like the mother and child image that is created by leaving the small secondary trunk. Not for everyone but I like it. I looks as if Mum is protecting the child. I wouldn’t mess with her, she bites like Suarez 🙂

Now tucked away in the tunnel to keep it out of the wind for a few weeks until it settles down. I see a few flower buds on the tree as well.

Apr 5 2013

Maple Repot

This is a maple that I’ve had for a number of years but it’s had some major health problems. Originally from Japan, when it came into the UK it had weak branches and over the years it’s been problematic. Things seem to have settled down now. Here and a few other posts relating to it.

This is it in it’s training pot.

Stephen came down to help me repot as I had a few large ones to man handle about the place. Two people is the way to go when potting bigger trees.

The ribbed sides seem to really help with the roots!

After the initial combing out and trimming.

After a wash out

Trying the pot for size.

Pinning the tie in wire back from the nebari to stop any damage. By placing a heavy wire in at a 45 degree angle this will stop the tie wire slipping up the root mass.