Chinese Quince Fusion

Posted in Fusion Bonsai with tags , , , on May 24, 2012 by Greg Wentzel

When I first saw the the peeling bark on this tree I knew I had to have one. This tree belongs to Alice, a friend of my uncle Pete’s. One day last October while my wife Michelle and I were visiting, Pete took us over to meet Alice at her 1840′s farmhouse in Arlington, VA. Alice graciously gave us a tour of her grounds and the latin botanical names of all her trees and shrubs just rolled off her tongue. We were truly impressed with her horticultural knowledge. Our final stop was her 40 year old Chinese quince (Pseudocydonia sinensis) where she gifted 6 large quince fruit to my wife. Back at home my wife made quince jelly and saved the seeds for me which I promptly planted in a seed flat.

This is the seed flat as it looked in the middle of May 2012. Several seedlings were already 5 inches tall and the roots were already pushing through the bottom of the tray. It was time to repot, however, I had another idea. Why repot when I could tie the seedlings directly to the frame and bypass 1 year of growth in a pot?

I also had another idea for the frame. A reader had said he used chicken wire for his trunk fusion. I had a little chicken wire left over from a fence I built to protect my seedlings from an infestation of large rats with furry tails that some people call squirrels. This frame is only 3 inches tall and after the seedlings reach this height I will use them to support each other and give me more flexibility in shaping the trunk. The chicken wire is easier to handle than the galvanized mesh I had used on previous projects but has many fewer connection points to tie the seedlings to. In the future I will probably stick to the mesh.

I began tying 1 seedling to the frame and realized that this would take forever so I switched to 2 at a time, still too slow. So I finally went with 3 at a time and stuck with that. I tied at the base and once more about 2 inches up. Notice how I angled the seedlings. I want to put significant movement in the trunk for an informal upright style.

Here is the finished assembly. Kind of looks like a clump of produce from the farmers market doesn’t it?

I immediately planted this clump in the ground on top of a 1 foot square plastic tile so the roots would spread outward instead of downward. The plan is to let the seedlings grow this year and when the tree goes dormant begin tying the seedlings to shape the trunk. I had 45 seedlings left over that I potted up and will assemble for a trunk fusion next spring. I will plant them side by side for a direct comparison of the effectiveness this technique.

Leave A Comment »

Roy Nagatoshi workshop

Posted in Fusion Bonsai with tags , , , on May 3, 2012 by Greg Wentzel

Roy Nagatoshi working on a club members Japanese white pine

My uncle Pete knew John Naka and used to arrange for him to come to Virginia and conduct workshops for the Northern Virginia Bonsai Society members. In John’s later years he grew weary of travel and recommended one of his students to replace him. Pete gave him a call and Roy Nagatoshi has been holding workshops annually in Virginia since 1986. Pete and Roy became fast friends visiting each other’s homes several times. Pete told me “After seeing Roy’s incredible nursery, one wonders where does he find the time to travel? ”. On his current visit Roy held workshops in Baltimore, Fairfax and Richmond, all this following a 16-day trip to Africa. Roy told me that Africans grow the same classic trees used in traditional bonsai with the exception of growing more tropical varieties.

Uncle Pete working on his Shimpaku

Roy did not give a demonstration for the Fairfax workshop, rather he spent time offering advice and help to individuals working on their own trees. Pete, Ted and myself made a trip down to Todd and Bob’s bonsai nursery in Ruther Glen, Va. and we each selected an outstanding stock Shimpaku from a selection of nearly 100 pieces in various sizes. Bob told me  “People need to support local bonsai nurseries if they want to have great stock material to work with”.  These two men have done a terrific job of giving their trees a great start by pruning with an eye for potential bonsai. Pete and Ted each chose a very large pot grown Shimpaku about 30 years old. I chose a more modest size about 15 years old.

Ted working on his Shimpaku

At the workshop Roy and I discussed my trees strength, which branches to discard or jin and then chose a front. Then Roy told me to strip all the dull looking growth leaving only the healthy growth on the branch tips. He would stop by occasionally as he made his rounds and offer words of encouragement. After about three hours of pinching and pruning I was ready to begin wiring. Never having wired a complete tree before I asked Roy for a little advice. He told me to always wire two branches together for support, showed me how to measure the amount of wire needed and to choose the appropriate thickness of wire for each branch. Then he moved on to the next club member. After seeing how little time he spent with me and so much time with others I became a little confused. Then I began to realize that he had confidence that I was doing a good job. Later he hollered over to my uncle “Pete, Greg used the wrong size wire on this branch” and then turned to me and winked, saying “ Well I had to find something wrong”.  After about three hours I had completely wired my tree. Roy came over and began bending branches and forming clouds of foliage. After he finished styling the tree he complimented me on my work and left me feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

My Shimpaku before

My Shimpaku after

Still a lot of work to do, but I am going to let the tree settle into it’s pot before I place the branches and begin jins.

Leave A Comment »

Repotting a cascade Japanese maple

Posted in Fusion Bonsai with tags , , on April 12, 2012 by Greg Wentzel

Cascade Japanese maple in autumn color. Photo by Pete Jones.

My uncle Pete currently has 53 bonsai in training and a vast array of stock material to propagate and create more bonsai.  Unfortunately this requires a lot of maintenance and Pete had fallen behind on some of his repotting chores, so I offered to lend a hand repotting his larger pieces.

Pete with his tree on display. Photo by Caecilie Jones.

This unusual cascade Japanese maple is 32 years old. Pete’s friend Bill Daly gave him this tree when it was 5 years old and Pete has been training it since then. It is currently 13 inches tall and cascades 40 inches. This blue pot was recently replaced with a custom made pot by another friend of Pete’s, artist Ron Lang. The new pot is 12 inches tall and 13 inches wide.

Five years ago this tree was displayed at the annual Potomac Bonsai Festival at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington, D.C. Since that time Pete has let this tree rest and it is overdue for a repotting.

Our workstation.

Pete cuts the tie down wires.

I was surprised that the root ball slipped right out of the pot. All of the other trees had to be cut out of their pots.

Greg on left and Pete on right. Photo by Caecilie Jones.

The machete is usually reserved for cutting the root ball out of deep pots. Because this tree is severely root bound we shave of a few inches on the bottom and all four sides. Normally we would just use the root hook.

Photo by Caecilie Jones.

Now we can use the root hook to bust up the root ball.

Roots are now ready for trimming.

The root ball after trimming. We removed about 3/4 of the roots.

The tree was placed in a B-1 solution to soak while we prepped the pot and new soil.

Pete uses a unique soil mix for each tree depending on it’s growing needs. This tree receives a mix of equal parts lava rock, Turface, fine pine bark and Virginia red clay. Pete also added a pinch of Micronmax-Micro-nutrients to give the tree a boost.

While Pete mixed the soil I cleaned, disinfected and rewired the pot.

An inch of lava rock was placed in the bottom of the pot for drainage.

Soil was added and the tree tied in place to stabilize it in the pot. We then used a large stick  to work out the air pockets in the soil. We normally use chopsticks but this pot is very deep.

The potted tree was then placed back in the soaking mix and Pete brings the water level to the top of the pot. The tree is left to soak for about 15 minutes.

Here is the repotted tree back on it’s display stand. Pete is going to trim the branches and pull the cascade down a little more after the tree gets settled back into the pot. We repotted 8 large trees and 2 medium size trees in two and a half days.

Next!

Leave A Comment »

Grafting symposium

Posted in Fusion Bonsai with tags , , , , , , on March 11, 2012 by Greg Wentzel

Probably the most misunderstood and least utilized technique available to a bonsai artist is grafting. A few years ago my uncle Pete Jones taught me how to graft and every spring since I have used this technique . Last fall Pete began talking about getting a few buddies together to graft and share desirable material. By the time our gang of 4 ( Pete, Will, Ted and myself ) had finally decided on a suitable date  word had gotten out and many people were requesting to join us. So Pete decided to make it an open invitation and over 20 people attended his Grafting Symposium in Arlington, Virginia.

Before I get to the symposium demonstrations I will very briefly explain grafting. Grafting is horticultural technique that joins together the vascular tissues (cambium) of a rootstock (tree) with a scion (short branch tip or bud). For the graft to take (be successful) the 2 cambiums must grow and fuse together. There are several types of grafts, but for this post we will only discuss two, peg grafts and side cleft grafts. There are many advantages to employing grafts. One is  adding a new branch or branches to a tree where none exist. Another is to add a new desirable tree species to a compatible trunk. In the following demonstration Will Feldman grafts rare short needle Japanese black pine buds ‘Kotobuki’ (the scion) to standard Japanese black pine trunks (the rootstock).

Will Feldman began by demonstrating the first of three grafts. Here Will is scraping bark from the area he is going to insert a scion to create a new branch using a peg graft technique. This scraping is done to keep the wound clean and free from debris when the cut is made.

After selecting the new branch angle Will drove a chisel into the tree. Wow! I had never seen anything like this before. The depth of the hole and the length on the scion must be the same for the cambium to match up.

Next Will cut a scion to expose the cambium. The cambium is the green layer beneath the bark. The cut forms what Will called a narrow smile of green cambium. The trunk has a broader smile because it is a larger piece of material.

Will inserted the scion into the hole trying to match as much of the 2 cambium smiles as possible.

Will then wrapped moist sphagnum moss around the wound and wrapped it securely with grafting tape.

Will then took a plastic sandwich bag and covered both the bud and sphagnum moss to keep the bud from drying out while the future branch grew in it’s new home.

Here Will is demonstrating how to apply a scion to the base of a tree as low as possible to the roots using a side cleft graft technique. Will makes a small cut leaving a flap to slide the scion into. This technique is used to add a desirable scion to a compatible rootstock. This is a great inexpensive way to obtain new and rare trees. After the graft has taken the rootstock tree is gradually reduced until it is finally removed above the graft and you are left with only the desirable bud which then grows into a full tree. Any growth below the graft is from the original tree and needs to be removed.

The scion was cut and inserted into the flap that was created. He then matches the 2 cambium smiles and wraps the area with grafting tape.

Moist sphagnum moss is placed into the bottom of the pot and the whole tree is placed into a clear plastic bag to keep the scion from drying out until the graft takes.

Here is another standard black pine that Will has made flap cuts to insert  several scions using a side cleft graft. After the grafts have taken the top portion of the tree will gradually be removed down to the top scion and the whole tree will now be ‘Kotobuki’. The scion pointing upward will become the new apex. Any newly emerging buds on the trunk will have to be removed because they will be from the original tree.

A few notes to improve success.

The scions should still be in their dormant phase and the rootstock should be in an emerging growth phase, generally 1 – 2  weeks difference. You can cut the scions in advance, place them in a plastic bag with moist sphagnum moss and refrigerate until the rootstock is ready.

The two smiles of cambium rarely match up perfectly because the scion and rootstock are usually different sizes. Make sure that you match at least one side and the top.

Professional growers keep grafted material in a greenhouse with a plastic tent covering to increase humidity and keep the scions from drying out. Hobbyists can use clear plastic bags and monitor moisture until the grafts take.

Even professional growers experience failure in grafting, hobbyists should expect a 50% to 80% success rate depending on their experience.

Give it a try!

Good luck.

Leave A Comment »

The Golden Redwood (Ogon fusion)

Posted in Fusion Bonsai with tags , , , on March 1, 2012 by Greg Wentzel

Metasequoia glyptostroboides  ‘Ogon’ is the golden variety of Dawn Redwood. This deciduous conifer produces brilliant yellow leaves in spring that slowly turn to light green as summer progresses, but all new growth is yellow, leaving the tree with a constant yellow glow. When the sun shines on this tree it illuminates. The bark is a light gray color and the growth rate is about half of the standard Dawn Redwood.

“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”

―Albert Einstein

In my quest to find the most efficient way to fuse trunks I continue to try and tweak the assembly process. With this project I am going to try a different frame. The frame for my Dawn Redwood did not have enough taper near the apex and this caused me to grow my tree taller than I wanted. I had to go back and remove most of the frame to collapse the trunk to improve the taper and get a shorter more dramatic trunk. With this project I am going to use only enough galvanized wire mesh (about 3 inches tall) to attach the seedlings at the base and anchor them in place. Above the mesh screen the seedlings will use each other for support and thus give me more control of the shape and taper.

I am also scaling down the size of this project for two reasons. First, the large size of my Dawn Redwood project is extremely heavy and difficult to move. Second, I only have 50 seedlings. Ogon is still an uncommon tree and I could only collect a small amount of seed to work with.

There is one problem before I start that cannot be corrected on this project. The seedlings all show signs of genetic variation; they seem to be a variety of yellow shades. Hopefully this is not a major problem. To get consistent color I would need to clone the seedlings by using rooted cuttings. Presently I have 3 two-year-old Ogon trees that are not large enough to create enough cuttings for a fusion project. This might be a future project.

The 3 inch tall frame will allow me better control of the upper trunk.

I tied 4 seedlings to the frame and each other, then added seedlings by splitting the difference. 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 etc.

The new seedlings exit the trunk at the highest point after splitting the difference.

When I could not split the difference any more I was finished.

The assembled tree in the ground is 14 inches tall. My plan is to let it grow to about 24 inches when finished.

2 Comments »

Trident Maple update

Posted in Fusion Bonsai with tags , , , on February 26, 2012 by Greg Wentzel

It has been so warm this winter that Major League Baseball could have held spring training right here in Northern Virginia. Several of my trident Maple seedlings were past bud stage and beginning to open. I wanted to repair the Trident Maple fusion while the tree was still dormant, so with a 65 degree day last Thursday I got to work .

Most of the dead seedlings I picked out came from the first batch of 100 seedlings I received. Remember the internet nursery I ordered these trees from screwed up my request for 150 seedlings and sent only 100. After I complained they sent the remaining 50 seedlings a week later. That time gap could have caused the problem with die off or maybe the first batch was just poor stock. The second batch of 50 seemed to present no problems.

After bare rooting the 30 remaining seedlings I had left over from the second batch of 50 I attached them to the frame. There are still a few small gaps I could have covered if I had more seedlings but I have written off future orders from this company. In future projects I will grow my own seedling stock with confidence in the source.

Finally I planted the tree in the ground. No more pots for the growth stage, I want maximum growth to speed up fusion. I learned several lessons here that basically caused a one year delay in fusion, but that knowledge should help in future projects.

2 Comments »

Dawn Redwood Redux

Posted in Fusion Bonsai with tags , , on February 12, 2012 by Greg Wentzel

Winter has been canceled this year. Well, maybe not, but we have sure had more than our share of 60+ degree days in Jan. and Feb. Last Thursday it was 62 degrees and I needed to get out in the sun for a while so I decided to work on my Dawn Redwood fusion project. After I originally assembled this tree last year it became quite obvious that the upper trunk was much too thick and had lost it’s taper. Since trunk fusion had only been modest I decided to correct this problem while I still had an opportunity. First I removed 5 dead seedlings and one near dead seedling, and then I separated the fusions, which at this stage had not fully hardened off and were relatively easy to separate. Finally I detached the seedlings from the frame and cut the frame down to 6 inches above the base. This allowed me to collapse the trunk.

The only problem I encountered with reassembly was that the seedlings were no longer seedlings but actually 3-year-old trees. Several were now approaching ¾ of an inch in diameter and the twist ties I was using would not bind the trees securely. My solution was to use small brass flathead screws. Most of the screws are hidden from view because I attached the trees from the side and the adjacent tree covered the screw. A few trees needed to be attached from the top and are visible. I counter sank these and they should heal over quickly leaving no visible presence. The smaller trees were bound by doubling up the twist ties. Finally I added 11 more trees/seedlings of various sizes to fill the gaps. The root ball (not yet root bound) was very solid and I planted it in the ground with very little disturbance.

It is hard to see the trunk in this photo because the trees exiting from the trunk are parallel to the trunk, however, the apex of the trunk is much improved and the taper is much more dramatic. The plan at this stage is to maximize growth this year and next spring begin removing the excess trees to be flush with the trunk.

You might be able to see that we had our first big snow storm this year. Not enough to cover the ground, but the cold has returned with a high today of 32 degrees. Cabin fever is agonizing.

1 Comment »

« Older Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.