My first attempt to grow an upside down Black Pine failed. The second attempt (seen here) is very strong and healthy. I will wait at least one more year before doing any work on it.
Left side view.
Right side view.
Inverted view. Upside down upside down Black Pine. The plan is to style this tree as a cascade. Obviously I have a long, long way to go but this is proof we can grow trees upside down.
Have fun!
My uncle Pete is fond of saying, “ I don’t drink instant coffee and I don’t create instant bonsai”.
In this modern world where “instant gratification takes too long” a real time bonsai blog can be painfully slow to follow. With FusionBonsai.com I intend to show every step in my projects as they happen and you will not see simple before and after photos without an explanation as to what problems were encountered in between. My first two fusion projects have had a few setbacks because there are no blueprints to follow for this technique, but I am learning quickly and future projects should proceed with fewer problems.
The Dawn Redwood fusion has showed very little fusion so far. The seedlings have not grown very much because I have kept them in a pot. I did not realize the impact that a very large pot would have on slowing growth. The 2 seedling test was kept in a pot and had very good fusion, but 37 seedlings in a pot created too much competition for space, water and nutrients to have much growth and therefore little fusion. A few seedlings have died off and will be replaced in the spring with extra seedlings that I kept in reserve. I will then plant the tree(s) in the ground and hope to see much better results.
The Trident Maple fusion had problems from the very beginning (see Trident Maple Fusion article). About 25% of the seedlings died off completely or partially. There is some fusion but like the Dawn Redwood growth was slowed from being in a pot. I have 30 seedlings in reserve that will be used for repairs in the spring and I will also plant this tree(s) in the ground.
When I came back from my summer vacation this year I found that my upside down Black pine had died. I believe this was caused by transplanting it too late in the season. Pines are very sensitive to transplanting. The cascading Black pine is doing very good. I will start another upside down Black pine in the early spring.
I read an article about venture capitalist Johnaton Perrelli who was looking for start up companies to invest in. When he interviewed entrepreneurs seeking investors he would ask them about their failures. Perrelli said “Failure is good, because it means they’ll probably never make the same mistake again”.
I do not consider the first year of fusion to be a failure but it was less successful than I had anticipated. Bonsai requires a lot of patience.
I have a few new projects in mind for spring 2012. The project that I am really excited about is an Ogon fusion, a golden variety of Dawn Redwood. I have also planted several varieties of seed this fall for future projects.
I will continue to try different species and different twists to this fusion technique to learn and document as much information as possible.
Here is a wacky idea. My uncle Pete gave me a Black Pine and suggested that I style it as a cascade. So I wired it up and bent it over the edge of a pot. 
All the while I am thinking this will be a constant battle with gravity. Why not just plant the tree upside down and let it grow upright. After a few years of growing and the tree is ready to train in a bonsai pot I could just flip it over and have a cascade style Black Pine. Will it work? Lets find out.
The first step was to punch a hole in a 15 inch square grow tray.
The next step was to wire the tree and plant it upside down in the tray.
I stuffed some sphagnum moss in the hole around the trunk and wired the roots down into the tray. I bent the trunk upright and wrapped some plastic tape around the pot to add some stability.
Here are the 2 trees side by side. One up, one down. Now we just wait and see how they grow.
