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Needle Puller
Join Date: Feb-2005
Location: Arkansas
Country: USA
Posts: 2,837
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Ponderosa Pine- comments Herr Walter Pall?
Hi,
I got back this week from a trip to South Dakota and Colorado looking for Ponderosa Pines and visiting a good friend and working on his trees. While in Denver I went by a friend's home to see his bonsai, mostly collected trees- and was very impressed with the quality and scale of his bonsai. While there he offered me a tree that he had collected (I believe in Wyoming) a number of yeas ago- they had essentially scraped it off a big flat rock, transported it home and then set it on a slab of granite. There it had prospered. We took the tree off of the slab, placed the rootage in burlap- it is a sold root mass- and I didn't take the slab as I was sure that I had a big enough pot for the tree at home.Anyway, as is always the case- no pot was big enough- my 36"x20" oval pot was way to0 small (it will fit when I am comfortable about root pruning next spring). So I built a 42x24" box (notice the extra wood for handles?). I would expect that this tree is in the 100-250 year range- High altitiude collection, completely contained root system, north and harsh climate.
Anyway. it is a beast. I am looking for suggestions. The rock under the trunk is only there for transport- take it out and the tree doesn't budge. Changing the planting angle significantly (at least to vertical) will take a while as there are three long (3/4" or greater roots that extend horizontally approximately 32" from the trunk. So? Any Ideas?
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