Problem tree: shimpaku prebonsai

Carl_Bergstrom

Problem trees: everyone's got one - or a dozen. These are the trees that seemed like a good idea at the time you bought them, or the trees that never quite developed in the intended direction, or the trees on which you broke that crucial first branch or terminal leader. These are the trees that hang around your yard like pot-bound albatrosses.

As I see it, there are at least two good approaches when it comes to problem trees. The best, of course, is to give them away. This way, they become somebody else's problem.

The second best way is to do something really creative with the tree, if only you can figure out what that might be. And here it helps a great deal ask for others' ideas and visions, because often - on problem trees especially - one overlooks some of the more radical and promising possibilities.

Here's one of my problem trees, a small to medium (roughly 16") shimpaku juniper. Cool bend at the base of the trunk, and then a long straight stretch that completely breaks any semblence of rhythm that the base might initiate. As a consequence of my efforts to eliminate reverse taper, this one has significant scarring on the back of the lower trunk bend.

So what should I do? I'm perfectly happy to take any sort of gamble with this tree. I'd love your comments, virtuals, whatever. Be honest - if this tree is good only for firewood, let me know that too. And on down the road, I hope others will post their problem trees to challenge our collective creativity.

Thanks in advance,
Old Mister

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shimpaku4.jpg (43.0 KB, 419 views)

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treenut

Heres my suggestion.

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treenut

Of course if you really wanted to do something with it I would suggest this course of action.First a snip then back in the ground from whence it came.Just remember even the best Bonsai in the world would have looked like this once.

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shimpaku4.jpg (32.7 KB, 350 views)

ripsgreentree

Treenut: You have made the correct cut now seal it up wire the branches for first branch and second to continue the curvature of the trunk and new leader. OMC I realise that this is your tree but if you do this and work toward a good shohin you will have it in a bonsai pot in just a few short years. You will be suprised at how quickly this little tree will recover.

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ripsgreentree

It requires an open hand to give and to recieve.

mfp1028

The base is very nice.
Maybe you could put some abrupt bends in the remaining trunk as per bonsai techniques II (pg. 33 figure 79) and turn it into one of those funky bunjin like the pictures at the link that Rene posted in the inspirations gallery. Problem trees always make good bunjin or at least thats what i fool myself into thinking.
bye
mike

Tiny-Plant

First when I saw that tree I allso tought it could be a bunjingi, but...

Jose_Alberto

mmm... Place it in a nice blue pot, glue some rocks to it, and guess what, sell it in a mall!!!!!!!!! hehehe... just kidding...

Now really give it some time to grow, or try to chop it hard (at the starting of the first curve, if you believe it would survive), you know in a V shape... and wait for some years, and chop, and chop, and chop, I don't know if this species can be made nice brooming style... If they can, I would go for it, even if the trunk is not really straight... but, if it is the bad little guy on the collection, who knows, maybe in sometime it will be one of the loved ones...

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Jose Alberto Franco
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Carl_Bergstrom

Well, Mike (mfp1028) got me thinking. Always a dangerous thing.

I flipped to Naka's book as suggested, and there were some good pictures about how to make a nice bend in a trunk that didn't have that rainbow shape.

The key was to cut the little wedge on the inside of the bend. This is not a technique I've ever tried before, so I figured now, and with this tree, was as good a time as ever.

The basic styling idea was make pretty a compact little shohin with a powerful dynamic base and shaply bent down crown, looking as though it's been heavily battered by the mountain snows.

Here's what I did (see picture below). I cut the wedge, bent the tree into shape by hand, and tied it off in a bend using some strong rubber reenforced with #5 wire. I got exactly the kink that I was looking for, right where the nick was cut. (Without the nick, I got a rainbow arc.)

It ain't pretty at the moment, but I actually like the direction that it is going.

So thanks to Mike, this problem tree is at worst an interesting learning experience that will croak on me in a few weeks, and at best a tree with a future plan.

I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions. I haven't decided yet whether to tempt fate by creating and posting a virtual for the new shape. Soon as I do that, the tree is sure to die.

Cheers,
Old Mister Crow

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Carl_Bergstrom

Here, just for fun, is a close-up of the bend where I cut the nick into the trunk.

I'm sort of amazed that it worked as well as it did. I guess that's the wonderful world of junipers. Try this with one of my maples and ker-snap!

-Old Mister

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