Shohin weeping willow

bulaste

Siberian Willow, 11cm tall from pot rim.

Pics with & without fingers for scale, some history of this tree to come... maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.

Attached Images

	wee-willow-05.jpg (56.4 KB, 207 views)
	wee-willow-2.jpg (59.2 KB, 174 views)

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bulaste

First pic shows other half of the tree. This was given to me about 4 weeks ago. Originally there were 2 nearly identical stems in this pot joined @ the base, the one pictured below was relatively undisturbed. The one posted earlier was cut away, root pruned, branch pruned to a skeleton & repotted.

As you can see the natural habit is not weeping but upright.
2nd pic here shows how I got it to weep temporarily. If you will forgive a pun reminiscent of the "is bonsai cruel" thread, I hung it by it's toes until it started to weep.

Attached Images

	otherhalf.jpg (54.0 KB, 153 views)
	upsidd.jpg (52.8 KB, 243 views)

TreeBay

Very clever! I have only seen this inverted planting done with tomatoes and mushrooms, but it seems particularly appropriate for a weeping style tree.

Regards,

Matt

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rockm

Interesting technique. I've seen it in older bonsai books. Thought it might work, but never tried it. This tree looks pretty good. How often are you going to hang it by its toes?

Aurelius

I can't quite tell what you're doing in that second pic as your temporary measure.

weeijk

An other "old" technique to let it weep, is to stick a clothes-pin to the little branches. Through it's weight the twigs and branches will weep.

I believe, this looks like the way how the Chinese styled their trees centuries ago. They hanged stones on the branches to style them downward f.i.

Maybe its better than hanging the tree upside down.

Wessel

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rockm

Wessel, I don't think so. The upside down technique looks to give very naturally downard sweeping branching without the boring "rainbow arch" effect you get with hanging stones on branches.

Attila

Great technique. But I'm afraid my son would mistake it for a pinata.

bulaste

Here it is again after 3 days of being upright again, (an indeterminate amount of time was also spent today lying on its side in a mound of soil after being knocked off the bench & out of the pot by my trusty dog, it's a tough life being a bonsai sometimes) you can see the weep was short-lived.

I might try again just as it's entering dormancy to see if that will carry over the winter.

Aurelius, the pic shows the willow hanging upside down from a tree.

Rockm, How often will I hang it? No idea really, just did this on a whim. Anytime I want to see it as a weeper I guess. I had a willow once before, with my cold zone 3 winters here brach dieback was a real problem particularly on branches pruned during summer months. This one is an arctic willow, perhaps tougher we'll see. If the twigs survive I'd like to try to mantain the same basic size & shape it has now.

Nice leaf size on this type of willow, also hidden in the soil is a nice flare @ the base. Good root growth in the area that was separated from the other trunk as well, I had the opportunity to see that today whilst picking up the pieces & scraping it up off the ground.

Attached Images

willow05_.jpg (46.1 KB, 97 views)