'Skirt' Layer For Improved Root-Flare

FlyBri

Gday team!

Very early in my Bonsai life, I was given this Lilly Pilly (Waterhousea floribunda). It was little more than a seedling - maybe as thick as a pencil - and its 'trunk' had somehow formed a full 360° loop about 20mm above the soil level. At the time, I thought this was an interesting feature, but as the tree grew (and my Bonsai knowledge stumbled along), I came to find that the loop was a major flaw in what could become a half decent tree.

Pic 1 shows the tree in all its overgrown, neglected glory.

Pic 2 shows where the 360° loop had grown into an ugly knob of reverse taper. It can also be seen in this shot that the nebari below the knob wasn't doing much for the tree either.

As mentioned above, this tree had been largely neglected over time - I suspect that the challenges provided by the knob had prevented me from taking any positive action to improve the tree generally. It was then that I remembered a method of layering that Mr Grampz had mentioned to me in the Chat Room: he had shown a diagram illustrating a number of different layering techniques, including one called the 'skirt layer'.

Pics 3 & 4: As the name suggests, the skirt layer resembles a pleated skirt when completed: a single cut is made through the cambium around the girth of the trunk, and then a number of cuts are made vertically upwards from the initial cut. Using a sharp knife or fine chisel, the resultant flaps are gently prised upwards and away from the trunk. In this instance, a single strand of Bonsai wire was wrapped gently around the trunk and pushed up and under the flaps to create greater flare. Apologies for the poor photographs.

Pic 5: Finally, I cut the top 50mm or so off a large plastic pot, placed it directly onto the original soil and filled it with Bonsai mix, making sure that the layer site was well and truly covered. As per usual, I placed a layer of gravel mulch on top of the soil.

My File Browser tells me that this procedure was performed in March 2007.

Stay tuned...

Attached Images

	Lilly_Pilly_Layer_01.jpg (69.9 KB, 177 views)
	Lilly_Pilly_Layer_02.jpg (70.5 KB, 168 views)
	Lilly_Pilly_Layer_03.jpg (72.1 KB, 143 views)
	Lilly_Pilly_Layer_04.jpg (69.9 KB, 207 views)
	Lilly_Pilly_Layer_05.jpg (65.8 KB, 218 views)

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Vonsgardens

Cool. How is it doing now? John

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FlyBri

Gday again!

Time marches on and before I knew it, it was January 2008. I had cleared away the gravel mulch to find that the entire surface of the new soil was covered in roots. It was at this point that I decided to remove the plastic ring which held the new soil in place...

Pic 1: Wow!

Pic 2: Ooh!

Pic 3: Aah!

Now, I make no bones about the fact that this tree is still a dog, but the success of this procedure has renewed my interest in a tree which was otherwise destined to be given away. If the sun comes out today, I might do some wiring and trimming, and post a photo of the tree as it is one month after being separated from its original roots.

Thanks for your attention.

Fly.

Attached Images

	Lilly_Pilly_Layer_06.jpg (71.3 KB, 218 views)
	Lilly_Pilly_Layer_07.jpg (72.0 KB, 219 views)
	Lilly_Pilly_Layer_08.jpg (72.0 KB, 179 views)

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irene_b

Sweeet!

I am happy that you posted this!
But should this not be placed under Advanced Tech?
Mom

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anttal63

fly as i said to you when i came over, this tree is destined to be a rippa! thankyou for posting this procedure it will certainly come in handy for some of my trees and im sure many others. no doubt about the old fox he's got some great tricks in his bag. thanks to you to gramps.

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grampz

Most honorable and distinguished moderation person Fly,

You have once again been successful in transforming 'junk' into a good piece of material to work with...

Ms. Irene,

I wouldn't really consider this to be 'advanced technique'...This is just one of many layering methods which have been used for many years, and happens to be a favorite of mine...I very seldom use the standard 'ring bark' method, perferring to use the 'skirt' method due to the usual flare which develops...

Mr. Antonio,

Thanks...

Regards
Behr

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zen

Just about to have to do this to a maple or two. Thanks for posting, great stuff.

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Asus101

How well would this work on a Colorado blue spruce? I have a very large potential cascade that has a bulb at the base. Granted its the reason why its cascading, but I cant move it to a garden or any were else.

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Aberael

Brian, Thanks for posting this. There are a lot of techniques which I have heard of and heard explained, but not shown with pictures. This helps alot.