Valavanis class larch

Good_Ol_JR

I'm taking an introductory bonsai course with Bill Valavanis. He had some very nice material available. There was some very small material as well as some nicer more established stuff. The larch I chose was a collected American Larch (Larix Laricina). It has about a 3.5 inch trunk and was an amazing deal. It also has a nice root base but that isnt featured in these pictures as I put the soil level a little high as it was root pruned and I want to keep moisture for the surface roots.

At the end of class we had time to work on our trees and I took it from a bush to what is shown in the before photo I'm posting. Bill liked the front I chose and helped me with the major branch selection. I had time to root prune and repot as well as wire down the major branches.

When I got this home it sat for a day then I began to detail wire. This is all the work for now I will leave it pretty much untouched for awhile and feed heavily for it to regain strength. This is the first tree I've done major wiring and styling on and my wiring won't be mistaken for Hans's anytime soon! Overall though I am pleased to see my first transformed piece of advanced material just 2 yrs. into my bonsai education.

This link has more photos of higher quality:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowseP...32701397&page=1

Attached Images

	Larch Pre Shape.jpg (67.4 KB, 81 views)
	Larch After.jpg (68.4 KB, 127 views)

__________________
Joseph Rauscher

"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it."
~Henry David Thoreau

Advertisement

eeiko321

im wondering how old is this tree?
and what was the price tag when you got it?

Good_Ol_JR

No clue on the age. This and many other were collected by one of Bill's students. The price was $45. Like I said, a great deal.

__________________
Joseph Rauscher

"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it."
~Henry David Thoreau

Good_Ol_JR

This is the tree after 4 months of growth. This tree was repotted and completely styled over a week period before bud burst. The apex branches have been pinched back several times already and have ramified twice in this short period of time! In other words 4 sub branches where there was only one branch this spring. Other than the top part the rest of the tree has been allowed to grow freely to recover from its procedure. It is being fed weekly with full strength 20-20-20 plus organic cakes as recommended by Bill V. Next spring it will be rewired and thinned and deadwood created on an appropriate spot here is the link to the gallery showing the development (the old link has gone bad) as well as a current pic.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowseP...rid=0&ownerid=0

Attached Images

100_0189.jpg (49.2 KB, 60 views)

__________________
Joseph Rauscher

"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it."
~Henry David Thoreau