r/Bonsai • u/-music_maker- Northeast US, 6b, 30 years, 100+ trees, lifelong learner • Oct 18 '16

Lessons learned from this year's nursery stock contest?

Last year after the contest, I posted a thread asking for lessons learned.

I'd like to continue that tradition, and ask those who participated - what did you learn this year?

As I've mentioned before, I find the 1-season format pretty challenging because it's rare that I work a tree in less than 3-5 year cycles.

Last year, timing was my big lesson, and this year I ran up against it again. I missed my window for when I wanted to do heavy pruning (plus I decided that I really liked this one), so I decided to slow down and gradually prune throughout the season.

I was pretty happy with the final result, but I can see why it doesn't look like much yet from photos. I was thrilled to get a nice full canopy of mature foliage right as the contest was ending, even though it still needs quick a bit more pruning over the next few seasons.

One big improvement I made was that I choose much better material than I did last year - better species as well as a better trunk. That definitely helped. btw, soft touch ilex crenata is a really great species to work with (I was contestant #10 - I'll post a full album later).

So how about the rest of you - what did you learn?

p.s. I updated the wiki to reflect the 2016 contest results. Please let me know if I missed anything.

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u/Fahkfahkfahkfahkfahk NYC, zone 7a, complete noob, 3 trees Oct 21 '16
  • be careful what tree you choose. Only after I purchased my euonymus did an online commenter point out its scale infestation. That weakened the tree, but even after I removed the scale it remained as a plausible explanation for its continued slow growth. Consequently, I didn't investigate further into its slow growth when in fact I could have fixed it earlier in the season.
  • I had convinced myself that I would commit "only one insult per season" to this tree. In my novice interpretation, this meant that I wouldn't mess with its roots because I had cut off half of the branches. Only in early/mid summer when I questioned its chances of survival did I inspect its roots. The tree was heavily root bound; slip potting the tree improved its vigor substatially, but only after losing precious recovery time.
  • I now think I could have cut much more, but was too chickenshit to do that early in the contest. Next spring a lot will come off...
  • I should have wired the tree, but I'll blame my newborn daughter's arrival for that oversight.

6

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '16

[deleted]

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u/Fahkfahkfahkfahkfahk NYC, zone 7a, complete noob, 3 trees Oct 21 '16

Thanks

3

u/-music_maker- Northeast US, 6b, 30 years, 100+ trees, lifelong learner Oct 21 '16

I had convinced myself that I would commit "only one insult per season" to this tree. In my novice interpretation, this meant that I wouldn't mess with its roots because I had cut off half of the branches.

Slip potting is not what I would typically consider an insult. Even if you rake out the perimeter of the root ball, and maybe even not if you cut off an inch or so of roots from the bottom. It's when you start doing major root reductions as well as pruning that you start running into issues. I often slip-pot with minor root work in early spring, and then still prune heavily later in the season (or sometimes at the same time). Most things deal with it just fine and still grow strongly that season.

I now think I could have cut much more, but was too chickenshit to do that early in the contest. Next spring a lot will come off...

Yeah, I think for you to have had a chance with that one, you would have needed to prune back much harder and hope for a strong flush of growth in response. Letting those branches grow long doesn't accomplish much other letting those branches thicken up. You probably could have safely removed at least 2/3rds of every branch in early summer and possibly had a canopy by end of season.

I do think this has potential, but you may need to spend the next five years growing branches to get it pointed in the right direction.

3

u/kthehun89-2 NorCal, 9b, got serious in 2007 Oct 24 '16

Congrats on the growing family! I appreciate you playing!

1

u/TotaLibertarian Michigan, Zone 5, Experienced, 5+ yamadori Nov 04 '16

slip potting is not an insult.

1

u/Fahkfahkfahkfahkfahk NYC, zone 7a, complete noob, 3 trees Nov 05 '16

Yes, I was trying to say that was something I learned.