Crabapple Bonsai Trunk Chop, Bonsai Senses, and 3D Bonsai Printers

I have always wanted to do this but today I finally did. I trunk chopped my tallest tree.

I think it will begin now to look much better. It has taken me years to decide to chop because I needed to develop my bonsai senses. I'm still developing and refining my bonsai senses and I hope that never ends. It has been a pleasant journey so far and for me is more than a hobby. It has become a therapy.

Bonsai might be the only sculpture that cannot be 3D-printed yet. I wonder what that will do to the bonsai scene. Everyone would have a famous masterpiece if they wanted. I have to admit that would be pretty nice. If I could I would. It sure would save a lot of time and bonsai has to be one of the slowest artistic pursuits ever conceived. So, as soon as a bonsai 3D printer is available, I will be getting one. Probably around this time next year I think... ;D

Yew Bonsai Urban Yamadori Styling Demo

I have always wanted a nice yew bonsai. I have known several people that say they just hate them and I can see why. For at least a couple years I have kept an eye out for a good one and resisted the impulse to buy anything small.

I don't normally post other peoples content but I am making an exception today.  Here is a great demonstration by Merlin on a large Taxus that appears to have come from a garden landscape. I have no idea what he is saying but this is one of my favorite styling demos I have ever seen. I can't believe I didn't already know about this guy! Check out his site merlin-bonsai.de, particularly the before and after section. This is what inspires me.

The yew in this video ends looking very natural. It looks like a real tree that shrunk. I am going to do whatever it takes to find and create a large yew as close as I can get it to this level of naturalness.

On a side note, I planted all of my ficus in pure Perlite except for a layer of rocks and sand on the top to hold it all in (and it looks nicer than the bright white Perlite). So far they all seem to like it.

Crabapple Bonsai Update

Crabapple Bonsai, Ficus Bonsai

The apex died back on the crab so this is my attempt at wiring up a new one. Maybe it was the hard winter. I can't be sure but it never died back before this year. I also currently have it growing in a larger plastic pot as opposed to a smaller, ceramic bonsai pot. The plant seems to grow the same amount either way, however, it has only been one year in the larger pot.

This little ficus was rooted from a cutting taken about two years ago. It grows very slowly in this tiny pot so I might look for something a bit larger. I grow this one indoors. It never goes outside ever.

pear bonsai and elm bonsai

It looks like spring has sprung. Most of my trees are pushing leaves like crazy. The first one I believe is an American Elm. The second one I believe to be a Callery Pear. The pear was just repotted into this shallow rectangular tray.

winter crabapple bonsai tree

I keep thinking this one needs a change. Maybe even a trunk chop. I had put it into a much deeper pot after someone on a popular bonsai forum advised me that the plant had probably become stressed after being repotted every year. It's true the plant had a slow start last spring but I had moved from where I was living in the middle of last winter and left all my deciduous trees with a relative. Right near the end of winter all the trees either dried out enough to kill them or, in the case of this crabapple, all of its developing buds died and fell off. It had a slow start because it wasted most of its energy producing a second batch of buds. Anyway, that's what I believe is the case. I can see the buds developing on it already and there are about three times as many as previous years so I hope some of them are flower buds. I collected this one from the side of a road about six years ago and it has come a long way.

Here is an earlier photo of the same tree. As you can see it has been shortened quite a bit over the years. I wonder what it could look like down the road if I trunk chop to the third or second branch.

Pear Bonsai Update, Urban Yamadori

I've never known what to do with this little Pear I collected from a rocky slope in Kentucky. It may qualify as urban yamadori. The plan is to find a better pot and change the angle when spring comes around. These wild Pear trees like to pop up everywhere here. I had a fatter one that died this year. I found it growing in a field with others like it, in rocky soil that actually kind of resembles bonsai soil, same as the American Elm I collected.