A day with Ryan Neil

here's a picture of my finished tree. naturally i was too excited to shoot a picture of the before until it was already underway. It's an engleman spruce. yamadori dug back in 1989 and was just a ball of tiny spruce needles to begin with.

My Friend Jason posts here and attended the
class with his ponderosa pine.......

Looks like you had a great day Dick, I love the line of your Spruce and the bark texture...good enough to eat

Regards
John

what's funny John, is when this tree (yamadori dug in 1989) came up for sale, I was told by someone who I regard with their ability in the club, not to buy it because it had no future.
folks can say what they want about ryan (too expensive etc etc) but this guy walks the walk with a degree in horticulture from a prestigeous west coast university and the 6 years with kimura. many people have theories on how to do what, and when and when you ask them why, they don't seem to quite come up with an answer based on the knowledge or practice like ryan.

What was fun for me and another "olde timer" in the class yesterday, was to hear all his answers to questions that had no relationship to the decades of books and instruction we both had secured. we had to laugh, that much of his info was 180 degrees from what was commonly accepted. he's the real thing! next class is in april

we accused gaylen, owner of this pine of starting a new display technique with kusamono, made from root from mother plant and potted in a little pot along side the tree. Picture was snapped just before he folded it into the pot

I look back at the day and realized how much fun we had but was so serious taking copius notes and being focused that i didn't really enjoy like i should have.

can't wait for one of our eagle eyed viewers to comment on the silver wire in photo of last post. got great story to share

Hello Dick,
Please tell us.
Sunip

Ryan is using this to secure bonsai to the pot. It's according to him, suppose to last longer and never fatique or stretch like alluminum. Comes in a 1/4 mile long spools.
It's 17 gauge galvanized electric fence wire. here in the states available most hardware stores, he got his at True value brand.

dick benbow wrote:can't wait for one of our eagle eyed viewers to comment on the silver wire in photo of last post. got great story to share

Interesting silver wire Dick - what's up with it?

Cheers,

Andrew

He's been using it on Mirai ( his own trees) and has encouraged his students to use it. Cost is a little nicer on the budget. Next few days I'm gonna get me a roll.

Hello Dick.
It works great.
I am using it already for years wiring branches down, but use some branch protection.
Buy different sizes (thickness).
Sunip

Does the bright silver color upset or take away from your vision of your tree using this product. I would think
buried under the soil would be OK but I worry how it would look as too distracting even for trees known to be just in training?

Hello Dick.
The fencewire i use gets quickly a mat surface.
I am used to it, it also depends if seen with the sky behind it or against a dark backdrop.
The aluminum wire is visible as well, anyway, with both i am happy when i can take them of.
It is stronger and cheaper.
Sunip

dick benbow wrote:My Friend Jason posts here and attended the
class with his ponderosa pine.......

Nice pine! Perhaps Jason can post some more pics? Thank you for posting, Dick. I can only imagine the good time you guys had with Ryan!

-Dorothy

To be clear - this wire is ONLY to be used in such things as securing tree to pot and guy wiring (if you don't mind the initial silver colour)? Can it be used for wiring branches on trees in development?

Hello,
No, not for wiring.
Regardless if sometimes one can observe it on cheap mallsai from China rusted an all,
never use it to wire a branch as it is to stiff and causes damage to the tissue.
Sunip

Nice pine! Perhaps Jason can post some more pics? Thank you for posting, Dick. I can only imagine the good time you guys had with Ryan!

-Dorothy[/quote]

thanks Dorothy, a few pics of the pine I worked on




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