hinoki cypress 10 inch trunk 48 inches tall, to big for bonsai?

This hinoki is 40 plus yrs old. it is a compacta nana and is 4 ft tall with a ten inch trunk. it is in a 28 inch wire basket and was dug early spring while dormant. I have a large quantity of these trees and want to know if these could be worked as bonsai and if so who is qualified. I would be interested in an arrangement with someone capable and interested in working these trees to a bonsai condition. I will follow with a few more examples of this crop. most are around 4 ft and all are between 7 and 12 inch trunks. they are really quite stunning.[img]https://i.servimg.com/u/f78/17/84/41/50/04111.jpg[/img[url=https://servimg.com/view/17844150/38]][/url]I am a nursery grower who has started into the pre-bonsai market, but these pieces are way beyond my bonsai skills. I would be open to here input from the bonsai people.

Mark45,

Where in CT are you located?

I would recommend you contact New England Bonsai Gardens, Shanti Bithi and/or International Bonsai Arboretum and see if they are interested in them as they are.

Regards,
Martin

yes I could call the local retailers, thank you for the reply. I would love to sell a few but this is a much bigger group of plants than a bonsai nursery can deal with, I have over 200. I would like to find interested individuals to work these in some kind of teacher apprentice manner and learn what to do with these.I have a four acre specimen tree and pre-bonsai nursery, although I am a novice to bonsai I have been a serious grower for 25 yrs. so manipulating these rootballs into small shallow pots while keeping these plants alive, and veneer grafting closer to the trunk on some of the longer branches wont be a problem that's what I do as a nurseryman. what to do to these pieces once stabilized is what I lack.

mark45,

I would contact your local CT bonsai clubs and see who they have member-wise who would be willing to do some teaching, see who they have coming in that you might be able to contact to do a private session, or contact a Colin Lewis, Suthin Sukosolvisit, Bill Valvanis or Jim Doyle as more local experts for a private session. Finally, you could contact an Owen Reich, Ryan Neil, Kathy Shaner, Gary Marchal, Guy Guidry or Boon Manakitivipart from a more national perspective for a private session. They could evaluate the current status of the plants, offer suggestions to improve them going forward and MAYBE work on one to show you what to do with the rest. Being a good grafter will help give you more options.

Regards,
Martin

Hi Mark,
These are beautiful specimens and there are many steps to take to create bonsai out of them. You can (learn) go through the effort to reduce the root balls, change the soil, to get them into training pots, and eventually nice bonsai pots. Or, you can offer to sell them to interested clubs for workshops, club digs, shows, symposia, anyplace where workshops are held/planned, with visiting masters/experts who will help style the trees... without going through the effort to repot them yourself. I would imagine that these trees. b&b'd, and then put in nursery containers, established for a year (i.e showing new growth), would sell well.

I bought a large 4 foot Hinoki Cypress, which was growing in clay (b&b), and it took me three years to get it into a reasonable sized training pot. I removed the clay in stages, during late Winter, and had it in pure bonsai soil during the third repotting.

Todd

Hello Mark,
I was surprised to see a post on Hinoki. I have been looking for a decent hinoki specimen for the last 10 years..lol.. Which is about as long that I have been training the one I have. Here is a pic of one I picked up 11 years ago at a local garden center. Been training it ever since. Hinoki is one of my favorite trees for bonsai. However, due to them not back budding on old wood and being generally very stubborn. They are not that often used for bonsai.

I am at New England Bonsai Gardens quite often. Also, I sometimes work there as a fill in teacher and help out with the workshops. Hinoki cypress is one of the species that I have been specifically studying for the last 10 years. All though the trees you posted are a bit large for bonsai, they still might make good specimens. However, there is a lot of die back that will not regenerate. So elaborate wiring might be able to solve the problem. However, sometimes it won't.

If you respond to this. We can discuss them further.

Rob

I know VERY little about this species, but seem to recall they don't bud back that easily. The foliage seems to be mostly way out on the ends of branches in the ones pictured. Is that fixable?

each piece is very different, some have great branch distribution while others are one sided. veneer grafting can be performed on existing branches that have foliage out to far, or to get even more difficult you can approach graft. I do know that existing branches can be bent in ways that seem impossible. All this grafting and bending is incredibly difficult and very few people have the talent to work these trees. that's why I am not going to attempt to do anything outside of my talent range. field digging and potting and reducing rootballs is what I do, so I can get them in the right pot configuration. turning their potential into bonsai, that is the challenge. I had a club member here at my place when I first started with these and he was going to show me what to do with these, well lets say that a little knowledge can be a very dangerous thing. He didn't have a clue and ended taking away the potential that the tree had. Lesson learned

Thanks for your sharing! Maybe u need spend quite long time for traning, but I realy like your bright future tree.

Thank you for your reply, I know this is not a short process, but that is bonsai and life in general, it takes ten years to live ten years.