I thought I'd let you see what I do

I have been growing Larix kaempferi ShoHin from seed for some 20 years now.
Sometimes things don't work out as planned and I need to do some re-designing.

This is a larch sown in 2000, after cutting back the leader she let part of the trunk die back and I was able to create a nice Shari.



In 2012 at repot I saw that not only the trunk had died back but all the roots at that side were also dead. I decided to reshape it as a cascade and use the roots she had left. The right hand branch I kept as a back branch behind the trunk to insure vitality, that branch has been gradually reduced as the crown grew more green



She did very well this summer despite the heat. The hidden back branch was jinned during the summer



The leader I made had no buds lower on the branch/trunk so it had to be replaced with a branch lower down that had the desired buds.
here with the pot she will be in, in spring. I photograph trees with their prospective pots as a memory aid.......



For scale I have this picture, next to a triple A battery, it is from spring 2012

Looks great! I especially like the third image but I am confident it will look good in the planned pot. One question...how often do you need to change the battery?  

  ... battery!

Really sweet tree!

John I change the battery at every photoshoot, it's from the telephone so I won't be disturbed while shooting.

Hello, ,asking is there anyway of downloading  other members photos ,With their permission of  course, thank you.
 Roger,(rargog) Cardiff South Wales, U. K.

I am sure that if you PM arihato, he would send you a copy.

That's a fun little tree. I like #3 best, also, and would LOVE to find a little table like that one.

Jim I made that table after a remark the in design a circle is a 'boring' shape. Well he said it was not a shape with 'tension'.
So in order to find out for myself I made this little table, I have to disagree I find the shape rather exciting. It is made of oak, btw

Very nice and dynamic little tree. It's definitely the smallest larch I have ever seen. How do you grow your larch out from seed? Is it similar to jbp in colanders?

Powerful one in a small package... thanks for sharing!

I started growing from seed after reading an article in 'Bonsai Today' in if I remember correctly 1990. It was about this Japanese grower of JBP who grew his trees in colanders. At that time there were no colanders to be had (in my town) so I choose pond baskets, those performed just as well.

The procedure only differs in details from the growing JBP. I choose Larix kaempferi because my garden was too damp and cold for growing JBP. I tried those for some years with little success, I still have one JBP from the first batch.

In the course of my growing experience I changed things a bit so they would fit my circumstances. About two years ago I decided to stop sowing new trees as it takes on average 10-15 years for the tree to mature. I went back to my first love growing ShoHin from 'poor' material that I get from the local forest. Those are just for the joy of growing not to make world class Bonsai.

This is the smallest Larch I have:

It has tiny leaves compared to a normal ShoHin Larch:

Fantastic tree (beautifully photographed as well).

The semi cascade style really suits it. In fact if you hadn't included the first image you could be forgiven for assuming that it had always been intended for that style.

Impressive transformation. Very inspiring.

regards

Richard

Thank you for your kind remarks

Hi Arihato

I enjoy your small larix's very much  
How many do you have?

Kind regards Yvonne

Yvonne, I have about 25 presentable ShoHin Larch, mostly Larix kaempferi, but also L gmellii, L laricina and L siberica. Apart from those I have another 60 in training from 2 year seedling to almost presentable. And I have about 10 bigger Larches



The ones on the left are to go into pots coming spring, the tallest Larch on the right is my oldest from 1975 (always grown in a small pot).

Have a look at my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arihatos_bonsai/sets/

I think you need to try other species.
Birch are good.   

Hi Arihato

My guess was, you had many, and only larix....Funny to see I was right 
very rare to find a person into bonsai, who only do, and specialise in one kind of specie in the western World, and do a good job....most often is it azalea/satzuki, and in Japan Black pines, to my knowlegde...
Nice to meet you  love your nice small trees 

Kind regards Yvonne

It was suggested that it might be better to see you expand your artistry to other species. Nothing out of place with that suggestion.

It just pleases me to see someone so enamoured with just one, that they become a specialist. Nothing wrong with that either!

I started out that way with quince, then went to native pines, and now I'm beginning to see the value of deciduous in a four season look.

Thanks for sharing. just wonderful work!!!!

Arihato,
Love your work. Very nicely done.
Jerry

Yvonne, I underestimated the amount of small Larch I have, you made me count them. I have 44 Larch on my display benches that are presentable, then I have 70 in the training section and a about 10 larger ones.

I do have other trees, mostly small roses, some Forsythia and of course some 20 Azalea, not all Bonsai most are just trees in pots. The missus says I have around 350 trees in pots at the last count. It's a good thing I have all day to care for them.

Why so many Larches, well first of all I love them they are so obliging and so easy to care for. In 1990 when I started this project of growing from seed I used to sow 30 to 50 seedlings every year. If you only have a couple you can't really do what needs to be done, like cutting back hard, and yes some don't survive the treatment. I estimate that over 15 years only 20% get to be ShoHin. The rest has died or been set free (in the local forest) because of incurable bad behaviour.
This winter/spring I had a tree die on my that was almost ready to be potted up, 14 years old. I have given up trying to answer why it died, if it is not obvious then your guess is as good as mine.

Now that I'm officially an OAP, I will not be sowing anymore. The 'nursery' will be empty in about 5 or 6 years...... 

Hi Arihato

You have many plants for sure, and the project with the larixseed, must have been interesting for you, as many plants has become nice Little trees...you would be the one to contact if I had problems with a larix.

never say you dont want to sow seed for bonsai any more, it give a lot of happines to work with bonsai to be...
I have 30 acer Nikko cuttings I am planning to begin growing for future bonsai...I dont want them small, so they will maybe not be trees for me, but for somebody else in the future...started up with a handful a couple of years ago, lost one, but the trees are nice to work with, and the bark become old/gray already the second year, lovely to look at....this is OK, I want my fun.

Thanks for sharing your story, it was nice.

Kind regards Yvonne