Larch transformation

Mike called down with some Larch today, two were just to update on and check the development.




After taking some time to talk about the above it was agreed that they were well on there way to being very promising trees
Next Mike had an idea to cascade this piece of Larch

I like it, I still need to add larch to my collection

Mike set about re potting and re angling

Next step was to wire

Next the styling

The end product, (The start of the Bonsai)

Thanks for the reply Giga, Larch are just the best species to work with

Regards chris

so all that work was done in one session ???

seems like a lot, so i am curious how they react to that much being done all at once...

Hi Kev
Its all down to the condition and health of the material, this Larch has been collected and developed for three to four seasons as you can see by the root growth . With larch in this condition there is no problem with the work that we have done today and if anything the cutting back will give fantastic growth next season.

Regards Chris

well chris, all i can say is WOW...
looking forward to seeing the spring vigor !

What a very cool presentation. That pot is kinda genius if you ask me, and the moss pillow...

beer city snake wrote:well chris, all i can say is WOW...
looking forward to seeing the spring vigor !

I'm assuming these are larch of the European variety. If they are anything like American larch ( good old Tamarack if you will) it will take off like a rocket.

this all gives me some added testicularity in the "giddy-up" department, with my couple of larches...

i know chris & co. are in the UK, (though i dont know how their winters are compared to ours),
but in general do any of you know if late fall/early winter (like now-ish) is a good time for this type of work in USDA zone 5 ?

Hi Kev
The winters here get down to -10 at times we have had colder a few times and I am happy to work on established stock through the winter, a lot of people would say to leave it closer to spring but to be honest I have never seen any advantage, its the same as collecting, the very few casualties that I get has no bearing on the time they were collected. As I have said just make sure the tree is good and healthy and ready for the work, common sence really.
Many will leave things far to long before working and that can be as bad if not worse than working to soon!
Regards Chris

thanks chris !

i have one in the ground that i will start some preliminary work on...

but i want to air layer off a piece of my potted one, so that will obviously wait for spring.

cheers !

Kevin. Doesn't Wisconsin have tamarack growing wild? If so go dig a few up and experiment. Or take the ferry east to Michigan. The land of Tamarack.

hey mike... yeah we do, and one of our AAC guys has access to a stand about 20-30 miles away,
he went last year and scored a couplafew, but i couldnt make it...

so next year i hope...

Nice tree and a great pot!

Overall the image looks very good and that moss looks as though it's been there for twenty years already .

However, if I was being super critical I would have to say that I think the trunk looks a little too thick and straight for the cascade effect to be entirely convincing. If it was mine (and I'd be very happy if it was) I think I'd consider cutting most of the trunk off and re-building the cascade using the two top branches. Maybe the stump could be used as a dead wood feature or something? 

Mind you, what do I know? My only Larch are bean pole straight sticks in pots.

By the way I really like the first tree in this thread as well, the kind of windswept twin trunk on a slab. Would look even better on a longer slab though.

Regards

Richard

We have to watch out for units conversions. The USA is the probably the ONLY major country that has not gone metric. Chis was reporting temps in Celsius. -10 C is about + 12 Fahrenheit. In Wisconsin we have to plan for winters capable of dipping to - 20 F, or about -29 C. Wisconsin is very cold compared to the UK. If you are wintering your larch outside, without added heat (which is ok, they are very hardy) it would be best to wait until late winter or early spring. If you keep the larch in your garage, which does have a little heat, and it is protected from extreme cold, you can repot now.

Hi Richard and thanks for the reply, your observation's are very good and spot on I am sure Mike will take them on board. That's good Welsh moss by the way!!!!!

Regards Chris

Thank's Leo for your input. The -10 is in C

Regards Chris

Today Sunday 14th was another chance for Mike to do another Larch and for everyone else to work on their Larch, in fact it seemed that if you did'ent have a Larch today you were the odd one out!

Mike worked on this Larch today

The tree has a great root system and is ready to be worked on



The tree was potted and the parts that was not to be included in the styling were removed