New to forum,sort of

Aloha IBC,

Im sort of a new member and following in "Man on the mountains" footsteps I decided to introduce myself. Also at Wills suggestion posting pics seems to get you more response. Ive been doing bonsai for only about three years. I think now Ive finally got the killin out of the way I'm sure not for ever but now at least its under control. Im really excited to have found this forum. Its the first Ive been on so this too is new. I live in Hawaii and some times feel limited (bonsai seems like old Kung fu you practice but dont tell ) I do belong to our local club and, its fun, but Ive found a real wealth of knowledge here. Ive met some others from the outer Islands, Sam is the man and I cant wait to see his garden in real life someday! Ive been particularly interested in our friends in PI. The trees and weather are very similar and Its given me insite to how to approach some local species. (Casuarinas "ironwood" we call it, are everywhere, I killed two already ) I need to go hunting. Jun and Ka Pabling are awesome and very helpfull. Been watching there posts with great interest. Anyway here are a few of my rookie creations.







Im thinking about putting juniper in a proper pot, maybe a deep fat cascade pot just for year to transition. Any suggestions (virtuals) Also I want to carve the old branch in front, but i havent really praticed big carving yet so im waiting

Thanks for the Amazing forum

Arno

Hi Arno

Wecome to IBC! we are glad you like this forum.
I can see that you have some trees with good potentials. as for curving, you should practice with ordinary wood, dont practice on your trees yet, you might kill them.
Best regards

ka pabling

Welcome to you! We have several members from various of the Hawaiian Islands, and enjoy seeing trees we can only grow indoors out in the open air.

Fair warning...If you follow in my footsteps too closely you get mud and chicken poo on your boots!

Welcome! One of the main reasons I joined this forum was to get not only advice but a peek at other peoples trees, not just the same 'Google' search results for particular species over and over again...To that end, I LOVE your Benjamina ( I assume thats what it is), oddly we have many of the same trees in about the same state of developement..

Suggestion for your Ficus. Work on leaf reduction & ramification to get it in better scale. This will require mainly frequent pinching. Also, thin the top out a little so the birds can fly through.
Iris

good job with the trees arno. keep at it. by the time you're my age, you'll have an awesome collection.

best wishes, sam

Beside season, collecting depends a lot upon the soil plants are growing in. Here in Florida we have SAND for soil, so root systems tend to range a long way from the plant. One friend had a permit to collect some trees, small Oaks I think, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but after he followed one root for 20 feet he gave up.

Arno
Upon closer inspection I noticed something, Did you 'Notch" and bend that ficus? If so how did that work out for you? how is the callus formation going? Did it bleed latex like crazy or was it subdued even with that sort of a cut taken out of it.

M.O.T.M.

Yeah I did notch it. I learned that from a Ficus master here on the island. He has a bunch of trees he has done that to and they heal really nice and pretty fast. The trunk was rather straight and there was a big buldge from a branch that died and wouldnt heal flat. So I notched the bulge out and cranked it over, to my suprise the bend added alot of character and it fit real well with the design. It did bleed but no big deal, the callous is forming good on the back but I didnt get the cut real perfect so its taking time on the front.

Ficus are reall easy and fun to work with here, its warm and relitivly humid. You can do all kinds of crazy things and get good results fast. Ficus have help me learn alot. You cant tell cause it healed already but, I used a teqnique I read about to make the nebari bigger. When it was smaller I cut the taproot leaving very few small lateral roots and then I split the trunk in 6 pieces and crammed a rock in the bottom to flare it out then burried it for a year or so and this was the result pretty cool!

check this project out! I got it from said guy a while ago



I want the branches to thicken some.

Aloha

Arno

Thanks for the tips Arno, I may try that root prune trunk split combo Idea on a particularly boring Benjamina clone I've been growing out.

Also..excellent to see the notch technique work so well, yes it helped out your design tremendousely, I may also work that idea into a ficus or two around here..

Oh to be able to grow Ficus outside YEAR ROUND! I'm jealous..but then again i can Have Maples..

Best
MOTM

Yeah, I wish I could grow maples, I live in the dry hot side of Maui and they dont like it. There are Maples in the higher elevations here, its cooler. There is even a forest of Redwoods or Sequoias Im not sure which, there way at the top of the Mountain and Ive never hiked up there yet! Somebody told me once to be happy with the trees you have cause you always want what you cant have. I was told the Japanese covent the bougainvilla like we covent the white pine. I have plenty of them. I really want a casuarina, have to go hunting.


Arno

I keep a Boogy, she suffers through the long winter indoors (even with humidity tray) then in the spring she freaks out and re-grows every leaf. I wish I could fatten ficus in the ground but alas I will be stuck dragging around HUGE pots until the day I die, or move, or stop growing ficus.

Arno wrote:Yeah, I wish I could grow maples, I live in the dry hot side of Maui and they dont like it. There are Maples in the higher elevations here, its cooler. There is even a forest of Redwoods or Sequoias Im not sure which, there way at the top of the Mountain and Ive never hiked up there yet! Somebody told me once to be happy with the trees you have cause you always want what you cant have. I was told the Japanese covent the bougainvilla like we covent the white pine. I have plenty of them. I really want a casuarina, have to go hunting.


Arno

Hi Arno,
Ihave not seen your bougies yet, hope you can post them ,do you have pink pixies there? for me they are the best bougies for bonsai
You are right, we like white pines but cant have it so we have casuarinas as alternative, we design em to look like white pines.
ka pabling

my girlfriend and I were talking about this the other day and I think of all climates I may have the best of all worlds (could maybe a bit warmer) But I can keep tropicals as house plants AND cold loving deciduous too AND pines. I think it offers a better variety up north. But it also offers snow.

ka Pabling-

I'll post a picture of my Boogey in about a month for you to see, Its should be back in full leaf and full bloom by then, mines kinda purple-ish in flower. Its not a pink pixie. I'd love a white one, my girl's from Louisiana and they have all colors and sizes down there growing everywhere.