Acacia galpinni raft progression.

After seeing a picture of a Camelthorn raft in the Namib dessert I decided to try the style with this tree beginning 2010:



The red line indicates where I have chopped the tree for the raft.

This is the tree in November 2012:



The tree after the cut back:



A few weeks ago, Pieter du Plessis, I well known Acacia bonsai grower visited our Kai and helped me to open up the trunklines:



The raft has rooted well. The coming growing season I will reduce the roots and start growing the crown.

What do you think of the raft? Any comments or advice welcome.

Lennard

Lennard,

Turning an ordinary straight trunk tree into a raft is a very creative and brilliant solution.


regards,
jun

jun wrote:Lennard,

Turning an ordinary straight trunk tree into a raft is a very creative and brilliant solution.


regards,
jun

Very smart indeed...

I, for one, are going to knock a ......wait for it....Se...ne...ga...l..ia... over immediately!.

O lord, I just said it for the first time...I feel embarressed, confused and bewildered.

I feel betrayed by Africa, and robbed by Australia.

ACACIA! ACACIA! wherefore art thou?

Lennard, that is a supurb Idea, ...Thank you...

Love and light

ps. For those of you that just turned vague.... The name Acacia changed to Senegalia..in Africa. Australia won the name for their Thorn less Acacia species. Sis

Lennard, great thinking & progress, look forward to watching it develop

Andre, don't feel so bad, we got the name, you guys have worked out how to use them as bonsai

gud on ya mate, thank you Matt

Lennard does your Acacias still have their leaves on? Mine is resprouting Again!, where the hell is the Winter? And where is the Rain?

Thanks for all the positive replies - I do want my trees to look different from each other so I study all the old schools and styles and try to grow my trees accordingly.

Andre, autumn is late here - some of my Celtis are still growing and the Acacia is still in full leaf. Don't know why but it is the first time my Maples show some color:




Lennard

Geez, Lennard you Maples looks good. You lucky to have Summer Rain.

With our bone dry Summers here in the Cape , the maples's leaves turn brown at the tips, making them look dry and shrivelled.

Doesn't matter how much water they get, the air is just to dry for them.


Ja, the Autumn just arrived here aswell.

Love and light

We also get this color for only a few days, but that is okay, can't wait to see what the leaves are hiding! I have not cut them back this year because the trees were weakened when they were dug from the ground and put into plastic basins three years ago - almost all the roots were chopped. The first year there were almost no growth but this year a lot. The trunks are 15 years old now. Will start a separate thread for them later on.

Lennard

A few years ago the genus Acacia was balkanized into about 5 independent republics. Apparently the differences among the various groups warranted separation at the genus level. The Australian Acacias remain in that genus. The new genera are found in both the Old & New World. Of interest to bonsai growers, sweet acacia is now Vachellia farnesiana and twisted acacia is Vachellia tortilis subsp. raddiana. It came as no surprise to me. I've tried sweet acacia and i'm now struggling with monkey-thorn, Senegalia galpinii. The two are quite different.
Iris