Lance's Raintree

Ubiquitous lighter for scale.....

Don't know...I'll have to be pretty ruthless...

Hello Kevin,

Busy am I. No, it's a not. It is listed as an ironwood, but I wanted you guys to see what was possible, with trees having cambium that heals large wounds rapidly and easily. How much you can get by just using an extension branch with
aggressively growing cambium.

This tree gained it's girth by growing in 1/3 of a 55 US gallon black barrel for about 4 years, from a seedling.

This might be what you to have to aim for with the Brazilian ironwood.
Best to you guys,
Later.
Khaimraj

Sorry Lance,

I'm not good with pots at all so I can't help there but I do have some encouraging news for you with regards to the repotting.

I just repotted a shohin BRT (posted somewhere here as well) that I repotted a couple of years ago. It's not the strongest BRT I have but check this out. The roots were pretty crappy at last repotting so I was like "Well, it'll either live or die" and I just cut the living snot out of huge roots (around 1/4 inch in diameter) fairly close to the trunk. I took them from 4 inches long to about 1 inch off the trunk with no feeder roots between my cut and the trunk. I thought for sure I would suffer die-back like I did on my big guy but a couple on nights ago at repotting I found that roots came right off the cut and straight into the soil. I should have taken pictures but it was very late at night. It surprised the snot out of me. I think that as long as after cutting the roots you keep them in decent soil, watering and fertilizing well, you shouldn't have any issues.

Again, please keep in mind that I feed extremely heavy. Sometimes the soil is covered in Osmocote to which I just keep adding and adding until late Fall and I have a greenhouse as well. But I can't wait to repot my big guy in Summer and hopefully I'll find similar results.

Have a great weekend!
Sam

Kevin,

I thought I would pass this onto you, the norm today is to aim for - roots, enlargened trunk, and around 6 branches, all at the same time when ground or very large, but shallow pot growing [ no deeper than 15 cm / 6 inches ].

This depending on the thickness of the cambium growth [ seen when a wound is repaired ] will allow some trees to hit the above mentioned objective, in 1/2 or 3 years.

You may also wish to look at the Air Pots article seen on Youtube from Scotland. The trees are grown in I believe 100% compost.
The density of root is as wood after a year or depending on your climate a few years.
This is the maximum amount of food a tree can handle, not sure if it would still need fertiliser.

Tests on the tamarind [ fast thickening cambium ] shows speed towards a basic shape, multi branching, and trunk thickening.
So it seems as though for the impatient, one can have thicker trunks, roots and branching much faster, than before.
Guess we have to wait for the next batch of newbees to be even more impatient for results than today's newbees -

Welcome to the 22nd century of Bonsai.
Laters.
Khaimraj

thanks khai...

and yes even at doing this for just a little over 3 years, patience is slow to come, but come it does...
especially when i have many trees now, it makes it easier to just allow some to do their thing, which is to G R O W

re: airpots - last fall my eucalyptus delgupta came in one which made me look into them further and subsequently over the winter i did invest in a bunch of the airpots that i will begin using this spring.

Kevin,

I am leaving this information here, so I don't have to keep repeating myself.

If you decide to try Mr.Manakitivipart [ we are still old school on this side. Mr.Boon is not my friend and I use the formal ]
mix please do the experiment as 1 in your normal soil and 1 in his mix, same type of tree.
Study for 3 to 5 years.

The students of Mr.Manakitivipart are mostly on BonsaiNut and The Bonsai Study Group, so you can talk to them about their experiences.

I suggest you look into the long term - intense - repotting of older trees.
I just finished repotting several 30+ old trees, and the inorganic part of my mix at the core of the tree's soil, showed no degradation, and I had no formation of thick roots. The compost filters down and reforms as Humus.
In fact you could observe the old practice of adding manure or green manure to ploughed and tilled soil as done worldwide, but also seen in Bonsai practices from China and Japan. [ composted oil meal/ cakes added to the surface of olde trees in specifically Japan ]

Look up the production of loam and loam types.
Additionally, the benefits of growing trees in 100 % perlite, as the Akadama is pumice decaying to clay.

A bit of reading, but I can guarantee you will have health and then later transfer to design in your trees.
Laters.
Khai.......

* On our side - the JBpines from seed do well in a simple mix of gravel [ silica ] and compost. ------- Health
Next stage ------------ Design
25 years+ and still going / growing

i myself never said i was going to try the boon mix...

i don't want to use components that are:

1. expensive

2. hard to source

3. complicated

i try to keep it simple, but effective.

Repotted a week or so back.....more to come. Slow home computer and limited skills.

Had to take out the sawzall.....that little puck was the base of the tree. Useless. Have to build something out of that mass of roots.

Today....three Newcastles in.......

A look at the glaze....

Lookin' good Lance. Ya got any naked pictures? Of the tree of course

Just wondering, what does a mature raintree look like ?
Thanks in Advance.
Khaimraj

Pressures on, Khaij is watching.....Easy now, I'm at the North Pole compared to ya'll...

 

No, Sam. Glad you chimed in, though. How about a shot from on "high"...? Picking off Newcastles, pint by pint. My 2 year old is with his Aunt, so........

Lance,

thank you for indulging my whim. Yes, I could have googled, but I wanted to see if anyone was really looking.

Beautiful tree, strange how they all seem to end up as a magnificent dome - samaan, our version of the ironwood [ different type ] the topic's ironwood, monkey pod and so on...............

Thanks again.
Khaij [ Khaimraj ] reads as middle eastern.

crappy cluttered pics of mine after a recent repot and angle change...

killer trunk line...



just need to give that strait bit a little movement toward an apex...



also need to start chasing the foliage back some...

yeah, nice trunk!

Got some nice movement on that trunk.

LanceMac10 wrote:Got some nice movement on that trunk.

damn...

all that farley cake and i left my stack of peeler singles at home

Don't see any granulated fertz on that sucker, bro. How often do you feed and/or strictly liquid? These puppies love to nibble!!! Howwza' bout' some Osmocote or something? Feed 'em heavy and you'll be....

 

all of my trees get weekly liquid and every now & then i throw pelletized fish, or green dream, or chickety-do at them...

i have a few heavy feeders that get a bit more of the pelletized and maybe i will add this one to that regime...

i would go do that now, but after watching farley i cant stand up

Lance,

I have been wondering, perhaps it may be better to make two trees. That beginning trunk is really beautiful, and might just need a re-start?
Later.
Khai....