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Halp.. with what I believe is a Douglass Fir.

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Halp.. with what I believe is a Douglass Fir. Empty Halp.. with what I believe is a Douglass Fir.

Post  TimBov27 Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:53 pm

Let me start by advising readers I'm a noob. Been interested in bonsai and doing research, watching tutorials, and so on for over 10 years, but have only messed around with physical trees for about 4 years. I also have never before used a forum, so please bear with me.
So I collected this Douglass Fir about a year ago. I chose the specimen as it had experienced adversity from falling trees, weather, and game traffic, giving it natural character in the trunk. Being a Doug, with natural characteristics upright, I still plan on styling based upon the natural upright form of the mature trees.
The plan was to keep it in the large pot/mostly organic soil for a few seasons to encourage trunk development and maybe even enhance the nebari. After potting, I minimally removed undesirable branching, and did a basic wiring of the tree. I plan on working on compacting the tree after further development, maybe as early as next spring.
Over the summer, I was delighted in the development of the nebari. Exceeded my expectation.
In that short period of time, thickening was rapid enough that unfortunately, some of the wiring dug into the cambium as imaged. I promptly remove the wiring I noticed was causing damage, and left the rest for spring. My first question, is will this damage heal? Or is this now a permanent characteristic? Secondly, I've discovered my ideas for future styling are tremendously more unclear than per say if this was a Juniper. Fir trees are no easy task!
I still think I have something here with this one.
Any recommendations from knowledgeable people on styling, or anything really are welcome. I plan on taking the tree to bonsai Northwest next spring for additional recommendations. The yellowing on the lower left branch is a result of the wiring digging into the cambium, but the branch shouldn't be a loss.Halp.. with what I believe is a Douglass Fir. Img_2011
Halp.. with what I believe is a Douglass Fir. Img_2010

TimBov27
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Halp.. with what I believe is a Douglass Fir. Empty Douglas fur n

Post  tonywel Fri Sep 27, 2019 4:59 pm

This is a collected tree. The first thing I would do is to remove all the wire. Feed the tree a low Nitrogen plant food like Dyna-Bloom until the tree has gone dormant, which could be well in December. That will be deterred by the weather. Starting next spring , about March start feeding the tree weak, weekly again with Dayna-bloom for root growth. You can also add Super Thrive, one drop to a gal. of water when you feed the tree. The tree will need 1-2 yrs. to rest and develop new roots before any work is done on the foliage, and branches . Next spring let the tree grow freely, don't cut any foliage, let the buds grow as much as they can the tree may not look good, but the more foliage the more energy the tree will have to develop new roots.
The wire marks. What I have done is wrap all the branches with black electrical tape. which will hold moisture in the bark which should swell the bark. Most times you have to leave the tape on for 1-2 yrs, or more not knowing how old the tree is The same amount of time the tree is resting.

tonywel
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