Cascade Casuarina in my new shed.

Filling up fast










Refining the deadwood more,,,,





regards,
jun

Jun,
great work. I like it a lot
Regards Vlad

Just an update:




regards,
jun

Looks like its filling very nice Jun! And the composition works for me!

Mitch

Hello, Jun!
The lighting and the shades on this photo create the illusion of the tree being into an aquarium in my eyes...
I like it so much!

Incredible jun.

Thank you guys for the kind words!

A year or two and this baby will be ready for display.

regards,
jun

Awesome work, June! Question is, who is carrying who..? Kidding..Great composition!

-Dorothy

Thanks Dorothy!

regards,
jun

Just another small step in its journey...

Awesome tree, June! Chowking..that's funny

-Dorothy

Nice going, Jun!
A small step added sufficient maturity
How many people were needed to carry it at place?

A bit of progress again... A gold award in (ABFF) Asia-Pacific Bonsai Friendship Federation 2013 Judged by Taiwanese and Japanese Bonsai (masters) experts...








regards,
jun

Great job buddy!!! Good quality, hard work pays off. Tree looks fantastic!!!!

Have a great week!!!!
Sam

jun wrote:A bit of progress again... A gold award in (ABFF) Asia-Pacific Bonsai Friendship Federation 2013

Congratulations, my friend!
A golden award... is this a little bit of progress?

my nellie wrote:

jun wrote:A bit of progress again... A gold award in (ABFF) Asia-Pacific Bonsai Friendship Federation 2013

Congratulations, my friend!
A golden award... is this a little bit of progress?

Oh yes it is...
The Trophy and awards were just material tokens from other people. The real measure of creativity and maturity is the tree itself...and the journey of this composition is just starting. Bit by bit it will progress.


regards,
jun

Very inspiring Jun. Probably I have 15 casuarinas by now, inspired by you...None of them like yours, but growing very fast, and giving me lots of joy.
One cascade as well.

Thanks Neli!

i am sure your trees will turn out nice. Most of my casuarinas started out as reject materials that nobody bothers to acquire. If they turns out nice, It means got lucky in finding the right design solution and I will feel satisfied.. if they turn out ugly, It won't hurt much because they started ugly and cost much cheaper than first class materials...


regards,
jun

My casuarina started 5 month ago as a pencil thick seedlings...they are over an inch thick now and growing line nothing I have seen.
As you said need to find a design solution for them...Not so easy...

How the heck would you go about lifting the tree to repot it??? I am guessing you'd have some sort of pulley system to lift it out the pot and let it hang as the roots are combed out and reduced?

Hi Marie.

It is a good question.
Answer no. 1, which is very important specially to those who are starting to do casuarina. I never comb or remove all of the soil in casuarina, they are very sensitive species. You can reduce the volume of the roots if they are pot bound, but leave some portions of the old soil attached to the roots.
Answer No.2- How would you repot a root over rock bonsai? Same principles applied here, You don't remove the tree from the rock... there is a "secret" access behind and on the side of the boulders where I can easily remove unwanted roots in the future. The roots of this tree also grows on the outside of the rocks. Please check the previous pictures where the rocks were formed and assembled.there were several boulders combined and sculpted and gaps were made in between the base of the rocks, just below the soil line.
Answer No. 3- Do not limit your imagination on how to approach bonsai. Not just on design but also on how you would solve future problems that may arise. Being confined in the traditional thoughts will limit your design options.


regards,
jun:D

That sounds scary for newbies like me Jun. Never realized that casuarina is hard to transplant and repot...How should one proceed with removing casuarina from a pot/planter bag in order to reduce the root mass for bonsai pot?
Should it be done in stages? How much % roots can be removed at any one time and how should one do it?
Advise please.

Hi Neli.

It's easy  and simple (not that scary). Just make sure that you keep the major (primary) roots, and don't remove all of the soil to ensure that hair roots will still be available to feed the tree.
Even after hunting or removing casuarina in the wild, this is the major cause of the trees death. this species is very fast grower, you'll even notice that few days after hunting and transplanting the tree from the wild or from a container bound source new and strong budding occurs even without roots, then suddenly the new branches were start to dieback. So, my observation and conclusion is that the newly planted tree got it's energy, nutrients and fluids from its reserve. Then without the tiny/hairroots to absorb new nutrients to sustain the growth everything that the tree has will be sap out.
The same character of growth happens to other fast growing species like newly hunted tamarind and Phempis.

This is just my observation.


regards,
jun:D

Jun,

Reading from post 1 to end provided me a variety of learning's. Your recommendations are very practical and can be easily applied on the actual bonsai work which makes your thread very informative. I already experienced almost everything you mentioned about materials with sprouts in about 1-2 weeks from hunting but eventually die back in a month or 2. They are living based on available stored foods. Material gathering is very much crucial to have a good start up. Without a strong root foundation, everything will be ruined as times went on.

Hope to be in your garden some time during your free weekends.

regards.

Darwin

Jun, thanks!
Do I remove the tap root? Can I just saw my packet, lets say leaving more than half of the height and let it stay in the same packet for some time on top of a cement slab, in order to develop some roots ?  My packet is a big: 35cm wide and 50 cm high? Will the primary roots not be too long? I dont understand how to leave them and reduce the plant at the same time. Do I chop maybe some...put in a smaller container...and later chop the rest??
Another crazy idea I have is to saw the packet from the side, maybe 10cm, and after 1 month saw a bit more...and later again...till the packet is cut off completely??? I am coming up with all kind of crazy schemes, to be sure I dont kill anymore plants. What about that?

I some time dig on top and check how many roots are there...then I cut one root depending on the direction...if horizontal maybe 4-5cm from the trunk and if going down shorter...Then I bury the plant again, wait for roots to develop from the cut surface, 1-2 month, then check and cut another root, till all are cut and grown. Can that work, and will it be safer?
What about removing the top 5-10 cm of the soil in the packet, carefully with a hose pipe,...ground layer half the roots, and put bonsai soil on top? I delieve feeder roots grow upwards??? (Just came up with this idea. Trying to think how to do it safer)
It is a plant I bought long ago and forgot about...it was just in normal soil in a packet...Before I started bonsai.
The roots escaped to the ground, and it has grown very beautiful with thick base. I new about the tamarind's I killed some already, so I have been thinking how to do it safer. So thought of doing that and so far I cut one root only, marked the place so I know where to check, if new roots emerged, so I can cut another root.. then when I am sure the roots on top have forked, I can just saw the packet. Dont know if it will work. Just started it. Do You think it will work?
I have been reading on roots a lot...so found out the cut root develops new roots at the cut surface...otherwise if it is not cut in normal circumstances, not bonsai pot or soil, it will have hair/feeding roots at the end of the long transporting roots. So if those small roots are at the end of the long roots, at the bottom of the packet...how do I reduce them... I dont have much bonsai yet in bonsai pots (only 2 easy ones)...They are all being trained in larger containers...but had reasonable good results from digging yamadori...from 100...maybe 90 survived and are doing well. But I guess, those must have been easy ones to transplant.
I AM THE ONLY ONE DOING BONSAI IN ZAMBIA....NO ONE TO SHOW ME ANYTHING...so it is hard. I have seen everything there is to see on the net...bought books too...but some of this things you need to see to understand. Can You please explain for a dummy step by step what I should do? Sorry to trouble you.
Do I reduce some of the foliage mass on top? 
The tree I want to lift is beautiful, and if I kill it I shall be really upset.
Another option I was thinking about is to groundlayer  it on top...and then shift to bonsai pot...but I shall loose what ever nebari is there that way.