My largest Pemphis

A very impressive tree. I wish to have such a material and to be able to work on a so wonderful material.

Hi IBC,

The advice I gave to Jolz as I have said earlier is a bit drastic, I told him that his tree needs a total rework or what we call in our region "back to zero" meaning you have to cut off all the branches to give way for the new branches to grow properly.This tree is ten years old.

With the size of the trunk, the first branch should atleast be 2"dia., the second be 1 3/4" etc. If you look closely, you will note that the largest branch is no more than 3/4" and the branches suporting the folliage supposedly from the first branch comes from somewhere on top.

Need your comments
ka pabling

So, cut them all.

And start again.

law wrote:So, cut them all.

And start again.

Yes and wait 6 years or more to attain the desired thickness of the branches. It will be like planting a new material wait for the branches to come out,this time, choose the ones that you need, the advantage of this tree is that it is already established.

Best regards
ka pabling

Good morning IBC,

Although Jolz already agreed with my suggestion, I still got the opinion of some of my friends who know pemphis and the verdict was unanimous,

Creating a good bonsai is like building a house , you should have a good foundation. With this tree, Jolz who admits that he was new in bonsai when he started it did not yet have the know how .Although the verdict on the tree will mean that the ten years he devoted on it will go to waste, he was more than glad to accept it. He said he does not mind waiting another 5 0r 6 years .

I will try to give a step by step detail on how to regrow this tree next time.

best regards
ka pabling

Good morning IBC,

Jolz is still busy with his work abroad he will be back on the first week of August and as we agreed, in the mean time I will take over this thread.

Here is the proceedure I am going to suggest to Jolz, he will have the final say on what to do.

1, defoliate the tree to have a better view of the existing branches, determine if you can save or use any of the branches, see if you can use any of the existing branches as deadwood.

2, As the late John Naka once said." if you encounter a problematic branch, just cut it off, and if you still have a problem afterwards, then you really do have a problem!" so cut all the unnecessary branches, be sure to apply cut sealer to all the wounds to avoid infection.
TO BE CONTINUED

Its a rainy morning here and my trees seems to be "happy" you cannot do wiring job since the trees are all wet so Id better continue with Jolz tree, but first let me show you pics of my trees enjoying the rain.

3, After cutting the problematic branches, you may now repossition the trunk if you wish, this is now the time for you to check the roots and the medium you used. If this tree is in training for ten years now, probably it must be rootbound and needs root prunning. The soil used should be checked and if possible,for this size of trunk use 1/2 or 3/4 inch vulcanic cynder so the roots could breath well. or perhaps since in your area,crushed seashells is available you may use this.
In repossitioning the tree, use as your guide the virts of Dorothy , and the sketches of law which are quite different or see if there are other alternatives.
TO BE CONTINUED

The sketch of cram is similar to that of dorothys virt but there are nice features in the sketch of cram so, it would be wise to consider it.

After the trunk is re positioned then its waiting time! wait for the buds to come out,
Fertilize the tree every two days with organic fertilizer and spray with seawater daily anyway its available in your area.

Good luck and best wishess
ka pabling

Ka pabling,
I fully agreed to all of the suggestions you stated. I'm now eager to do the remake (coming soon in theaters: My largest Phempis Part 2) right now.... but unfortunately I'll still be on duty for another 17 days here abroad. See you next month.

Hi Jolz,

Thanks for your confidence.

ka pabling

Hey guys, so many people are watching this thread but nobody wants to comment, I wonder why? I might as well; continue with my suggestions.
The time for spraying seawater is when there are leaves already, in the meantime you can use it to water the trunk alternately with fresh water, slowly reducing the volume of seawater and increasing fresh water.In its natural habitat, pemphis is splashed with seawater 24/7, When the growth of the
branches are about 5 inches, thats the time for you to spray seawater to the leaves.
When the leaves are about 6 or 7 inches, this will be the time for you to decide which of the branches you are going to retain, and cut those that you dont need to induce better growth for the branches you have chosen. It is good practice to leave an extra branch or two near your chosen branch, I call it the insurance branch.,if something happens to your chosen branch, then you will have a spare.

TO BE CONTINUED

The tips of the chossen branches should never be cut , let them grow wild ,when they become too long and occupy too much space, make a tripod where you can hang the branches,in the meantime you may start training the secondary, tertiary, etc. branches untill the point where the branches are needed.all secondary branches after that should be removed leaving just about 8 or more inches of leaves in the tip. wait till you achieve the desired thicknes of the branches before cutting of the excess.

For this trunk, I suggest that the first branch should atleast be 2" in diameter next will be 1 3/4 then 1 1/2 etc. you will normally be cutting the excess from the top branches since they will be first to achieve the desired thickness and normally it will be the first branch that will be cut last.

In the meantime, you should enjoy every step of this journey, this is what BONSAI is all about.

Best wishes and good luck
ka pabling

Hi IBC

These suggestions are not exclusive to pemphis acidula, it could be used to many other bonsai materials except the spraying of seawater

ka pabling

Good day everyone,
Lots of rain here today in the Philippines, still I managed to do some initial work on the Phempis that I posted over a month ago. Thanks to the advises gathered from friends here in IBC, special mention to Ka Pabling, Dorothy, Robert Stevens and Cram. These are the people I can blame later once the experiment I've done don't succeed. In this post, I'm showing the picture a month ago before the initial remake, followed by the others during and after the surgery. I removed more than 10 branches as per the comments of the people here. I'll wait for some time for the branches to grow bigger, still a lot of things to do and hopefully I will arrive to the virt that Dorothy and Cram has sent.

Regards,
Jolz

That is really an amazing tree Jolz...it is very rare now to get that kind of material.

so, Plllllllease proceed with caution my friend. Good luck. Be sure you'll be guided 'til the "end" or create a master plan for the tree that you could use in the future,,,, just in case.

PS
...Its rainy season sir, don't rush it.

regards,
jun

Hi again Jolz.

I sent you a PM. please read it first.

regards,
jun

Wow, Very impressive tree... good thing you had the guts to cut such a huge amount of branches to be able to create a much better design... I'm sure this will turn out into a masterpiece in no time, considering all the inputs given by the great minds in this forum. All the best!

Regards,

Derick

hi jolz, im happy to see youre wonderfull tree here in IBC..the story and the journey of that particular tree of your's, that you shared several years ago in tropical bonsai <correct me if im wrong> was so inspirational and fascinating! youre so blessed to have that tree in your home! having a friends in ibc like ka pabling, and the rest of the members opinion here in IBC,is such a blessing! having ka pabling's guidance in rebuilding,restyling your tree is an oppurtunity every bonsai lovers in our country can only dream! probably youre in the right hand jolz cheers

you re right totomng...hard to imaging more detailed cultivation tips
i don t get pemphis here in france...so i just read ka pabling infos
but i really find fascinating to spray seawater on a tree!!

this post deserve more answers ..it s true ka papling

in fact...i think that the hidden trunkline on pictures is a problem to make some new ideas
maybe with new pictures more detailed?

anyway...i follow the post....waiting of jolz's work

cram wrote:you re right totomng...hard to imaging more detailed cultivation tips
i don t get pemphis here in france...so i just read ka pabling infos
but i really find fascinating to spray seawater on a tree!!

this post deserve more answers ..it s true ka papling

in fact...i think that the hidden trunkline on pictures is a problem to make some new ideas
maybe with new pictures more detailed?

anyway...i follow the post....waiting of jolz's work

hi cram,,, lets just hope they will share their work on their pemphis!

Ka Pabling, thank you for posting the detailed stages of the work on this amazing tree.
Very interesting thread.
Happy man Jolz having made the acquaintance of Ka Pabling!

cram wrote:... ... ...to make the tree fly

That's the idea! Bravo, Cram!



PS: may I suggest that the title of the thread is corrected "Phempis -> Pemphis" for accuracy reasons...

And as far as the salt water spray on Pemphis, I have also read this thread here on IBC

Is truly amazing. Is the tree transplant from forest?

Hi Jolz,
A lot of our members are anxious to see what happened to this tree, I suggest you post pictures at your previous post, My largest Pemphis,
regards
ka pabling