LARCH STORY 2000-2009

Hi bonsai lovers

This is the story of an old larch collected in the Swiss Alps in 2000. 2 years after collecting most of the branches died off - maybe the roots were not strong enough or the tree didn’t like my treatment.
However, I changed the soil and placed the larch in a shaded position protected from the wind so the tree could recover.
2 month ago I did the basic styling. Here are the pictures.

Greetings from Switzerland
Peter

01 acclimatization


02 bending the mainbranch


03


04


05


06 larch 2001


07 trunk


08 dead branches


09 new shoots 2005


10 May 2007


11 new foliage

12 October 2007


13 dead branches transformed into jins


14 ready for wiring


15 March 2009


16 basic styling


17 May 2009

Great tree! I also love the pot i think in compliments the tree very well.

very beautiful transformation !

Blooming heck Peter, that's a stunner. There must be many viewers like myself who had not picked up on the sheer size of this tree - until your pic from 12 October when you blew my mind away with the scale of the thing when viewed against yourself. It is truly gobsmacking! I suppose I should have picked up the clue from the greenery growing in the soil. Were those wild strawberries?

Many thanks for the post and pics. You have inspired me as to what to do with a couple of collected large larches of my own.

Fiona

Lovely progression shots Peter, thanks for posting. As Fiona says it's a stunning Larch.

Peter, thanks for the step by step on this WONDERFUL tree. I really appreciate the picture with you in it, it gives the true scale and size of this Larch.
In the States our Larches are wonderful but I have seen few (yes there are some) that are of this size.

Jay

Fantastic Peter. I have Larch envy. I tried one this year myself and did not fair so well.
Three questions for you..........

You mentioned changing your soil; what did you change to?
What is the climate where you are? I'm in zone 5 and have had some tell me its too warm here.
What do you use for fertilizer?

Thanks for sharing, beautiful work.

Hi Peter,

As usual... Fantastic.

Are you in Switzerland right noe?

Budi

Amazing tree. Thanks for sharing the progress!

Hi all, thanks for your feedbacks.

Fione – your’re right – those were wild strawberries, but unfortunately not enough to make sweetmeats.

Chappy –after collecting for all my yamadoris I use the soil mix shown in the next pics: 50 % akadama / 20 % mold / 20 % blaehton (fired clay, same like we use in hydroculture) / 10 % Perlit.
I collected this larch on the timber-line in 2000m over sea level. I am in the temperate clima : Cold winters – warm/hot summers.
I don’t use a special bonsai-fertilizer like Biogold. I buy what I can get in each gardencenter – normal fertilizer for conifers.

Budi – I’m in Switzerland and I’ll be back in Bali next October.

Peter

my soil mix for yamadoris during acclimatization