Stringing it up

I stuck a guide string on the bonsai to try to start it going on a curve, should be done in ten years or so lol

here's an updated picture May 5th, has some growth

Second Bonsai Project

I volunteered to join Petersan on his bonsai project. Instead of a pre-made bonsai I will be using a sapling and carving it up, three reasons for this 1. I have no clue where to get a bonsai 2. it makes for two different approaches to grow a bonsai 3. it means we have both a deciduous and coniferous tree going to compare. I went to a couple of garden centers and chose my victim carefully, I settled on a Chamaecyparis pisifera(Japanese False Cypress) of the type 'Boulevard' from Walmart for $7(£3.50). It was a wise choice because it turns out they make these into bonsai!

Impatiently I ripped it out of it's home and started hacking at it, turns out these things have a ton of roots that I mostly chopped off, besides not knowing where to find a bonsai I also had no clue where to find a bonsai pot so an old plastic dish had to do. The following picture shows the repotted tree minus much of it's roots and foliage

Cute but definitely not the level of tree mayhem I was imagining. I abandoned all sense of caring about this tree's well being and started really hacking away at it MOUHAHA! In two sessions I carved away most of it, then cleaned it up fairly neatly, this thing is either going to be a bonsai or die a horrible death soon.

One more picture, I made a concept in photoshop of how I'd like to train it but it will have to grow some before I start hacking at it again

Reference Shots 28/04

OK I'm starting a weekly reference shots post so that I can refer back and see if I'm killing the tree or helping it grow. 

Expect more dull pics in the future.

New growth

In the midst of the death and felling of leafs from the bonsai, I've noticed new growth! I've not killed it like I was thinking Hurrah! over a week and I've not killed it... C'mon!!!

Misting

Ok it's been a couple of days since I originally posted about my Bonsai, well since then, I've trimmed some of the dead branches off the tree, I've also started a practice of misting the foliage when I get up in the morning... the Bonsai currently looks like this :-

The Butchered Bonsai

Ok, I'm trying to get a little more creative and a little more responsible in my old(er) age and as such when I saw a Bonsai on sale for £4 ($8ish USD)I thought to myself 'ok that will take some looking after' thus creating some responsibility for myself.

So I purchased it, and took it home... My first task was to try and identify what genus the Bonsai was from. Through l33t g00g1e 5ki11z I decided it was a Chinese Elm.

I then tasked myself with what I needed to do to make sure this tree survives (I'm a plant killer I can't keep Cacti I'm that bad!) as it is a sad little Bonsai, it hadn't been well grown in the farm, to maintain the size the main trunk had been chopped about 2 inches above the soil which any true Bonsai enthusiast would see as mistreatment of the tr4ee (tbh I do too but I didn't have 12 years to grow my own at this size for the same price).

Looking into the first steps of getting a Bonsai home, the general consensus was to re-pot water and put in a generally shady locale. Well that was achievable so I got some Bonsai compost (I also picked up some snips and some Bonsai nutrients) and set about re-potting the tree.


So here it is after repotting :D