Bonsai Study Group Forum
General Category => Deciduous Bonsai Discussion => Topic started by: meushi on February 10, 2011, 02:09 PM
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This tree was acquired as a pencil-thick young plant 3 years ago and planted in the current grow box last weekend as the leaves were unfolding. It was originally selected for its branch placement, with the aim of doing a formal broom. The nebari will possibly need one or two root grafts at the next repot, but it is now already radial with all surface roots coming out at the same level. The two low branches are there to help fatten the base and will be removed later.
The branches were chopped back to 2 nodes at the monthly club meeting (Monday) and I am now considering chopping them back to 1 node to get a better ramification at the target canopy size. I am aiming for a small shohin at about 8" tall.
This is the tree at the start of the meeting:
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Excellent. What are the characteristics of 'mapi-no-machihime'? Is this a graft?
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If I understood correctly, it is a sport of kyohime. The leaves reduce really well, I got them down to 0.2" last season with very tight internodes. They also have very showy colors all through the year: light green with a red edge in spring, emerald green in summer and yellow/orange/red in fall.
As far as I can tell, this isn't grafted which gives me great hopes for the 20+ cuttings I made this year.
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Wow. That is one BIG grow box for that tree...
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After removing 2/3 of the existing root ball, this was the smallest box that could fit... most of the feeder roots are currently within 1" of the side walls. Once I get a better root ramification, the long roots will get cut back and the tree will be able to move into progressively smaller boxes... probably twice in the next 24 months. There's no hurry to get it in a bonsai pot yet, as I am not planning to bring the tree in an exhibition in the next 5 years.