Autumn Works

It was high time for the next funky bonsai session:

Acer Palmatum Deshojo

Now in winter dress:

Fagus Sylvatica

Prunus Subhirtella Autumnalis

I have found this prunus in a local nursery. The only thing what caught my eye, was the massive nebari. The upper part is absolutely boring (it´s straight) - that´s why I´m looking forward to create the prospectice crown with only new shoots.

Well, it´s gonna be a long-term project but I´m expecting to get a small and powerful shohin out of it. Such projects are perfect opportunities to improve the horticultural skills.

I´ll keep you posted :)

The last yamadori hunt in 2009

Hi fellows,

here are some pictures of the trees, which my buddy Dave and I took at our last yamadori hunt in the middle of September.








I collected my tree just on the way back ;) ... I wasn´t in the mood to take again a heavy monster like the last time! I´ll certainly make a literaty out of this stick :)




I´ve collected these plants also in the alps and I´m looking forward to plant them into some nice accent pots. What could better match to an old yamadori than these plants ...








Especially Dave´s tree showed his real quality after potting! It´s amazing what an other potting-position may change!

The blog will be coded

Hi bonsai fellows,

due to some conversations with other bonsai guys in the comment lines, I decided to maintain this blog only for friends and regular readers. Yes, this is a personal "bonsai diary" and I´m not willing to share it with general public.

If you´re interested to follow this blog further, please send a short e-mail to igor.spasojevic@iplace.at


I´ll keep this blog exposed till Sunday, 4th of October.

Root Bale

Hi bonsai-fellows,

I have been asked in the last posting about the reason, why I was washing so many original soil out, by potting the huge mugo yamadori.

I´m not really washing a lot of soil out. Just the surface and the outer circle. An advantage is, that roots earn a chance to habituate in the new, modern substrate. I do never wash a root-bale completely out, because the whole essential mykhorizza would be destroyed.

I´m as well looking forward to remove the old substrate more and more by years. If you don´t do it like this, you run into danger that some day the roots are gonna start to rot.

For a better comprehension:

On that area where I collect pines, I´m lucky to find trees with a very compact root system. The soil on that spot is a soft humus and it´s frequently humid. These trees are low on having tap roots! The ground is made up of stones and the surface is a humus level not higher than 25 cm!!! So, a spade, a saw and garden shears are quite enough to collect a tree.

PLEASE DON´T MISUNDERSTAND ME NOW! I´m absolutely not bragging about this, but some raised a question and I´m willing to clear this!


Here are some pic´s of such pines with flat root bales:








However, in the end it´s the tree who makes the decision if he´s willing to survive or not. With or without a good root bale ....

Funky Yamadori Session

I decided to go and collect the next pine, but this time with my friend Harry. Harry and I got to know each other on a workshop at Pius Potter AG in Boswil, Switzerland. It´s already the 2nd yamadori hunt together - and it´s groovy!




That´s how my newest pine looked, before we started with digging.




After we took the pine out, Harry made everything tidy and planted a young pine back ... as a tribute. The next working-step was probably the hardest ==> bringing this heavy piece to the car! We had to make many pauses during this very exhausting drag towards the car and we were sweating as hell. THANK YOU, MATE!!!








The day was not only successful for me :)








The bigger the tree, as much more time you need for cleaning the root-bale and potting ... So I have finished at nightfall.








Today in the morning I continued the work with cleaning the trunk from rotted parts: