Saturday, May 11, 2013

Figus Retusa #2 Part two

Dear All
Yesterday I started to work on the Figus Retusa bonsai I bought a couple of days ago over the internet from a Danish Bonsai Nursery. As I wrote earlier, I like these indoor trees as you can enjoy them all year and is not hidden away during winter like the outdoor trees.

When I got the tree I could see it was very healthy and I could start working on it straight away. It is very important that the material that you work on is in a good condition to respond positively to the different techniques applied to the tree. 
Below I have posted pictures of the work:

The healthy tree as I bought it. 

360 degrees spin

360 degrees spin

360 degrees spin

360 degrees spin

360 degrees spin

360 degrees spin

360 degrees spin

In order to work properly on the tree I decided to defoliate it to better see the branch structure

I cut off all the leaves but left the stem and a small part of each leaf.
Within the next couple of weeks new buds will appear all over the tree.
The stem form the cut of leaves will fall off when the new buds starts to show
Please note that you should ONLY do this procedure to a very healthy tree.

After defoliating the entire tree the branch structure is easy to overview
 and shaping of the branches can start.

I started to trim and wire the lowest right branch. I wired the branch to create the base for the future pads.
The wiring is not done perfect but do not have to be in my opinion for now.
The tree are still in its early training state and the wire needs to come off soon
again as the new buds\shoots will thicken the branches quickly.

I took a photo with a white sheet of paper below to better see the branch spread.
I do actually not think I will keep this lowest branch in the final design of this tree.

Lowest right branch wired and placed.
I also decided to cut of the branch in the middle of the trunk to open up the tree more.
The branch above will be pulled downwards.

The lowest branch to the left was wired.
The branch was slightly too low so I decided to use a  guy wire to pull it  a bit upwards.
I inserted a screw in the trunk at a higher place and pulled the branch up with a wire.
It might be a bit difficult to see in the photo.

Tree completely wired. The top needs to be a bit smaller.
The tree will also go in a better pot - slightly smaller and a different colour.
And by seeing this picture I for sure think the lowest right branch have to go.

I will do a follow up in a couple of weeks when the buds are starting to appear.

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