Time for the Naked Truth by Rob Kempinski
Publicado: 13 Mar 2011 15:25
This time of year it's time to defoliate my Ficus getting rid of any large or winter damaged leaves. With the trees naked I can clean up the branch structure and grow a new crop of leaves. This year, I've had an apprentice - my 86 year old mother has been defoliating my ficus for me. She's been doing a great job.
A before shot of a large Ficus Microcarpa, the "Flying Buttress Ficus"
After an couple hours plucking leaves. The red lines are drinking straws slit to accommodate aerial roots that needed to be redirected. Once I get all the trees defoliated I'll go back and put some wire on some of the branches on this one and repot it in April or May. The blue pot is an older Japanese pot.
This is "The Kracken" another Ficus Microcarpa grown in a very convoluted branch style. Before defoliation with leggy branches. Also in a large modern Chinese pot of decent quality.
After removing leaves and starting to assess branch arrangement.
This is about half way done with the wiring. I will go back next week and finish wiring the top. I am trying to make it look like a sea monster so the branches are very contorted.
Meanwhile, Mom is still smiling and willing to do more defoliation so she is continuing to remove leaves.
Here is the "Trident Ficus", a Ficus Nerifolia. Repotted last year into this large (22 inch across) Chinese pot.
And it naked.
Next she tackled a bunch of shohin Ficus.
Here are a few after shots.
This is a shohin Willow Leaf (Ficus nerifolia) forest, well it started as a forest. The trees seem to have all grown together over the past 10 years and its probably one clump now. Japanese pot.
An overhead view of the shohin forest.
A Triple Trunk Willow Leaf Ficus. (This guy has no name. Anyone willing to make a suggestion.) Pot by Bryan Albright , UK.
It was started in 1990 by a bonsaist that tried to have a bonsai business but went bankrupt and sold all his stock to a regular garden nursery. 10 years later I found it in a plastic pot and bought it. It is now another 10 years later and the top and right side of the tree were grown by me.
Here it is naked.
This is semicascade from a cutting in a pot made by me.
This guy has been featured here in the past and its progress documented both on the old IBC and in my book. It originally was a cascade that had a reverse taper problem.
Looking nice with new leaves starting to pop. Pot by Bill at Horse Creek Pottery.
Mom has done a bunch more but I haven't photographed them all. She has about 30 more to go. Here's one bench showing some progress.
Mom plucked the leaves. The pot is the BCI commemorative pot from the World Convention in Washington DC.
_________________
Regards,
Rob aka Bonsai Golfer
Check out my blog http://blogs.knowledgeofbonsai.org/rob_kempinski/
A before shot of a large Ficus Microcarpa, the "Flying Buttress Ficus"
After an couple hours plucking leaves. The red lines are drinking straws slit to accommodate aerial roots that needed to be redirected. Once I get all the trees defoliated I'll go back and put some wire on some of the branches on this one and repot it in April or May. The blue pot is an older Japanese pot.
This is "The Kracken" another Ficus Microcarpa grown in a very convoluted branch style. Before defoliation with leggy branches. Also in a large modern Chinese pot of decent quality.
After removing leaves and starting to assess branch arrangement.
This is about half way done with the wiring. I will go back next week and finish wiring the top. I am trying to make it look like a sea monster so the branches are very contorted.
Meanwhile, Mom is still smiling and willing to do more defoliation so she is continuing to remove leaves.
Here is the "Trident Ficus", a Ficus Nerifolia. Repotted last year into this large (22 inch across) Chinese pot.
And it naked.
Next she tackled a bunch of shohin Ficus.
Here are a few after shots.
This is a shohin Willow Leaf (Ficus nerifolia) forest, well it started as a forest. The trees seem to have all grown together over the past 10 years and its probably one clump now. Japanese pot.
An overhead view of the shohin forest.
A Triple Trunk Willow Leaf Ficus. (This guy has no name. Anyone willing to make a suggestion.) Pot by Bryan Albright , UK.
It was started in 1990 by a bonsaist that tried to have a bonsai business but went bankrupt and sold all his stock to a regular garden nursery. 10 years later I found it in a plastic pot and bought it. It is now another 10 years later and the top and right side of the tree were grown by me.
Here it is naked.
This is semicascade from a cutting in a pot made by me.
This guy has been featured here in the past and its progress documented both on the old IBC and in my book. It originally was a cascade that had a reverse taper problem.
Looking nice with new leaves starting to pop. Pot by Bill at Horse Creek Pottery.
Mom has done a bunch more but I haven't photographed them all. She has about 30 more to go. Here's one bench showing some progress.
Mom plucked the leaves. The pot is the BCI commemorative pot from the World Convention in Washington DC.
_________________
Regards,
Rob aka Bonsai Golfer
Check out my blog http://blogs.knowledgeofbonsai.org/rob_kempinski/
