This will give an idea of what I'm starting with. It's 50" tall, 43" around the butress and about 24" thick at the base.

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[IMG]http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc344/tuyhoabob/bonsai2038.jpg[/IMG]

In the next few weeks it's gonna get some major work. Where the 'tan' bark is showing on the right side of the trunk is where I did some scrubbing to make sure the black would come off. It will look better with the bark it's natural color.

It will lose most of it's top in the process and some other things, the tree has two possible fronts, we'll see which is the best. Not bad for $45...and $5 delivery...no way this was coming home on the motorbike!!! At least 400 lbs.

Bob

Yes, I certainly would love to know how you "handled" this. Did this come from a nursery or that is what someone charged you to "have" the tree. I am no where near this level but in the future I do have a decent size farm to search and to have from. Any dig details would be awesome if you were part of it. Did that come out in one shot or had it been undercut for a while?

[IMG]http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc344/tuyhoabob/bonsai2038.jpg[/IMG]

That's the way ot looked in the nursery, it's been in that pot long enough to fill it with roots. Probably dug 5 or 6 years ago from somewhere in the boonies.

I'm going to make some dramatic changes in the near future. It needed fed so far I've just done that and continued cleaning the trunk to get the black residue scrubbed off.

Bob

After many hours of scrubbing and some pruning this shows the true color of the bark. I'm not touching the top because it's going to go in about a week...'big cuttings are us'. There's enough work to be done on the rest anyway.

http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc344/tuyhoabob/bonsai2043.jpg

Big hollow spot in the trunk, ideal for breeding mosquitos!! Gotta put a drain in that soon.

http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc344/tuyhoabob/bonsai2045.jpg

"A drain," now I've got to see that when it's done. At first glance it's just so big and gnarly but it really grows on you fast. Got a lot of gears turning for me. Now I need to start scouting trips to locate a piece like this just to start planning how to lift it. Good luck and keep us updated.

Hello,

The Bonsai photo looks so cute.

Ya, the big and gnarly was where it got me when I kept seeing it in the nursery. I made a few sketches between trips to get an idea of what it could look like, talked to the head worker a little about it but he didn't understand that the entire top is just wrong for the rest of the tree.

The only way it will look even remotely decent is like one of the 'hard luck' trees in the country here, the more dramatic the better. Draining the hollow spot is no problem, just a 1/4" hole drilled out of sight...going shopping for a die grinder or an angle grinder today.

And more wire. The foliage areas are far enough away from the areas which will be stripped and ground down that they can be wired and the training begun.

Oh, wow! What a score! Such a massive trunk - and although it is large, it seems quite contained. It would probably be perfect for a garden of similar macro bonsai. You can see the possibilities immediately, revealed by a bit of scrubbing.

Do you mean to remove all of the current foliage, in favor of foliage closer to the trunk? I imagine that these things sprout like crazy, as some of your past plants / pictures have shown. Please, take a photo here and there, if possible, so that we can go along the journey with you. I'd like to see the wiring especially. Thanks, Bob!

p.s.
What's the weather like right now?

Josh

Ya Josh, I was going to do the pic thing to show the project as it goes along. Photobucket has been a never ending problem for this.

I finished cleaning (for now) the trunk yesterday and did some pruning. I'm keeping the original lower branches because the placement is pretty good and will develop them in the future.

Going to grind out all of the stump and ugly branch cuts and turn a lot of the tree into shari's over the coming months.

The weather has been HOT!!! I'm doing most of the work in the early morning and late afternoon because of this.

Bob

After a lot more trunk scrubbing--foliage reduction and topping. Once I get my hands on a die grinder all of the big 'cuts' left will be hollowed out and some used to make shari's down the trunk. I am also going to hollow-out the big knot next to the internal 'pond' but leave live wood around it.

After spending 2 hours looking today I did find a nice little die-grinder but came up empty on bits. This ain't Kansas Toto...the work may be all hammer and chisel :((

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Foliage reduction, some wiring and a few hours of die-grinder action. I managed to finally find a new Mikita die-grinder and some bits here, the new growth has started to explode after a little feeding. For now I'm just pulling branches into position, major branch wiring will be in a few months.

The boys I bought the tree from are casting me (building me) a pot but I won't need it for a few months.

The two big knots near the apex are going to be cut through like a tunnel in the future.

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The first picture of your last post looks very much like a landscape of several trees clasped to a mountain. Especially the cascading on the left. Not sure if that is the look you are going for but that is what jumped out at me. The transformation is impressive.

Not really the look I'm going for because the foliage will be developed into larger pads/clouds in the future. But yes, that's the way it struck me too in this state. I want it to look like a distressed old tree you'd see here.

Right now, due to the heat, everything is about dormant...me too!!

The good thing about leaf size vs. tree size is that it easilly gives the illusion of being huge.

2 weeks, a die-grinder, hammer and chisel and pruning later. Between the food and heavily cutting the tree back it has put out some new foliage but not much. It's been sort of dormant in the 100+ degree heat like the rest of the trees.

It's beginning to show what I wanted to do as far as looking old. If I could find the right bits for the grinder the work would go a little faster but, they are not to be had anywhere around here. I'll just keep working with what I have ;))

Bob

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been trying to post a few pics but still having problems with good old PB dammit!!!

Most of the work is done, waiting for it's new home to be finished and the ground areas to dry enough to give it one coat of stain...no Lime Sulphur here. The pot is 5.5 X 3.5 cast and laid-up concrete, dark gray with darker Basalt chips then ground and polished with a matching stand. $60 USD, imagine buying something that big in the states?

3 images of the almost finished tree and (maybe) one of the same style pot.

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The second pic will pretty much be the front. Last one is the 'Bat Cave'. It's about 4.5 feet now and yes, it is a verigated variety of Jasmine.

Bob

Looks wonderful. At first it looked quite at home in that container but now with the major wood working it definitely could use something different. Can't wait to see it in the new "pot". Keep up the awesome work. This should make for a great before and after shot.

The big day will be tomorrow. Went to visit the boys at the nursery this morning and all they have to do is finish the polishing of the pot. Should be delivered in the morning sometime.

I've collected the rocks I need and he's bringing a bag of coconut husks (ground up) to add to the soil mix, I've got everything else after finding a place, much closer, to get very coarse sand. Pics to follow.

Bob

Hello "head cutter" in Vietnam. I am currenty in the Philippines and will be visiting Vietnam later this month and would like to meet you. Contact me at
sdsrieden@verizon.net
Thanks, hope we can meet one another.
Peace,
JR

Getting very close to the pot party, pic of the pot and the pond wall during the leak-test, had to plug a few leaks. Makes a very good beer cooler as well.
While not a great pot, I don't have many choices here, For $60 USD it will do...hate to think about what this would have cost in the good old US of A.
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Ok two hours of work to post 2 pics, that sucks in this aged forum. Anyway there they are, took longer than potting the tree. Two old guys grunting and getting it out of the pot and the finished/started project. I will let it rest for a few weeks then begin to finish the rest of its life. I did begin to change branch position but that's about it for now.

Bob

Bob, looks great. This has really helped me for future planning on large projects of my own. As in I didn't have a clue what kind of work was involved in developing a larger piece and you have provided the visual to the steps. This does raise a few questions.

How did you seal the rock to the pot to make a dry/wet side or is the entire bottom flooded?

What is the surface covering you have on the soil? It looks like plain old mulch but I don't think that is right.

It was pretty straight forward, used some collected stone and colored mortar, added just enough to get a close match with the stone color. Laid it up like a stone wall.

You're right, it's ground up coconut shell. It will disolve after a while but, for now, will hold the soil in place and provide some nourishment.

Bob

Wow this is truly awesome

Headcutter, you rule!!!!!!

-3rd yr

Great work, Bob!
You know how to go big, that's for sure!

Is one of those old guys you, or were you behind the camera?

Josh

Thanks guys but it isn't hard to do and there's still a lot of work needed. Once it's pretty well under way I have to re-position the tree a little. It was and still is a nice project as well as a nice welcome tree for the house. However, I hit what I wanted in the design so it's good enough for me. Ya, one of the old guys is me, I'm the one on the left. Good thing I don't want anymore kids!

Some others like it too. I've had a steady stream of 'lookers' staring in my gate since we were half way through the potting lol.

Bob