Preparing some trees for an expo in a few weeks

In September there will be this year's Orchid Society of Mauritius's show.

Some of our bonsai members will be exposing their trees during there on the last day of that show.
I'm planning to display several trees and started prepare them two months beforehand.

Mame Cuphea
This little guy was entered in the last Ryuga 2013 online competition, together with a ficus and a miniature rose.
The link is here : Cuphea hyssopifolia false heather

At the end of last year it got badly hit by a heat wave. It loss its main leader and also several primary ramification structures.
Now I need to rebuild the whole ramification structures as well as rework the deadwoods.

Mame Ligustrum

This is a follow up on the ligustrum-003-progression
There has been some more growth in between and some wiring to reposition the various branches.
Right now its entering a new growth cycle and creating several buds. Some are already starting to develop.

If I leave it as it is, the stronger apical areas will get most of the growth and the inner structures will stay mostly underdevelopped.
So to encourage the tree to get new growth all over the place ( strong and weak areas ) I went ahead and fully defoliated the lil guy.
I'm also aiming to get a new set of smaller leaves for the September expo.
In a few weeks I'm expecting to get lots of smaller leaves all over the place.

I also went along a treated the deadwood with some lime sulphur.
In a few weeks later I'll treat it with some wood hardener.

Malpighia coccigera

Also did a quick cleanup on this singapore holly and added some rougth guy wires to reposition some branches.

ligustrum #003 progression

This is one of my first materials dating back to 2010.
The initial material is a ligustrum ( aka privet or troène ) weed that was supposed to be uprooted and burned.
I kept it to learn some bonsai techniques but I did not have great hope of turning this material into a bonsai.
I pretty much messed up lots of things while I was learning but adjusted as I gained experience and knowledge.
After 5 years progression and lots of mistakes on my part, its starting to take shape.

Basic actions taken :
1. Growing the trunk and developing the nebari : done
2. Creating the primary, secondary and tertiary branches : done
3. Creating the ramification : Currently in progress.

Growing the trunk.








Creating a jin.






Creating the primary, secondary and tertiary branches structures.






Adjusting trunk line.





Starting the ramification structures process.

Collecting a yamadori ligustrum

During the past weekend I wend over to Hem's place to collect a nice little privet that was grown in full ground for some years. Hem has been working the root ball for some week to cut the long lateral roots and force the tree to create finer feeder roots closer to the trunk.

Started off by preparing the bonsai substrate to place the tree into.
In this case :
Grid, perlite and "soilless soil" which is basically a mix of composted organic matter.

Sifting grit

Sifted grit

Perlite

Mixing together the sifted perlite and grit

Mixing together the sifted perlite and grit

Added the "soilless soil"

Added the "soilless soil"

Will be repotting the tree into a collander. Google up "Bonsai Collander" to get more info on this technique.
Basically the collander will prevent the roots from curling up like they do in a all closed up training pot.

Will be repotting the tree into a collander.

The little monster

The little monster - Removing the soil all around the root ball.

Uprooted

Uprooted

Repotting

Repotting

Added some wires to hold the tree in place.

Repotting all the way to the top

I'll have to wait for the roots to develop before attempting anything on this one.
That should take between 6~12 months.
In the meantime, no pruning. I might consider some wiring but I want to have a better look at the nebari and possible styling options before.

Some of the old cuts.
I find it interesting that the deadwood turns black instead of white.
The trunk is already pale and a white deadwood would not be enhanced... Maybe I'll go for pitch black deadwood on this one :)