Fellow enthusiasts, today I am sharing progress on my Curly Willow tree. It is in development to become a bonsai tree.

In this article I will detail the replanting phase last Autumn when I was checking on the health of the roots, and also show its growth in the following early Spring.

Historical Information

ID: 0014
Nickname: Medusa
Type: Curly Willow
Age: 8 years
Grown: cutting
Last repotting: October 16, 2021 (prior: November 9, 2018)
Wired: March 9, 2022 (prior: Summer 2019)

Replanting

October 16, 2021 was replanting day.

The tree had not been repotted in a few years, and I was uncertain how healthy the tree was in its current soil.

Barely root bound at all.

When I see roots like this, it sort of feels like taking the bread out of the oven a bit too early. After two or three years in this pot, I was expecting more growth out of the roots.

Yet still, I see some clues that suggest I can take a bit of action. Look at how much soil is virtually rootless.

Nearly all the healthy roots are on the very base. Soil pockets are spilling out between the voids in the roots.

Knowing that there are delicate feeder roots under the top layer of the soil I do not want to disturb, and the tree is already planted at the preferred level, I decide to only prune out the bottom roots. Hopefully this will stimulate more roots to form up above, or cause the pruned roots to divide out.

Inside the planter I mounded up some bonsai soil (pine bark, akadama, lava rock, pumice) and added a couple things I've never used before with my trees.

Moss
Charcoal

I've heard stories of people in tropical areas using moss to stimulate root repair. Willow especially loves a wet soil in Summer, and so I am using the moss to help aid in water retention. In Winter, I think the moss will help insulate the roots against wind and ice.

Charcoal acts as an organic medium to store nutrients. One thing I am always concerned about is whether or not my trees are getting enough fertilizer, or too much. In these rocky bonsai soil mixes, I think much of the nutrients are simply being washed out, or becoming encrusted in salts. Maybe the charcoal will help to balance the soil to keep the tree better nourished.

Replant Result

After replanting, I chose not to use wires to hold the tree into the pot. The main root ball, I mostly left intact, yet the roots seemed very thin.

To better stabilize the tree, I used three heavy rocks to flatten the roots into the soil. This will help hold the tree upright until it firms up on its own into the soil.

Warmer air and moisture also forms easily at the base of large rocks, so this will also help the tree roots to stay moisturized through winter.

First New Growth

On March 9, 2022, I witnessed the first signs of regrowth in Spring.

Much of the tree is still dormant.

Willow tends to sacrifice many branches each year which die off, while packing in growth energy into the healthiest greenwood.

It is easier to pick out which branches are alive, and which ones are dead. The really thin bits of dead wood I snapped off with my fingers. Some of the thick dead branches had prune marks, so I snapped the ends off to have a more natural finish.

Using some old wire, I decided to twist the lowest branches a bit to angle them outward (normally branches grow straight up).

More Growth Progress

March 31, 2022

Things are getting a bit more exciting. All that patience in Winter, waiting for my tree to come back to life has paid off.

The older branches are forming buds very close together. Shorter internodes are very ideal, as it encourages a bonsai tree to develop tightly packed branching structures.

Today

April 9, 2022

Some detail wires were added to the longest new branch shoots.

By twisting the top branch to match the spiraling direction of the lower branches, the tree is developing a clear character. The tornado action of the branches is meant to resemble the snakelike hair of the gorgon Medusa.

Along the branch bends I made, I angled the tallest shoots to aim outward. Together, these will become fans of branches to create a pad of leaves. The result will be a tree that appears more thickly packed with bushy leaves, rather than a broom of upward straggly shoots with leaves on top.

Conclusion

From experience I know that trimming the shoots short does not promote a whole lot of branch divisions, but it does strengthen the mother branch. Short stems simply delays the re-lengthening of each stem, and they often die in Winter.

By opening spreading shoots out into lateral direction, the Willow tree is much more effective at forming branch divisions. It always wants to promote new buds that are closest to the light.

Thank you for reading my update article on this little tree. It's starting to become a much more old tree, isn't it? Something tells me this tree might put on a whole bunch of growth this year.

Photos in this post are all #originalworks by Hive account@creativetruth, unless stated otherwise.