by George Buehler

Our first workshop of 2009 was an interesting one. Doug Philips conducted a workshop on developing large trunk tridents, using a modified approach grafting technique. Using Doug's technique, a 4 or 5 inch trunk can be obtained in a relatively short time. Doug showed us some pictures of trees that had trunk sizes of at least 4 inches that were obtained in 5 to 10 years using this method. True, there are some problems with this technique, as one would expect, but it appears that Doug has worked out a number of these problems since he started this technique about 10 years ago.

Many of you have read articles by Brent Walston (a number of them printed in this newsletter). On his web site there is an article titled "Developing Large Trunks for Bonsai". In this article, he states 'I usually spend between 5 and 10 years training my trees before they ever reach a bonsai pot. The best ones take 15 to 20 years. I often tell my students, I don't grow trees, I grow trunks. Next to the nebari development, trunk development takes the most time to achieve’. He also says, ‘For really large trunks, 3+ inches, planting in the ground is probably the fastest way to go, assuming good soil, water, and you don't live in the artic (sic) tundra. This works best for deciduous trees that back break buds easily, as do elms and maples. Often I don’t even think about growing branches until I have my 3 inch trunk.'

Now how does this relate to Doug's workshop? If I was 20 or 30 years younger, I guess I could plant a tree in the ground and wait for 10 to 15 years for the trunk to grow to a 3+ inch trunk. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to go back those 30 years, so I have to look at ways to get a thicker trunk in a shorter time. Of course I can go to a bonsai supplier and purchase a tree that has a large trunk and shell out $500 to $1000 or more. After seeing Doug’s technique, I can possibly get a larger trunk in a much shorter time.

Personally, I’m not too interested in getting a large trunk trident. However Doug, in his introductory remarks to the workshop, said that his procedure probably would work on Japanese maples, pomegranates, and several other varieties. Now my ears perked up when he said it would work for pomegranates since, as I have reported here in the past, I really like the pomegranate for some strange reason.

I currently have a different type of experiment going, on developing large trunk pomegranates, which I will someday report here. However, in this experiment I have already run into some problems that may end the experiment very soon. I plan on starting a new experiment to develop a large trunk pomegranate using Doug’s technique. I will report the progress in future articles.

In bonsai there aren’t a lot of new techniques out there. Doug’s is one of the few. It’s a shame that so few people took the workshop. It is a technique worth trying, whether it’s on tridents or something else. If you would like to try Doug’s technique, you can read his procedures in last month’s newsletter and in the article he published.

GLBS MEETING CALENDAR

I have started a new format for the GLBS calendar. I will try to give brief explanations of future meetings in this new format. As a meeting gets closer, I will highlight more details. Please mark your calendar with the dates of these meetings. Our president, Lee Squires, would like to try some different ideas and formats for our meetings in order to get more people involved. Remember, he ran for office on a promise of ‘change’. As an example, he has arranged to have the April workshop with Jason Sharman at a member’s home rather than in the confines of the library. Also, later this year, he plans to have a workshop at a restaurant – this should be an interesting meeting! So check the calendar listing and plan to attend the meeting.

GLBS DUES

It is now time to pay your 2009 membership dues. Membership dues are based on whether you get the electronic newsletter version ($30.00) or paper copy ($35.00).  Membership is for a family, so your spouse can attend any event at member prices. Please send your dues to Tom at the address on page 1.

One final note. Why don’t you plan on bringing a non-member to the next meeting to acquaint them to bonsai? Someday, they may want to become a member.