Black Wattle: October 2023 update and training

Been a while since I posted here…

/e dusts off the FTP logic…
/e makes some wordpress updates
/e formats a bunch of pictures.

Right. Last we looked at the black wattles, they were growing well in a shared planter that got a lot of wind. The result was very dynamic growth in a difficult to manage tangle.

So dynamic it’s falling out of the page.

The goal for this session is to get them separated and growing independently, with a bit of prep for a future bonsai.

Some close ups:

Alright, let’s get them out of the planter.

Yup, that soil is sufficiently compacted that it doesn’t need the plastic anymore.

This is going to take some work.

After a bunch of work, I have 4 grown plants and 2 seedlings tucked in there. Liberal use of cutting paste to reduce the overall size of the plants for the smaller pots.

Black Wattle: October 2023 update and training — Family shot.

This is a plastic training pot. Also, I seem to have left a fair amount of soil for this one.

This one needs more growth. And it’s probably still too tall for its girth.

I have two ideas for where these will go:

The big one will stay as a solo bonsai. It’s too big to match the others. The upper branches are probably too big and will need to come off, unless the cuts heal well enough I can just tilt. We’ll see.
The three middle ones will probably be a forest or clump planting. Next year I’ll cut them shorter and see how they grow.