http://dj-bonsai.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/another-itoigawa-imported-material.html
Dec 2013
Here was the first thinning and spreading out of branches in March 2014 to allow maximum light in, plus a sorting of roots to get rid of that shitty Akadama which the roots were welded in to. Surprisingly, we lost over 60% of the roots due to that horrible shit, but it bounced back fine.
March 2014
2015 - summer: Literati starting to take shape. I think that lower right branch could eventually go, but easy does it. Need to start to compact that foliage but don't want to stress the tree too much with pinching. Let's let it adjust to losing that big branch(shown here stripped back)
Summer 2015
Here's where I have a gap in the photo series, but I basically stripped back the bark from under the removed branch and followed it all the way down to the base in a spiral....
Fast forward to June 2016:
Time to widen those deadwood spirals, and apply limesulphur.
(note the small amount of juvenile foliage on that lower branch, just on one side. I think we've got away with it here, we did a lot of work to this tree over the last 2.5 years)
Summer 2016
Note that I haven't wired up the foliage at all. Itoigawas are easy to style once the leg work is done, so for now I'm just getting those live veins as separate from the deadwood as possible and digging into the deadwood to give it some character.
Pulling back the live veins this much might result in a little dieback in the foliage, but tbh, I'm not too worried, there isn't really a branch on it that I don't mind losing, as it has so many options to choose from...
Going to leave it to grow pretty much freely for the rest of the year, to let those live veins settle again. I'll keep an eye on any long extensions to ensure it stays fairly compact, and feed with naruko / seaweed extract. It's getting quite close now, which means I can start thinking about a pot for next spring....
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