Yamadori Area

VIDEO: SandevBonsai Yamadori series - collecting from the wild, rocky terrain I...

2011-02-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

VIDEO: SandevBonsai Yamadori series - collecting on rocky terrain.wmv

2011-02-06T11:54:00.000-08:00

As I am often asked by e-mail about various aspects of collecting yamadori, especially relating to species that we usually collect...like Carpinus orientalis or Pinus mugho, I decided that I will make a video series that will show some basic examples of collecting those species in native habitat. To some people that are already familiar with collecting in similar terrains this will be of no use. But, I am sure that at least some people will find this informative. Besides just collecting yamadori, I've tried to make these videos interesting and, sometimes...even funny. You will forgive me the funny and foolish part...after all, this is only my spare time and I am trying to spend it in a good mood with my friends... More videos will be recorded as we will go on yamadori hunting trips during the year.
Hope someone will find this useful
Thanks to my dear wife for recording everything :)

Carpinus orientalis 2010/6 Big Fish

2010-02-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

This is Carpinus "Big Fish". My new catch.
Here you can see the tree in the ground on the collection site.
There's not much to be seen but, you can notice big radial branching all around the trunk. Future Hokidachi...some would say?!
Let's see what lays under the ground surface.

This is a big bush.. three meters high.

If you want to get closer, first you have to cut all branches short.

The tree in my garden.

"Face for scale"

Another one. This is a big tree.

From the side.

And finally in the pot.

Carpinus orientalis 2010/4

2010-01-29T12:13:00.001-08:00

This is a new one. The dig was laborious...in pure stone. Almost. My dear Mario...without your 120 kg and lot of good will...that would be much harder. Thanks.

Very nice terrain for digging trees, don't you think?

What now?

The monster with a new owner. Which one is The Monster??? :)

A few possible angulations and positions in the pot. In a couple of years time.

This is a tiny one :)

Back side, maybe?

Carpinus orientalis 2010/3

2010-01-23T11:33:00.001-08:00

Traveling to the coast, this is type of scenery you can expect. Saturday, early morning. We hit the road once again. Our early collecting season is taken very seriously.

Mario and Chajko...in white car in front of us.

Seaside collecting location...Carpinus orientalis habitat. Typical.

Carpinus orientalis habitat.

And again.

One new catch. Middle size Carpinus in the ground with some branches already cut.

Nice branching of primary branches makes a very good structure for future developement.

Of course, some branches and part of the trunk has to be shortened in the future.

Beautiful little one...again, nice branching, good nebari.

Carpinus orientalis 2010/2

2010-01-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

And this is The Real Beast...authentic animal.

Tree in the wild.

Notice rocks and boulders around.

First measure

Two hours later....there are no rocks near the tree any more :).

Now it is possible to start removing the tree from the ground.

"12" is working all the time. I believe that this tree will be impossible to collect without help of "12" puller. That is because, after all surface roots were cut (at least all that was accessible), the tree was motionless, not an inch!!!

My friend Chajko with the beast halfly extracted from the ground.

Crater.

Lunch break.

The Beast and his new home.

First picture from the possible back side.

Trunk width...50 cm. Nebari spread...80 cm. On these final pictures,, nebari and part of the trunk are covered with soil.

Possible front.

Carpinus orientalis 2010/1

2010-01-16T04:52:00.001-08:00

Collecting season has started this year a week or two early. At the seaside we have already mild temperatures, around 8 to 10 Celsius. These are few first yamadori Carpinus orientalises of year 2010.

The first one is a wonderful little tree, 30-40cm high with nebari 10-12cm wide. Branch pattern is nicely positioned.
The tree as it was found.

This year we have new tool for digging trees. This is a sort of power lifter (or power puller) with capacity up to 1500 kg of pulling strenght. It's a fantastic tool with enormous practical effect. While digging trees, especially in this type of terrain where you can find lot of rocks and stones, in one moment you cannot reach all the roots that are positioned under the root ball. This is the critical moment where the tree has to be "broken" from the ground, teared out. Some very large trees are extremely difficult to break. Even two or three men cannot do it. At least Mario, Chajko and I, we cannot brake such a strong tree. And three of us together have almost 300kg of body mass. So in that situations, this type of 1500 kilos power puller is fantastic help. Mario named it "12", as it has strenght of 12 men. And he was right.

Sometimes, as in this particular situation, the tree growes over the rock face. "12" extracted the tree together with the rock from the ground after the initial digging around the tree and cutting the important nebari roots. Of course, you have to be careful not to break important roots or whole tree!

You can see the tree sitting on the rock.

You have to have strong tree or a rock nearby to secure distal end of pulling rope. These ropes are ropes for pulling cars. They have hooks already attached to their ends.

Little beautiful Carpinus orientalis in temporary pot.

FS :)

End of season 2009.

2009-10-25T12:20:00.000-07:00

My dear friends...this probably closes 2009 season of collecting. It is already very cold in high mountains and the winds are sometimes severe. But, it has been enough. This season has yielded many good and a few very good starter trees for bonsai. From now on, during the winter, there will be some wireing and drilling and some very basic styling of new material that has matured for the next step. And with that, cold winter months will pass. There will be no more talk of collecting 'till February when comes the time for The King between all deciduous trees...his majesty Carpinus orientalis. Even now I can hardly wait.Than we will have more extreeme yamadori collecting trips in rocky areas where this beautiful beasts grow.
S

Metuselah potted

2009-10-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

Well, this is Metuselah in the pot. This is my biggest tree, and, I think, it's little too big. But, what does it mean "too big"? Now it measures cca 140cm from base to the top of the green mass. It is obviously a kind of literati cascading tree. This curve on the first picture is a cascading part. Probably, in the future, there will not be any green higher than that curve. On the contrary, the tree will cascade back towards the ground and future crown can be positioned in the middle part of the trunk, or, at highest, in the upper third. That will result with the tree 80 centimeters high, or even less. Only high positioned curve will be at the highest point. The bark on the curve is fantastic and old, so that can be very interesting attention spot. Much shari on this tree is obligatory in final design because, it has already rotten core and many stubs left from cutting dead branches.
Nebari is almost 50-60 cm wide. The tree was collected with good root system and I'm not too affraid if Metu will survive.
I believe this tree is old.

Mugo "Metuselah"

2009-10-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hm, another collecting trip. This was a hard one. My body is broken, so was my yamadori soul in one moment. Extremely difficult terrain, steep rock faces, dense forest, huge mugo trees...
Cold, wet and windy morning, fog on the top of the mountain lingered all day...

Huge, old and weather beaten Picea trees

Chajko in the mist.

And this is area where Mugo lives, high in the mountains on rocky slopes, in the early morning mist...

This peak is our destination for today.

Chajko with mugo trees

And, my hunt for this time was very old and rotten mugo. This one is really a bit too big, but...as It was already dug out, we have to carry it to the car. And that was extremely difficult task.

Chajko's catch

In the next two days, I will put fotos of Metuselah planted in temporary pot in my garden.

The biggest problem... transportation of heavy pieces

2009-10-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

Some locations are not accessible by car, and some yamadori pieces are just too heavy to carry with a backpack tree carrier. But, if there is a relatively usable forest fire road, this kind of device is very helpful. It is always easier to pull or push something that is on wheels than to carry one hundred kilos on your back.
Backpack tree carrier.

Team equiped with wheelbarrows. Much easier!!!

Trees packed for transportation to the car.

Loaded with yamadori :). You cannot carry this on your back.

Pinus mugo "Broken One" and "Cascade"

2009-10-04T05:35:00.001-07:00

Two new Pinus mugo.
These are wonderful mosses on the high mountain beech trees.

First mugo, "Cascade". This can very easily be a garden tree, a tree that can be, for example, positioned over the pond. But, as it will be grown in the pot, can be clasified as bonsai, although a bit big and wide. This tree had something magical in it's appearance, and when we saw it on the mountain, love was immediate.
The tree has natural and beautiful shari. The coils and spirals are fantastic. I like the tree very much because it is very unusual. Something like cascading literati style of bonsai. It grew on the same cliff as Prometheus.

Spirals on the Cascade.

Shari on the Cascade.

And this is "Broken One". Well, it is not broken, but it looks like it is.

The trunk is very fat. To me, that's terribly ugly. But, the main volume of the trunk will be drilled and sharied, so, this will not exist in the future.

The collecting season will intensify in the next few weeks, and it will be ended November the first. Untill then, there will be more new coniferous material.