Hey Guys

We have just moved into a new home and a geraldton wax was standing there. The tree looks like its a couple of years old. 4 fat stumps was left on the tree and they will become jin's as soon as its spring again. I don't have a dead set plan for the tree yet. A couple of thoughts has crossed my mind.

Is there any Jin gurus on there that can help me with tackling big jin's ???

The trunk has a flaky character to it, but the coolest part is that you can see the fat veins flowing through the tree.

i would seriously consider doing major reduction and some training with it in the ground it looks to be quite a large specimen and will have a very large root structure. reducing the foiliage will help when trying to form a movable rootball when it is potted after a couple/3 years

manofthetrees wrote: i would seriously consider doing major reduction and some training with it in the ground it looks to be quite a large specimen and will have a very large root structure. reducing the foiliage will help when trying to form a movable rootball when it is potted after a couple/3 years

Agreed. The yins are the last of your challenges with this tree. Prepare the tree for 2 years to get it to move (Reduction of foliage, and creating your roots close to the trunk). Then move to a container, and just let is grow in the container for a full year. Then you can start thinking about the styling, and therefor the Yin.

The reason why I would not do anything on deadwood now: This is a major transplant, with serious risk of large parts of the tree dying, and the possibility of the tree breaking bud on other places. Any design you do not might be impossible in 3 years.

I used to have tons of info about removing trees in the wild and garden. But I don't have that anymore and memory kinda serves.

If any 1 of you could be so kind as to post a link.


The tree seems old and I haven't had time yet to check how far down the roots start. All I know is that its standing almost against a brick wall.

This is prob gonna be a mission. LoL

using a flat long shovel make a ring around the tree as deep as you can this will sever any surface roots that have grown far from the trunk .the tree will not be shockes so much being still in the ground but it will begin to create a more compact root ball .pruning will reduce foliage and bush backbudding that will in turn produce root growth.after a year digging a trench a foot or more and boxing in the dirt around the trunk will give it more time to grow roots but will restrict their outward growth. after another year with more digging you should be able to get a managable root ball that will sustain the tree

Thanx Manofthetrees. Greatly appreciated.

Do you guys think that this style could work. Sorry if pic is crap.

I really wanna focus on the veins running up the tree.

to be honest id say no. you will have to reduce the foliage and hope for backbudding on old wood ,the trunk is there you will just need branches on it now. as for the deadwood just cutting it will not look natural. they will have to be made to look like weathered old trunks to pull off any respectful styling

manofthetrees wrote: you will have to reduce the foliage and hope for backbudding on old wood

I haven't done any homework on the tree at all. Will start up the google engine and read up on if they back bud on old wood or not.

manofthetrees wrote:
as for the deadwood just cutting it will not look natural. they will have to be made to look like weathered old trunks to pull off any respectful styling

I agree with you there. Read a bonsai mag few years ago that focused on jin. It was amazing what size jin's can be pulled off to make it look really good.

I am thinking of different ways to jin this one but leaving it on the backburners for now. We are half way into autumn so I'm not gonna bother to much with any work. Will start again in spring when the new growth will be greatly welcomed

i did a little reaserch myself.what an interesting tree...and it flowers. as for the backbudding it is a yes for old wood so you are good on that aspect. personaly i was wondering about the root pruning because some species of plant have a large root growth spurt in fall,but i couldnt find any info on the roots :S

Wow cool thank you for that manofthetrees.

Yeah the flowers is almost like a wax type of flower. Very small and smells sweet if I remember correctly.

Seems like even the internet doesn't always have all the answers. LoL. Will just keep it till spring. Can't do any harm