Bonsai technique: digging piles is really a manual job

It seems that in China, the fine tradition of bringing a camera to work is not very popular. Friends who dig piles generally do not take photos of the process, so that we, the city farmers who have lived in cages for a long time, have no chance to observe the return to nature. However, foreigners are different. They bring cameras for everything. I have seen more than N Filipinos in Hong Kong. They are really self-portrait maniacs. Two people sit by the sea and do nothing. They can take hundreds of photos in a larger place of two square meters.

This is a British bonsai enthusiast documenting his digging process, a blackthorn and a hawthorn.

This is a blackthorn. Relatively easy to dig. The tools that this little brother brought were a little low. For places like this, you could pry them up directly by inserting a large shovel around them. He digs his way down the edge with this little rake.

With such a large ball of dirt left, the survival rate was definitely a lever. Coarse roots had better be cut with scissors, cut wounds are not easy to heal.

The taproot is usually at the bottom because it has to drill down hard to anchor the whole tree.

Fortunately, it went smoothly. I didn't encounter any big rocks or anything. I didn't have much time to get it done. To wrap the ball of soil, if the ball of soil scattered, it is better not to bring soil. If it is a pile without soil balls, finally find moss and other moisturizing materials to wrap the roots to avoid drying the roots. In fact, many downhill piles in China do not leave any fibrous roots. They are sawed off directly with an electric saw. It is easy to dig up and transport them. However, it takes a little effort to plant them on the ground.

After digging, the process is still quite good. Fill in the soil. I hope our friends who dig piles in China do the same.

This is a double-stemmed hawthorn.

There is also a very critical operation when digging piles, killing piles. This thing was like opening jade stones. Experienced experts know where to cut the stone, cut it or grind it. Maybe the same stone, the price difference between the high hand and the low hand is several times. The same is true of killing stakes. See this tree, if you want to dig it, you have to figure out what shape you can make it. If you don't know, it's best not to touch it until you think about it.

Like this two-pole tree, one branch sees twists and turns, and the two branches are divided into lengths. When killing piles, keep one high and one low, so that there is no need to cut branches twice in the later period.

There is also an advantage to digging a groove around like this brother. It will be easier to deal with the bottom. If you stick a shovel around like I said, the taproot below may not be easy to cut off, and shaking the trunk may scatter the soil balls.

Such a thick taproot is actually not very useful for bonsai, as long as one section is left as a pot root in the future, and when the pot is placed, it is used to tie iron wires to fix the trunk.

Brother chose to wrap the earth ball with plastic wrap first.

Then use a solid plastic sheet to cover the bottom and lift it away.

These two trees are relatively easy to dig when they come, and there are some difficult digging piles. Let's talk about it.