All this talk from Peter Chan about ‘biting the bullet’ whenever making big decisions.
I knew I was gonna make a big cut on this yew when I collected it, and after helping mom saw some branches on some of the trees in her garden- I felt inspired.
I noticed a branch that could be a nice new leader, and took the leap. There’s a lot of work to be done on this, and I can always take it further, but for now I was happily surprised that the first pad kind of appeared out of nowhere on the bottom left side.
by KuriseonYT
12 Comments
Is the first picture is a cutting or air layer from the second pic?
That’s a hard decision but it will definitely help in the long run.
Not a bullet, that’s biting an artillery shell. But hey, we have to do difficult decisions sometimes. Hope it will turn ok in the long run.
No air layer?
That’s a big decision. I hope it works out for you and the tree.
I know the tree will survive, they almost always do.
I hate to say a liked it before.
Nice. I think if it was my tree I’d be making it even shorter over time, based on the trunk thickness and proportions. Graham Potter has a few great[Yew Styling Videos](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mxkvhmbn-z0&pp=ygURR3JhaGFtIHBvdHRlciB5ZXc%3D) on his youtube channel which I find good inspiration.
With all my raving about Dan Robinson in the past I will share one regret that I didn’t think of in the moment: it would’ve been much nicer if I ‘killed’ the top rather than saw it so close to the new leader 😣
But hey, that’s how you learn! 👐🏼
I saw a video with Walter Pall recently about this subject. He basically said “you may make a mistake when you make a cut, but if you never make a cut, you’ll never style the tree and it won’t ever be a bonsai.”
Yews bounce back in a growing season, super vigorous, backbud constantly, no biggie.
I’m confused about why you cut where you did and what the new leader is? Picking the front before the chop can save you years when growing the new apex.
Rite move! You will be so happy you did this in a few years
And yes I know.. I know… it looks mega strange for now, with all the woody leggy branches, but like I said: lots to do. This post was mostly about that first ‘big’ decision 😅
Hell yeah 😎