"ROOTS" CUSTOM COLLECTION

            NOTE:  WE WILL BEGIN POSTING CUSTOM COLLECTION.  IF YOU WANT NOTIFICATION, EMAIL TO david.f@fukubonsai.com  WITH GENERAL STYLE AND BUDGET PRICE RANGE.

              ROOTS was our second major styling as we began to explore the shapes of tropical trees and banyans. Imagine that a bird eats the figs that contain seeds that goes through the bird and emerges as a "fertilizer encased seed" that germinates high on a host tree.  The tree strangles the host, the top dies, and a banyan crown develops high above the ground.  The roots reach the ground and the tree has a SUMO-like crown on tall exposed roots. This is an innovative Fuku-Bonsai styling that has become the most popular of our three major stylings ---  SUMO, ROOTS, & HAWAIIAN DRAGONS --- AND NOW A FOURTH NEW "ROOT-OVER-ROCK!" 

            Between Sumo and Roots, it is possible to create just about any Banyan Bonsai variation imaginable.  Roots are generally preferred to plant on tall rocks.

            NOTE: UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, PHOTOS WERE TAKEN ON ______________.  IF PHOTOS ARE VIEWED BEYOND THAT DATE, THEY MAY HAVE FURTHER DEVELOPED FROM WHEN THE PHOTO WAS TAKEN.

            NOTE ALSO THAT WHEN TAKING THE PHOTOS, WE TEND TO REMOVE A LOT OF LEAVES TO ALLOW VIEWING OF THE TRUNK AND BRANCH STRUCTURE WHICH IS IMPORTANT WHEN EVALUATING A HIGH-STANDARD BONSAI. MOST OF OUR TREES ARE SOLD AT VARIOUS GROWING-ON STAGES RATHER THAN AFTER FULL REFINEMENT THAT WILL INCREASE THE NUMBER OF GROWTH POINTS AND REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE LEAVES. THIS IS A RELATIVELY EASY PROCEDURE FOR THOSE WITH BASIC BONSAI SKILLS. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE BASIC SKILLS, WE RECOMMEND JOINING OUR STUDY GROUPS SO WE CAN HELP TEACH YOU SO YOU CAN PROPERLY MAINTAIN THE TREES. PLEASE REQUEST HELP IF NEEDED AS WE WANT THESE TREES TO CONTINUE TO IMPROVE! V

      Please email if there are questions or assistance needed. ~~~David (david.f@fukubonsai.com)

            $ +  shipping

            $ +  shipping

          CC-R  ROOTS in 17"x12"x2" plastic oval  pot.   Overall height:  11".  Overall width: 12".  A classical upright, straight, tall roots with lowest branch 5 1/2" above the pot with a well-formed crown made up of well-placed branches.  Ideal for training into a taller, root form.  12-15 years in training

            $ +  shipping

              $ + shipping

          NOTE:  The old plant bank includes a full range of partially trained Root Bonsai of various heights including some that are older and larger than the trees shown.  If interested, please send information as to style of plant desired,  your bonsai training experience, and your budget.  Older high-potential plants are not sold to beginners, but could become part of an advanced workshop for study group members who have taken workshops on previous visits. Please write for more information if interested.

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       PREMIUM OLDER WORKSHOP PLANTS FOR ADVANCED BONSAI TRAINERS.  Our Fuku-Bonsai's True Indoor Bonsai™ trees have matured to now offer advanced bonsai trainers greater challenges. These "almost finished trees" are ideal for individuals seeking high-potential training challenges, for group training sessions or for major demonstrations. The results at the end of a workshop or training session is pretty much determined by the potential of the plant at the start of the workshop.  Normally we offer beginner workshop packages and older trained Custom Collection primarily needing refinement.  Our older plants are usually ready for display, limited restyling, or for continuing into refinement to produce a nice bonsai. Increasingly as our customers become more skilled, some are requesting more challenging trees and this section offers such trees.

            As we attract more advanced traditional temperate climate outdoor bonsai growers, we are getting requests for high-potential workshop stock and these are in response to those requests.  The trees being offered in this section normally would have another final training at Fuku-Bonsai. Six months or so later after the plants are fully recovered, they would normally be offered as Custom Collection The trees have had a light repotting.  There are still "extra" branches to allow some "final" styling latitude.  Half or more of the leaves have been removed to allow seeing the trunk and branch structures and two photos show both sides. For those mail ordering,  we will be available to assist by email and critique photo results.

            If you're an experienced bonsai grower planning to visit Fuku-Bonsai and want to learn advanced True Indoor Bonsai techniques, consider reserving one of these (or another tree) and schedule a workshop here.  We will photograph and summarize the workshop for placing on the website to aid others.  There is no charge for the one-on-one workshop supervision and the finished tree can be held here for a month or so (or until the best shipping season) before shipping to your home.  We invite advanced trainers to join our study group to develop the skills to do True Indoor Bonsai group demonstrations or to improve and become instructors. Please email me if you are interested and want more information as we continue efforts to develop a "True Indoor Bonsai Community!"  ~~~David (david.f@fukubonsai.com)

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PREMIUM OLDER WORKSHOP PLANT

               CC-ROOTS - $ + shipping.  Height:  15";  Crown width 19".  A very high-potential 20+ year old Roots suitable for intermediate level trainers.  In training roots bonsai, the emphasis is first creating a basic Sumo with good branch placement, then to extend the roots and arrange and thicken them. Here the primary branches were selected early and allowed to thicken. Trainer can cut back hard to create a tight complex crown, or cut back further out for a larger looser crown.  This first cut-back starts branch and crown refinement so this tree is at an ideal stage for the trainer to set the future shape. 

              Most roots are in good position with just a few roots to be rearranged to fall straighter. It is rare to see an older tree with so much potential to be made available to allow the trainer the opportunity to make the future styling decisions.  This is an excellent "teaching tree" and ideal for a class on how to create the crown; to teach how different crowns can be developed depending upon how and where the branch cuts are made. 

PREMIUM OLDER WORKSHOP PLANT

               CC--ROOTS () - $ + shipping.  Height:  15";  Crown width 17".  A very high-potential 25+ year old Roots suitable for advanced trainers.  Well-placed branches are being refined and crown is already shaping nicely.  Tree can be potted higher as roots are selected and dropped straight down and training is well along towards the most desirable Rainforest Banyan styling.

              Most roots are long and straight but the best roots need to be selected and arranged to fall straighter. It is rare to see an older tree with so much potential to be made available to allow the trainer the opportunity to make the major final styling decisions.  This is an excellent advanced "teaching tree" and ideal for a class on how to refine the crown; to teach how different crowns can be developed depending upon how and where the branch cuts are made.  Would be ideal for an advanced workshop at Fuku-Bonsai.

              This tree appears tall in the photo but it's not. It has very neat small leaf growth and will become an exceptional bonsai.

    RECOMMENDED FOR ADVANCED TRAINERS ONLY

CC-ROOTS in brown 25"X15"X2" plastic rectangular pot-tray.  This is one of our oldest ROOTS about 35-40 years in training from the experimental collection now being offered to qualified buyers who have the resources and the bonsai skills to maintain and continue to improve them. 27" overall height from top of pot;  26" overall crown width, trunk column about 8" across. 

In selling these older experimental trees, we reserve reproduction rights to publish as part of the educational content of the www.fukubonsai.com website or to be included in the TRUE INDOOR BONSAI™ HANDBOOK. 

Our oldest original ROOTS had exposed roots created by continually barerooting, arranging the roots to face down and in a root column, and planted high.  This was repeated several times and the exposed roots became longer.

This tree was once a promising SUMO with stout trunks and branches.  It was barerooted, the stout roots arranged into an attractive position, but with a single, tall, heavy aluminum foil column that was pre-shaped and filled with media. It was allowed to grow for several years and the roots more or less developed within the pre-shaped foil column.

Every few years, the  foil was removed, the best roots selected, with roots in poor position removed.  The stout branches were cut back hard to produce attractive complex tapering branches.

Because this is a larger tree and is still very much in the development stage, the emphasis was on creating sustained optimum growth and there has been no effort to reduce the leaf size.

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          View #1: The two lowest heaviest branches are on this side and it would be possible to fill up the gap between them so the crown will appear to be larger as it would cover some of the roots.

         View #2:  From this view exposed root trunk will appear much taller.  All branches can be allowed to lengthen and trained downwards as if seeking the light by growing down and out of the shade of the dense crown.  It would be possible to create an attractive branch ramification pattern.  Keep the leaves thinned out to be able to enjoy looking through the leaves. 

AN INVITATION TO PRE-QUALIFY FOR PREMIUM TREES

                From the start of Fuku-Bonsai as a certified export nursery in 1973,  we earned needed income primarily from volume sale of our younger trees and as Hawaiian Lava Plantings.  A large amount of our highest quality plants were deposited into our "OLD PLANT BANK" to become larger and older Premium Potted Bonsai.  The best of the smallest 4LL8 Living (3-5 years old)  Lovables and the 8LS8 Living Sculpture (about 6-10 years old)  "graduated" to become CUSTOM COLLECTION and a few of the older ones are over 40 years old.

                Most of our trees are in the "OLD PLANT BANK" that are kept in "OPTIMUM GROWTH" and allowed to "GROW WILD" for most rapid development. When trees are cut back hard, they develop superior branch taper and outstanding ramification.  Prior to being offered for sale, we move them into a slower growth and start focusing on refinement training. In general,  we only convert what we believe we will need to keep the sales section filled.  SO IF YOU DON'T SEE WHAT YOU WANT IN THE CUSTOM COLLECTION PHOTOS,  EMAIL AND REQUEST OTHER CHOICES, BUT PROVIDE A GENERAL IDEA OF THE TYPE OF STYLE AND BUDGET.

                Most of the Custom Collection are in 17"x12"x2" plastic oval pots.  A few like the one above are in 25"x15"x2" rectangle pot trays.  The largest a in oval fiberglass trays that are often used by restaurant staffs to bus the tables. There are larger trees in plastic film lined wood box training containers. We will design and commission LARGE FIBERGLASS POTS in the future to follow our 1:10 Project ratios.  20" round pots will be overall only 2" deep.  30" diameter pots will be 3" deep.  40" diameter will be 4" deep. These trees are impressive and suitable for major public bonsai collections.

              In addition to larger and older trees,  some of the trees in the FUKU-BONSAI EXHIBIT COLLECTION and those in the EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS will also be sold to appropriate individuals that are either repeat customers or experienced members of the various study groups.  These include trees that were part of articles and may include mini-bonsai in the future.  

              To pre-qualify for our premium trees,  email me at david.f@fukubonsai.com  

        ROOTS is our second oldest styling and our most popular styling. Our ideal climate makes us successful in growing this styling.  Customers in cooler climates growing Roots indoors year-around report that it takes much longer for the roots to thicken to support the tree.  In this styling we try to place most efforts towards developing an attractive root column and well placed branches so the crown can be styled tall and narrow or heavy and wide.  There is a good selection of Roots Custom Collection not shown here.  If you have a preference, please provide as much description as possible with a price range and we will dress and repot if necessary for shipment in three to six months.  We have larger and older plants including a few over 30 years in training.

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          You are cordially invited to visit the Fuku-Bonsai Cultural Center in Kurtistown on the Big Island of Hawaii to enjoy our outstanding bonsai exhibit collection, to choose from the largest selection of True Indoor Bonsai for shipping to all parts of the U.S. or to take a one-on-one workshop.