Yew

I bought this tree more than four years ago. When purchased it was in a very sorry state, the foliage was yellowing as it was suffering from iron chlorosis and the growth was poor and languid. Despite this I decided to buy it thanks to its thick trunk as I had faith in my ability to bring it back to full health through correct cultivation.

It was planted in a large plastic container and the first thing I did was to change the earth. Once I'd removed it from the pot I could tell what the problem was - there were hardly any roots and those present were in the filling soil. Inside the original root mass there was nothing, just compact black clay which wouldn't let the tree form new roots.

I carried out a bare root repot and from then on the only work carried out was correct watering and the care required for it to recuperate.

1998. Planted in a training pot, during the wait for its health to recover.

End of 1999. The yew had recovered and styling could commence. The most important point to be corrected was the ugly pruning scar on the trunk.

Hollowing out and partially peeling the trunk in order to create veins helped to hide the big scar on the front.

After the wood it was time to work on the crown, wiring right down to the last shoot in order to achieve a good result.

October 2000, end result.

The full article was published in issue 80 of Bonsai Actual.

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