What I have fixed today

[duke]

On the 7th May I retrieved a large Bonsai pot from the local recycling centre. Checking it over showed a crack running down in one corner and then splitting across two sides lower down.
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After a good clean to remove the old grime I used some 'super glue' into the cracks and left until this Wednesday gone, 17th June, when I got out a 'dremel' type machine to follow and deepen along the crack lines. Sorry, no photos of that stage.

I then mixed up some epoxy resin to run into the now 'grooved' cracks and dusted over with a false gold dust... a process based on a Japanese method known as 'Kintsugi': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi
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Using epoxy resin (Araldite type) is certainly a whole lot quicker - and less expensive - than true Kintsugi. Quick mix of epoxy and either add the 'gold' dust - or some coloured powder of choice - or brush on as the epoxy is going off. In the past I've mixed it in but this time just brushed over.

Yesterday I repot one of my (Yamadori) English yew trees as this reclaimed pot is deeper than the one it was in. This tree suffered from root rot with the wet winter we had in my area in 2024. Seems to be gaining health so 'slip potted up'...
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Time will tell how long the pot will last but should the frost get into it another attempt at a Kintsugi repair can be done.

Is that a Ginko bonsai I see on the right side of the last pic ?

 

[Accipiter]

Yes Scott . I was lucky to win it in an online bonsai raffle about 5 years ago - along with a Japanese Deshojo maple. The Ginko biloba is around 38" (inc. pot) - or 34" from pot surface. Sorry for the glare, bottom left in the photo... the sun is directly in line with it...

 

[Accipiter]

I'm coming round to your way of thinking Rob... they are time consuming...

Weeding and wiring aside, it's trying to do the repotting of those that need it - against the pressure of weather during those times, pinching back to get smaller leaves and ramification... trimming back - pressures of whether to use those 'trimmings' for cuttings, as well as root cuttings, and propagating those on... airlayers and such. Protecting from the late frosts we seem to get... seem to be fighting against the weather a great deal of the time

I became quite taken with Paul's Scarlet Hawthorn about four years ago. After getting one (grafted stock) I was going to airlayer the long, straight branches - got told they don't airlayer very well nor do cuttings take. I had to find out for myself. Haven't yet tried to airlayer but did try cuttings in 2024 and '25. From '24 I've had 4 successful 'offspring' and from '25 around 10... I'm a glutton for punishment.

Sunday 26th July I will be taking some other 'starter trees' and, possibly, some others I can get in the car, to a 'Bonsai Boot Sale' taking place just outside of Westbury, Wiltshire... that I reduce what I have and take others in 2027

 

[Malc2098]

I started noticing there was water under my dehumidifier in the workshop. Ahah, I thought. That'll be something wrong with that magnetic switch thingy that turns the machine off when the float reaches the right height.

Was it 'ell as like! I cleaned all round the switch and made sure the float pivoted freely, but the floor was still getting wet.

So I had to get my screwdrivers out. But I should have guessed from the condition of the water container, because it not only contained water, but also a clear gel substance. I had already cleaned all that off before.

I unscrewed the casing and separated the two covers and there all around the exits where the condensed water came out was clear gel stuff and a lot of it mixed with saw dust as well, most of it Padauk coloured. So this all got cleaned out, everything got put back together and I plugged it back in. It seems to work. I can hear whirring, so it was good I didn't pull any wiring connections off.

I'll just have to wait til tomorrow to see if it's leaking again.

That gel stuff; cellulose?

 

[Cabinetman]

More likely to be a type of mould, seen sometimes in refrigeration units and often a pink colour. It will need to be killed off or it will come back - -sorry. Don’t know the cure, bleach?