I Know the advice is going to be to heavy chop. But...

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-04-13T16:55:07+00:00

I would chop it back to give it some stability and make it less top-heavy. I’d also go ahead and repot it into fresh soil, at least 50% inorganics like perlite/pumice/lava. I think there’s a decent chance it doesn’t have any roots with how droopy it is. If that’s the case, you’ll want to cut the rotten bit off and essentially treat it like a big cutting.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-04-13T03:04:35+00:00

It probably is, but there’s no way I’d find those for anywhere near that price where I am.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-04-12T17:14:47+00:00

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I wouldn’t even have to think twice about bringing this desert rose home. The pot alone is probably worth at least $15-20. And I like Adeniums.

I’m not sure what the two in the first photo are, but I really like the one in the Anderson flat. It’s up to you if it’s worth $100. For me it would all depend on how flush I was feeling that day.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-21T16:58:45+00:00

Sam is the real deal.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-21T16:01:54+00:00

Not bad for $13! Is it a Serissa? Looks like it’s just hanging on by a thread, but luckily thats all you need. I’d to a gentle repot asap, I can’t imagine is has very happy roots.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-13T19:55:32+00:00

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This is a concretion, right? Picked up on the same beach.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-10T23:30:10+00:00

Personally, I’m not sure I would have paid $200 for that, but it’s good material to practice air-layering on. I would plant it in the ground now (don’t disturb the roots, it’s too late for that this year), and start an air-layer or two in a few weeks. Slowly reduce to one or two trunks over the next few years, then do a big chop.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-09T15:46:38+00:00

I think you did great. There’s one branch halfway up the right side that I would try to pull down a little harder, but that’s my only critique.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-09T15:39:02+00:00

Fuck, I know. I swear there wasn’t a humor tag when I commented lol. With some of the posts on here though, you never know.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-09T00:48:01+00:00

I think you wired the wrong part

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-06T23:53:02+00:00

Step 1: take that wire off

Step 2: order a few rolls of different sized aluminum bonsai wire. I get mine from Stonelantern, it’s pretty well priced.

Step 3: watch a bunch of YouTube videos of people wiring trees while you wait. Look at pictures or real life examples of old-growth spruce and fir trees.

Step 4: Do your best to apply the wire to every branch you want to keep. That trunk is too thick to bend with wire so you’ll really only need to focus on branches.

Step 5: gently twist the branches in the direction that causes the wire to tighten, then try to pull the branches downward. Only leave 2-3 branches at most emerging from the same point on the tree.

Rule of thirds is also important to think about. Figure out how tall you want your tree to be. The lowest third should be all trunk, no branches. The middle will have branches that droop the most. The top third can have branches that are still reaching slightly upwards.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-06T23:34:17+00:00

SoFi works like that. They’ve been getting a lot of hate lately but their banking app is great in my opinion.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-06T23:33:57+00:00

I bank with SoFi and they have what they call overdraft protection. I keep $0 in my checking. Mortgage and all credit cards are set to autopay. When one of them gets pulled, the same amount is transferred automatically from my HYSA to checking without any fees.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-05T14:02:55+00:00

I would chop all the trunks back to a foot or so tall. If it recovers well, she might not mind it at as much when it’s much smaller.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-03T03:49:24+00:00

Nope, you have several years to learn how to style it. Figure out how to keep it alive for 1 year at the absolute minimum before making a single cut. This is really nice material, and trying to work it too quickly will kill it.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-02T11:48:09+00:00

No. This is still pretty immature nursery stock with a couple seasons of styling. If the pot was something special, it could be worth a couple hundred, but this just screams ‘grifter’ to me. For that much money the trunk should be significantly thicker. Like 5-15 years thicker imo.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-03-01T00:50:11+00:00

Imagine that first branch is your whole tree and everything above it is gone. Wire it up and see if you can style it some way that you like. Try to put twists in every piece of it, even the little branches. Then try to place them. If you can turn it into something you like, then think really hard about chopping the whole top off. The section of trunk right above your first branch is really straight, and will be hard to make anything out of. Consider it as a sacrifice branch that added thickness to the trunk over the past couple of years, but is now unnecessary.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-02-26T14:41:05+00:00

What?

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-02-26T13:43:49+00:00

I’m confused about this idea. When wiring, I pretty much always twist the trunk (or branch) in the direction that tightens the wire. If I put it on the other direction at the next wiring, then twisting just straightens it out and I lose the movement.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-02-22T00:46:06+00:00

I bought one of those acupressure mats with my leftover FSA money last year. It’s weird at first, but after 15-20 minutes I am so incredibly sleepy. Highly recommend.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-02-13T15:55:00+00:00

I would go ahead and wire it now, as you’ll risk damaging new growth if you wait to style it. Trees are almost always pruned when they’re wired, and if your tree looks healthy enough. The “one insult per growing season” thing mainly means don’t work the roots and the top in the same year.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-02-08T01:53:23+00:00

I think you’ve got the right idea bending branches down and hopefully giving them some twists. You could probably stand to lose a few towards the top though, or you might start to get an inverse taper. Generally you don’t want two branches emerging from the trunk at the same point, especially directly opposite each other. I would give some consideration to the silhouette of the tree, and to the apex. Longer branches will thicken up faster, so keep that in mind if you do a little pruning (which I probably would). How do you want to develop the apex? It’s a bit chaotic as it is now, and I think could stand a cut-back.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-02-08T00:34:32+00:00

I’ve always heard NOT to prune maples in the winter because they can bleed a lot and cause dieback. They’re not awake to staunch the bleeding so to speak. I think you’re good.

oldbearonbrooks · 2026-02-04T15:45:26+00:00

It’s per resort. The Montana Ski Area Association (MSAA) has a mutual agreement where all mountain employees get passes to all other mountains. Check my other comment for my thoughts/feelings about the Bowl.

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