We had some die back on the old girl due to aphids I was fighting all winter long. The middle branch died back pretty much to the split, and I had to remove all of it. We also lost some of the roots over the skull's face. I'm afraid she just ain't as pretty as she used to be anymore.
I'm not giving up on it yet though. There is a new shoot coming from the branch split that I'm going to promote. With a little luck I can get it going well, and then prune back the two remaining woody arms and start a whole new shape!
But, just in case I can't, this year I've decided to start the second generation of Living Death Bonchi. And this time, it won't be quite so simple!
Meet the new crew.
Yes folks, that is not one, not two, not three, four, or five reapers. That is half a dozen of the little buggers courtesy of a local nursery that just started carrying them this year. I bought at least a third of their entire stock they had set out for this project (because hey, reapers are a pain in the ass to sprout)!
Now, it wouldn't be a Living Death Bonchi without some death, right? So what kind of bones are we growing on this year? Found these little beauties at the pet store as lizard terrarium decorations.
Not gonna lie, kinda wish the skull had been just a big bigger, but it matches the rib cage perfectly so I'm going with it.
I've kind of gotten the raised bed spoken for this season with other veggies (like horseradish), so I'm going to do a container grow on this diorama piece. Now, this comes with risks and potential rewards. I've selected an old but large storage bin that is fairly deep. It should provide more than enough depth to make the plants happy, but may end up getting really warm this summer. I'm pretty sure this is the same tub I successfully grew corn in once upon a time, so it should be good. It also means that there isn't a lot of room for anything to grow out sideways, which will help contain roots to only the area I really want them to be in.
First step, as terrarium decorations, these bones are hollow. Gotta fill them up!
Pretty simple start there, mostly just making a pile of dirt where the ribs will go then smooshing it down on top, and then packing more in all of the holes until it was fairly solid.
For long time readers, I'm using the same process I did with the skull. For new readers and/or those not familiar with root over rock bonsai technique, a quick rundown of what we're doing.
First, I ran the plant under an outside faucet turned up to a decent pressure to wash all of the soil from the roots. Second, I place the bare roots down on the "rock" (in this case the ribcage model) and spread the roots out. Some I push down into the openings, some I leave splayed across the tops. Third (and not pictured because my hands were full), I packed a bit of dirt over the top of the roots to hold them in place (and keep the plant upright) while I moved on to the next one.
In total, I used this technique to start all six plants in their new homes. Five on the ribs, one directly on top of the skull. Once they were all in place, I simply bulked up the soil deeper all around.
Since I wasn't able to get pictures of it before I filled it up (the balance was pretty delicate and I had to hurry), I've overlayed images so you can see where things are.
So, the goal to this one is a "forest" style display with multiple "trees" growing in a thicket. I'll use the same pulldown method as before to hopefully cover everything in a tangled mass of roots.
The biggest challenge for this is going to be keeping the individual plants healthy and happy at this extremely close range to each other. Crowding will definitely be a threat, and they're going to suck up water and nutrients at a much faster rate. Might even lose a plant or two if they get stunted and shaded out by the others, but I'll be keeping a close eye on them to try and prevent that from happening.
So, the old is changing, and the new are well under way. Its going to be an interesting season!
