Real hedging and development the Smoke way!!!

[Smoke]

I have decided that the best way to explain this kind of stuff is to see it develop over a couple years. I will explain my method thru pictures on this kiyohime maple. The method will work for any size tree. This just happens to be a shohin size tree.

Tree as purchased
The tree was purchased at a nursery in Dec. of 2016.



The tree was cut back to the first node on each branch. I was pretty happy with what I had.



On further evaluation I decided that I did not wish to build the tree with the twigs starting so far from the trunk. I just felt it would not look good so I cut everything off. Brave....The grafting tape can be seen here.



In Spring of 2018 it was repotted and the roots checked.
In August of 2018 it had its first hedging appointment.



The task completed for now. If one looks closely you can see the cuts right thru leaves and everything. I am just pruning for a broom shape.



In Nov. of 2018 the tree was ready for another hedge job.






The tree in Spring 2019

 

[Smoke]

So 2019 is a new year and the tree continues to grow and I continue to prune the tree.

The tree has been hedged three time already this year and I didn't bother to photograph it because for the most part it is for me and most people don't really care. I showed it tonight just because this subject has come up on the forum. I feel it is important enough to document. If you do it great, if not, thats great too.

This was the tree tonight.



Starting the hedging process. This is just a matter of using scissors and literally hedging the plant right thru the leaves and stems and even branches. All the clean up will happen in the fall.

So far



I get this far and this root is really bothering me.



Before I can go any further it has to be dealt with. I sawed it right off.



I sealed the ends and cut the rooted root back and left it in the pot. I will wait and see if it sprouts since it is about 1/2 inch across.



I like the look of the base no much better without the long finger of a root sticking out there.



So after that was done I finished the canopy.

 

[Smoke]

This is a couple more shots around the tree and the trunk.









This tree is strictly being trained right now to grow shorter internodes. It does. Next year I will concentrate on the next layer of ramification using the exact same method.

This tree was trained that way. A little larger than shohin. Tops out at 12 inches, but what a trunk!!! Look Ma....no fungus!!

 

[Fabledabel]

Really hard to see any progress with the foliage still on the tree. Have any winter pics?

 

[Smoke]

Really hard to see any progress with the foliage still on the tree. Have any winter pics?

Will this year. The spring shot of this year shows some smaller growth. It's the last picture in post 1.
Still trying to get enough growth to work with. It's coming. What I don't want to do is let it just grow willy nilly and get all those long internodes again. You will have to exercise as much patience as I do. Remember that what you see is only 30 months from bare stump.

 

[jonathanvperth]

Great post and great explanation. The proof is in the pudding. I really like the pot the 2nd tree is in

 

[Anthony]

Thanks Al for taking the time.

The term - Hedging - is confusing.

What happens if a shoot grows from the top and over
thickens the branch ?

If you are just clipping all over like a hedge is trimmed ?
Good Day
Anthony

 

[sorce]

Broccoli!

They go from having shitty branch structure....

To having MORE shitty branch structure.

If that is the goal...well done!

Sorce

 

[Fabledabel]

Broccoli!

They go from having shitty branch structure....

To having MORE shitty branch structure.

If that is the goal...well done!

Sorce

You can't even really see the branch structure. Have you seem these trees in person?

 

[Paulpash]

So wait a minute - you cut off virtually every branch on this tree and then proceeded to hedge it several months later after it had built up vigor in order to develop it?

How is this different from the approach of Walter Pall then, apart from using smaller material (generally) with lesser potential?

Also this is a heads up to please respond in the Walter Pall hedge thread where I asked you a question. It would be disappointing if

2. Silence!

was your only recourse. Disappointing but predictable!

 

[Anthony]

Perhaps, the discussion is ego.

Example, down here it is grow and clip - Lingnan

Not Anthony's Directional pruning.

Al might have been doing it first, before Walter but
Mr.Pall is more advertised.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[sorce]

You can't even really see the branch structure

Exactly!

No I haven't seen them in person.

Sorce

 

[Fabledabel]

Exactly!

No I haven't seen them in person.

Sorce

Gotcha. Let's withhold judgment until we can actually see the results. No use calling it shitty when we can't even see it.

 

[Smoke]

Broccoli!

They go from having shitty branch structure....

To having MORE shitty branch structure.

If that is the goal...well done!

Sorce

Thanks Sorce. If there is anybody at this site that is a professional at shitty branch structure, it's you. It means a lot coming from a professional.

You can't even really see the branch structure. Have you seem these trees in person?

What is it you wish to see? Branch structure from my hedging? I have those?

 

[Lazylightningny]

I have decided that the best way to explain this kind of stuff is to see it develop over a couple years. I will explain my method thru pictures on this kiyohime maple. The method will work for any size tree. This just happens to be a shohin size tree.

Tree as purchased
The tree was purchased at a nursery in Dec. of 2016.

View attachment 250983

The tree was cut back to the first node on each branch. I was pretty happy with what I had.

View attachment 250984

On further evaluation I decided that I did not wish to build the tree with the twigs starting so far from the trunk. I just felt it would not look good so I cut everything off. Brave....The grafting tape can be seen here.

View attachment 250985

In Spring of 2018 it was repotted and the roots checked.
In August of 2018 it had its first hedging appointment.

View attachment 250986

The task completed for now. If one looks closely you can see the cuts right thru leaves and everything. I am just pruning for a broom shape.

View attachment 250987

In Nov. of 2018 the tree was ready for another hedge job.

View attachment 250988


View attachment 250989

The tree in Spring 2019

View attachment 250990

Al, I thought you went in and selectively pinched new branches when they got to a certain length in order to keep internodes small.

 

[Smoke]

These just have a few more years. Not barely two. Any one with any experience at all developing bonsai knows you don't make a tree, nor ramify it in two years. What you can do with proper technique is set the tree up for success rather than failure. Allowing a tree to grow rank and pruning back is not the way to build maples.

Now before you go and tell me that you need to allow the tree to grow before you hedge it. I know that. Judge the tree now, not the time to get it there.

This is a good example of how I do it. This elm had reached a place in its life that is had become ready for a show pot. After placing in pot the two right branches died. Don't know why. Now I have to deal with it. As I grow them out, I will allow them to grow more unchecked until they reach a proportionate size to the trunk and overall look of the form. When they reach my desire the leader will be cut and hedging will resume on those two branches to ramify them to meet what is going on in the other branches. Simple.

As bought 2016


Year or so.


End of that year


Potted and then two branches died. Hedging started at this point. Notice how that small leader I wired up with a change in direction above has already moved the trunk to the right and blended in with the taper!


Midway into the third year since purchase.
The canopy gets hedged weekly, except for the two branches I need larger. Maybe next year they will get clipped and then I will start hedging them to catch up. I think this will be a pretty nice tree.

ALSO: take a look at the tree now compared to when I purchased it. This is a perfect example of a tree that has gained lots of girth by wiring the trunk and allowing the trunk to grow over the wire. Now three years later one can't even see a tale of where the wire was. You could early on with the barbershop swirls, but not now.

 

[Smoke]

Al, I thought you went in and selectively pinched new branches when they got to a certain length in order to keep internodes small.

Yes I do half of that sentence in the fall. The internode part is achieved thru the constant hedging.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Yes I do half of that sentence in the fall. The internode part is achieved thru the constant hedging.

Which half of the sentence? Could you explain?

 

[Smoke]

in order to keep internodes small.

I do this part continually thru July via hedging the canopy. This keeps internodes small, and keeps buds in a constant state of activity. Throw "harden off" out of the vocabulary, it is a gardening term from a century ago that has no meaning in this method. Keep in mind this is for broadleaf trees that bud easily not conifers that would die a day later if you did this.

Al, I thought you went in and selectively pinched new branches when they got to a certain length

This part of your quote is done in fall the first week after leaf fall. I set a long board between two ladders and stack up six or seven trees on the board and just go thru them like an assembly line and prune out what I don't want. I can do this very quickly. I need to, just in maples I will have about 50 to do. Not counting elms, hornbeams, and zelcova.

With hedging it is possible and you will, get small knuckles at the ends of some branches. this is because it gets pruned back to the same spot continually. But, what you are doing is allowing everything else to grow to that spot and even out the exterior of the canopy and look equal. In the fall, just cut the knuckle back half an inch shorter than the outline and allow it to get rehedged the following year. Eventually it all evens out and you can keep it in that shape. In fact by that time the tree will have developed a memory and actually doesn't seem to grow much out of the shape.

I hope this all makes sense.

 

[Sekibonsai]

Obviously you sort out when the tree is bare out, tweak with wire as desired. Al doesn't produce "shit" trees and to say so is just weak minded.