Zelkova

cmeg1 · Mar 22, 2016

Hey,Adair.
Oh yea,I tried it last year to one of these layers and same thing.Cracked that little thing right in half.It did not survive.So I am kind of having second thoughts about it with trees this small.
That is cool though.For some reason ,I like the idea of a buttress on a little tree like this.

Adair M · Mar 22, 2016

cmeg1 said:
View attachment 98609 Here is another angle,straight on.
Aiming for less shoot growth and I want to wire as I go,to control every twig.
A totally different approach than the agressive defoliations of last year.Will probably defoliate once this season.

Get yourself some thin copper wire from Jim Gremel. gauges, 18, 20, snd 22

It has better holding power than aluminum.

Adair M · Mar 22, 2016

cmeg1 said:
View attachment 98609 Here is another angle,straight on.
Aiming for less shoot growth and I want to wire as I go,to control every twig.
A totally different approach than the agressive defoliations of last year.Will probably defoliate once this season.

And don't let that twig off that sevond branch get taller than the apex.

cmeg1 · Mar 22, 2016

Yea.Good point.I guess that would not look to cool.
It is actually a bit of an optical illusion that I am temporarily enjoying.

cmeg1 · Mar 22, 2016

Adair M said:
Get yourself some thin copper wire from Jim Gremel. gauges, 18, 20, snd 22

It has better holding power than aluminum.

Will definately buy the wire from him.Thanks for the tip

Ironbeaver · Mar 23, 2016

Adair M said:
Cmeg,

I screwed a young zelkova to a piece of plywood using a coarse sheet rock screw. The trunk wasn't much bigger than a pencil when I did it, so I drilled a pilot hole up the center of the trunk. Even still, the screw kinda split open the bottom of the trunk for 3/4 inch.

I buried it under a couple inches of soil. When I pulled it out, OMG! The lower trunk had healed, and where the screw had pushed it out, the lower trunk had a fabulous buttress! And, oh yeah, wonderful radial roots!

I remember seeing pictures in some of my old bonsai books where wedges had been driven up under trunks to make the bottom of the trunk wider. The screw did the same thing!

I saw a technique here: http://www.ausbonsai.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6717 for splitting the trunk on purpose to get big nebari. Your experience seems to indicate it would work for zelkovas.

cmeg1 · Mar 23, 2016

Potted another air-layer.

This one had more vigorous top growth by last autumn,so looks like more roots stayed alive.
Some look dead close to the trunk,but are living out at the tips

Kind of looks a mess with all the wire,I may tweak the branches a bit.
Here is a small progression of this tree.
A couple green shots from last summer and then today.

cmeg1 · Mar 24, 2016

Here is the third air-layer.

Just one more after this.Only putting four in pots.
I am really happy with the roots on this one.All the roots are good.
Glad to train these in shallow pots for the coming years

Next year should be a real treat!

Here is a green shot from last summer and then re-potting today.

cmeg1 · Apr 1, 2016

Zelkova 2.

This is an early attempt that I made with Zelkova.It is a seedling.Last year was it's first major round of root work.
Was root pruned today to see the result of that.
I tried to wire the little twigs a couple days ago,but was unsuccessful.Hands too big.

Probably a tree that looks better in leaf.....for now

sorce · Apr 1, 2016

Nice....

That shape is perfect.

Sorce

cmeg1 · Apr 1, 2016

sorce said:
Nice....

That shape is perfect

cmeg1 · Apr 1, 2016

Thanks,it was fun to work the roots and get it in that pot.
I do not know if I will ever be able to wire them tiny branches.
Maybe repeated pruning will hook it up.
Probably be one of those trees that I always work on.
Probably get cut back hard some day.

sorce · Apr 1, 2016

cmeg1 said:
Probably get cut back hard some day.

Clip n grow in the end.

I was actually thinking about how it will look.....in x years.....when it is back to this size and shape......but well tapered and more ramified.

F'ing wicked!

Love em!

Sorce

cmeg1 · Apr 1, 2016

Yea.Cutting back real hard some day actually looks appealing.Like cut each branch back to a couple inches and completely start over.Would probably fill in nicely.

sorce · Apr 1, 2016

I zoomed in on what looked like a heavy branch from the left trunk....
But it is actually another thin "secondary trunk" from the right trunk.

What are your thoughts on this area?

I'd cut the yellow line, to slow that kiss down.

Looking at it more...

From that kiss up, it seems you have a lot of heavier branching a bit closer than the low.
Like this season may get you akward if you don't thin the top a bit more.

I really can't get over how fun these are to look at!
These are progressing as if you have a time machine!

Sorce

Smoke · Apr 1, 2016

Bitchin tree. Something to be proud of for sure.

Adair M · Apr 1, 2016

Nice tree!

Ok, here's a little tip about wiring Zelkova: you know they put out thin branches, right? Well, thin copper wire works a whole lot better than aluminum. When you're working the small gauge copper, it's easy to bend. But it's so much stronger than aluminum, you can use really thin wire.

The drawback is thin wire can actually cut into the bark faster than thicket wire can. So you have to watch it.

I've put some wire on this little tree:

Not every branch, certainly, but several. You can hardly tell. That's one of the benefits of copper.

Now, it appears that you tried to wire each branch with one wire. Then do the next branch.

The way it should be done is to wire two branches with one wire. You get better anchors, it looks neater, you use less wire, and it's more effective.

Colin Lewis has a great, free!, tutorial on www.craftsy.com. It's free, but you have to register. Once you do, search with the keyword "bonsai", and it will find it. Colin demonstrates the differences between copper and aluminum and shows how to wire two branches with one wire. And how to wire out a branch properly.

It takes a bit of practice, but it does get easier as you get better at it.

On my tree, I used gauges 18, 20, and 22 copper. Small stuff.

cmeg1 · Apr 2, 2016

sorce said:
I zoomed in on what looked like a heavy branch from the left trunk....
But it is actually another thin "secondary trunk" from the right trunk.

What are your thoughts on this area?

I'd cut the yellow line, to slow that kiss down.View attachment 99887

Looking at it more...

From that kiss up, it seems you have a lot of heavier branching a bit closer than the low.
Like this season may get you akward if you don't thin the top a bit more.

I really can't get over how fun these are to look at!
These are progressing as if you have a time machine!

Sorce

My thoughts in that area are to keep it.I wonder if you would think different in the 3D view.
I am hoping not to put on loads of growth.
Totally going to limit nitrogen to very small amounts every watering from kelp based fertilizer,along with everything else.
Thanks though

cmeg1 · Apr 2, 2016

Smoke said:
Bitchin tree. Something to be proud of for sure.

Thanks,Smoke.
Yea I am proud of it.
Ready to get all that wire off and observe it some more this year and try a different approach.
This was always my special tree for some reason.
Just work on it every year.

cmeg1 · Apr 2, 2016

@Adair M
Thanks Adair.My next wire purchase is going to be from Jim at Dear Meadow Bonsai.

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