milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
Saw this elm at Mr. Kim's and had to grab it. Feel free to give advice, I am working on a plan for it and would love to know if I am on the right track. This is how it looked when I picked it up.
New Elm
- Thread starter milehigh_7
- Start date
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
I decided to get it out of this pot and slip it into a pond basket. True to form for his trees, this one had grown through pots into the ground at least twice. as it still has the archaeological evidence in the roots. ;-) These were done while I was potting.
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
These from where it will rest up for a year so I can chop off those old pots that are stuck in the roots. 
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
AaronThomas
Omono
@milehigh_7
Hey Clyde, not to combine threads but what do you use as soil mix for you elms?
Hey Clyde, not to combine threads but what do you use as soil mix for you elms?
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
Currently I'm using perlite, lava and a very small amount of vermiculite mixed with about 10-15% cactus soil. My preference would mostly pumice if I could get it easily. I have used bark and it has done well. You get the water retention and the air flow. I have found that in the 120F heat, if you have water in your root zone you end up with boiled roots. So I use a very fast draining soil and water up to 4x per day.
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
I think the decision to lose the branches was a very good one.
This is going to be a pretty cool tree.
I would have a very hard time staying away from Mr. Kim nursery. We have nothing like that here.
LanceMac10
Imperial Masterpiece
100%......
Pretty soon you'll have more branches than you know what to do with!! Now you can see some nice lines on the trunk from more angles.
Take your time with the branching structure and in 5-6 years this should look real nice.
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
I'm gonna go work on this tree. It had a rough summer but it's still kicking. I lifted it up and the big base is there because it grew into the ground at Mr. Kim's so they just cut it out of the pot and put it in another. It looks like it's still girdled by the old pot so I'm gonna saw above it. If you would all say a prayer or light a candle or whatever the heck you do...
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
I think I'm gonna stick it in here for funsies. It's a really deep oval. Was gonna put it in a strainer for another year but what the heck, this was sitting there empty.
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
If I may, I'd like you to read through the "Enihara Maples" thread that MarkyScott started. Everything about the root work he describes applies to elms, too.
Colanders and pond baskets are not good growing pots for elms and Maples. We want a shallow, wide, balanced nebari, not a deep one.
For Pines, the colanders "air prune" the roots because the sides of the pot dry up fast. You don't want that to happen with elms and Maples. You want a spreading root system! Just the opposite of what a colander will produce.
The way to build good roots on deciduous trees is by growing in boxes. I'll take some pictures tomorrow.
Colanders and pond baskets are not good growing pots for elms and Maples. We want a shallow, wide, balanced nebari, not a deep one.
For Pines, the colanders "air prune" the roots because the sides of the pot dry up fast. You don't want that to happen with elms and Maples. You want a spreading root system! Just the opposite of what a colander will produce.
The way to build good roots on deciduous trees is by growing in boxes. I'll take some pictures tomorrow.
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
Once I got into it I had a change of plans anyhow.
discusmike
Omono
Very nice start,good trunk,good movement
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
Then why would someone like Smoke use them?
I use them for every deciduous tree I have. The trees grow like crazy and when you pull it out there are tons of roots. Straight to the sides of the colander,not running around in the pot.
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
Adair has his views on this and I'm not going to argue with him... I know what works in Vegas every D tree I have pulled out of a pond basket in the past 9 years has had a pot full of nicely ramified fine feeder roots. If that's what you are after, it works for that. With the exception of if there is some unforeseen problem like this tree has which I will show you in a bit.
LanceMac10
Imperial Masterpiece
When I'm doing this, a particular moment in time comes to me......
just insert, "watering" for "a dollar thirty-five".....and I live in NH!!!
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
I see some feeder roots there. I'm guessing it will be fine.
