Potentilla

sorce · Dec 11, 2017

defra said:
I did do some trimming now but left some to be pruned in spring.

Don't Bullshit!

Hit it hard.... Right back to proper nexts!
PROPER DEEP INTERIOR PROPER FORKS FOR PROPER RAMIFICATION AND PROPER TAPER.

Don't mean to yell....but I listen to trees .....
AND IT'S YELLING TOO!

It wants to be a bonsai so bad.....
Its probably trying to place an order at Kaneshin as we speak! It's trying to prune itself !

3 trunks certain.

There is nothing going against it working, I wouldn't even try to hard to get much size differential.
Except for the bit that will slowly come naturally by simply keeping it pruned appropriately. With just a few more branches and foliage on each trunk.

Maybe go totally ham and dare to remove the flowers on the big one one year to see if you get significantly more growth.

Hell....if you COULD balance it with flower removal....I would assume its smaller effect would be all this needs.

Them trunks are going to be hidden behind a flower display anyhow...

But Damn.....
Proper proper nexts and this could prove a dynamite winter image too!

I am not a "chop All-star"....

But now YOU are!

Kill!

Sorce

defra · Dec 11, 2017

sorce said:
Don't Bullshit!

Hit it hard.... Right back to proper nexts!
PROPER DEEP INTERIOR PROPER FORKS FOR PROPER RAMIFICATION AND PROPER TAPER.

Don't mean to yell....but I listen to trees .....
AND IT'S YELLING TOO!

It wants to be a bonsai so bad.....
Its probably trying to place an order at Kaneshin as we speak! It's trying to prune itself !

3 trunks certain.

There is nothing going against it working, I wouldn't even try to hard to get much size differential.
Except for the bit that will slowly come naturally by simply keeping it pruned appropriately. With just a few more branches and foliage on each trunk.

Maybe go totally ham and dare to remove the flowers on the big one one year to see if you get significantly more growth.

Hell....if you COULD balance it with flower removal....I would assume its smaller effect would be all this needs.

Them trunks are going to be hidden behind a flower display anyhow...

But Damn.....
Proper proper nexts and this could prove a dynamite winter image too!

I am not a "chop All-star"....

But now YOU are!

Kill!

Sorce

Sorce i understand what you are saying and i agree it should be pruned back to proper nexts, but there are no visible nexts i like now and im sure they will apear in spring!

thats why i wait pruning any further.

Also the size it is now feels right to me so any new growth extending is growing out of silhouete so another reason to cut it back.

But for now i like how it will look all winter long

Also great idea on the balance with flower removal i will deffenatly try that and if it works its genious !

sorce · Dec 11, 2017

Bro bro....

You already convinced me spring is good!

Plan rocks!

When that time comes!
Hit it hard. Blah blah blah!

Love this!

Sorce

defra · Dec 11, 2017

sorce said:
Bro bro....

You already convinced me spring is good!

Plan rocks!

When that time comes!
Hit it hard. Blah blah blah!

Love this!

Sorce

Darn almosth understood the first time lol thnx!

dirk hoorelbeke · Dec 11, 2017

Prune hard once or twice in summer. You will have growth to cut back to. You can leave sacrifices to build the branches. They do pop on old wood / trunk. Nice tree to be.

defra · May 17, 2018

@sorce
I started the proces of removing the flower buds on the middle trunk to see how the theory of partial removal works out!

Its getting green and when it starts to fill up in about a month will give it a cutback

This is the tree today:

defra · Nov 11, 2018

This one grew good this year!
Still green our weather is strange this year ?

Update pics from all sides and a beer can for scale

defra · Nov 11, 2018

Self critisism
Looking at the pics i think i need to try to wire the middle and tallest trunk and try to bend it back to the center

defra · Mar 24, 2019

Update time
New pot
Made by: @Mihai i think its perfect for this little one especialy with the contrast of the Yellow flowers once they show

Paulpash · Mar 25, 2019

If you have time wire it out completely - they are very pliable and easy to wire. Grow in a deep pot with lots of water and feed and they fill out fast. Here's one I did earlier.

As acquired - a big bush - 4 years ago

14thjune185_zpsd3f75dd9 by Paul Pashley, on Flickr

Last year

IMG_20170503_182107874_zps9hphvhx4 by Paul Pashley, on Flickr

Paulpash · Mar 25, 2019

@TomB has a great little Pottie too with cracking deadwood features.

defra · Mar 26, 2019

Paulpash said:
If you have time wire it out completely - they are very pliable and easy to wire. Grow in a deep pot with lots of water and feed and they fill out fast. Here's one I did earlier.

As acquired - a big bush - 4 years ago
14thjune185_zpsd3f75dd9 by Paul Pashley, on Flickr

Last year
IMG_20170503_182107874_zps9hphvhx4 by Paul Pashley, on Flickr

Nice that's a cool tree!
Thnx allot for sharing

I do have some wire in already and also find Them pliable yes
Im thinking of using the hedge pruning method and removing 80% of the flowers troughout the season and then next year select branches and style by clip and grow and after that wire what needs wireing.

I noticed that they grow faster when they have more space yeah

but this one will get the slow grow treatment
Because its a little tree i have more control over the branch development at least that's my opinion im in no hurry with this one

Soldano666 · Mar 26, 2019

Potts are on my list this year. Considering purchasing a bunch of smalls andi ground growing them. As well as finding a couple larger ones to work on. Flowers, Deadwood, small leaves, good bark, extremely cold hardy, seems like a no brainier to me

Cosmos · Mar 26, 2019

Any special advice when planning to drastically reduce the trunk and root prune severely at the same time? Planning to put a nusery potentilla in a bonsai pot straight away this spring.

Paulpash · Mar 26, 2019

Cosmos said:
Any special advice when planning to drastically reduce the trunk and root prune severely at the same time? Planning to put a nusery potentilla in a bonsai pot straight away this spring.

Water retentive mix, feed and water a lot. It grows like crazy and drinks a ton - I think I got 3 or 4 cutbacks / rewires per season which is amazing for one UK season.

defra · Mar 26, 2019

Paulpash said:
Water retentive mix, feed and water a lot. It grows like crazy and drinks a ton - I think I got 3 or 4 cutbacks / rewires per season which is amazing for one UK season.

Yeah agreed!

As you can see in the start of this thread i did the trunk chop and repot in one go it did look like it didn't bother at All so go for it

TomB · Mar 27, 2019

Cosmos said:
Any special advice when planning to drastically reduce the trunk and root prune severely at the same time? Planning to put a nusery potentilla in a bonsai pot straight away this spring.

I think that specific roots feed specific foliage areas - these trees have very pronounced live veins (and often the trunk actually decays between the life lines). I would be careful not to remove big chunks of root or you may get dieback up top. Try to leave some fibrous root all round the trunk.

I did a severe reduction like the one you describe last year, and lost the tree (a different tree to the one Paul mentions above). I think I hit the roots too hard.
In Defra's original pictures we don't see what was done to root ball but it doesn't look like too big a reduction.

So if it's really good material, maybe think about stepping down the pot size in stages over a couple of years.

defra · Mar 27, 2019

TomB said:
I think that specific roots feed specific foliage areas - these trees have very pronounced live veins (and often the trunk actually decays between the life lines). I would be careful not to remove big chunks of root or you may get dieback up top. Try to leave some fibrous root all round the trunk.

I did a severe reduction like the one you describe last year, and lost the tree (a different tree to the one Paul mentions above). I think I hit the roots too hard.
In Defra's original pictures we don't see what was done to root ball but it doesn't look like too big a reduction.

So if it's really good material, maybe think about stepping down the pot size in stages over a couple of years.

Ah yes i left feeders all around but removed about 60% of the original rootbal the first time.
Tom im curious what the timing was that you preformed the root work ?

TomB · Mar 27, 2019

Not 100% sure, about this time of year I think - buds moving but not in leaf yet. It was a pretty reckless nothing-to-lose reduction though.

Cosmos · Mar 27, 2019

This is the project tree I’m thinking about putting in a pot (10$ nursery stock from last fall). Pot is a round shohin-size ceramic, about 5,5" wide and fairly deep (a good 2"). The tree would be planted at the pictured angle, with possible cuts in reds (all the straight trunks would be cut too, at various lengths).

There’s no way around it, if I go ahead, I’ll need to remove a lot of roots (maybe 70-80%) but I can try to keep all the feeder roots close to the trunk.

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