Old Cedar Elm bonsai redux

markyscott

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First the autumn defoliation. I do it when the leaves are like this - once they are showing fall color I believe It’s OK to defoliate (In Houston, at least). I then cut back. I think this is also OK in Houston - due to our very mild winters, there is very little chance of frost damage and the trees are never truly dormant.
 

markyscott

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I reduced the apex. This is going to have to be replaced eventually - it had been hedged for years. Although that resulted in some interesting branching, it also resulted in in a large number of apical shoots and a good deal of swelling.
BB8EE15F-6833-4E86-B955-E9B9EB516BC9.jpeg
 

Michael P

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Your posts always give me courage. Worked on mine yesterday, it had naturally defoliated already. I was much more cautious, still anxious after the massive pest infestation and near loss of lower branches last spring.
 

vancehanna

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Really nice to see this species and your excellent progression. I have one which I will post as it has gone through many transformations. The latest is near full loss of the entire top. Three years ago I cut off the entire trunk nearly at the nebari for a "Naka" broom.
 

markyscott

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Interesting issue with this tree. With the front I’ve chosen, it places one of the secondary trunks right in front of the main. I like the little trunk though and hat to just cut it off. What to do?
DCF0D84E-2F62-4513-9057-49C26DE6D9A1.jpeg
 

markyscott

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So what I’m thinking is that I’d like to try a technique Ebihara sometimes used. First a seedling is grafted to the branch (or trunk in this case). Then the branch is separated from the tree. The beach is then repositioned, living off the seedlings roots until it fuses to the main trunk in the new position. This is what I’m going for. First step is to graft a seedling. I’m using a Chinese elm - hopefully it will work ok. 16D003BE-2781-4C20-A685-8C6FFE41CE7A.jpegD612CBA0-59C3-4A9E-9223-B276E1FB033F.jpeg
Now we wait and see.
S
 
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Did the graft take and start supporting the secondary trunk? The first photo (of your most recent post) shows it removed so I'm hoping that means it took. That's going to be a pretty phenomenal party trick if you pull off regrafting it! Kudos to the attempt! Unless I'm interpreting the photos all wrong, in which case I'll retreat to my half full Shiner 😝 .... Edit - part the trois... upon further review, did you remove the attempted graft?
 
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markyscott

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Did the graft take and start supporting the secondary trunk? The first photo (of your most recent post) shows it removed so I'm hoping that means it took. That's going to be a pretty phenomenal party trick if you pull off regrafting it! Kudos to the attempt! Unless I'm interpreting the photos all wrong, in which case I'll retreat to my half full Shiner 😝 .... Edit - part the trois... upon further review, did you remove the attempted graft?
Graft is still there. It may have fused, but the jury is still out. I’ll give it another year. Here are a couple of pictures. 89936CD2-84DF-4021-AC1F-C1885B4BB6F5.jpeg96BCA46D-573D-4626-8E00-C272DDF96794.jpeg
 
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