A PEEK INTO THE BUNKER FOR 2020

[Smoke]

This is a running thread for 2020 and development of this material from the beginning to show quality. A couple I bought just over a year ago and a couple I bought earlier this year. Three of them I bought today for working into quality shohin over the next five years. I plan to show the process on each and what I do, how I prune, why I prune, and how I wire them up. How I prepare them for a show pot and how I shoehorn them onto said pots. There is nothing worse than having a great shohin and having to put it into a larger pot than look right with the tree. If the pots length is longer than 7 inches (18 cm) it is not shohin.

This is an olive I picked up today. I have always wanted an olive and having a box stand it is necessary to have a very large assortment of trees to choose from. It came in an April Grigsby pot. the pot cost $40.00. I picked up the whole thing for $60.00.



This is a Crape myrtle I picked up today. It has a really gnarly trunk and should provide months of fun. Can't wait for spring to work on this one. This trunk already has plating bark and wonderful colors. $30.00



I picked up this one today also. Japanese Pomegranate. Very small orange flowers. $30.00



I dug up this privit a couple months ago. It's already to pop this spring. I hope it's not a dud....

 

[Smoke]

Japanese maple "Kandy Kitchen" $20.00



This is a zelcova I picked up early this year and have been growing it out over the summer. $20.00



This trident maple fell into my hands by accident while looking for something else. $50.00



This trident also came home with me also. $50.00



This cork elm was with the tridents so it seemed lonely so I took it also. $75.00

 

[TyroTinker]

I am very excited to watch this thread. Thank you for showing the prices you paid for these tree too. This will be a wealth of information.

 

[jonathanvperth]

What a way to give back. Thanks in advance!!! Can’t wait to see how these progress

 

[JudyB]

Looks like you've got some nice projects to work on, the material is great stuff. Love the crape.

 

[Smoke]

If.....all goes well with what's still alive, I have the canopy already in mind. Time will tell

 

[penumbra]

All for the price of a trip to the grocery store. ... awesome.

 

[GreatLakesBrad]

Following, look forward to the education. Do you go into “shopping” thinking shohin ( or any particular size)... or does the material dictate what size you pursue? Or does it just depend?

 

[Smoke]

Following, look forward to the education. Do you go into “shopping” thinking shohin ( or any particular size)... or does the material dictate what size you pursue? Or does it just depend?

I started on a path to shohin because twenty years ago I couldn't afford to go spend 500.00 on a good juniper or maple. I found that I could get a really nice shohin sized piece of material for way less than 100.00 and I get the same satisfaction out of building the tree and displaying the tree as a four foot monster. I have four foot monsters and I hate repotting them and they weigh a ton. Just because they are big does not make them more worthy in my eyes.

 

[Smoke]

A couple of these trees have a head start due to me purchasing them in the spring. They have received some preliminary work this past growing season, but have not seen into the pots yet. I have no idea what I have even though they are moving towards a goal. Once out of the pot I may have to change my direction, who knows.

This maple was purchased just like your see it. I did not want the typical pine tree styled maple for this tree and so have tried to coax the form into more of a spreading tree.



It was topped and shortened and then wired out.





Then allowed to grow during the summer



In late summer it was pruned back for shape.



So now it is in bed for winter and will receive a new go around next year. The wire will be cut off and new wire applied soon. As you can see this is one of the trees I have not seen in the soil yet. One can see the large root on the left and the undercut on the right base of the trunk. This could be a huge problem when I take a look. My backup plan is on a stone, depending on the rootage???

 

[Bolero]

Very Inspiring....

 

[Japonicus]

Nice thread. I could use some deciduous pointers. Subbed to thread, thanks

 

[Smoke]

I picked up this zelkova in April of this year. So far it has had 8 months of work done to it.


The first thing I did was cut it way back. If there two trees in the world that can take the pruning punishment it it elm and zelkova. Both respond exactly the same and many people call zelkova large leaf elm. It is also known by many as "grey bark elm". The important this to remember when cutting material back for the first time is don't be shy. It has to be cut all at once and allowed to explode with new growth. This is if it is healthy. Is that the meaning of is?

Cut it back proportionately. being a shohin sized tree the primaries were estimated to be mostly no more that 3/4 inch long or shorter. In my case I had a rather large thick portion of the wye to contend with and could not cut back as short as I wanted. I'll just work around that. While this we be considered a modified broom, it is not symmetrical like a traditional broom where 360 degree accuracy is a must. I just want the feeling of a broon style tree without the forced symmetry.







This tree was repotted into the colander due to the fact the soil mass was hard as a brick.



It was really compacted in the container and allowing the roots to breath helped with its recovery. The plant threw shoots in about two weeks. I wllowed them to grow straight away.



By June the tree had doubled it's foliage and was looking very good.



By the end of June I decided that I needed to set the length of the secondaries and prune for even profile. This would set the tree up for more even growth over the next months.



The tree has continued to grow and actually followed the plan and grew out rather orderly. This last photo is Nov. 23 and ready for winter. In a week or so I will prune out and wire for the next season.

 

[Smoke]

The cork elm was actually purchased at the end of 2018, in Dec. I didn't do anything to the tree until spring of 2019 and really only then just cut back the sacrifice leader that had been left on the tree. At this point I really had no idea what was going to happen. Just looking at the stump had no shoots, nothing that would even tell you that it was alive. They are tough, but not as tough as thinner skinned elms. These things have to push buds out of cracks in the cork and don't always bud where you want them to. Many times they will bud two or three branches from the same crack and leave a whole side bare.



Unfortunately in June, when Rosie started taking a turn for the worst and infection had started, I didn't take any pictures of the sprouting process. But by June it did have many branches and some were even wired now.




Now we all learn together, and will save you all a lot of time, all of the branching came out near the top of the cut off sacrifice. So far no buds have managed to penetrate the cork bark in the lower two thirds of the trunk. One can see my wire job has included a TRUMP combover in an effort to get the foliage down the sides of the tree.

These pics in Nov. show the tree much better and some of those branches are even being grown out as single branches, albeit pulled way down, but on their own.



The photo above shows a view as it might be seen in a pot, but I want to elevate the tree as there is a "show thru" under the trunk at ground level that really hi lights the movement in the trunk. But, there is a large root there masking that "show thru". I have not had this tree out of the pot yet and so do not know the extant of that root or its support mechanism to the tree. On elms much of the time you can just cut them off even this large with no effects. Until such time I will inspect the area in about 45 days and decide then to cut it off or plant on a rock and hi lite the root.