Advice wanted on yew

[parhamr]

This thread is super relevant to my interests regarding this yew: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/large-urban-dori-yew.26321/

They have remarkably similar basal flare and twin trunks. I’ll get a new canopy photo so my slingshot is visible. My plan was to have twin trunks with one much taller. I was able to saw and chop into the middle to reduce an obverse taper silhouette.

 

[BobbyLane]

This one had a few big trunks that were basically just cut back to growth further back, note the before pics....really not much different to the material you have here. i'd be looking to style your branches similar.

he's used everything here to an advantage without really incorporating much deadwood.

if it was mine and i went the lots of deadwood route, i'd probably jin/hollow all the heavy straight bits and bring all the bendable branches to horizontal

this is a much smaller tree of mine, same concept
IMG_2777 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2016-11-05_02-01-54 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

IMG_2920 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[Bonsai Nut]

[QUOTE="parhamr, post: 429970, member: 17207"My plan was to have twin trunks with one much taller. [/QUOTE]

Really hard to pull off if the trunks don't split close to the nebari and the trunks are both the same caliper. In a perfect world, you'd want one of the trunks to be significantly smaller than the other so that you almost treat it like a primary branch with a vertical line.

This works:



This, in my opinion, does not - even if you reduced one of the trunks so that it was clearly shorter:

 

[BobbyLane]

[QUOTE="parhamr, post: 429970, member: 17207"My plan was to have twin trunks with one much taller.

Really hard to pull off if the trunks don't split close to the nebari and the trunks are both the same caliper. In a perfect world, you'd want one of the trunks to be significantly smaller than the other so that you almost treat it like a primary branch with a vertical line.

This works:

View attachment 134169

This, in my opinion, does not - even if you reduced one of the trunks so that it was clearly shorter:

View attachment 134171[/QUOTE]

depends on the material, but very hard to pull off indeed. multiple trunks of similar heights has worked here

and here, where the main trunk sort of splits at the top

dont think would be suitable for this material though.

 

[Dav4]

What Bnut said, but don't jin the other trunk yet. Pick the trunk line with the best taper and movement as this will be your tree. Try shortening the other trunk but keep it as part of the design if you can. You can always lose it/jin it later. Yew are very easy to work with and respond well to wiring and carving so you should have a lot of fun with this one.

 

[parhamr]

Multi-trunk candelabra with lots of deadwood is solidly correct for natural yew growth habits. I know it's risky and difficult with other species, but this styling has potential to be awesome. I'm liking this thread.

 

[daudelus]

In the case of this particular tree I think your biggest challenge is going to be with the twin trunks.

I agree that the two trunks can't coexist on this tree and since the right side has more branching along its length, it seems to be the most likely to remain.

 

[daudelus]

This thread is super relevant to my interests regarding this yew: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/large-urban-dori-yew.26321/

They have remarkably similar basal flare and twin trunks. I’ll get a new canopy photo so my slingshot is visible. My plan was to have twin trunks with one much taller. I was able to saw and chop into the middle to reduce an obverse taper silhouette.

Wow, definitely similar! The hedge mine came from were all twins to what yours was initially coming out of the ground. I can't believe I did eight of these in one day (albeit I had the gracious help from the homeowner that wanted them gone and probably thought I was mentally disturbed and couldn't possibly do it all alone). I often remark at how I was so exhausted, that by the end of the digging, I was using a reciprocating saw mostly and had lost a lot of interest in doing it the 'right' way! I was just trying to pry them out the best I could.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

multiple trunks of similar heights has worked here

I respectfully disagree. I think that tree is a mess (wrong pot, as well). Way too busy - no focus.

I think this is headed in the right direction... though I would keep going and clean it up even more.



I remember a quote about the difference between Western design philosophies and Japanese design philosophies. Westerners add elements to their design until one more element is "too much". Japanese designers remove elements until one fewer element is "not enough". This tree would never be mistaken as a Japanese tree

 

[BobbyLane]

Fair enough @bonsainut we all have differing tastes. multi trunk Yews are not very common, ive only seen a handful that work quite well, i think this is one of them. i get the impression that the trunks are all competing to be the main leader, this is typical of how many conifers grow in the wild. spruce in particular. candelabra i believe its called.
i wouldnt suggest anything like this for the OP's tree though, totally different material.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Fair enough @bonsainut we all have differing tastes. multi trunk Yews are not very common, ive only seen a handful that work quite well, i think this is one of them. i get the impression that the trunks are all competing to be the main leader, this is typical of how many conifers grow in the wild. spruce in particular. candelabra i believe its called.

How about this? Better, don't you think? I think what was bothering me about the last one was that the bottom half of the tree was styled like a beautiful old English oak... and the top half looked like a stand of pines.

 

[BobbyLane]

That one looks more like a clump to me, i prefer the original

personally i think this form is better suited to spruce

I just think the yew is a great example of what can be done with multiple, straight trunks.

 

[Aaronkslater]

I respectfully disagree. I think that tree is a mess (wrong pot, as well). Way too busy - no focus.

View attachment 134226

That is so funny, this tree is one I always think of as one of the most convincing images of a real huge tree seen from far off that I have ever seen. I guess real trees are a bit of a mess though.

OP: great thread, I have some similar dug yew that I am nursing towards styling so looking forward to following your progress

 

[daudelus]

I was able to saw and chop into the middle to reduce an obverse taper silhouette.

Could you describe this a little more? Did you saw down the center of the 'sling shot' to open it more?

 

[daudelus]

Pick the trunk line with the best taper and movement as this will be your tree. Try shortening the other trunk but keep it as part of the design if you can.

I think a concern is that neither main side has much movement, just that the right side has more branching that potentially could be used to form the image of taper in the future . I would like to shorten the tree as well.

 

[daudelus]

How about this? Better, don't you think? I think what was bothering me about the last one was that the bottom half of the tree was styled like a beautiful old English oak... and the top half looked like a stand of pines.

View attachment 134233

I kind of agree that this image compared to the original is more pleasing to my eye, and while I don't think it's going to be something that can work with this particular tree, I think it can come in handy potentially with one or two of the others I have to work on!

 

[sorce]

just that the right side has more branching

I gotta say, when you brought this up up there....

I thought you may as well just cut one off.

Sorce

 

[just.wing.it]

Multi-trunk candelabra with lots of deadwood is solidly correct for natural yew growth habits. I know it's risky and difficult with other species, but this styling has potential to be awesome. I'm liking this thread.

I second that!
My work in progress.

That's a nice trunk you got there.

 

[daudelus]

So, I had some time today to clean this tree up more and put some wire on the smaller branches...I did not do too much to the thicker branches... some things were removed and roughly jinned...

 

[parhamr]

Here's a shot of the slingshot I'm dealing with



The biggest, deepest v-cut was where I removed a nasty third upper trunk. It made for obverse taper and had fused with other branches in an ugly manner.