Anybody out there have a Yaupon Holly......

greerhw

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They grow well here in the ground, any problems in a pot ?

keep it green,
Harry
 

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mcpesq817

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They grow well here in the ground, any problems in a pot ?

keep it green,
Harry

Hmm...that doesn't look like a conifer. Are you sure you're interested in the right tree? ;)
 

radsnell

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They'll look great and grow for you for a while, but then they sometimes lose a branch. No reason. The rest of the tree is fine. We've seen a few that have to undergo "re-design" due to a sacrificed important branch.

Boyd
 

greerhw

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Hmm...that doesn't look like a conifer. Are you sure you're interested in the right tree? ;)

Didn't say I was going to buy one...................:eek:

keep it green,
Harry
 

Thomas J.

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Harry,
Those guys are used quite often in this area. It's pretty rare though to find one without some huge scars, and the reason for that is because most enthusiasts get them from someone's front yard who wants to change their landscape. They will have incredible trunks, but after chopping off all the huge branches that aren't required, you have some pretty good scaring that for most I've seen just don't heal at all. Pretty typical trait of theirs.

Now I have seen a few shohin that were fantastic little specimens mainly because all it required was to chop the top and let a new leader form along with some new trainable branches that are short and small, but as for a big one like your showing, there would probably be too many scars and the branches too straight as they are somewhat brittle and really don't like bending without breaking. :(

Other than that, nice material.:D
 

Brian Van Fleet

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They'll look great and grow for you for a while, but then they sometimes lose a branch. No reason. The rest of the tree is fine. We've seen a few that have to undergo "re-design" due to a sacrificed important branch.

Boyd

Seen it too. My buddy had this one for quite a few years and one spring, suddenly it shed branches until it was gone. No reason at all. I won't own one...but some nice examples are out there so somebody is pulling it off.
 

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bonsai barry

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I have three. This seems to be one of the easiest plants for me to grow in a pot.
 

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Attila Soos

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Yaupon hollies are great and the easiest bonsai in the world.

About 4 years ago, when we moved into our new home, I saw a pile of yaupon hollies on the side of the road, on my street. It was June, hot as hell, and the shrubs were ripped out of the landscape, with their roots bare and dry. They must have been sitting bare root in the sun for several hours, the leaves already shriveled. The owner clearly had thrown them on the trash pile, getting ready to plant new trees instead.

As I walked by, I noticed them immediately, and picked up a trunk that looked interesting. I ringed the doorbell, but nobody responded. I was hoping to tell the owner that I am taking one off his trash pile. Later that day the garbage truck came and hauled the rest away.

I took the tree home and immediately planted it into a nursery can, with pumice in it.

The rest is history, the little tree has recovered and has since developed into a fat chuhin. It is hard to believe that it survived a bare rooting and total scorching of roots in the middle of June.

So, yes, this tree is tough. I have never experienced a die-back of the branches, so far.

I have another one that I have grown in my backyard, from a seedling. Recently I dug it out, and reduced the rootball by about 90%. It hasn't missed a beat, now growing in a nursery pot. No dieback on that either.

It seems as if no matter what you do, over or underwater, or cut it back to the bare minimum, you can't kill it. I've never seen a tree like that.
 
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Smoke

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Just one..

It is shohin...been working for a few years.
So far I have a trunk. I did a first styling on it recently to get ready for September second spring push we get. They like water and fertilizer. they bulk up incredibly fast and roots will grow on the surface really well. Nebaris are to die for with this one. A good holly without a good nebari is a poor holly.

Branches break really easy but they grow back fast. Respond well to pruning and will bud back in about a week, rather like boxwood. Small wood is fleshy and not very strong meaning that a match stick branch will be only a hair worth of wood inside. It is all fleshy bark which is why they break so easily.

Have never seen a good large one so have no idea about those. Mine is really fast in a pot so pot culture is a no brainer, sort of like a good ficus.

On the one below I broke some of the smaller branches between the second branch and the crown. The stubs are there so buds should be there soon. At this point with branches set, future development will be more like shearing and less on wiring.

Scars heal about as good as they do on myrtles and boxwood....almost never. In this case most of the larger wounds will just be dealt with in the future with a die grinder. Hollow them out a little and hope for the best.
 

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greerhw

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"D" tress, huh ? Never mind !

keep it green,
Harry
 

greerhw

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Yam? I thought he liked spinich?


Just for you Big Al. the whole thing.



I yam what I yam and I yam what I yam that I yam / And I got a lotta muscle and I only gots one eye / And I'll never hurt nobodys and I'll never tell a lie / Top to me bottom and me bottom to me top / That's the way it is 'til the day that I drop, what am I? / I yam what I yam.


keep it green,
Harry
 

painter

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ive got a monster yaupon in my yard i collected this year,
got a huge rootball to make sure it would live, and kept too much green.
anyway it responded well, budded back like crazy
doesnt heal well and ive got no design plan yet.
i will try and post a pic in the next couple of days.
p
 

rockm

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There are some excellent yaupon holly bonsai around, from shohin to hernia inducing size.

They make excellent bonsai material. They can be a bit touchy, however, in colder climates. Dropped branches and trunk die back can occur if they're frozen for a long time. They're hardy Zone 7-9. In containers, they not completely hardy in Zone 7 or lower. Winter protection must ramp up accordingly as you go lower than Zone 8 or so.

For what it's worth, their official name "Ilex vomitoria" was given because the leaves were used by Native Americans as an emetic--a way to induce vomiting--which helped with stomach problems.
 

sfhellwig

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I will add my two cents as I have a recent experience with a dwarf yaupon. I bought it at the end of last season because it had a very nice twisted trunk. Expecting it to be fine with the other shrubs in pots heeled into the garden I did just that. It wasn't until spring that I found out it's hardiness. Major oversight that will never happen again. As a small shrub established in a two gallon can and buried up to the rim, it took it hard. We are zone 6 and like everyone else it was our worst winter in a while, but still just a true zone 6. It looked fine until end of winter when all of the leaves just flaked off. It has however recovered and appears to have come through with no major loss to the trunk. It has replaced all of the twiggy branches that were lost and you might never know what had happened. Not bad for out of zone. So not quite a landscape situation but not a bonsai situation either. I sure would not like to repeat that again and as the tree is reduced in it's pot size I imagine it will not be so forgiving.

You folks a few zones up that are removing major root mass are lucky. I have been cautioned that all hollies hate to be root worked and after this freeze scare, I will be working this one at a snail's pace. Mother nature taking a tree is one thing. Loosing one to my actions is another story.
 

Attila Soos

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Dropped branches and trunk die back can occur if they're frozen for a long time.

Oh, so this is why people talk about die-back. Due to colder climates. Otherwise, I was really surprised since I've never seen that happen in So. Cal, but now I understand why.
 
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