Barberry?

Mike123

Shohin
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image.jpgimage.jpgNeed help identifying this.
 
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image.jpgSorry about pic. Being sideways.Heres another.image.jpg
 
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Looks like an extremely nice Barberry to me but not positive. Whatever it is...it is a very nice material worth pursuing.

Just wait a few more days, looks like the leaves are about to come out. It will be easier to ID then.

Good luck!
 
Could be. That is a nice goal to aim for. :)

Either way, I feel you should remove/separate LATER the "raft" at the right which could be a nice future bonsai on its own.
 
barberries I have seen have serious thorns, and the flesh of the wood is yellow-colored. Nice looking material, whatever it turns out to be.
 
barberries I have seen have serious thorns, and the flesh of the wood is yellow-colored. Nice looking material, whatever it turns out to be.

I can see lots of thorns on this one. I've seen barberries with this color but not as nice bark crackling texture. I agree that the inside wood should be bright yellow when fresh.
 
A couple of questions.

When I had to cut some roots, definitely had yellow flesh. Bright yellow. And also found one red berry that the birds missed. Have question, I transplanted it to a container right away but with rootball and existing soil. Will I put to much stress on it if I were to place in container with better fast draining soil and not to happy with container it's in a little small left to right. Just about fit in. If so,
Do I keep some existing soil? Or can I rinse off all existing soil and just use good draining soil. Or just leave it alone? Thanks again for any help!
 
Really really nice piece of deciduous material. Would love to work on that!

This is collected?
 
Yes, just collected yesterday. Neighbor's yard. I drive a lot for work, and I'm looking all the time for potential. Constantly looking and trying to figure out how I can acquire them. At least I think there potential... Thanks for the comments. Thought it looked pretty good. Just don't want to screw it up. That's why I was asking about repotting it up again. Any thoughts?
 
How long ago did you collect it? If it was within a couple days you could lift it and put it in faster draining soil without a problem. I wouldn't work the roots again though.

Just pop it out and whatever bad soil comes with it place it into a bed of your good soil. Similar to (slip potting.) Next time you repot in a year or two or three you can work the roots and get all that old soil out. For now i'd take it easy.

Keep in mind trees grow all the time in clogged congested soil, it's just not optimal for potted bonsai. It won't kill a tree to live in normal soil for one year as long as you don't overwater it.
 
When you say working the roots again, do you mean I probably should have trimmed a little? Because all I did was dig out and put in container. Just seems a little cramped in its container, and didn't have time to get some better free draining soil. But I guess I fall into that trap of rushing to do something when I don't have to. The excitement of getting something, bringing it home, starring at it, and thinking now what! I must do something!
 
If you collected it recently you should be able to wash the roots gently and repot into free draining soil. Barberry often have a lot of fine roots when collected, and they are pretty tough. If you do this the tree needs protection for some time afterwards.
 
Sorry should have read your post better! You collected it yesterday. Definitely ok to take it out rinse the roots and put it in a proper mix. You could even cut back the tap root a little if it has one. Looks like the buds are just waking up, timing is perfect.

The buds on this tree remind me of Hawthorne but looks like you ruled this out with the roots.
 
A good amount of dead branches

image.jpgimage.jpg

Found quite a bit of dead branches, thinned out a little.
Should I remove suckers at base of trunk? Maybe remove branch on right?
 
Yes remove the suckers. The right side is interesting. I would leave it for sure.

Did the tree have a lot of fine roots ? Did you tie it into the container to secure it ?
 
View attachment 32227View attachment 32228

Found quite a bit of dead branches, thinned out a little.
Should I remove suckers at base of trunk? Maybe remove branch on right?

I think they tend to die back a lot, hense the dead branches. I dug up one and it has died back every year practically. Probably needs more protection than I give it but I notice a lot of landscape barberry that have dead branches.
 
I think that in a pot barberry can dieback. If they dry out for a day the can lose branches. I have kept mine well watered and have had no problems. I still think they are not the best material for bonsai, however.
 
Sometimes I leave suckers because anything that will provide photosynthesis will help the recovery. I would remove these suckers. You have plenty of foliage up top and I don't see a future with them.
 
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