Birch apple maple willow?

Kizerk

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Hey all, I am relatively new to the hobby and I am looking for some advice for on what trees can succeed at raft and clump styles.

I have a bunch of 2 and 3 year of seedlings ordered for this spring season:
trident maple
Amur Maple (Acer ginnala)
Paper birch (Betula papyrifera)
Midwest Crabapple (Malus baccata, manchurian)
Siberian Crabapple (Malus baccata)
Weeping willow


Of these species I know thirdent maples are perfectly fine doing a "in a hole method" but I was wondering which others would be worth trying to clump in that way or any more traditional methods?

I was also wondering if anyone has had any success trying to raft style a river birch? I have a small pre-bonsai river birch that is almost parallel to the ground and I think could make for a great raft with its current branching but can't find any examples of birch rafts (will attach photos).

Thanks for any help or suggested reading that might help with the coming spring season.
 

Frozentreehugger

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Paper birch clump style in nature this is because if you chop it back or the tree dies it will grow suckers from the base . And create a clump Gardeners often duplicate this but planting multiple seedlings very close together they will grow together and clump . Takes 7 to 10 years from seed to get paper white bark they are a higher difficulty level because they don’t back bud well and branches often die when pruned . I have a large one I have grown in the ground and drastically cut it down in dormancy early this winter we will see what happens will most likely die and sucker but only one way to find out as for apple only advice I have is learn and apply a pest and disease control program . Mankind has messed with the apple tree longer and more than any plant on the planet and every bug and disease loves it . I lost a great cattle chomped collected wild apple to boreers last year so I’m a little bitter but they make great vigorous growing flowering bonsai that will make great clump style again I would just plant several close together in a large pot
 

Frozentreehugger

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Apple is extremely cold hardy I live in Canada zone 4 as I Wright this there is still 2 feet of snow outside -16 c do not pamper apple in winter let the pot freeze solid for at least 40’days Protect from drying winds only This helps kill the bad guys and sets the plant up to grow vigorously in spring they will sulk without it rich organic in the soil lots of water full sun feed heavily until you are ready for final refining this vigorous life also helps disease control Burch as a raft may be dificult Big cut down trunk that died suckers from big roots maybe . But plant a trunk on its side to make a conventional raft probable bad idea birch wood rots fast lawing on or in the ground bark is very tolerant but wood not . In nature here home range of paper birch you will find fallen trees looks like a complete solid log but it’s just the shell of the bark and all the wood is rotted and gone the Amur maple may be good choice very vigorous grower clumps naturally and very cold hardy I would twist it a lot with wire when very young get lots of movement in the trunk then plant it in the ground let it grow Then when you have a nice size trunk chop it back drastically and use that as a raft with nice trunk movement along the raft .think I just talked myself into trying that They generally have very nice red fall colour dam now I have another project o well seeds are on every tree around here
 
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