bradford pear

will0911

Shohin
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Hi all,

Just got back from this older gentleman's house who allowed me to dig some crape myrtles, a huge variegated privet, and some bradford pear. They were growing through the pots soout they werent dug from thethe ground. I was wondering if anyone had any info on the brsdfprdmile pear as bonsai? I have heard the leaves don't reduce that well but it has about a five to six inch trunk and when finished I would like ir to be over a foot and a half so the leaves should be fine...im growing for flowers anyway. Any info would be great! He has a nursery and these plants were from the older part that has gotten grown over. Thanks in advance.

Will B.
 

rockm

Spuds Moyogi
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The first photo in this post is a Bradford Pear at the National Arboretum's collection;
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?6481-Nat.-Arb.-fall-display

Leaves do reduce, they grow like weeds. Kind of gawky in growth though. Most trunks are unintesting until too big for bonsai. IF you can find a six inch trunk with mature or maturish bark, all the better.
 

will0911

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Cool! Ill post a pic of mine soon...as in tomorrow...it is interesting to me but it grew through a one gallon for like five to ten years so I might have to ground layer for good roots. And that bradford pear on yourthe link is the only one on the internet I have come across.
 
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Ang3lfir3

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I own a bradford pear that spent it's life growing in a shallow dish in a laboratory in Oregon..... trunk is about 4-5" in dia .....

It's actually getting its first training pot (besides the anderson flat it's growing in) this spring.... The fall color is awesome... the picture from the national Arb is pretty typical fall color.... I have had it now for about 3 yrs and It has never flowered.... not sure how next year will be yet but it might be the year for flowers!!!

a word of caution... bradfords are known for adventitious budding in the crotches of branches this can create some really nasty looking structure so be on the look out for it... I have heard of issues with die back but not experienced any myself... they are strong growers so lots of pruning will be required to maintain ramification...

they bark up pretty quickly and have great furrowed bark similar to black pine except the plates are smaller...
 

will0911

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Thanks for the great info angelfire! Any chance of a picture of your tree? Also, is it hard to get them to flower in a pot?
 

Ang3lfir3

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Thanks for the great info angelfire! Any chance of a picture of your tree? Also, is it hard to get them to flower in a pot?

actually my wife (Victrinia) took a picture of it this evening... it has had no training but I wanted to capture it before I work on it this spring and begin training it.

plus its in full color... :D

I actually have no idea how hard it might be to get them to flower in a pot..... I guess we are going to find out... I will post a picture as soon as it is processed (she is very meticulous about the pictures)
 
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Bradford_Pear.jpg
 

will0911

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Thanks for the picture! What are your plans for the roots? I just actually took mine out pf the nursery pots today and found a huge root that looked like a big link sausage...not fun...but there was enough roots for me to cut off that part and I took off some bark down low on the flare and added some rooting hormone...not the best time of year but I had to repot the was about an inch of soil left in the pot so I did what I had to...should be fine its buried deep in a pot to hopefully get some roots radiating from the same level...we shall see...
 

JudyB

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JKL has a fall pic of his bradford pear up on bonsaisite forum. It's truly an amazingly detailed natural tree. Go take a look, you will be glad you did...I don't know if it's bad form to add a link to it, or I would do so.
 

Ang3lfir3

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Thanks for the picture! What are your plans for the roots?

most of the roots will stay... that large arching one will prolly go when I repot I already removed on a year or two ago... these are remnants of living in a shallow dish in the lab for so long.... what you can't see in that picture is that there is a nice nice looking root pad back in there :

@Judy the trick is to get him to post it here :) :)
 

will0911

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Angelfire, this should be a nice tree soon! I like the bark! Ill post mine soon its covered up about fifty percent so I can get roots but it has nice bark and is has a pretty thick trunk.

Judy, thanks for the link and to jkl for posting!
 

will0911

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Well here is my tree...its covered up now because I had to repot in the fall and I am trying to grow roots as much as I can...the trunk goes almost all the way to the middle of the bottom yellow pot. Hopefully it lives through the winter...

2011-11-12_13-59-29_427.jpg
 
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