Celtis Sinensis - Chinese Hackberry - Thoughts and Suggestions

[Dorian Fourie]

Cancel that thought from the pictures thread!

Thoughts cancelled

 

[Dorian Fourie]

PS. excuse my horrible sketch

Not horrible at all. Well thought out actually

 

[YukiShiro]

Yes its horribly fantastic

Not horrible at all. Well thought out actually

LOL

thanks guys

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Update on this Celtis.

Over the last year it has pretty much been left to grow with me only cutting back a few branches and keeping it neat and tidy.

During winter (June), I cut all the longest branches back a few nodes so that over this growing season

It is now Spring and the tree is filling out nicely. I will leave it till all the buds have opened before I look at which branches need to be trimmed etc

 

[just.wing.it]

Wow, that's cool!

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Wow, that's cool!

Thanks.

The pot is not right but I am not worried about that for now. All I want to do is develop it nicely over the next few seasons. Some carving needs to be done so that you can see the inside of the trunk so that is on the agenda this season.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

So today I decided to clean up the tree and do some wiring on it and work on the style.

Before


I could not believe how many new buds were breaking along the branches so this tree has no problem with back budding.

I removed all the buds that were not needed and then removed 100's of small branches that were growing in the wrong spot and the wrong direction. The branches on this tree are so fine that I struggled to get my big hands in to wire them properly I had to try something else. I decided that I am going to anchor wires through the bottom of the pot and use those to pull the branches down into the position that I needed them.


I also thought it was time to open up the wound in the middle slightly so that it will allow you to see a better view of into the trunk. The front trunk was slightly too high, so I carved it down slightly.

Before


After


After a few hours of work, I was happy with what I had achieved. Now to let it grow out again. Some of the lower branches need to lengthen out but at the rate this is growing I do not see it taking too long.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

I cannot believe how quickly this celtis is growing. Its growing like a weed at the moment.



Right now there are buds developing everywhere so it takes an age to remove all of those first. After that it is cutting back the new growth. It is filling out nicely though.

 

[Anthony]

Now that is really beautiful, Dorian.
Excellent work !!
Thanks for showing.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[Giga]

for some reason it reminds me of a conch shell, unique piece of material.

 

[JudyB]

I would like to see the left trunk take a dogleg to the left a little if you can do a cutback to a branch that does that. It will allow more room between that and your main (middle trunk) and give some height differentiation as well. It will set you back a little but as you can see they grow quickly. Nice progress.

 

[Tieball]

Well composed tree design. I like seeing how you utilized the natural beauty of the tree's growing path. The tree is growing along really well...and seems to just take all your work in stride. Mighty fine!

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Now that is really beautiful, Dorian.
Excellent work !!
Thanks for showing.
Good Day
Anthony

Thanks so much. Appreciate it

 

[Dorian Fourie]

for some reason it reminds me of a conch shell, unique piece of material.

Must be the way its lying. Thanks for the feedback

 

[Dorian Fourie]

I would like to see the left trunk take a dogleg to the left a little if you can do a cutback to a branch that does that. It will allow more room between that and your main (middle trunk) and give some height differentiation as well. It will set you back a little but as you can see they grow quickly. Nice progress.

Very interesting view. Thanks Judy.

I will have a closer look at the tree and see if that is possible

 

[Dorian Fourie]

Well composed tree design. I like seeing how you utilized the natural beauty of the tree's growing path. The tree is growing along really well...and seems to just take all your work in stride. Mighty fine!

Thanks Tieball. Appreciate the feedback.

I am going to look for a new pot this month. It is so healthy that getting it into a better pot should not be a problem.

 

[Tieball]

I look forward to seeing your progress....and the trees progress.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

I decided to repot this Celtis into a new pot as the buds are breaking.

Before putting it into a new pot I cut back the root at the back of the tree. It was too large so I decided to remove it now.


There are plenty of roots around the tree so I was not worried about removing it

I chose a rectangular pot that was smaller then the other one as I felt it suited the tree better. I will keep a close eye on it for the next few weeks as although the weather is getting much warmer, a sudden cold spell could cause it problems

 

[Tieball]

That’s a lot of fine fiber root growth....healthy.

 

[Dorian Fourie]

That’s a lot of fine fiber root growth....healthy.

Absolutely. I am very happy with the growth I was getting on the roots.