Collected American Beech

atlarsenal

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I collected this American Beech this morning in the rain. All potted up and let it sit for a couple of years before I do anything to it. Should I go ahead and wire the new leader up now?DA9F7FC5-17DB-47C7-B0F2-C4173A1FA54A.jpeg71681A44-FFD1-4CEA-903B-3560C3CF9CAE.jpeg
 

Wilson

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Check out @Steve Kudela thread about his American beech, he has the winning technique. @Giga also has great results with these. I love these trees, just haven't found one to keep in a pot.
 

atlarsenal

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@Wilson I have been watching Steve & Giga’s threads on Am Beech for a while. This one is doing well. I’m just feeding it and letting it grow probably another season and then get it in a smaller training pot.
 

atlarsenal

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Did this one survive the summer?
Yes, I was happy with the growth this summer. I was able to get some shoots down low and got some wire on those. I have some nice buds set for spring.

This gives me the opportunity to get some opinions from the knowledgeable nuts. This will be the second spring after collection. It needs a drastic prune lower at least to the shoot where the guy wires are attached. The only reason I didn’t cut lower at collection was there were no really strong shoots low. It also needs to be moved to a shallower grow box. Again I did not want to cut too high on the tap root to risk detriment to the tree.

My question is should I do any of this work this year or adhere to “don’t touch it for 2 years”?
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BrianBay9

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I would wait.
I had one and did not wait. As a result, I no longer have one.

Individual results will vary, but I would wait if I were you.

Second this advice. I've killed a couple assuming the first year growth indicated good roots. Worked them, killed them, then found no new root growth.
 

Zach Smith

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As I tell folks who ask, don't make American beech the centerpiece of your bonsai efforts. They are frustrating bonsai subjects! You will get, at best, two flushes of growth per year. And while that sounds good, in practice you'll find that when the growth just stops dead by summer that you most likely haven't gotten as far as you wanted in that year's training effort. American beech is a wonderful tree, but a challenge for bonsai. I say that even though I have a small one right now I'll looking forward to coming out in a couple of months. But that's one of hundreds of trees in training.
 

atlarsenal

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Here’s an update on this beech. I’m pretty happy with the growth I’ve got in the past two years even though it just got chopped off. This was my first dig and I left the trunk too tall and potted in too deep of a container.
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