Cork Bark Elm Progression

[Nybonsai12]

great progress on this one!

 

[Hartinez]

Another season down, and some solid progress on this elm. After rough cutback and a little wire, this tree is ready for another season of vigorous growth.
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Nice one Sal. This will be a great tree.

 

[Dabbler]

looks great!

 

[Adamski77]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing…

 

[Agr247]

I have grown really fond of this corkbark elm, and I thought the nuts on this forum would like to see its continued progression. I believe it is a ‘Corticosa’ based on the description on Evergreen Gardenworks website, and a conversation with @cmeg1.

This corkbark elm was grown by a veteran member of my bonsai club for approximately 30 years, and kept in her private collection. She allowed me to purchase it because she liked my work, and trusted me to move it forward. It was completely immobile because the tree had been in the same spot for many years, and very thick roots had grown deep underground from the nursery can. After some blood, sweat, and tears I removed it, roughly chopped the top to take some pressure off of the roots, and treated it like an air layer for the rest of the 2020 season. It had some fungus issues, and grew very slowly.
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This season, the tree popped buds all over and exploded with new growth! @MACH5 and I looked at the tree for at least a half hour trying to find how to best use it’s character. We ultimately decided to air layer the tree and make it into a triple trunk chuhin size tree.

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I recently separated the air layer and did some rough cutback. Next season it will get a more thoughtful pruning and wiring to move the design forward. Really excited to see it in its first pot after many years of preparation!
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It is being slowly reintroduced to the sun and will be left alone for the remainder of the season. Next season it will get a full wiring/styling and at least one round of more thoughtful pruning. For scale, the trunk is approx. 3 inches wide, and the height is around 18 inches tall as of now.

Nice work... how long did you allow for air layering process!?

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Nice work... how long did you allow for air layering process!?

Thanks! This one did not take that long, only about 5 months.

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

I can't wait for the leaves to drop so I can see how much progress this beauty made in the ground! I decided to take it out of the pot so it's new leader, and the other transitions could thicken as quickly as possible. More to come in another month or two!!!

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Good progress in the ground!

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Great progress on the root flair and nebari

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

Transitions are coming along well! After one more season of strong growth, I will start moving towards refinement. These trees ramify so quickly if you stay on top of them

 

[Tidal Bonsai]

A vision for the next 4-5 seasons.