Cork Elm Plans

[Bonsai Nut]

Some quick picks of where I am on these trees. They are both very ugly now, but progress is being made.

I let this tree grow pretty wild over the summer. I just cut back the worst of the growth now, but I am waiting till the cool weather and early Spring to remove almost all of the branches. The finished tree will be about 2/3rd's of the height of the tree currently, with a new apex leaning to the left.

Here's the old trunk. I gave up on making a broom style since I didn't have enough trunk left to make a second cut to try to force more branches. Instead I opted for a short squat informal tree. This tree should develop pretty quickly.

 

[JTGJr25]

Fantastic job they both look great. I especially like what you have done with the stump, much better than a broom would have been.

Tom

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Getting ready for summer. First tree is ready to start final branch development. Stump will be left to grow unchecked to develop the new trunkline.

 

[JasonG]

Nice Greg!!

The man with the plan has got some great results! I think the first tree in your last post (one in bonsai pot) I would guy wire the branches you plan to keep so that they leave the trunk at the correct angle. That elm I posted a few weeks back, all the branches leave on funky angles and that is what bothers me most about it.

Nice work and thanks for the update.


Jason

 

[Tiberious]

Marvelous work, you are going to have to awesome trees it looks like, very soon. Thanks for the update.

 

[mapleman77]

I agree on all that's been said Greg...both trees look like they have a bright future ahead of them! Thanks for showing us such an in-depth, detailed progression of these elms.

Now you have made me want some elms! I'm going to get a 'Hokkaido' soon...

David

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I would guy wire the branches you plan to keep so that they leave the trunk at the correct angle. That elm I posted a few weeks back, all the branches leave on funky angles and that is what bothers me most about it.

I agree Jason; if you look at the prior set of photos it was clear I had to loose all the primary branches because they were too thick, had no taper, and left the trunk at bad angles. The placement wasn't so bad, however, so I was pretty confident that if I waited until spring when the buds first started to pop that I could remove the branches and get strong budding around the scars. I was most concerned about bark die-back in the winter, otherwise I would have cut the branches last fall. The photo doesn't show too clearly, but I have buds all over the first tree.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Now you have made me want some elms! I'm going to get a 'Hokkaido' soon...

I would stay away from Hokkaidos and get a Seiju instead. Seijus have very small leaves that are only slightly larger than those of Hokkaidos, but the trees are much more robust. I have had trouble keeping Hokkaidos alive here in Southern California - they are just touchy and not very strong.

 

[Jason]

Update?

Hey Bonsai Nut,

I know your slightly busy with the site upgrade but I was wondering how this Seiju looks now. I have one that I'm planning on regrowing all my branching on and could use any advice you might have. Did you guy wire the new branches? Did you get ample back budding like you hoped? Are you glad you waited until spring to do the branch pruning rather than doing it in the fall? Anything you would have done differently?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Let me take some photos. It is the end of the season so they look leggy, but they are coming along nicely. The stump's apex was just busted off by my gardeners because I was letting it grow really long for the summer (couple of feet) and it got snagged as they walked by the shelf it was on.

 

[dpowell]

Sounds like you need some new gardeners.

 

[Jason]

"The stump's apex was just busted off by my gardeners because I was letting it grow really long for the summer (couple of feet) and it got snagged as they walked by the shelf it was on"

Ouch!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Yes, I should know better. I have my bonsai in a certain location where they are covered by a sprinkler system. I can't spread them out too much or they don't get watered. The end of the farthest shelf is close to the gate into my back yard, and no matter what I do the gardeners (as they come in and out) manage to round the corner and bump into anything sticking off the shelf. I keep my developed bonsai further down the line, but my ugly bonsai and my grow-outs are at the end, and whenever they throw long branches it seems like they always catch a gardener or two Not so bad as the time that one of them decided my sprinklers were pointed the wrong way and turned all my bonsai sprinklers so they faced the grass. Took me a few days to realize why everything looked so dry. I was lucky I didn't lose a few trees, that time

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Ok you caught me I should be spending more time on my trees and less time on the web site

Here's where the two trees are as of today. First is the top as it looked this morning - just getting ready to drop its leaves for the Fall. Yeah - even in Southern California these guys have a three month winter with bare branches. Weather's been cool and wet and I need to get rid of the moss on the trunk.

Still has a way to go before I am happy with the structure and can start working on final refinement. Here is how it looks now after rough pruning for the winter:

Here's the stump as it looked this morning. My gardeners broke off the apex / leader, but it was no great loss because I was going to remove it now anyway. I'm left with an ugly knob at the top, but I'll probably reduce it in the spring.

I'm going to remove it from the nursery pot in the spring and put it in a large bonsai pot for a couple of seasons until I move it into its final pot. I wanted to see how much root work I'll have to do Lot of roots in there to work with

I removed about half the dirt and slip-potted it into raw turface for the winter. I wanted to lift the tree up to expose more of the nebari and get it weathered. That's about it for now!

 

[Jason]

Hey Thanks for the update. It looks like you had no problem getting it to back bud in all the right places. This tree is the inspiration I needed. Something about cutting all the branches off a trunk and starting over always worries me a little! It doesn't look like you needed any guy wires. Was it all clip and grow? Great progression. That tree looks like it will be a knockout.

 

[Randy]

Did you say that the leaves are about to drop? Will it try and push growth in the next few weeks or is it getting especially cool in the OC? The character of the trees are really something and it gives me some idea of where I can try and go with a Seiju I have. Thanks for sharing.

Randy

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Hey Thanks for the update. It looks like you had no problem getting it to back bud in all the right places. This tree is the inspiration I needed. Something about cutting all the branches off a trunk and starting over always worries me a little! It doesn't look like you needed any guy wires. Was it all clip and grow? Great progression. That tree looks like it will be a knockout.

I will definitely need to wire the tree. It doesn't look too bad, but to get the branches just right I will need to wire. Up to this point I believe it has been all clip and grow.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Did you say that the leaves are about to drop? Will it try and push growth in the next few weeks or is it getting especially cool in the OC? The character of the trees are really something and it gives me some idea of where I can try and go with a Seiju I have. Thanks for sharing.

Randy

My deciduous all drop their leaves in the fall, though they bud out in February / March so it is a very short winter for them. If you look at the first photo you can see how many of the leaves are brown - it is just a couple of months from dropping them all.

It will not push any new growth until the spring. I have learned I can cut these elms back hard in the fall and they are fine... as long as I don't mess with the roots. I save root work until the early spring when they show their first growth.

 

[bonhe]

Hi Bonsainut,
Remember doing root cutting in the next transplant.
Bonhe

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Hi Bonsainut,
Remember doing root cutting in the next transplant.
Bonhe

I was going to let you do it