European beech

[barrosinc]

Chopped it lower... @leatherback
I am going to let it grow a couple more years.
Deciding between letting two trunks grow or doing like Bobbylane does with his trees and carving a line to the ground?

 

[Woocash]

Personally, I’d be concentrating on letting one leader go nuts for a few years, forsaking all others, to catch up with the main trunk to create some taper. Carving will only do so much if your tree has got no shape to begin with. Beech are beautiful trees but not particularly fast growing so I’d aim to create a trunk line before thinking about anything else.

 

[barrosinc]

Personally, I’d be concentrating on letting one leader go nuts for a few years, forsaking all others, to catch up with the main trunk to create some taper. Carving will only do so much if your tree has got no shape to begin with. Beech are beautiful trees but not particularly fast growing so I’d aim to create a trunk line before thinking about anything else.

Yeah I did that!

 

[Woocash]

Yeah I did that!
View attachment 307923

Good stuff man. For some reason I still find it funny that you can get a European Beech in Chile. Then again we’ve got several hundred year old monkey puzzles here. Guess the world isn’t so big!

Unfortunately I think it’ll take more than a couple of years to get the size of leader you need so maybe stick in in the ground and forget about it for a year or two. I read somewhere about slow growing trees like oak and beech to need a couple of years to adjust before they throw out any major bulk of growth but it’d be interesting to know how this translates in your climate.

 

[leatherback]

Yeah I did that!

Looking good!

so maybe stick in in the ground and forget about it for a year or two.

lol, that is what I did with the one I posted before. I planted it out in Feb. after spending 2 springs attending to the nebari to get evenly sized roots arount the trunk. With the insanely dry summer, it is looking a bit crispy now but will live. 2021 fall time to check again

 

[BobbyLane]

Personally, I’d be concentrating on letting one leader go nuts for a few years, forsaking all others, to catch up with the main trunk to create some taper. Carving will only do so much if your tree has got no shape to begin with. Beech are beautiful trees but not particularly fast growing so I’d aim to create a trunk line before thinking about anything else.

you kinda limit what can be done with different material when you see everything as a tapering tree with one leader. trees in nature often have more than one leader or apices, the beech above actually had two options and i personally would of went with broom for this material.

would you lop one side off of these two trees to make more taper?

 

[BobbyLane]

Chopped it lower... @leatherback
I am going to let it grow a couple more years.
Deciding between letting two trunks grow or doing like Bobbylane does with his trees and carving a line to the ground?

View attachment 303461

carving a line to the ground. maybe you havnt seen all my trees then
maybe, maybe not. the material suited broom and maybe a V cut at the top. could of easily followed the Marky chuhin broom thread for ideas and methods.

remember, these grow very slow, you took the long route, rather than working and making a credible image out of the growth you had.

 

[Woocash]

you kinda limit what can be done with different material when you see everything as a tapering tree with one leader. trees in nature often have more than one leader or apices, the beech above actually had two options and i personally would of went with broom for this material.

would you lop one side off of these two trees to make more taper?
View attachment 311686View attachment 311687
View attachment 311691View attachment 311692View attachment 311693

Yes but these do have taper. Take the top one for example. There is an obvious large continuation of the main trunk on the left hand side. It may only be a short section now, but that will have been created in the manner of being the main leader for longer than others, will it not?

The illusion lies in creating disparity between the main limbs of a tree, because wild specimens rarely grow or are less likely to reach any real age with any major symmetry. If a broom is desired then fine, or a twin trunk perhaps, but generally speaking, only regularly pruned or young trees have an even crown with even sized limbs. Different sized leaders show the passage of time more convincingly IMO.

This is my observation of mature trees, not bonsai per se, but I can’t see how taking fewer years to create a lesser quality bonsai is the way forward.

My thoughts were, grow out the leader and create a small amount of taper on one side then develop multiple stems (or one if desired) off of a more natural looking crown. There are always multiple routes, but I think there are more things to gain than to lose by taking this one In the long run.

 

[Woocash]

Looking good!


lol, that is what I did with the one I posted before. I planted it out in Feb. after spending 2 springs attending to the nebari to get evenly sized roots arount the trunk. With the insanely dry summer, it is looking a bit crispy now but will live. 2021 fall time to check again

Yes I’m on 2 watering a day minimum at the moment. And I’m sat in my pants in front of a 20“ work fan. Too much man!

Glad it seems to be coping though. I’ll be interested to know how much growth you get in 2 years of ground growing. I’m pretty much taking the large pot method. They can stay moist far easier than in the ground where I am (not having a a tap nearby).

 

[BobbyLane]

i dont see 'broom' as a lesser quality tree than the other option suggested. do you have an example of a broom youve made?
beauty is in the eye of the beholder i guess. i think when offering design advice to folk, one should consider all the options available. there was certainly more than one way for the material to go. thats all really.

 

[BobbyLane]

Brian's hawthorn is one top example of a broom. theres about 4 leaders from one there, maybe more.

 

[Woocash]

i dont see 'broom' as a lesser quality tree than the other option suggested. do you have an example of a broom youve made?
beauty is in the eye of the beholder i guess. i think when offering design advice to folk, one should consider all the options available. there was certainly more than one way for the material to go. thats all really.

No not at all! If anything a quality broom is of a higher standard than most other styles, it’s just that you don't see too many examples of brooms even being attempted. Maybe I should have qualified my thoughts better, but that is just what I would have done and still would do with this material. I take your point though so I’ll be more thoughtful in future.

 

[Woocash]

Brian's hawthorn is one top example of a broom. theres about 4 leaders from one there, maybe more.

Agreed. I do love this tree. It’s not necessarily what I’d call a broom though. Plus, it was already of a size to do this with. Barrosinc’s beech would make for a much smaller tree if treated in the same way.

 

[BobbyLane]

there are variations of the broom style. Harry harrington also has an article about the forms on his website.
i posted a small hornbeam above that was started similar to the op's tree, with two primary branches on either side. you will also find examples of shohin zelkova all over the net, so they can be smaller trees.

"it’s just that you don't see too many examples of brooms even being attempted"

there are 100's if not 1000's of examples all over the internet.

i lost count of how many on show here alone.

Clean Sweep - Show Us Your Brooms

I always like the collaborative threads were people posts trees in a common theme. I don't recall seeing a theme on broom styles. There are so many variations

ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com

actually, the above is a good, intense read for anyone who can be bothered.

with all due respect, youre giving styling advice but not fully clued up on the varied forms and no examples of your own.

 

[Woocash]

there are variations of the broom style. Harry harrington also has an article about the forms on his website.
i posted a small hornbeam above that was started similar to the op's tree, with two primary branches on either side. you will also find examples of shohin zelkova all over the net, so they can be smaller trees.

"it’s just that you don't see too many examples of brooms even being attempted"

there are 100's if not 1000's of examples all over the internet.

i lost count of how many on show here alone.

Clean Sweep - Show Us Your Brooms

I always like the collaborative threads were people posts trees in a common theme. I don't recall seeing a theme on broom styles. There are so many variations

ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com

actually, the above is a good, intense read for anyone who can be bothered.

with all due respect, youre giving styling advice but not fully clued up on the varied forms and no examples of your own.

Fair enough, though I said what I would do, not what he should do. But I stand by my initial comments and think it would be a better tree for it.

I was referring to the formal broom, but I think the debate over when a broom is not a broom is irrelevant here. I’ll give the link a read and educate myself.

 

[barrosinc]

Quite a bit of growth this

 

[AlainK]

Quite a bit of growth this

I was surprised to see it with leaves on, I almost forgot you're in the southern hemisphere and that it's the end of summer there.

How's the big cut healing ?

Here, it can take some time (I live in a part of France where the climate is very hot and dry in summer, not in the mountains where they are native), but once it's done, the scar is not so conspicuous. I think you're right to cultivate it in a colander so it gets strength : when branches are cut out, if the tree is healthy, you'll have it backbud down the branches/trunk and select the buds you want to keep.