European Beech

ConorDash

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A European Beech I got from Bobby.

Fairly established in its pot, I am waiting till next year to repot so I can chop this year.

G1H3Wsr.jpg


Its a good size, nice little base and movement in its trunk which I will increase upon with chop and grow.

K14aUvb.jpg
Ow80bZy.jpg Ow80bZy.jpg
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Leaves look nice... Then I cut its head off.

HdBaRCP.jpg

Little too close to the bud that I was chopping back to, but hopefully it'll still be ok. Hopefully plenty of other buds too. I want a leader on the left side of the above picture, to put a second curve in to this already curved trunk. Only going for slight movement.

Plan is repot next spring, and let a new leader keep growing till it needs chopping. My MAIN concern is making sure the trunk transition is as smooth as I can get it. I know a well done chop is practically unnoticeable in years to come, a bad one is VERY noticeable. I don't want a bad one. Any tips on that or this in general is appreciated, as always :).
Hopefully in coming years this thread will be a good progression to look back on.
 

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petegreg

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Looks good and you've got one visible node lower too.
 

ConorDash

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Indeed, but I hope I get a shoot nearest to the top as possible. Gonna keep any shoots around the base to grow unhindered to do any last thickening of the base or trunk, that tip was from Bobby :)
 

BobbyLane

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Dont get too hung up about scars from chops, its perfectly natural for trees in nature to have scars, holes etc the key is to make the scar appear more natural. so you can go in and make the wound concave, it encourages callus tissue to roll in but also makes the chop appear more natural. you can shape the wound so its more like a tear drop rather than circular, you can do this with a scalpel, but again can be done later in the season or even next year.

here's a beech ive recently done a saw cut on, then used a termite ball from kaizen, to make the wound concave.. this is my chosen front of the tree, after the tree has adjusted, the chop will later be hollowed and the Uro will be a feature of this tree
2017-04-22_07-30-59 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

im sure by now you've seen G Potters quick fix demo on how to deal with chops;)
 
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ConorDash

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Dont get too hung up about scars from chops, its perfectly natural for trees in nature to have scars, holes etc the key is to make the scar appear more natural. so you can go in and make the wound concave, it encourages callus tissue to roll in but also makes the chop appear more natural. you can shape the wound so its more like a tear drop rather than circular, you can do this with a scalpel, but again can be done later in the season or even next year.

here's a beech ive recently done a saw cut on, then used a termite ball from kaizen, to make the wound concave..
2017-04-22_07-30-59 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
This is gonna be a stupid question but it'd help to know.. was this a chop like mine, complete beheading? Or was the wound a large side branch and that leader already formed?
 

BobbyLane

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This is gonna be a stupid question but it'd help to know.. was this a chop like mine, complete beheading? Or was the wound a large side branch and that leader already formed?

not a stupid question. yep i chopped back to an establish branch which is now a section of trunk. i usually will only buy material like this, that gives me these options. otherwise its a longer process to grow up a leader like what youre doing there. but you gotta start somewhere:)

here's a couple more of my beeches where ive done similar chops, i try to obscure a chop by having it at the back or side, but if it happens to be a scar at the front i dont worry, i just make it look natural, uro it out...

on this tree there is a chop on the left side just underneath the area where the trunk narrows into a thinner section
2017-04-27_04-24-32 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

and here the chop is at the top, as these grow out, the chops will be barely noticeable from my primary fronts
2017-04-27_04-26-15 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

well established side branches enable you to get instant taper into a tree. thats something to look out for when buying raw stumps/material among other attributes.
 

ConorDash

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I i
not a stupid question. yep i chopped back to an establish branch which is now a section of trunk. i usually will only buy material like this, that gives me these options. otherwise its a longer process to grow up a leader like what youre doing there. but you gotta start somewhere:)

here's a couple more of my beeches where ive done similar chops, i try to obscure a chop by having it at the back or side, but if it happens to be a scar at the front i dont worry, i just make it look natural, uro it out...

on this tree there is a chop on the left side just underneath the area where the trunk narrows into a thinner section
2017-04-27_04-24-32 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

and here the chop is at the top, as these grow out, the chops will be barely noticeable from my primary fronts
2017-04-27_04-26-15 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

well established side branches enable you to get instant taper into a tree. thats something to look out for when buying raw stumps/material among other attributes.
i imagine the said side branches have gotta be a good angle for it too, but that's definitely a good tip thank you.
I'm very interested to see how my beech progresses over next 2 years. Plenty of fert, gonna get it stringing super strong this season. Next season it's gotta recover from repotting.
 

BobbyLane

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do bear in mind beech isnt as vigorous as say an elm or even a hornbeam. they tend to only put out one flush. they also leaf out late, so their growing season is less than other species. although you can induce another flush by following the techniques i sent you from bonsai4me.
 

ConorDash

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So as this beech is currently in it's flush stage, it's leaves just unfurled within the last 2 weeks.. now it's been chopped, hopefully it's flush will shoot out new growth asap?
It just means this years growth may not be as big or strong as it could be but it had to be done.
Am I understanding that correctly?

Wasn't that technique to make it backbud and ramification? The Japanese text thing. Either way it'd be too late, it required pinching of shoots and defoliation.
 

BobbyLane

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yeh it will bud out strongly after an extreme chop like this. then just let everything extend all season. just leave it alone now and get some more trees;)

who knows, with strong feeding you might get a second flush later in the season.
 

my nellie

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Zone envy!
I managed to keep mine alive only for one season.
I love them fondly, but my location is prohibitive.
... ...Little too close to the bud that I was chopping back to, but hopefully it'll still be ok... ...I know a well done chop is practically unnoticeable in years to come, a bad one is VERY noticeable. I don't want a bad one. Any tips on that or this in general is appreciated, as always
Back in 2013 the OfBonsai Magazine published an article of Hans van Meer about his wound treatment "technique" which helps the healing over large cut wounds.
I tried to find and share the link here for you to see, but it seems there is a problem with their webpage. http://hans-van-meer.ofbonsai.org/page/7/
 

petegreg

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When going to chop a tree to a stump I always look for the lowest node. Sometimes it's easy to find it sometimes not. Some species can bud out preferably on these nodal spots, some can sprout seemengly wherever. How do you guys know how low we can go with certain species?
 

BobbyLane

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When going to chop a tree to a stump I always look for the lowest node. Sometimes it's easy to find it sometimes not. Some species can bud out preferably on these nodal spots, some can sprout seemengly wherever. How do you guys know how low we can go with certain species?

well we know that the usual suspects like hornbeam, beech, hawthorn, elm, privet, field maple, oak will all back bud on old wood. trunk chopping these species more often than not results in back budding. some will tell you that a viable bud must be left when cutting a beech branch. imo a major trunk chop like this is a little different, conars tree has significant energy in the established roots and is 100% going to back bud all over the trunk.

here's copper beech i trunk chopped a few weeks ago
2017-03-12_04-36-22 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

i even went as far as hacking back the root system at the same time
20170312_151425 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20170312_151441 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20170312_155822 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

and put it in my growing bed
20170312_161126 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

its now leafed out and there's new buds popping lower on the trunk
 

ConorDash

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Zone envy!
I managed to keep mine alive only for one season.
I love them fondly, but my location is prohibitive.
Back in 2013 the OfBonsai Magazine published an article of Hans van Meer about his wound treatment "technique" which helps the healing over large cut wounds.
I tried to find and share the link here for you to see, but it seems there is a problem with their webpage. http://hans-van-meer.ofbonsai.org/page/7/

I also tried looking and I see they must have deleted it now, as the link is dead. That's unfortunate. Thats for trying though :).

When going to chop a tree to a stump I always look for the lowest node. Sometimes it's easy to find it sometimes not. Some species can bud out preferably on these nodal spots, some can sprout seemengly wherever. How do you guys know how low we can go with certain species?

Also I chopped to that point in conjunction with its current trunk movement and in hopes and plans of building upon it in the future trunk section. I didn't want to just go as low as possible because it already has a bit of taper up till a certain point and movement.
Can't wait to see shoots popping from this Beech :), it'll be comparable to seeing my first seeds sprout, for the first time. This is my first chop.
Looking at this from outside of the hobby, I have just seen lovely fresh leaves pop out of buds on a tree then lopped its head off and left a stick in a pot.

Its a good thing we know better, or else others would have thought I was stupid :)
 

my nellie

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I also tried looking and I see they must have deleted it now, as the link is dead. That's unfortunate. Thats for trying though
I have the translation of that article into Greek by permission of H. v. Meer for our local club. There are some very clear sketches which are easy to understand. If you are interested I can give you the link to that.
 

ConorDash

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Sure, go for it, sharing knowledge is always good :). Thanks.
 

my nellie

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Here it is http://www.hellenicbonsaiclub.gr/index.php/gallery-2/technics/item/138-the-van-meer”-technique
But I believe you need to sign up in order to have access to the library.
The language is a problem, too. Only Greek for now...
Well, the "library" tab is at the right side of the "Bonsai" tab. Click there and on the drop down menu click the 4th option "Τεχνικές"
The very first article is the Van Meer technique. Click on "read more" and you will be directed to the article.
Send me a pm if you have problem signing in.
 

ConorDash

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The top bud popped last week. Today I noticed the lower bud.

IMG_5321.JPG IMG_5322.JPG

I'm not sure I could have asked for a better location for that top bud, I had chopped to that dormant node and it didn't let me down.
 
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