Flowering Plum??

[Gandalph]

Made a trip to the local nursery and found a promising (at least I think so) flowering plum for bonsai styling. I have included one picture of the tree and two views of the trunk.

Would appreciate verification of the tree and any ideas on how to proceed.

Thanks in advance.



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[Martin Sweeney]

Gandalph,

In the last picture I noticed lots of green shoots at the base and one red shoot a little higher up. Is this a grafted plant? If so, those lower shoots are probably coming off the plain jane root stock and will soon dominate the hopefully more desireable top. If this tree is grafted, you may want to think about removing those green shoots and preserving the strength of the hopefully more desireable top.

Regards,
Martin

 

[Gandalph]

I can't tell if it is grafted, but the signs are there. I was thinking about a trunk chop using the 6:1 method. and will definitely remove the green shoots to produce budding above the root mass.
Is that what you were thinking??

 

[sfhellwig]

Picture #2 where there appears to be cracking is where I would guess it is grafted. It appears the root stock just can't put enough energy through the graft. There is a nice exposed root setup but how long has it been left in that pot and how many suckers have been cut off already? Geez! With a good chop it could turn into a nicely tapered piece. Maybe a few years of heavy growth to smooth over the repeated sucker removal. Try to watch for new suckers and rub off the bud before it gets any size so you won't have a scar from cutting them off later.

I would have taken it.

 

[milehigh_7]

You should consider layering off the top as opposed to just chopping. According to D&H some prunus layer easily. I am planning on doing some plums next year. They seem to do very well here.

 

[visfsucym]

flowering plum

Made a trip to the local nursery and found a promising (at least I think so) flowering plum for bonsai styling. I have included one picture of the tree and two views of the trunk.


I think it is a crab apple tree.

 

[John Ruger]

You know what? That does look like a crabapple. I think I'd wait until it shoots out and see where to go with it. That's a beauty...If I had it, and it shoots hard and fast, I'd take it low and you would have a stunning shohin...good luck with it and let us know what species.

 

[Gandalph]

You know what? That does look like a crabapple. I think I'd wait until it shoots out and see where to go with it. That's a beauty...If I had it, and it shoots hard and fast, I'd take it low and you would have a stunning shohin...good luck with it and let us know what species.

Yeah, the more I look at it the more I think it is a crab.

I did decide to air layer it and will post results in a few months.

Thanks for the responses