Forsythia bonsai?

[Bonsailane]

I have no useful suggestions whatsoever, but I thought I would post a very old stump I dug up from my new house. It was a large overgrown mess falling into the driveway when I bought the house in late 2008. I cut it back and wrestled it out of the ground in early 2009. I left all the trunk stumps too long originally; I do not pretend to have a credible explanation for this, although I must have had some sort of thought about that at the time

In any case, it grew quite happily last year, and I cut the stumps back again this winter This is where I am now. Some of the live stumps still probably are too long, and a lot of the stumps you see are dead but, I think, beautiful. The eventual plan is to try to save the bases of most of the stumps and to thicken up new leaders and to give them movement over time, eventually settling into a nice clump style.

It even flowered for me this year, in its first year in captivity...I think that's good. I think.

What time of year did you dig yours up and what was the soil ratio you used to pot it in

 

[Mark]

Forsythia Bonsai 5th US National Bonsai Exhibition
I Trained from an old garden specimen.
Photo by Joe Noga

One small bloom during display in Sept.

 

[sorce]

What time of year did you dig yours up and what was the soil ratio you used to pot it in

Reduced and kept well watered I bet you can use anything anytime.

I've grown mine in a few soils.
Only grew bad in Unsifted 8822.

Sorce

 

[MichaelS]

Here's mine from a couple of years ago. It's a bit more developed now. Always been in a pot from a cutting. It puts out so many roots you almost have to repot twice a year!

 

[Nomiyama]

I have two forsythia's , here is the larger of the two. I plan on wiring it for its first styling this Spring before it blooms. It was collected about three years ago and it stands about 2ft tall.

 

[milehigh_7]

Love these old threads. This one is rich with some of the old timers that no longer post. Forsythias are so pretty! I had one for about three years.

 

[Mihai]

Just one question if anyone is watching this ancient thread .
When would you go about trunk chopping one in the ground if you wanted to put in the pot next spring? (A nice single trunk grown as a tree and not a shrub). Maybe 4-5 inches at the base.

 

[Bonsailane]

I have two forsythia's , here is the larger of the two. I plan on wiring it for its first styling this Spring before it blooms. It was collected about three years ago and it stands about 2ft tall.

Wow,,, now I have to give it a try

 

[JudyB]

Here is a nice one I saw over on the Lang pot site.

 

[rockm]

Here is a nice one I saw over on the Lang pot site.
View attachment 150030

That one was in the Potomac Bonsai Association show a while back, as I think the tags indicate. Don't know who the owner is though. I've never worked one, but I've heard they're not all that easy, since their stems are hollow.

 

[JudyB]

I remember seeing a nice smaller one over at IBC back in the day. That one that you know of @rockm is a really nice example, the tag on the photo I pulled from Ron's site says RuthPlanted.

 

[rockm]

I remember seeing a nice smaller one over at IBC back in the day. That one that you know of @rockm is a really nice example, the tag on the photo I pulled from Ron's site says RuthPlanted.

It's out of the Baltimore Bonsai Club

 

[GrimLore]

In our region this year they never did their "Spring show". It was a strange weather pattern and although all are alive and very green they never went yellow. Old timers in the area never recall it happening before

Grimmy

 

[ghues]

@Bonsailane, If interested here is a link to my Forsythia thread, I've kept mine in pumice, lava and decomposed bark....mine has to be repotted every two years as they are vigorous growers.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/forsythia-project.5844/
Cheers Graham

 

[Bonsailane]

@Bonsailane, If interested here is a link to my Forsythia thread, I've kept mine in pumice, lava and decomposed bark....mine has to be repotted every two years as they are vigorous growers.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/forsythia-project.5844/
Cheers Graham

You have a nice tree there !

 

[Cadillactaste]

Here's mine from a couple of years ago. It's a bit more developed now. Always been in a pot from a cutting. It puts out so many roots you almost have to repot twice a year!

View attachment 131302

Any tips on dealing with the hollow branches? Seen mention of paste when cutting back.

 

[MichaelS]

Any tips on dealing with the hollow branches? Seen mention of paste when cutting back.

I haven't had to deal with any hollow stems but the stem should be solid at the nodes?

 

[leatherback]

Hm.. Feels a little like a generic forsythia thread now? I wish I had seen this before.

This is what I did november 2013


April the next year, note the box of matches on the top right pot:


Two weeks later I realized this will never become a one-person-tree and I swapped it for some tools..

Now I am kicking myself because I have not been able to find anything in this size region.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Hm.. Feels a little like a generic forsythia thread now? I wish I had seen this before.

This is what I did november 2013
View attachment 224038

April the next year, note the box of matches on the top right pot:
View attachment 224039

Two weeks later I realized this will never become a one-person-tree and I swapped it for some tools..

Now I am kicking myself because I have not been able to find anything in this size region.

Dang! Looks like what we pulled from our yard. It was so big...I am thinking we gave to a farmer friend of ours. Never thought of a clump style back then. I was new in bonsai...and hated that shrub...I had told my husband from the get go, they were not foundation shrubs. I now, have a small manageble one. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I haven't had to deal with any hollow stems but the stem should be solid at the nodes?

How much die back does this get when cutting back? I cut one branch back that had a huge clump whorl of branches that was not pleasant looking. It wasn't quite hollow...but not totally solid when I did it. With it being dormant...I didn't put any paste on the location. But I left it longer than desired for dieback issues. Maybe the younger material doesn't have solid branching? Or, I could have cut it back more.