Hidden Gardens European (I think) Larch

butlern

Shohin
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I picked up this Larch from Jeff at Hidden Gardens (Chicagoland) in the winter of 2019. I dont recall the history. Not sure whether it was always container grown, but the movement and foliage struck a chord with me. It had some basic wiring in place when I picked it up.

Here is the tree in the Spring of 2018 as it was first flushing out. Notice all the fertilizer... not ideal.

Larch April 2018.JPG

I learned a great deal about larch this winter... after caring for mine for 3 years... and fertilizing the first flush is a no-no! I did a bunch of reading and listening to experts talk about larch, and I distilled all this information down into a newsletter article for our local club. The issue is attached, article on page 6, for those curious and brave enough to trust a no-name on Bonsai Nut!
 

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butlern

Shohin
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Nothing really done with the three in the first couple of years.. mostly because I didn't know how to manage growth. I did attempt wiring and placed a few guy wires. The guy wires are useful because the branches swell so quickly and so damn much before the shape sets.

Here is it in July 2020.
 

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  • Larch July 2020 ramification.JPG
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butlern

Shohin
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I finally got wise this winter (refer back to the article in the newsletter).

I listened carefully when I was doing a workshop with Todd Schlafer and I also listened to Ryan Neil talk about managing flushes on larch. My article is a distillation of what I learned.

Here is the tree May 2021 before pruning the first flush.


Larch May 2021 first flush front.jpg

And here is the back (back is not so bad either)

Larch May 2021 first flush back.jpg

And here is the front and back after the prune today

Larch May 2021 pruned front.jpgLarch May 2021 pruned back.jpg

I was ready to part ways with this tree a year ago. Now I am excited to try to get it to push four flushes this year and massively improve the ramification and structure.
 

Gaea's listener

Yamadori
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I picked up this Larch from Jeff at Hidden Gardens (Chicagoland) in the winter of 2019. I dont recall the history. Not sure whether it was always container grown, but the movement and foliage struck a chord with me. It had some basic wiring in place when I picked it up.

Here is the tree in the Spring of 2018 as it was first flushing out. Notice all the fertilizer... not ideal.

View attachment 378267

I learned a great deal about larch this winter... after caring for mine for 3 years... and fertilizing the first flush is a no-no! I did a bunch of reading and listening to experts talk about larch, and I distilled all this information down into a newsletter article for our local club. The issue is attached, article on page 6, for those curious and brave enough to trust a no-name on Bonsai Nut!
Very good information, thank you for sharing. Your article gave me some new information about larches and multiple flushes/pruning per year. I just got larix kaempferi "Jacobsen's Pyramind" recently which is a bit different from typical kaempferi. I'm looking forward to getting to know this tree from a different perspective- growing it in a pot. The way I knew larches so far is being the best trees for finding my favourite wild slippery jack mushrooms in the forest. I always enjoyed their soft needles.
 

butlern

Shohin
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Pruning the multiple flushes has made a huge positive difference for building ramification.

Second picture shows the 3rd flush. Not likely to get 4 flushes this year, at least not over the entire tree. A few of the the 3rd flush shoots around the apex and midsection of the tree can be pruned. But most of these shoots are still too small and the window for strong elongating growth is coming to a close here (one should stop pruning larch after mid-August here in the upper midwest). But 3 flushes is pretty good, and the tree looks so much better than it did in years past when I would just let it run and prune indiscriminately.

Another picture from last year before I applied these pruning tactics and then a picture from this weekend:
 

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