Hornbeam Direction Thoughts

sevan

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I collected this American Hornbeam last Spring and am trying to decide which direction I want to take it and was curious what others think about it. The main two ideas I have at the moment are:

1) Chop at the red line, grow out a new leader with a goal of a finished tree around 8".
2) Chop at the green line, the trunk is "finished", so start developing branching with a finished tree around 15".

Are there better ideas that I'm overlooking? Option 1 seems like it might be the better looking tree, but option 2 would give me the opportunity to start practicing branch development skills while I have other trees that I can practice trunk development on. It would also leave me the option to change my mind in a few years. At this point I'm more interested in what I can learn than what I end up with, which has me leaning towards option 2.


AmHornbeam.jpg

I did my best to sketch what the two options might look like, but I have no editing skill and and only beginner bonsai skill.
AH_Shohin_Sketch.jpg
AH_Sketch.jpg
 

MHBonsai

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How’s the nebari? Seeing what you have there might change your answers.

I like the high chop myself. You have some really nice delicate movement and a decent framework going. I’d be sure to cut back the thick upper branches too to keep them from being out of balance.
 

JudyB

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I like both of these options, depends on how large you want the tree. I personally would chop below your red line a little above the second branch and work the tree from there. Looks like that is your intention in your virt, but your red line chop is higher than that.
 

sevan

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How’s the nebari? Seeing what you have there might change your answers.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures when I collected it in Feb 2022. I tried scraping away the soil to see what I could see without disturbing the roots and it doesn't look like anything particularly interesting unless something better is buried below the higher roots. I had been planning to repot next year, but maybe it would be worthwhile to repot this year to get a better sense of what I'm working with.

This might be the nebari from my preferred front (based on the trunk and branches that exist). If I'm lucky, there's something better under that root to the right, but I won't know until I repot.
20230108_161045.jpg

The "back" might have the better nebari, but it would mean losing a great back branch that would be very useful at the shohin size.
20230108_161203.jpg
 

sevan

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I personally would chop below your red line a little above the second branch and work the tree from there. Looks like that is your intention in your virt, but your red line chop is higher than that.

The virt shows where I would hope to have the new leader, the red line shows what I think is the lowest safe place to cut to get it. There is a bud at the red line and then another all the way down at the same level as the back branch. Ideally I would want something in between those two if I were to go for the shohin size.
 

Cajunrider

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I like the low chop. The big straight branch on the left will be a challenge to make it look right with the high chop.
 

ABCarve

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I like the tall chop. American hornbeam leaves don’t reduce enough to make the small chop a believable shohin. I have been trying to make one for quite a while and this spring mine is going into a larger pot. This one is currently 9” high from the soil line.

A8F2F8BD-776A-44F9-82E4-E6E2B6206BFB.jpeg
 

Cajunrider

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I like the tall chop. American hornbeam leaves don’t reduce enough to make the small chop a believable shohin. I have been trying to make one for quite a while and this spring mine is going into a larger pot. This one is currently 9” high from the soil line.

View attachment 467956
Good point.
 

sevan

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American hornbeam leaves don’t reduce enough to make the small chop a believable shohin.

That makes sense, I would probably regret the low chop if the leaves never got small enough to match the size of the tree.

The big straight branch on the left will be a challenge to make it look right with the high chop.

With the high chop I was thinking I would cut the straight branch on the left back to the first leaf in the spring to add movement and keep it from getting much thicker while the lower branches develop.
 

JudyB

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I like the tall chop. American hornbeam leaves don’t reduce enough to make the small chop a believable shohin. I have been trying to make one for quite a while and this spring mine is going into a larger pot. This one is currently 9” high from the soil line.
👏
indeed, good point!
 
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