Well done Maros, now this is one hell of a progression from 2010, not many folks have progression shots end up like this last one above. great source of inspiration, and you are too humble! I feel like this tree would hold its own in any country at any show my friend. What an amazing specimen. hornbeam is my favorite species, your native variety seem to be much more conducive to bonsai culture than our american hornbeam, such nice small leaves too. That suker had buds everywhere after initial collection! what a treat that was I bet. I'm still trying to get my hands on some zeolite lol.
Thanks Waltron.
I think your native hornbeam is pretty similar to our carpinus betulus. At least according to pictures I have seen online. If it behaves similarly, then you can reduce leave size over time as your trees will progress. Take into consideration that on last picture there is so much foliage removed prior the exhibition that it filled full 10 litre bucket. I'm talking about hundreds, maybe thousands of leaves. Most of them were bigger, than those which left. Point is, if you develop ramification on the tree it will naturally create smaller and smaller foliage over the time.
This is picture from summer 2012, and you can see that size of the leaves is bigger. So regarding this issue, I think hornbeam is rather well behaving species.
And about zeoilte, if you are lucky to find local source for reasonable money, I couldn't recommend it more. It helps me keep my trees in good condition during crazy hot summers we are experiencing during last few years. This stuff if fantastic in retaining huge amount of water and supply it to the plants.
Thanks for your kind words mate