Hornbeam what would you do?

[tmmason10]

I like it, hope to see some more pictures of what it looks like with it leafed out now. Seems like you aren't using the deadwood as the front again, howcome?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

That's a much better front, how's the scar rolling over? Hornbeams seem to be pretty slow.

 

[bretts]

Hi Tmason and Brian.

I already had another hornbeam with major deadwood showing and I guess I was keen on a more traditional looking deciduous for this one. I always keep in mind when styling that one day I or someone else will change the front so it could be swapped back to front pretty easy.

The scars are interesting. I think I took a little too much out in places a few years ago so I have tried to let it grow wild to bulk back up a bit.
In some areas the cambium/bark re-growth is still hidden under old bark that died back after carving.
The areas that I can see at the moment have matured to a fairly natural look.
I plan on getting rid of the dead bark areas and refining the carving next season which should be fun.

I missed getting a pic as it leafed out but here it is today I guess about a month or so into the growing season.
Today I trimmed all the new branch lets back to two leaves.
In the years past it was more about directing the growth to the branches I wanted to thicken.
As the season progresses I will start to remove the biggest leaves.
Finally over the next few years I get to see how much I can reduce leaf size.

Any advice to consider is welcome as I am still learning with the refinement of hornbeam and deciduous in general.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Looking good. Leaf size will continue to reduce as density/ramification increases. I have a KH and it's more like a beech than an elm in growth and pruning response. Pinching 5 leaves back to 2 slows them down. I find that letting them grow completely wild, then after they slow down in mid-summer, they can be pruned back pretty hard.

A bonsai pro told me to defoliate mine this year to build density, I questioned this approach and was told that it would be fine. I did it (nervously), and it struggled to regrow all season. I don't know if my timing was off, or if the fact I pulled most of the leaves instead of cut them had something to do with it. Either rate, it did nothing to improve density, weakened the tree, and I probably won't do it again.

As a result, I'll probably shift it to a larger pot next spring and let it grow wild for a year and rebuild some strength before I push it back again.

 

[bretts]

Hi Brian

In previous years I worked by a process of fighting apical dominance in the same manner as some do a pine. I would prune the lower branches first. Wait until they started to bud back out and then prune the top. The idea being that the lower branches would have a head start over the upper dominant growth.

This seemed to work well as the lower right branch has thickened and ramified considerably.

This year I got out several books and compared notes on how they prune the hornbeam.
One was an old article by Walter Pall in Bonsai Today suggesting to prune back to two leaves once it had hardened off. Harry Harrington shows some great ramification on his hornbeams and he suggests tip pruning as soon as possible and then cut back hard after they have hardened.
I took this as mid Summer much as you suggest but in our climate (long hot Summer, Frosty but no snow in Winter) we seem to be able to get away with alot more so thought I would give it a go somewhat earlier.
I am shying away from defoliation at the moment.
The article by Walter is pretty old and I know he has changed in the way he does some things so it would be interesting to know what he does these days but I think his article suggested leaving the last two leaves at the end of the branch on when defoliating hornbeam.
I don't think I have ever seen Walter defoliate a Hornbeam.
On a side note. I am not sure if Walter has ever grafted a branch when there was not one where he wanted either.

When you say prune back pretty hard is this back to say two leaves or more random considering the strength of each branch?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

My take on this tree...

I don't think you will ever be happy with it unless you take more dramatic action. To me it is two trees stuck together. You have the bottom part that leans to the right, and then there is an awkward bend to the left (with scarring) where the tree has a stove pipe look that is straight with little taper. Even after four years little has changed in the underlying structure of the tree.

If it were my tree I'd air-layer it at the trunk bend. Then you'd have the upper portion to work with (new nebari at the air-layer would increase the taper of the upper portion) and you could wait and see what happened with the lower stump...

 

[bretts]

Thanks for the input Bnut.
It is not the first time I have had that said about this tree. I must say when I first started Bonsai I had lower expectations of where I want this tree to go and probably would not choose this material again.
Yet I do like this tree even with it's faults and although I don't stick to the adage much, I do believe it is beneficial to get a plan and stick to it. That said where you suggest air layering is a hollow shell of a trunk and it would leave deadwood in contact with the soil and that is not somewhere I plan on going again.
Everyone has something that they do not like about this tree. Then the things that other people don't like they have no problem with.
Personally I think my biggest challenge will be improving the roots.

I have turned the tree every which way to get rid of the stove pipe feature and feel apart from using the back as the front this is pretty close. Although I have it leaning to the right more than I want at the moment to help with root development there.

Also because it has so much deadwood I can pretty well carve and change the shape of the trunk how I like without concern of causing scars because it is already covered in them
Here are a couple more pictures showing the tree in comparison to a couple of years ago and also one where I have removed some deadwood from the trunk in a virt to show what I mean about how the trunk can still easily be changed also a virt I muched around with some branches off one of Walters trees used on mine. Although an old pot virt that is some what off
A big learning curve with this tree and other hornbeams, on top of being a newb, has been growing them in a climate that often gets to 45 deg celsius or 113 Fahrenheit. Some still tell me to give them up but I now believe I am getting a good handle on how I can get what I want from them and things should speed up alot from here.
Besides bonsai would just not be the same to me without growing hornbeam.
So much so that I have taken several years to propagate the oriental hornbeam here in Australia which should handle the climate much better.

 

[mizz5540]

In your garden.