Korean Hornbeam style?

[ABCarve]

This is a Korean hornbeam I got from a pal in our study group for $100. He was tired of foolin' with it. The base is about 8" wide with 5 trunks (1 can't be seen in photo) and many large scars. The scars were all covered with cut paste for many years and was quite ugly. Formerly it was potted higher, exposing more of the base but was narrower at the soil line creating reverse taper. If the uncovered scars begin to rot I'll epoxy them as I doubt if they'll ever heal totally.
My intent is to let the wired trunk grow rank a while to fatten it up and try to get varying calipers on all the trunks. There will be a single crown somewhat like a forest.
Any ideas on what style this is?

 

[Traken]

It'd be a clump, wouldn't it?

 

[ABCarve]

Maybe....I always thought the trunks emanated from the soil line.....but I could be wrong.

 

[Wilson]

I definetly like it, lumpy base and all! I would think it's a clump, since it's all the same tree.

 

[Traken]

Maybe....I always thought the trunks emanated from the soil line.....but I could be wrong.

Could be. If anyone is likely to be wrong, it’s definitely me. lol. It’s cool, whatever it is.

 

[Forsoothe!]

It's its own tree, and should be comfortable in its own skin. Don't superimpose some different fictitious nature on it and expect to cover all of its past sins and hard life. Let the tree revell in the sins visited upon it. I'd wire all the branches it has right now into flat intermixed planes, -they are all already there, just out of kilter! Do the Walter Pall Hedge Trim on or about September 1st, fine wire all straight up or down to dead flat May 1st, denude & clip all leaders June 23rd, and make your seller drool all over himself August 1st and thereafter. There's a first class bonsai hidden in there!

 

[ABCarve]

It's its own tree, and should be comfortable in its own skin. Don't superimpose some different fictitious nature on it and expect to cover all of its past sins and hard life. Let the tree revell in the sins visited upon it. I'd wire all the branches it has right now into flat intermixed planes, -they are all already there, just out of kilter! Do the Walter Pall Hedge Trim on or about September 1st, fine wire all straight up or down to dead flat May 1st, denude & clip all leaders June 23rd, and make your seller drool all over himself August 1st and thereafter. There's a first class bonsai hidden in there!

Thanks. For now I’m just going to let it grow and get a pot full of healthy roots. It will make itself evident

 

[BunjaeKorea]

They can get so dense that they suffocate themselves.
Check these out.

 

[ABCarve]

That’s good to know!

 

[ABCarve]

Update....Just letting it grow. Very minimal pruning. I tried defoliating a small branch to see how it would respond......not very well. Maybe it wasn't enough to trigger a response. My American hornbeam is quite responsive to it.

 

[penumbra]

I think these are my favorite of all deciduous bonsai. I have several of them and each does its own thing.
I really love yours. Don't worry so much about propriety. Like Forsooth says, it is its own tree.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Undoubtedly, the trick of defoliating trees was a serendipitous discovery by the Japanese long, long ago, the result of what happens to trees after a typhoon. They noticed. When a tree is stripped of its foliage entirely in a catastrophic wind event like a hurricane or tornado it has to die or refoliate. That response is different from losing a limb's worth of foliage. A partial defoliation is not enough of an event to generate the kind of response we want. I love this tree. Forgive me, I have taken a few liberties with it to give it a little definition...

I want to see the trunk. Not a bush. Bushes are different.

 

[penumbra]

I would have no reason to defoliate any of my hornbeam as the leaves are at most 1/2 inch and they are constantly back buddy and growing like weeds.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I would have no reason to defoliate any of my hornbeam as the leaves are at most 1/2 inch and they are constantly back buddy and growing like weeds.

Then you must have reached Hornbeam nirvana where you have el mucho muy sumo maximo number of buds and are maintaining same. I bow to your exalted state. All hail Penumbra.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I defoliated my collected and imported KH once. I lost it the next spring. Really disappointed; it was a good old tree, and the most expensive tree I had purchased up to that point. Yours is nice and healthy.

 

[penumbra]

Then you must have reached Hornbeam nirvana where you have el mucho muy sumo maximo number of buds and are maintaining same. I bow to your exalted state. All hail Penumbra.

I don't understand what you are saying but I suspect sarcasm. Don't understand that because none of my hornbeam have large leaves and I am doing nothing special for them. They just have small leaves. Are you telling me you have hornbeams with large leaves? I'd like to see that.
I'll take a few pictures tomorrow because frankly your response mystifies me. If you have the time I would love to see a large leafed hornbeam. All of mine are Korean if that makes a difference.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I haven't defoliated this Korean this year, but these leaves are 50% smaller than the type. American are bigger still. Do you have a Hop Hornbeam?

 

[ABCarve]

Undoubtedly, the trick of defoliating trees was a serendipitous discovery by the Japanese long, long ago, the result of what happens to trees after a typhoon. They noticed. When a tree is stripped of its foliage entirely in a catastrophic wind event like a hurricane or tornado it has to die or refoliate. That response is different from losing a limb's worth of foliage. A partial defoliation is not enough of an event to generate the kind of response we want. I love this tree. Forgive me, I have taken a few liberties with it to give it a little definition...
View attachment 318236
I want to see the trunk. Not a bush. Bushes are different.

Thanks for your concern, but this tree is simply in grow-mode. The trunks are all the same caliper and fairly boring visually. It’s hard to see from the 2-d photo but there are 5 trunks. My strategy is to let the one trunk to grow rank to change that. Think of this state as a temporary inconvenience for a permanent improvement.

My experiment with defoliation was just that. This tree has very short internodes and small leaves compared to American H. The experiment was for future reference when it’s ready for refinement. Thanks @Brian Van Fleet for your experience.
I don’t have a hop hornbeam but I do have a American H forest.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

We reduce in mid summer here. By our standards those are large leaves lol

 

[ABCarve]

We reduce in mid summer here. By our standards those are large leaves lol

I think this is the same video you did in post #8??