Lonicera Bush?

[Mike89222]

A friend of mine is giving away this hedge, i think its a lonicera? Would it make for a good bonsai?

 

[Shibui]

Looks right for lonicera nitida.
They make good bonsai.
Tough and will survive radical root reduction and radical top prune back to stumps if necessary so you can do whatever is necessary to transplant and style.

 

[Mike89222]

Looks right for lonicera nitida.
They make good bonsai.
Tough and will survive radical root reduction and radical top prune back to stumps if necessary so you can do whatever is necessary to transplant and style.

Nice, thanks! I think ill grab it and put it in my biggest pot for now, perhaps make a game plan for next year!

 

[Shibui]

I have not tried transplant in the growing season, only in winter.
They are very resilient so fingers crossed if you transplant now. We may learn more about how resilient these things really are.

 

[Colorado]

Looks like a fun project!

 

[Crazy Diamond]

A friend of mine is giving away this hedge, i think its a lonicera? Would it make for a good bonsai?

View attachment 437295

 

[Mike89222]

Ha! I hope it looks that good when I'm done with it!

 

[Mike89222]

The day has come, I was not ready.

It was harder to get out than I thought, but i tried the best I could took as much root as possible.



The only thing I had that it would fit in was this plastic bucket so I've drilled a load of drainage holes in the bottom and will have to find a pot next year.



Now, im in waaaaayyyy over my head here. What would you do from here? Should I trim away all unnecessary branches etc or just leave it until next year?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I'd lower the over all height by a third, then just keep it watered. Yes, trim away any branches that you are certain you will not need. BUT, keep enough that you can change your mind later about the design. You don't want do the design pruning now.

 

[Shibui]

It was harder to get out than I thought, but i tried the best I could took as much root as possible.

No real need to take as much root as possible for lonicera. If you leave branches you cut off on the ground they will put down roots.

You have now discovered the first few laws of transplanting:
* The tree is always far bigger (and heavier) than you anticipated. I'm still convinced that trunks expand as you scrape the soil away from them......
* You'll always need a bigger container than planned.

Keep us updated on how it recovers from the dig.

 

[Mike89222]

No real need to take as much root as possible for lonicera. If you leave branches you cut off on the ground they will put down roots.

You have now discovered the first few laws of transplanting:
* The tree is always far bigger (and heavier) than you anticipated. I'm still convinced that trunks expand as you scrape the soil away from them......
* You'll always need a bigger container than planned.

Keep us updated on how it recovers from the dig.

Well that sounds promising, hopefully it recovers well then.

I actually had a poke around the trunk last night and it turns out there were 3 trees in there all sort of growing around each other. I managed to pull one off and the other did break at the bottom but it had a small root attached so I thought what the heck, I'll pot it anyway.

So now there's a much better single trunk, and my partner isn't happy because what was meant to be my last tree actually turned out to be 3 haha.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Check put Peter Chan’s most recent video

 

[Mike89222]

The bigger 2 are looking a bit sorry for themselves, the small one however has buds popping up all over!




Now I'm wondering if I should cut all of the foliage off the bigger 2 to try and encourage some new growth.

Any one got any thoughts on that?

 

[Shibui]

Expect growing season transplants to look sad for a while. They are adjusting to reduced roots. The response is often to shed excess leaves that the reduced roots cannot support but meanwhile the remaining leaves are providing food and energy to grow new roots.
New shoots on bare trunks is NOT a sure sign of success. Buds form and shoots grow using the resources stored in the trunk. Sometimes you can get really good looking growth until the resources run out then sudden collapse. Fingers crossed that it is also making new roots under the soil and will actually continue to grow.

No method is 100% sure. I'd just continue care as they are, cross fingers and trust that lonicera is really resilient.