Mallsai Chinese elm into two shohins

Chuah

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This is my first post, hopefully I can upload the images successfully. This S-shaped Chinese elm mallsai has a good movement in the upper section, and I air layered it and developed the top and bottom sections into two shohins, both are trained by clip=and=grow method.
 

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Chuah

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I could only attach five images in the previous post. The following images are the development of the bottom section of the air-layered elm.
 

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evmibo

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Chuah, how long has it been since you planted the air layer? Nice development so far.
 

Chuah

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It was air layered in February 2009. Just a little over 4 years.
 

Poink88

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Good job!

2 much nicer trees from a mediocre one....can't beat that! :)
 

october

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Welcome Chuah. This could be the best results from a mallsai that I have seen. Not one, but 2 nice shohins. There is no trace of mallsai here anymore.:D

Rob
 
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Welcome, awesome first post. Hope to see more of what you're working on.
 

Chuah

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Thanks everyone for your comments and encouragements.

Aidan13, the first pot is a Chinese pot with crackle glaze made by a Yixing potter named Jiang Xiao Lin. I potted the elm into this pot as one of the trees I was considering for my shohin display at the April Lone Star State Bonsai Federation show, but ended up using another Chinese elm (lacebark elm) instead. Below is the display:
 

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Chuah

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This is the front of the displayed tree. It was difficult to take a photo of the whole display at close distance without distorting how the front of the tree looked like.
 

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evmibo

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After looking over this thread last summer I went out and searched for a worthy s-shaped Chinese elm, it took a little bit, but $25 later I was home stripping the bark; preparing for the air layer to begin. Fast forward to now, where (today) it received it's first design work... I'm really happy with how this has come out. The original base is still alive but will take at least double the time to develop into anything. Here are some pictures of today:

http://imgur.com/erP5ASv
http://imgur.com/sjfFgTJ
http://imgur.com/0ibVBIX
 
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barrosinc

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should I try the same thing with this one:

Barrosinc-Bonsai-0001.jpg


when is the best time to airlayer one of these?
 

evmibo

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Personally, with that specific tree I wouldn't air layer. I think it offers more as is. If it were mine i'd focus on thickening the trunk and trying to produce lower branches, if and when you get them allow them to thicken as much as possible in a suitable direction (branches for the pet part thicken fastest when they're allowed to grow freely). Once they're thicker than the top branches you should start developing taper.

Typically, air layers are most successful if started in spring to mid summer. You want time for the new roots to develop some before winter.
 

Bonsai_Bubba

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I'm a long time fan of Chuah's trees and have several of his in my own collection. Welcome to the forum Chuah!
 
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Chuah

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Evmibo,
My apology. Had not been visiting this forum for a while. Had been preparing for our state convention which finished yesterday. Just saw your post, I am very happy to see you tried out air layering successfully. Nice shohin elm, give it time and you will be rewarded with a beautiful tree.
 
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Chuah

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You have a wire scar which even when healed, will likely leave a noticeable horizontal swelling mark circling the trunk. If you decide to keep the tree as is and fatten up the lower trunk as suggested by evmibo, try to develop a branch to hide the wire scar. Alternately, you can use a knife to make a small circular or irregular shape scar on the wire mark, similar to a cut wound formed by removing a small branch, when the scar healed, the callus will break up that horizontal wire mark so that it is not that noticeable.

In spring, during the active growth period, fertilize the tree for one or two weeks, then completely defoliate it, new buds will pop up everywhere for you to develop lower sacrificial branches to fatten up the trunk.
 
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