Redemption Song - Cotoneaster edition

Hartinez

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I wanted to start the documentation on a couple Coral Beauty Cotoneaster that i picked up in late may. I had started a shohin, maybe closer to mame size, Coral beauty a few years ago that was quickly becoming one of my favorite trees. The form was relatively typical, but the trunk scale, branch placement, leaf size and flowers made this tree pretty special. Well unfortunately the tree ended up dead after moving into my dads house. Here is that thread. To give you the break down without doing it here. I think there were a number of factors that lead to its demise.

I loved that little tree and am confident I can right the wrongs and produce better results on a long term tree. My local wholesale nursery happened to get a big shipment of 3 gal. coral beauty and at $23 i couldnt pass them up. I started initially with just 1 tree, but went back the next week and bought a second. I have found that cotoneaster have a much larger window for aggressive repot than a standard deciduous. I sawed half the bottom half of both trees then raked out and completely hosed out as much existing soil as I could. Dam near a full bare root. I didn’t however, cut more of the roots beyond the initial saw job than was necessary. I also chopped back to an appealing trunk line On both and cut pasted all of the cuts. Well both trees have responded very well with excellent growth and bud locations along with most cut sites already beginning to form callous tissue causing the cut paste to begin to crack.

Unlike my other tree that died, I dont plan on beginning to cut back hard on new growth on either of these trees this season. My goal will be to bud and branch select and allow the initial branches to extend and thicken. As the shoots get long enough for wire I will place the branches in there long term positIon. Really its all about the first 1/2” from the trunk on all these branches as I will be cutting them all back hard next season. Also, since I was able to bare root both trees, I dont plan on repotting for several years.

I think both there trees hold great potential.

Tree 1

May 30
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June 24
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Hartinez

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Tree 2 - Purchased 1 week later so it is slightly behind in new growth. This one had a secondary trunk/branch that had ground layered itself in the pot and formed decent surface roots. I decided that rather than try and remove this as it was more of a design highlight.

June 5
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June 24
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Hartinez

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ultimately i think I’m going to need to remove the branches on the inside curve. Though they are ‘against the “rules” I sometimes like inside curve branches ‘for there difference and potential character. Talking points. in this trees case though they will probably hit the chopping block.
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Hartinez

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I also took a bunch of cuttings from the first tree and about 50% of them seem to have taken. This was just yesterday after about 30 days. I used 100%perlite with a top dressing of pumice to hold the perlite down.
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This rock planting by @Paulpash is what I’d like to do with the cuttings. Great image Paul.
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Paradox

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Nice.

I like the first one. Although I think I'd remove the lowest shoots on both sides if it was mine.

On the second one, I'd also chop the large branch going off at a right angle back almost to the main trunk but try to keep one of those close shoots
 

Hartinez

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@Paradox
Yeah the inside shoots def need to go on the first. But I’m going to let some of the others elongate before remove any more. I’d like to see some extension before I make final decisions. You may be right though.

On the second tree, that branch is interesting because it has actually ground layered itself and has several surface roots on either side, so it’s more of a second trunk than branch. In the long term, it may need to go, but in the mean time I’m going to keep it to see if I can get the two trunks to play off of each other a bit more harmoniously.
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Paradox

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I agree that I wouldn't do as I suggested now because you want to get the trees strong again.
 

Paulpash

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I also took a bunch of cuttings from the first tree and about 50% of them seem to have taken. This was just yesterday after about 30 days. I used 100%perlite with a top dressing of pumice to hold the perlite down.
View attachment 382868
View attachment 382869


This rock planting by @Paulpash is what I’d like to do with the cuttings. Great image Paul.
View attachment 382870
My advice is to grow the trees independently of the rock, root prune and then plant it up. The image will be a lot faster to achieve. It would be advantageous to maybe get the rock as the trees are developing in pots so you can see how many trees you'd need and to be able to identify possible planting pockets. You'll get an idea how to shape them to the contours of the rock. This is planted on tufa so I just created pockets where I needed them with an old chisel. Good luck with your planting.
 

Colorado

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I really like both of these, Danny, especially the one in the blue pot. Totally agree about the foliage on the inside of the trunk’s curve. Looking forward to seeing these with some flowers and fruits!
 

Hartinez

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I really like both of these, Danny, especially the one in the blue pot. Totally agree about the foliage on the inside of the trunk’s curve. Looking forward to seeing these with some flowers and fruits!
Thanks Broski. Yeah I’m pretty excited about these. The price was great considering the girth. Hard to find thicker, nursery grown Cotoneaster. I’m going to fight every urge to trim at some point and just let primary branches grow and thicken for the rest of the season. Maybe wiring that growth at some point but that’s it.
 

Hartinez

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The ground-layered branch is what will really set that tree apart. Definitely a good move to keep it.
Thanks Renny. Yeah i knew pretty quick that had to be a keeper. As you’ve seen first hand I’m sure, Ryan at Mirai keeps what would normally be obscure branches or strange things on trees someone else may cut off. I love the way he incorporates the oddity as a feature.
 

Hartinez

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.........now you making me feel to get another one.
I wish you could see the coral beauty options at my local wholesale nursery, they still have so many and at $25 bucks they are a steal!
 

Pitoon

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I wish you could see the coral beauty options at my local wholesale nursery, they still have so many and at $25 bucks they are a steal!
If I can find some smaller ones with a decent line/trunk I'll probably pick up another. Cotoneaster have a lot of potential especially on the mame range.
 

Hartinez

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Wired all of the newest growth and trimmed back just a few shoots. Removed suckers and growth going directly down or up. I used wire to twist and scrunch the main leader down on itself to setup the apex for the future. It’s amazing how a little wire and a few scissor cuts can really setup the image for the future.
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Gr8tfuldad

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I have a cotton I plan on working this spring, thanks for the inspiration of such awesomeness. They are beautiful trees.
 

Gr8tfuldad

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Thank you for the advice. I am kind of lost on the style at this point. I’m hoping once I get some soil out and also out of the pot it will come to me.
 
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