Shogun’s Crab Apple Bonanza

[Shogun610]

Alright so starting a progression regarding some crab apple’s in development as Bonsai.
Going to start tonight’s post with a Malus Profusion crab apple purchased from Evergreen Garden Works back in March. Here it is in the original nursery pot.

 

[Shogun610]

Repotted in March , had to take in a few times on nights it dipped down to frozen and place in garage. Added some wiring just to bend the branches down, I tried to keep minimal scarring as it is deciduous. I didn’t want to but he tree made me do it.
It needed to be pruned , branches set , and some bad inverse taper as you can see on the primary branching.

 

[Shogun610]

In June it got down with the sickness (ooohhh ah ah ah) ,rained for 3-4 days straight I think sprayed with copper fungicide. Apple Cedar rust. Had to cut some leaves off.

 

[Shogun610]

It had pretty flowers too but forgot to document. Will do next spring ! Today I removed most of that long thick branch. Recleaned and tidied up some wounds. Set some bottom branch movement, it’s back budding so hopefully it thickens up over time. Still trying to find the front so some feedback on that would help. I removed the fruit to give back energy to the tree. Seems to be In better health. Flower buds are setting for next spring. Pruning tips would be appreciated, trying to keep a triangular shape with silhouette. Next year will be dedicated to building ramification, and branch thickness to balance the tree more.
I added guy wire to bring that front facing branch down lower above the smallest branch.

 

[Shogun610]

The last picture for now is this Malus ‘Profusion’s’ front. Aiming to keep this tight, not leggy, ramified, and building new branching with small bud sets that are there now.

 

[Shogun610]

Crab Apple No. 2 is a Malus Lollipop , I posted about it before , it was collected at a Amish farm with the help of John David and Jebbadiah (I’m serious). It’s mostly in lava with some akadama.
I carved it back yesterday at a bigger angle.
I know it’s gonna be a big wound but idea is to use that as a feature.

 

[Shogun610]

Crab Apple No.3 , Is another tree( not sure of the name) collected from the Amish already in a nursery pot. It was a tall tree already, so I decided to air layer it.

 

[Shogun610]

Wrapped cut away cambium layer and used sphagnum moss with some root hormone, wrapped with plastic and sealed with aluminum wire.This was performed April 17th. Once I uncovered it in June , it had two rudimentary roots emanating from callus I didn’t wait long enough.Luckily I made a container with cut plastic, filled with deciduous bonsai soil mix, and secured it to where originally air layered. Left that alone till July 10. Didn’t take any photos of that either 3 weeks ago.. But it had really nice roots that developed nicely and fast. I cut it off and here it is today. It’s sitting in mostly pumice , some lava/ Akadama mixed in. It needs good raining soil to get the roots to grow then next year I’ll switch’s to Akadama since crabs love water.

 

[Shogun610]

Crab Apple No. 4 , is a Donald Wyman purchased as a 1 gallon in March from evergreen garden works. I didn’t like the top potion of the tree and didn’t want to air layer it.

 

[Shogun610]

The Donald Wymann got pruned yesterday, leaving new leader and side branch to grow. It’s in a 1 gallon nursery pot with deciduous soil mix.

 

[Shogun610]

Forgot to add, I’ll need to dig further down to recover nebari , and build that for Malus no . Profusion also. But I’ll worry about that when I repot into a grow box/ slightly larger training pot if needed.

 

[Shogun610]

Leaves still look like they’re suffering. Going to spray with copper fungicide or a light mix of lime sulfur to help this Crab next season.

 

[Shogun610]

This one , I’m going to have to cut one branch off then just let it grow and forget it… I hope it covered that sealed area where I trunk chopped. I dunno I don’t think it’s live tissue on the other side but we’ll see.

 

[Shogun610]

As of 12/21 ^ Big collected one hasn’t really changed, but early fall I did some cut back on the other two. The first one will be placed in a grow pot next year , it’s an air layer. Pretty pleased with cracked bark and branch possibilities
The second one will be in a smaller pot by Sam Miller come spring. Have a few other air layer opportunities in spring as well at some orchards for crabs and regular malus.

 

[Shogun610]

Repotted the Malus profusion into a Sam Miller candy apple glaze , took off a bottom chunk of wood at roots and sealed it just incase it was like a bulge.. but anyway lots of roots near base of tree so it fit just right considering it’s got some depth. Mostly smaller sized Akadama and pinch of pumice/lava

Next up was malus lollipop .had weaker roots on one side of the air layer so I ground layered the once side by just buddy taping some sphagnum… there were nodes forming on weaker side, strong side had nice root bifurcation from the pumice and organic mix, went back into same mix into training pot.
Both had a sifted top dressing of moss and sphagnum.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Dang, how many apple trees do you have?!
I'm curious if the apple cedar rust is over, would be nice to have an update on that later in the year if it's not too much trouble.

 

[Shogun610]

Dang, how many apple trees do you have?!
I'm curious if the apple cedar rust is over, would be nice to have an update on that later in the year if it's not too much trouble.

I just hit w the copper fungicide and will hit again this week. I’m hoping it’s over. I have 6 total all in development though. I kinda second guessing putting the one in a nice pot and not in grow box or something but I want to keep in size and develop nebari / surface roots to keep it constricted.

 

[Shogun610]

Didn’t need that fancy pot for my malus profusion .. that could be used for something better. I slip potted into a grow container

 

[Shogun610]

 

[Shogun610]

I just can’t shake all the issues all year long w these things . Getting tiring. But need more years .. idk. The air layer still isn’t rooting on right side .. and it got ravaged by aphids that are finally gone