Shohin New Mexico Olive (Foresteria Neomexicana)

[Hartinez]

Purchased this tree in a 3 gal nursery pot in fall of 2018. Left it be all fall and winter and chopped and potted it up spring 2019. Fertilized heavy and Let it grow all summer. I removed unwanted buds and left other growth in an attempt to heal in large chops all summer. What I’m finding out about these trees is that the wounds do not want to heal. I’ve got several now and few have showed encouraging callousing over major chops.

I pulled it out of its healed in location and wired out the branches. I also sprayed a dormant oil to combat a leaf mite that @leatherback helped me identify, that has been hell on all of my Foresteria over the last several years. (Thank you @leatherback ) I’m happy with the initial branch placement and establishment. Root base needs work and root ball needs shallowing out.

This spring I will repot into a large but shallow training pot to encourage strong growth but begin creating as shallow a root pad as I can. I will also decide wether to carve out the chops as Uros or cut and paste the chops to try and promote healing. I like the twin trunk look and am looking forward to it’s progression.

 

[Hartinez]

Buds haven’t begun moving on this one yet as this species is always late to pop. Getting excited to make a pot change and explore the roots though! Found these pics from last year. Love the small oval leaves.

 

[Hartinez]

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Great, looking good
I like the pot,

 

[Hartinez]

Great, looking good
I like the pot,

Thanks Leo. The pot is oversized and was only put in there for recovery and growth reasons. It’s a little chunky also and needs a mugo or thick deciduous. I’m going to downsize a bit at repot.
This is also my first time using a dormant oil spray to try and control a bug that @leatherback helped me identify. I thought it was a fungus but it seems to be a Mahoe leaf roll. Hoping to get some excellent extensions and growth this year!

 

[Hartinez]

1 of today’s projects. Took a closer look at the surface roots. While there are two large surface roots that could work for a future nebari due to the roots coming off the sides of each, one side of the tree is entirely void of a substantial nebari. There were two other roots that were to high along the trunk to work so those had to be removed. I decided to over pot the tree in this Phillipe Torcatis pot and attach a tourniquet and rooting powder to try and build a new nebari above everything present. I’ve never ground layered a New Mexico olive but I imagine with time it should work just fine.

 

[Hartinez]

 

[leatherback]

Nice tree and nice technique. I wonder though:

- Is the tourniquette burried deep enough that the bark starts constantly moist?
- The the wire thick enough for it to work, or will the tree just absorp this?

 

[Hartinez]

Nice tree and nice technique. I wonder though:

- Is the tourniquette burried deep enough that the bark starts constantly moist?
- The the wire thick enough for it to work, or will the tree just absorp this?

Honestly, It may not be and I’m hoping it is. And I appreciate both questions.

As a measure of assurance I’ll add a thicker layer of sphag to the top of the pot especially around the base of the tree.

and Id think so, but have only really done this one other time on an elm. And you know, elms...i made sure to tighten to the point of the wire biting in to the bark as much as possible. I may need to leave it for a few seasons as these trees are not the quickest to thicken.

time will tell.

 

[Hartinez]

This one did not have a good year. In general these New Mexico olive have yet to truly thrive in a bonsai pot for me. I’m going to change up the soil comp. next year. A lot of these grow wild in the flood planes of the Rio grande so I’m thinking of mimicking that soil condition a bit more. Maybe like a kiryu type soil with a bit more “sandy matter”.

Needs a trim and a wire

 

[leatherback]

I guess.. No roots above the wire then?

 

[Hartinez]

I guess.. No roots above the wire then?

Negative. If the tree is going to push out roots above that wire, I’m going to need to do a much better job on the ground layering process. I may abandon the idea all together as I also think the species is a bit finicky in pots anyways. I’m just going for a healthy tree through an entire season at this point!

 

[Hartinez]

Don’t know that this tree will ever be something great, but I’m workin on it! I’m finding year after year that this species is not big on pot culture.

I repotted this one in April where the ground layer process did nothing. This tree does not girth up very quick in a pot. I chose to ring the base of the tree all the way around in hopes of forcing roots from the exposed cambium. I also reapplied the tourniquet. The branches are also a bit of a mess and the chops are still big and ugly. If I can get the roots in a better position I will probably plant this guy in the ground for several years.

 

[Hartinez]

Welp. The ground layer seemed to work pretty well this time. A pretty good radius of roots formed and I decided to remove everything below. I also mounted it to a piece of wood to ensure root growth laterally and to mount the tree into the pot easier.