Should I pot up some local "weeds?"

[HankB]

Two things that come to mind...

Some neighbors have Chinese Elms so they come up in the garden like weeds. I see that they're used for Bonsai, probably because they have small leaves to begin with. Or are the Chinese Elms volunteering in my yard "not the Chinese Elms I'm looking for.

Forsythia. This is really a shrub and sends up suckers from the base. But the old canes do get thicker. And they tip layer like crazy so I have some several year old shrubs that I need to get rid of. I'm thinking of potting one up, removing all but one cane and diligently removing suckers as they appear.

Other possible candidates... Black Walnut. But they're leaves are over a foot long so I don't know if they could be an attractive bonsai.

American Elm. There is one that is about 2" (5cm) across at the base. Would it be feasible to dig it up, chop it about a foot tall and trim the roots to fit a pot? Left in the yard it is doomed to Dutch Elm disease at some point. We had one that got to over 2 feet across at the trunk and then in a couple years just died off.

I'm also watching for a White Oak as I think that would be a very cool bonsai to have. But we have no oaks in the yard so I don't often see oak seedlings.

Thanks!

 

[Joe Dupre']

Collecting and keeping different types of trees alive is good practice. It may be a good idea to get several of the same kind of "weeds" and experiment. Collect one really early, collect one really late, trunk chop really high or really low. Failure is also a learning experience. Sometimes having a few too many trees will keep you from "loving" your better trees to death.

That elm would be a good one. Maybe chop it to 3" or 4" high, trim roots and pot. Study up on the informal upright style and you could have a killer tree is 3 or 4 years. Patience is ( at least for me) one of the hardest things about bonsai.

 

[sorce]

All the elms...
And anything that may be confused for any elm for that matter.

I have been torturing a forsythia for about 5 years. Can't kill it so I'm a fan.
Mine is small enough to be an accent plant, and ugly as hell, but I will see it to a flower! And it will be a joyous occasion!

Sorce

 

[HankB]

Thank you both for your replies. I like the idea of collecting several to experiment.

Sorce, I shall taunt you with some branches I pruned and expect to open in another day or two

 

[Tieball]

Keep all the American Elms....you will enjoy working with them. And, like weeds, the AEs grow fast....outdoors all seasons.

I've tried Oak. Difficult but entertaining. Slow grower for a long time. But, still fun seeing as how I am surrounded by oaks (and those fallen oak leaves never go away it seems).

 

[0soyoung]

Other possible candidates... Black Walnut. But they're leaves are over a foot long so I don't know if they could be an attractive bonsai.

No they don't, but it is a hoot to have one in a pot that is smaller than one leaflet !

 

[plant_dr]

I just googled black walnut bonsai and it led me to some videos on youtube by Nigel Saunders in Canada. There are a couple black walnut videos, a horse chestnut, etc. I didn't have time to watch, but they are there if you want to check 'em out on your own.

I've seen other images of horse chestnut, staghorn sumac and other compound leaved trees as bonsai- so it can be done if you want to do it. Just have the understanding that they wont be the same as a Japanese maple for example.

 

[Tieball]

I just googled black walnut bonsai and it led me to some videos on youtube by Nigel Saunders in Canada. There are a couple black walnut videos, a horse chestnut, etc. I didn't have time to watch, but they are there if you want to check 'em out on your own.

I've seen other images of horse chestnut, staghorn sumac and other compound leaved trees as bonsai- so it can be done if you want to do it. Just have the understanding that they wont be the same as a Japanese maple for example.

I wonder if the walnut, horse chestnut, staghorn sumac or a hickory tree can be dug up...chopped...severely root pruned...and then regrown from a stump.

 

[0soyoung]

I wonder if the walnut, horse chestnut, staghorn sumac or a hickory tree can be dug up...chopped...severely root pruned...and then regrown from a stump.

Certainly horse chestnut can - resprouts like an elm and leaf size reduces.

They are actually more fun from seed (let it grow for a season to get rid of the nut, chop. and voila!)

 

[sorce]

shall taunt you

Damn! Lolololol....

I have to get you a picture of mine!

I guess tortured wasn't the right word!
Mine is so beat to hell.....
It is unreckognizable as a forsythia!

I forgot what they even looked like!

Hickory, walnut, chestnut, sounds like a job for super @Leo in N E Illinois ....
I know he has at least one of those.

Sorce

 

[HankB]

Here are some weeds.

Except for the one far right they are all Forsythia of various sizes. Not sure what I should do with those right now. They're all a little different (and some just plain little ) so I guess I can look at each individually and make some decisions. I do not know what the last on the right is. I cut the top back last year and I do not recall what it looked like.

I also dug up what I believe to be a Chinese Elm. I'm not sure how it will do as it had a huge tap root, most of which had to be cut to fit the pot. Perhaps I should cut the top back. Or will it develop leaves in balance with the remaining root?

When I went to the American Elm, I found it was about 4" across at the base. I think that's too big, no? Or do I just need a bigger pot?

I also spied more "weeds."

Is this some kind of Juniper? Needle formation seems a little sparse but I like the reddish/bronze color it takes on (probably only over the fall.winter.) Most are 4-6" (10-15cm) tall but one is about 2' (60 cm) tall. Looks like more raw material! Should I (a) leave them alone for now? (b) work them in place (pruning and wiring?) (c) Pot them up and some version of (a) and (b)? What I believe to be the parent (in a neighbors yard) is about 20' (6m) tall after a lot of years. It doesn't seem to be growing fast.

Maybe I should harvest that Black Walnut that I don;t really like in the garden.

And one of these days I need to get a picture of the Juniper that SWMBO got me and which got me started on Bonsai.

 

[HankB]

Oops - for Sorce = I almost forgot

 

[sorce]

No, 4" Some would consider too small for AmElm. But it's good!

This link is for the J.Cracks.
Read the whole thread not just the post linked.

https://bonsainut.com/posts/431906/

If everything threw radial roots as easy as Forsythia....it would be stupid easy.
But they stay fleshy for a while...
And soggy will turn it algae black like this.

Last leg!


But.....

Yearly, almost, to the base, low chops will give you more character, or character at all for that matter.

I can't for the life of me find a video I saw a while back, I think it was in China...
They do an all forsythia show...
Very pimp.

Thanks for the Flowers!

Sorce

 

[Bonsai Nut]

If you've got a lot of small elms, try making an elm forest. Pretty advanced technique, but highly rewarding if you do it right

 

[Cattwooduk]

I wonder if the walnut, horse chestnut, staghorn sumac or a hickory tree can be dug up...chopped...severely root pruned...and then regrown from a stump.

I'm in the process of finding out! I got this staghorn sumac from someones garden... had been chopped right down from that thick trunk at some point in the past and left in place. I dug it up and cut back some of the bigger roots, so I'll see if it survives this year, the buds are just starting to open so I may have been a little early but nevermind. I'm thinking I might get it out the soil and replace with bonsai mix to try get some roots back on it this year.


@HankB if you got space just grab everything and stick it in a pot. I'm expecting to kill or main about 25% of everything I've got/collecting this year (I have 0 actual bonsai trees so far) .

 

[GailC]

Never thought a horse chestnut would reduce that well. Makes me regret giving my brother the seedling I had growing for a few years, it should be nice by now. I'll have plenty of seedlings this spring though, they sprout in groves under the big tree in back.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Trees with big compound leaves are only occasionally used. I in early 2016 dug a staghorn sumac trunk, got very few roots, chopped it to 4 inches, then potted it up. It grew. Sumac is grown for its brilliant autumn color, and rest of the the year it is ''hidden'' away, with the wisteria that are done blooming. Sumac are more or less used as a large kusamono, grown for appreciation and displayed as the focal point of the display, without it being an accent to a tree. That type of kusamono, where the kusamono is the focal point of the display is called Sanyasou. Sumac to not ramify much at all, in bonsai culture or in the wild. They do have some of the most vivid autumn colors, even brighter than the Japanese maples.

Black walnut does not have a great autumn color, more a mundane yellow-brown, so they really are not used often for bonsai.

I have seen pictures of horse chestnut, and hickories, leaves never reduce enough to make a traditional tree. Some did have great trunks. Probably best as winter silhouette displays or in bloom in the case of horse chestnut.

I do have a chinese chestnut seedling, looks and grows much like a beech. But bigger leaves and coarser twigs. Not an ideal choice for bonsai.

My sumac is young, in a small pot. This spring it will be planted into a nursery pot and grown out to get a smooth transition at the chop.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Most everyone wants a big, chunky bonsai........2", 3" base diameter or bigger. If you start thinking smaller, you can make some of those newly collected specimens into some pretty nice bonsai in the 6" to 7" height range in just one or two seasons. Good soil, water and fertilize the heck out of them.

 

[eugene brown]

Was i the only one thinking this thread is going to be a out pot?

 

[HankB]

I wonder what happened to the picture in #12. Maybe removed as not Bonsai related?

Thanks for the replies. I found the Sumac transplants interesting as I once tried (unsuccessfully) to transplant one to my yard.

And I'm wondering what "... this thread is going to be a out pot?" means.

thanks,
hank