Small things to clip and grow

[Manmountain526]

I have started several small trees this spring. They are very fun and the idea of developing a small tree to look like an old full grown tree is a beautiful thing. This is one that I shaped up today. It is a Thuja occidentalis 'Isilprim' Primo. It has some nice natural movement and a tiny bit of taper. It is of course very small and with time it will develop granted my skill develops as well. Has anyone else started small trees

 

[queenofsheba52]

That tree is a little cutie!

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Not yet, but I have a tennis-ball sized juniper that I want to do the same with! Thanks for sharing.

 

[petegreg]

Looks like very interesting cultivar, nice! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

I have the same cultivar I believe. Primo arborvitae. Mine is from Iseli’s. It’s really funky, looks more like a hinoki almost than an arborvitae! I really love finding strange dwarf conifer cultivars for developing shohin/make sized trees. One of my local nursery’s carries a lot of the Iseli’s dwarf cultivars so I’m always stopping in to see if they have anything new and insteresting. I can post some pictures of some of my stuff in development later on today!

 

[just.wing.it]

Cool, looks a lot like Hinoki!

 

[just.wing.it]

Has anyone else started small trees

My small Hinoki, gotta wire the branches this year, start building a little canopy.

 

[Clicio]

I have started several small trees this spring...

Very nice little tree, it spells FUN !

 

[RKatzin]

I have a few things going. I'm a sucker for anything dwarfy.
This is a Jarvis Hemlock

One thing about dwarf varieties, what they lack in wood production, they make up for in foliage.

 

[Crizzi Questions]

I just picked up a very small Jervis Canadian hemlock.
I slip potted it into a larger pot. I used 50/50 of organic potting soil and orchid mix, since they prefer acidity and reportedly grow best in soil. Not sure about that but I read it in a couple of places.

Right now it looks like a duck getting ready to fly!! Lol
So this weekend I will give it a gentle push into bonsai life.
I appreciate your pics as it gives me a general guide as to what to do with my little tree and mostly it reassures me that it will still be delightful with the branches and greenery removed.
I’m considering just trimming it into a little duck shaped topiary as I let it grow this year just for fun.
It’s literally covered trunk in all, should I pull or snip that off to expose the trunk now or wait until next spring or even this fall?
Can you all see the ?

 

[RKatzin]

Crizzi, that's the same as mine I just spelled it wrong. I did select my branches to develop and removed all other growth from the trunk. Back budding is profuse, and tiny, almost fuzzy, but wood production will be minimal as far as trunk and height building goes. What you see is what you get to work with, but they do give you a ton of foliage to work with.
This is typical dwarf habit, but I think this would be considered a super dwarf so that growth habit is exaggerated to the extreme. I don't know what you would get by garden growing for ten- twenty years.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

I just picked up a very small Jervis Canadian hemlock.
I slip potted it into a larger pot. I used 50/50 of organic potting soil and orchid mix, since they prefer acidity and reportedly grow best in soil. Not sure about that but I read it in a couple of places.

Right now it looks like a duck getting ready to fly!! Lol
So this weekend I will give it a gentle push into bonsai life.
I appreciate your pics as it gives me a general guide as to what to do with my little tree and mostly it reassures me that it will still be delightful with the branches and greenery removed. View attachment 193999View attachment 194000View attachment 194001View attachment 194002
I’m considering just trimming it into a little duck shaped topiary as I let it grow this year just for fun.
It’s literally covered trunk in all, should I pull or snip that off to expose the trunk now or wait until next spring or even this fall?
Can you all see the ?

Yea I think the best place to start with your dwarf hemlock is to “clean” it up a bit. Clip off all of the many little fuzzies growing directly on the trunk, leaving all real branches and longer shoots. This will be necessary however you style it and it will actually help see your styling options a little clearer once you can see what’s what a little better. I think you would be fine in doing that now as long as you don’t get too excited and start clipping branches off

 

[Crizzi Questions]

Thank you both. Yeah I’m going to start with those fuzzies- I didn’t know how to describe them either, like it’s fur covering all wood everywhere! Once I can see it, it seems to have an irregular slanted shape already. I probably won’t try to fight what it’s doing already too much.
I really did think it grew to be at least twice as thick and 3xs as tall in about 5 years. But if not, I will enjoy it as a little shohin.

I’ll post pics when I’m finished trimming it sometime this holiday weekend.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Thank you both. Yeah I’m going to start with those fuzzies- I didn’t know how to describe them either, like it’s fur covering all wood everywhere! Once I can see it, it seems to have an irregular slanted shape already. I probably won’t try to fight what it’s doing already too much.
I really did think it grew to be at least twice as thick and 3xs as tall in about 5 years. But if not, I will enjoy it as a little shohin.

I’ll post pics when I’m finished trimming it sometime this holiday weekend.

Yea for sure. My feeling is that will grow bigger to some degree if you aim to do that, but these types of dwarfs grow in girth and height very slowly. Very very slowly. So I just supposed it’s a matter of whether you want to just look at it and fertilize the hell out of it for the next 5 to 10 years. Or get started on refining a nice shohin now.

 

[Crizzi Questions]

Well I trimmed my little hemlock up. My first time making a bonsai. I definitely need wire now. I found it pretty easy to see where my pads will be. But until I get word you can’t see my vision of this tree.
So here goes... anxious for constructive criticism.
I’m thinking my first photos are the front but I’m still not 100% I won’t change that as the pads develop.
I clipped and pinched off dozens of tiny branches leaving the larger ones. Except for the whirl at the base I chose a branch to keep at the other whirls as this tree had many.
Best of all, I had a great time doing it and overall I’m fairly happy with the result so far. I tried to envision it’s growth in a couple of years as the apex grows and the thinner branches at the top develop.
All of those Mirai videos actually came in handy. At least I felt like I had some clue as to what to do and what not to do.
I may cut off the 2nd posterior main branch at the bottom eventually, but for now the whirl stays.

 

[Jcmmaple]

Gold n Rubie spirea

 

[Jcmmaple]

This is today after one month buying it

 

[Crizzi Questions]

Nice work. A lovely tree too. It filled out nicely and the blooms are spectacular.

 

[Jcmmaple]

They have summer blooms but I didn’t expect them to look that good, can’t wait for it to really fill out. But I won’t to keep it a small tree.

 

[Phobia62]

I have started several small trees this spring. They are very fun and the idea of developing a small tree to look like an old full grown tree is a beautiful thing. This is one that I shaped up today. It is a Thuja occidentalis 'Isilprim' Primo. It has some nice natural movement and a tiny bit of taper. It is of course very small and with time it will develop granted my skill develops as well. Has anyone else started small treesView attachment 193658View attachment 193659View attachment 193661View attachment 193662View attachment 193660

I just bought one of these today from the clearance rack. Do you happen to have a more current picture of this tree???