Spirea x2

Mike Hennigan

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Nice progress so far! i’ve got a Spirea in the works as well, and I think it’s probably the same variety as well. “Goldmound” I believe it’s called. Here’s a link to the thread on mine:

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/shohin-spirea.34960/

Would appreciate any input you have. Last year while it was still in the nursery container I cut it back twice very hard and it responded super strong. Since the spring it’s been repotted into a bonsai pot and I haven’t cut it back the same way, just letting it recover mostly. Will start hedge trimming it next season probably.
 
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just.wing.it

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Nice progress so far! i’ve got a Spirea in the works as well, and I think it’s probably the same variety as well. “Goldmound” I believe it’s called. Here’s a link to the thread on mine:

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/shohin-spirea.34960/

Would appreciate any input you have. Last year while t was still in the nursery container I cut it back twice very hard and it responded super strong. Since the spring it’s been repotted into a bonsai pot and I haven’t cut it back the same way, just letting it recover mostly. Will start hedge trimming it next season probably.
Thanks!

Goldmound huh, cool!
Mine are called Double Play Gold.
I completely brutalized the roots and the tops of both of them this spring...I mean, I went hard!
Because I just bought them as a curiosity really....but now, after seeing what I've seen this year, I'm really liking them....dont think they'll be winning any awards in the future, but certainly interesting and fun.

I've done nothing other than bare root, remove 95% of roots, remove all foliage back to single "sub-trunks"...then planted in lava, pumice and haydite...
Switching between weekly doses of 20-20-20 water soluble fertilizer and emulsified fish....
So far so good!
 

Cattwooduk

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I also got one of these earlier in the year same variety as well. I'd bought about 20 of them for a landscaping job where I mass planted them with Hebe 'heartbreaker' and had one left over.
I did much the same - hacked about 90% off the root mass from the nursery container and then clipped it right back into a rough shape but didn't go in too hard on the top. Lightly wired a few branches to get a more rounded shape and then left it to see how it recovered. I know they're pretty tough and vigorous growing in the ground but wasn't expecting it to bounce back so fast with the amount of root reduction!

I've just been feeding it and clipping it throughout the summer, seems pretty happy. I might pick up another one soon.
 

just.wing.it

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I also got one of these earlier in the year same variety as well. I'd bought about 20 of them for a landscaping job where I mass planted them with Hebe 'heartbreaker' and had one left over.
I did much the same - hacked about 90% off the root mass from the nursery container and then clipped it right back into a rough shape but didn't go in too hard on the top. Lightly wired a few branches to get a more rounded shape and then left it to see how it recovered. I know they're pretty tough and vigorous growing in the ground but wasn't expecting it to bounce back so fast with the amount of root reduction!

I've just been feeding it and clipping it throughout the summer, seems pretty happy. I might pick up another one soon.
Cool, yeah...honestly I can't remember how many times I actually pruned them this year...I looked at them today while fertilizing and noticed they're filled in again...Think I'll leave them alone for the rest of the year...
 

just.wing.it

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Update pics....in the nude....
Unfortunately I didn't get any fall colors this year...it happened too quickly or something....
I'm curious to see how much dieback I get.
They're in the garage now, but those twigs are hair like.... we'll see.
(Pics out of order, sorry... weird issue with crappy phone.)
KIMG1639.JPGKIMG1638.JPGKIMG1637.JPGKIMG1636.JPGKIMG1640.JPGKIMG1635.JPG
KIMG1639.JPGKIMG1638.JPGKIMG1637.JPGKIMG1636.JPGKIMG1640.JPGKIMG1635.JPG
 

Mike Hennigan

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I put mine in a pretty small pot this past spring, and this years grow was about as thick as what you’ve got there. I’m thinking it will take me a million years to get any decent tapered branching. debating whether I should pot it in a larger development pot for a while to work on groowing better primary branches.
 

just.wing.it

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I put mine in a pretty small pot this past spring, and this years grow was about as thick as what you’ve got there. I’m thinking it will take me a million years to get any decent tapered branching. debating whether I should pot it in a larger development pot for a while to work on groowing better primary branches.
Certainly worth consideration...
I was thinking that next year, instead of frequent trimming, I'll let it run for a while and see what it looks like.
 

Mike Hennigan

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I let mine run all summer, it was repotted in the spring with substantial root reduction and the pot is tiny relative to the tree size. So even though I let it ran, and fertilized, i couldn’t get any real amount of thickening. Yours are more spacious pots relative
To the size of the tree so that may work for what you’ve got there.
 

just.wing.it

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I let mine run all summer, it was repotted in the spring with substantial root reduction and the pot is tiny relative to the tree size. So even though I let it ran, and fertilized, i couldn’t get any real amount of thickening. Yours are more spacious pots relative
To the size of the tree so that may work for what you’ve got there.
Yeah, my pots are big for the trees.
Hmmm, that's interesting...
 

Mike Hennigan

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Yeah, my pots are big for the trees.
Hmmm, that's interesting...

Yea, I suppose the same principle as leaf and internode reduction being achieved by potting in a small pot. If the roots are restricted, the shoot growth will be restricted.
 

Mike Hennigan

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I'm surprised, and quite pleased with the shortness of the internodes. I even got flowers on these this year within a decent silhouette.
Nice man! I’ll post a pic of mine this week, it’s looking super dope this season! Been aggressively pinching/hedge pruning to a silhouette more or less. It’s super dense and the leaves have reduced really nice.
 

Hartinez

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I'm surprised, and quite pleased with the shortness of the internodes. I even got flowers on these this year within a decent silhouette.
Any die back as you suspected over the winter?
I bought two in the spring. Planted one in the garden for later and potted up the other. I’ll post pics. They are a high desert variety as the leaves are shaped quite different.
 

just.wing.it

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Any die back as you suspected over the winter?
I bought two in the spring. Planted one in the garden for later and potted up the other. I’ll post pics. They are a high desert variety as the leaves are shaped quite different.
Yes there was some die back.
But the larger primaries hung in there.

With ones this small, they basically grow a whole new canopy each year.

They're aggressive, and can get dense fast.
I've thinned these once this year so far.
They'll probably get another haircut before the end of summer, if they shoot out again.
 
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