Styling a collected Crepe Myrtle

Xanthe93

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hi, I'm quite new to bonsai but i read enough to know collecting trees is usually a good starting point so i went and collected a 10yr old crepe myrtle (it was there when we moved into the house so its probably even older) It has several old 'stumps' where my mother has repeatedly cut it down as it was in a very inconvenient spot so i had her permission to dig it up.

The problem was that the majority of the tree was underground and so the roots are quite thick and twisted around as it was growing in very heavy clay soils. Is it worth trying to bonsai this monster and what can i do to the roots to put it in a bonsai pot? It is only just coming out of dormancy now (still winter in australia) It has some green/white fungus starting to form in the old stumps - any way to kill it?

i drew a concept of what i wanted the tree to look like but haven't seen any bonsai that have the stumps like that. Also do crepe myrtle branches fuse because the spindly branches on it atm don't look very good lol
thanks in advance!

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag52/xantheunwinart/bonsai2_zpsf716496f.jpg
http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag52/xantheunwinart/cm2_zps78a40c1e.jpg
http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag52/xantheunwinart/cm1_zps135877a2.jpg
http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag52/xantheunwinart/cm3_zps3308cd86.jpg
 

will0911

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id say put more soil over all the roots. Is this your first tree? crape myrtles are relatively easy to care for and it should be fine as long as you add soil to cover the rest of those exposed roots. it has potential but right now it is about survival. what soil is it in btw?
 

Xanthe93

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i took some soil away from the roots just to show them :D it is in bonsai potting mix that i got from bunnings, its has been in the pot for about 4 months now so has survived the initial stress of being dug out - it is about my 5th bonsai, the others are 2 cotoneasters and 1 ficus benjamina and a juniper; this one is different being so old and collected.

should i gradually lift it higher out of the pot and trim away the roots to form knots in the trunk or just find a deep bonsai pot and cover as many of them as possible? thanks for the quick reply
 

october

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i took some soil away from the roots just to show them :D it is in bonsai potting mix that i got from bunnings, its has been in the pot for about 4 months now so has survived the initial stress of being dug out - it is about my 5th bonsai, the others are 2 cotoneasters and 1 ficus benjamina and a juniper; this one is different being so old and collected.

should i gradually lift it higher out of the pot and trim away the roots to form knots in the trunk or just find a deep bonsai pot and cover as many of them as possible? thanks for the quick reply

It looks like it has potential. However, if it has only been in this pot/collected for 4 months, you should not do anything to it. Collected trees need 2-3 years of rest before you can safely do any work on them. I would not have dug away the soil to show the roots. 4 months of survival is a great start. However, the second obstacle is winter. If it survives until next Spring, you are probably in the clear. Basically if you want this tree to survive, you should leave it alone for at least another 1 to 1 1/2 more years.

Rob
 

tmmason10

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id say put more soil over all the roots. Is this your first tree? crape myrtles are relatively easy to care for and it should be fine as long as you add soil to cover the rest of those exposed roots. it has potential but right now it is about survival. what soil is it in btw?
Will, we haven't seen you post in quite a while. How have your projects been doing? If I remember correctly, you had some nice collected material you were working with.
 

Xanthe93

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thanks for all the replies, didn't expect it this quick - shall go and cover it back up then :D
 

will0911

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on to bigger and better things

...sad to say i have been through quite alot. Personal issues and a move to alabama and back has left me with empty benches and a fresh new collection...all the trees i had posted before are no longer alive but i have gotten back into the game and have some things i will be posting soon hopefully...some nice collected privet, blueberry, wisteria, youpon holly, some air layers off of pear and apple, a few nursery stock plants and i do actually have one crape myrtle that i still had that never got potted into anything. it is still in the original nursery can....ooops...it is gonna be a fantastic tree though...anyways sorry for the long life story on your thread. It is great to be back and a little active on these forums. Thanks for asking though.
 

marcosolo

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...sad to say i have been through quite alot. Personal issues and a move to alabama and back has left me with empty benches and a fresh new collection...all the trees i had posted before are no longer alive but i have gotten back into the game and have some things i will be posting soon hopefully...some nice collected privet, blueberry, wisteria, youpon holly, some air layers off of pear and apple, a few nursery stock plants and i do actually have one crape myrtle that i still had that never got potted into anything. it is still in the original nursery can....ooops...it is gonna be a fantastic tree though...anyways sorry for the long life story on your thread. It is great to be back and a little active on these forums. Thanks for asking though.


Don't feel too bad man, I was out for nearly three years, letting deep depression kill off 5 years of work,and just got back in this spring......late spring.....so I have nothing to do but play with things in the ground and the few frankensteins I decided to chance it with.....Better late then never though...

To original poster:
I like the illustration you posted, and if you can get THAT to look anything like it, kudos to you....But as far as post-collection advice

DONT EVEN LOOK AT THE TREE!!!!!.....Just water sparingly (wet to dry) and get more trees....

I've found the best remedy for continual and chronic arboreal homicide is more trees.....
 

will0911

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Don't feel too bad man, I was out for nearly three years, letting deep depression kill off 5 years of work,and just got back in this spring......late spring.....so I have nothing to do but play with things in the ground and the few frankensteins I decided to chance it with.....Better late then never though...

To original poster:
I like the illustration you posted, and if you can get THAT to look anything like it, kudos to you....But as far as post-collection advice

DONT EVEN LOOK AT THE TREE!!!!!.....Just water sparingly (wet to dry) and get more trees....

I've found the best remedy for continual and chronic arboreal homicide is more trees.....

Thank you for sharing that with me. I went through a divorce and of course drama that came with it but everything is good now! bonsai is a very good therapy for me and im glad im able to start back.
 

marcosolo

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Also, to original poster, tree branches normally get thicker through nutrient allocation due to foliar density, (see Im smart...lol)....More leaves, More Thick......Fusion isn't really the conventional means of increasing the diameter of branches..I've seen a few attempts with varied results, but yes Crape Myrtles have an affinity for tissue fusing upon contact...So technically you could do it, but you might not want to....Just sayin......
 

Eric Group

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Yeah, the people advising you to leave it alone are probably giving the best advice... I know that is kind of hard to do sometimes... You need to let it grow for a year or so, see where the new shoots are popping out, find out which branches are living, then try to style it and worry about repotting once you know the tree is 100% healthy. I have a couple crepe Myrtles that have been through some trauma and they can really take years to get back to normal! One of mine was chewed up by a dog while I was living with a previous roommate and I swear it didn't seem to get back to 100% health until now and this is about 5-6 years later! I had to repot it again and it finally seems happy now... The collected ones can run into troubles with fungus and mildew attacks, so you want to watch for that! Many of the older ones are not varieties that are disease resistant like the newer varieties are... This looks like an older one so watch out for powdery mildew! It can really stunt the growth and cause branches to die off sometimes.

I recommend it for just about everything except caterpillars on vegetables, but Neem Oil is a good control for mildew and many insects. It is considered an organic alternative to harsh chemicals and I have seen it really work wonders on all kinds of issues! If you are going to grow Crepe Myrtles, I recommend getting some sort of multipurpose mildew and pest control like this...
 
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