The Big Belly Hornbeam

[BobbyLane]

Carpinus Betulus/European Hornbeam from tree nursery material...Picked up march 2018

This one has a very good base, great taper. with this material i didnt want to overdo the deadwood. the deadwood was necessary because there was a big chop made in the apex of the tree. rather than leaving a chop that would never heal, the trunk has the appearance of splitting into two sub trunks, but from some views appears more sumo ish. so the top is hollow, quite a natural occurrence in nature...

20180226_133318 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180226_135747 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180226_142056 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the sub trunk on the left was too long and obscuring the main trunk, rather than chop and leave an abrupt change of thickness i decided to saw cut by about half and then simply ripping it downwards to create the effect of a massive heavy branch falling away from sheer weight, a regular occurrence in nature i think it works. this gives me a naturally textured shari that could even be hollowed in time...
20180227_114007 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20180304_125429 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr


it has a big belly
20180306_114810 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr


credible from a few angles
20180308_131338 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20180308_131309 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

no gaping wounds, no scars, just a naturally occurring hollow that you could see in nature
20180308_131226 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

its a powerful tree, the basic branch structure is in place and all it needs is ramifying
20180304_202718 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180323_134423 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr



20180323_134340 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[BobbyLane]

its been constantly pruned in the crown to one or two leaves, and adventitious buds constantly rubbed out, but the lower branches were left to extend and were over ft n half until the tree was recently pruned
20180706_170645 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

20180706_170625 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr


Over the summer, the left sub trunk was hollowed out
update
36698403_1789410907790609_4669742139339440128_n by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
37363186_1806642652734101_5005109721435209728_n by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[BobbyLane]

Few days after the above images

tree has responded well, again, removal of overly large leaves in the crown and shoots growing from crotches, focus is on the lower shoots and lower branch taper....

this is the back of the tree, you can already see the taper and movement ive achieved in that back branch in the centre, this will obscure the upper main trunk and contribute to the 'broom' image, with just a powerful base being visible through foliage and branch mass, as this is how the tree would of grew in the wild..
20180729_160055 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

branch taper now forming
20180729_155900 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

ive just pruned the shoots in the top left of image, this so the lowest shoots remain vigorous and strong, the key is balancing vigour and not letting the tree get away from you, im in full control. its all been clip and grow so far, these shoots are producing their movement....im going to try and develop this tree primarily with clip n grow

20180729_155847 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20180729_160110 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

close up of deadwood
2018-05-16_02-19-23 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[MrWunderful]

Looks great, love the trunk shape. I have a few korean hornbeam, but this makes me want to find a european.

 

[BobbyLane]

Some progress....

I decided to remove the left sub trunk,
20181127_085037 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

which now gives a better view of the tapering trunk and the strong, well structured left branch
20181128_084340 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

the resulting wound made into a feature which will delight many
20181128_143059 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr


20181128_144838 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2018-11-30_03-45-47 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[BobbyLane]

IMG_7340 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7350 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7348 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7354 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_7355 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[BobbyLane]

 

[coh]

I was getting attached to that left trunk and then you go and remove it! I should have known that would happen

Another powerful tree, looking forward to seeing you develop it into a true monster!

 

[BobbyLane]

Cheers mate, yeh i kept finding myself having to look around that left subtrunk for a more interesting view of the trunk and i knew the left branch could take its place.

next plan of action is to let canopy/crown expand quite considerably
IMG_7340 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

and possibly a suitable unglazed pot

 

[Cadillactaste]

Bobby...you always create such amazing pieces. Will look forward to seeing where you take this. Your vision is inspiring...when I look at your threads of further developed trees.

 

[Bonsaicarpenter]

You did an awesome job with this. I’ve really been enjoying your updates lately. You definitely have a recognizable style. Sometimes I open a thread without seeing the name on it and I know it’s yours right away.

 

[BobbyLane]

Bobby...you always create such amazing pieces. Will look forward to seeing where you take this. Your vision is inspiring...when I look at your threads of further developed trees.

You did an awesome job with this. I’ve really been enjoying your updates lately. You definitely have a recognizable style. Sometimes I open a thread without seeing the name on it and I know it’s yours right away.

Thank you both, this has been a really fun tree to develop thus far. its really just a matter of building ramification now with this one because, those two lower primary branches are as good as it gets in terms of branch taper, girth, structure, movement and they really set the tone for the rest of the tree. that right branch is more of a sub trunk even, which breaks off into various secondary shoots. thats what you want really when beginning the basic structure of a tree.
in the first phase i always like to get the lower branches very strong, something you will notice on all my trees. everything else is just a matter of letting grow and clipping back and branch development and girth will gradually improve quickly throughout the rest of the tree on vigorous deciduous species.

and funnily enough, this one has turned out to be more 'sumo' like than the stumpy beech in another thread. its true when they say 'let the tree decide' because this one was screaming out to be styled with a heavily tapered trunk from the start.
they say that the sumo style is more of a caricature image in bonsai, i agree to some extent. but you will also find trees in nature showing strong sumo like elements and thats where the inspiration comes from for me most of the time

couple of sumo like oaks displaying powerful heavily tapered trunks, a beech even

 

[just.wing.it]

Awesome tree Bobby!
I love how you always find pics of similar looking specimens.

 

[barrosinc]

Cool! I think you are on a very good direction.
What size is the airpot??
I love the roots of the trees you can buy at nurseries!

 

[Driftwood]

Why to change the airport type for a traditional plastic pot?

 

[BobbyLane]

root reduction in stages, next step will be a suitable bonsai pot.

 

[Driftwood]

root reduction in stages, next step will be a suitable bonsai pot.

I see! I thought an air pot (small one) would develop the branches quicker before moving to smaller post for refining.
Do trees in air pots grow faster?

 

[Driftwood]

Can't help to notice some similarity to Picasso Minotaurs. it will be not a bad name for this tree

 

[BobbyLane]

I see! I thought an air pot (small one) would develop the branches quicker before moving to smaller post for refining.
Do trees in air pots grow faster?

branches will ramify just as quick in a training pot.
i dont use airpots, so can't advise you there, although this trees root system seems to have benefited greatly from being in an airpot while it was in the nursery. but it would of started life growing in the ground. from what im told, these hornbeams were in airpots for 4 years.

 

[BobbyLane]

so, what can we take from this image?
2018-12-17_02-29-01 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

well, we can see very clearly, indicated by the green arrows, that this tree has very well developed and structured primary branches, the three lower ones marked in green, are already of a suitable girth for the material and dont look out of place.
and what else do we know, well we know that the branches marked in blue, are apical branches, we also know by now, that most deciduous species are apically dominant.....so therefore we know that these branches marked in blue will develop very quickly, bearing in mind that the tree also has a strong root system. these are aspects that we take into account when downsizing pots.