What would you do (Amur pre-bonsai)

[karen82]

I've been growing out some small Amurs in the ground for about 2 growing seasons now. I don't think they are ready to put in a pot yet but I want to get them going in the right direction and would just appreciate any ideas on what do with them.

This one's the best of the 3 though that's not saying much. A little over an inch diameter at the ground. The side pictured is not necessarily the planned front but it was just the side that was most accessible for photos and matched the angle of the original photo - I know that scar is ugly but seems to be healing, slowly. Probably needs the callous trimmed, but it's too awkward to get at while it's in the ground.

As purchased (fall 2018):


Today:

I consider the large side branches on the sides to be sacrifices, as well as that eye poker (if this will be the front). But I'm not sure of when I should remove them. I would like the trunk to thicken up some more, and want to heal that scar. It also needs rootwork done and I'm thinking that's best to do when I cut off those side branches but is it best to wait another year since I want it to thicken?

 

[sorce]

Your new growth almost outpaced your old growth, so I'd go hard and make sure nothing else grows but these 3 twigs.



Sorce

 

[luvinthemountains]

I love funky projects like this. If you want a fairly small tree then @sorce's suggestion is good. But if you are picturing a lot bigger tree then keep growing! It would be helpful to cut down to one trunk line at this point, cut everything else off, and grow from the chosen "top". If I were you, I might be tempted to choose the line of the left subtrunk in your second picture, just for some nice movement from the base of your future tree.

The callous looks fine to me, although it might be worse in person. If you do grow this out to two or three times the current girth, that should mostly be swallowed up by the new wood. My one suggestion for you, though, would be to dig the tree up every couple of years at the longest and work on the roots.

 

[sorce]

If you want a fairly small tree

This would be my move for a larger tree as well.

Utilizing the lowest of the 3 branches to keep increasing taper.
The roots should swell the base so the existing taper won't be lost.

If it gets lost, start a new branch from the low nodes, from a place YOU choose, to keep lowest taper segment. Each of those cut branches can throw a bud on either side of the removal, which leaves 6 possible positions for a new low branch that can be trained as required. Meaning for sac or a first branch.

Something about sacs all around the base makes me wary, too many future holes that MUST come for me. I'd keep one tops, unless going for a clump.
But the node spacing on those "suckers" kinda blows.

The is a gangster little piece full of potential.

Sorce

 

[luvinthemountains]

node spacing

Fair point. I saw that as well, but this low on the eventual height of a larger tree it may not matter that much. But yeah, the other plan would probably work well. I was looking on my phone before and could not see the buds on those twigs, so I didn't know if they were viable.

Bottom line, now @karen82 has a couple of ideas. But until somebody weighs the options with a 360deg 3D view of the tree, who knows?

I agree on the potential.

 

[0soyoung]

I think you have a good beginning point for creating a sumo. Hence, I would be cutting it back to visible buds. With some luck it might pop buds from all of those low branch collars - then let it grow, harden, cut back. Etc. Don't worry about leaf size, it will reduce and stay small once it is in a small pot. Internodes will be easier to manage than, as well. The point for now is to generate that tapering fat little trunk.

This, is what I would do.

 

[Gaitano]

I just dug up several that I put in the ground in ‘15/16. The roots run crazy and grow large and thick. It’s good to do some root work now and stay ahead of the game. One I dug this year looked similar to yours several years ago with the low side branches. I chopped to one and the chop sites healed well. I failed to dig and address the roots on these. You can see the healed chop sites down low. I also planted on a tile.

 

[sorce]

2 years from seed?

Root some more!

Sorce

 

[karen82]

Thanks for the suggestions, I decided to dig it up today, unfortunately the roots are kind of a mess and even after lots of rinsing and soaking and raking, I couldn't make much sense of them (but at least there's some root flare). I left them largely alone except for cutting some large or crossing roots. I probably should've been more aggressive but I didn't want to set the tree back too much. I also dug my Siberian elm practice tree and went a lot harder on its roots so if it does well, at least I can feel more confident about doing root work on my other trees in the future.
The front is definitely with the scar to the front or to the right like these views:


This is what it looks like from the other 2 sides.
Back view


And scar facing left.


As you can see, I only cut the right branch so far since I'm still debating which trunk line looks best and it was getting late.
If I choose the scarred side as front (1st picture) then I could use the middle trunk or the left branch for a continuing trunkline, but if I choose picture 2 for the front, then I think I'd have to remove the left branch.

 

[Gaitano]

Good idea to work the roots. I have a few others in the ground that got root work this spring.