Why I love the Primo arborvitae

[Frozentreehugger]

All very good points,,, thanks for you time evaluating my tree. So the reason I potted the tree in the strainer was to basically to reduce the root ball. I've been playing around with the idea of making a forest composition or a mini landscape, something off the beaten path kinda thing.. but I don't have much room for another forest right now ,,so in the mean time I'm just training all my material for a future shallow pot. I say landscape because all the trees look different and a forest composition with 7 to 11 trees looking like stand alone trees wouldn't work conveniently. The possibility of buying new material that I style to look more Communal isn't out the question either tho. As far as where I want to take this newest tree I styled up,,I want it to look as convincing as possible to a real deciduous tree from say 50 to 25 yards away. I think this cultivar looks very much like a deciduous tree from a distance if styled correctly. The triple trunk feature would be nice if it did Mirror the main trunk more but I think it could still work if i can get it to look more like Individual trees stuck to the Dominant trunk..I do think I can pull it off convincingly with more time and growth developing. I tend to only style trees to look like a "bonsai "in the sense of first branch 1/4th the hight ,,second branch to the opposite and back branch next when the tree is screaming to be designed in that manner..

For my taste I feel there are way to many low quality forests. I think you have the right idea . Assemble a forest out of trees . That gave been trained independent of each other . Also I think in the long run . It will be faster . At least to a quality finished product . Your tree would do very nicely as a forest edge specimen. Where the smaller trunk was reaching for light . Myself I don’t have a forest . But I’m drawn to the more radical . Or at least less sedate .

 

[MMJNICE]

I think it looks great. I like how you've left the smaller twin trunk on it, the jin at the bottom, and haven't pruned it excessively.

I've also been considering creating a small Primo forest.

I do find that if you prune too much Foliage, say like 8/10ths or a little more then 2/3 you will get branch die back and you seriously slow the tree down from growing this season and the next. The two trees I pruned too heavily this winter and last summer are struggling to put on healthy growth this growing season. I think one tree is about to lose its lowest branch just for that reason. And thanks for you reply to this thread and your Input.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

How much sun do you guys grow your primo in . Mine is a larger nursery stock not repotted yet . When brought out of winter storage , experienced some interior die back . But it is heavily foliaged . I’m thinking I need to grow it in full sun . Normally I grow my arborvitae in less sun . But the foliage is so thick on the big primo

 

[Eckhoffw]

I have one of these as well, and you neglected to mention their best characteristic: the smell of the foliage! To me, they invoke the look of hinoki, but with some characteristics that could make them much easier to work.

I did a terrible job styling this one and luckily the top is starting to bounce back. I have thought about giving it away a few times, but each time I get a good smell of it, I remind myself to keep it.

Have you attempted a layer of one? I left most of the top to be layered off. I expect it should take quite well, as you mention they take from cuttings, and I observed that the dense interior with mushy black die back had spots throwing out roots. I think this density may actually make it challenging to start with a larger one like I have here, as it meant there was very littler interior foliage. See image below, which was already after removing all the low basal branches!
View attachment 540321

Love these!
After my trip to Monterey CA, I’ve been looking to get a Monterey Cypress. These may be a nice alternative!

 

[bbright]

How much sun do you guys grow your primo in . Mine is a larger nursery stock not repotted yet . When brought out of winter storage , experienced some interior die back . But it is heavily foliaged . I’m thinking I need to grow it in full sun . Normally I grow my arborvitae in less sun . But the foliage is so thick on the big primo

Mine gets about 5 hours of direct sun per day. I put shade cloth above it and most of my trees when it gets above 90 deg F.

 

[MMJNICE]

For my taste I feel there are way to many low quality forests. I think you have the right idea . Assemble a forest out of trees . That gave been trained independent of each other . Also I think in the long run . It will be faster . At least to a quality finished product . Your tree would do very nicely as a forest edge specimen. Where the smaller trunk was reaching for light . Myself I don’t have a forest . But I’m drawn to the more radical . Or at least less sedate .

That's, kinda what I was thinking When styling the tree .,, that is,,, that this new primo would be one of the Dominant trees on edge of the forest and a group of smaller narrow trees to the right of it.. with all the trees progressing smaller as Is visual mass of the forest moves to the right or it could just be used in a landscape planting.. I was thinking of doing something with a little scale model house somewhere in a wooded location,, my girlfriend challenged me to do something like that off something she saw on Facebook I think.

 

[MMJNICE]

How much sun do you guys grow your primo in . Mine is a larger nursery stock not repotted yet . When brought out of winter storage , experienced some interior die back . But it is heavily foliaged . I’m thinking I need to grow it in full sun . Normally I grow my arborvitae in less sun . But the foliage is so thick on the big primo

My dorf thuja gets about 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. It could definitely take full direct sunlight for the whole day without question unless but depending on your location I would play it safe and keep it out of sunlight during the hottest times of day

 

[IllinoisLee]

I recently purchased this Primo Arborvitae at the Midwest Bonsai Society show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Living in Northern Illinois I am concerned about over wintering this beautiful bonsai. Especially considering it is planted in a porous rock. Anyone have suggestions?

 

[bbright]

I recently purchased this Primo Arborvitae at the Midwest Bonsai Society show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Living in Northern Illinois I am concerned about over wintering this beautiful bonsai. Especially considering it is planted in a porous rock. Anyone have suggestions?

I live in a similar climate to you (USDA Zone 6) and my rule is to not let my trees in pots drop below 15 deg F (I got this temperature online somewhere, probably on BonsaiNut). For trees in smaller plots, I raise this threshold to 20 deg F. When temperatures get this low, I move my potted trees into my garage, which hovers around 32 deg F when outside temps get down to 15 deg F. When outside temperatures raise back to >20 deg F, I put the trees back outside. I don't leave trees in my garage for too long so 1) the trees don't wake up too early due to being in a warm garage and 2) evergreen conifers get light during the winter, although I don't know how important it is that conifers get light when temperatures are below freezing. To my understanding they are quite dormant when temperatures are below freezing (I think about how small/young evergreen conifers spend months underneath snow cover).

As for your situation with roots that are quite exposed to outside air temperatures, I wouldn't let this go below 20 deg F, and maybe you want to be more careful and raise that threshold to 25 deg F (20 and 25 deg F are just arbitrary temp. thresholds that I've just made up, BTW). But I wouldn't worry too much about temperatures that are several degrees F below freezing, considering the species it should be fine with some freezing, even on a rock.

Another option is to bury the rock/roots in some mulch outside before the ground freezes. The tops of these thuja will be fine in sub 15 deg F, it's just the roots that might need insolating. One possible drawback to this approach might be that you wouldn't want the rock to get covered in grime. And I'm not sure about animals gnawing on thuja during the winter.

One thing you definitely want to avoid is keeping this too warm in the winter, and not letting it go dormant.

 

[Frozentreehugger]

I live in a similar climate to you (USDA Zone 6) and my rule is to not let my trees in pots drop below 15 deg F (I got this temperature online somewhere, probably on BonsaiNut). For trees in smaller plots, I raise this threshold to 20 deg F. When temperatures get this low, I move my potted trees into my garage, which hovers around 32 deg F when outside temps get down to 15 deg F. When outside temperatures raise back to >20 deg F, I put the trees back outside. I don't leave trees in my garage for too long so 1) the trees don't wake up too early due to being in a warm garage and 2) evergreen conifers get light during the winter, although I don't know how important it is that conifers get light when temperatures are below freezing. To my understanding they are quite dormant when temperatures are below freezing (I think about how small/young evergreen conifers spend months underneath snow cover).

As for your situation with roots that are quite exposed to outside air temperatures, I wouldn't let this go below 20 deg F, and maybe you want to be more careful and raise that threshold to 25 deg F (20 and 25 deg F are just arbitrary temp. thresholds that I've just made up, BTW). But I wouldn't worry too much about temperatures that are several degrees F below freezing, considering the species it should be fine with some freezing, even on a rock.

Another option is to bury the rock/roots in some mulch outside before the ground freezes. The tops of these thuja will be fine in sub 15 deg F, it's just the roots that might need insolating. One possible drawback to this approach might be that you wouldn't want the rock to get covered in grime. And I'm not sure about animals gnawing on thuja during the winter.

One thing you definitely want to avoid is keeping this too warm in the winter, and not letting

I recently purchased this Primo Arborvitae at the Midwest Bonsai Society show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Living in Northern Illinois I am concerned about over wintering this beautiful bonsai. Especially considering it is planted in a porous rock. Anyone have suggestions?

@bbright gave you great advice I love zone 4 . All my cold hardy trees are overwintered in a un heated garage . Primo at end of the day should not be less hardy than other arborvitae. It is correct that cold hardiness is very dependent on root mass size . But I would not be to worried in your climate. Only warning I have. Is all conifers need protection from drying wind when roots are frozen. This is more critical than actual temp hence why mine go in the dark in a garage . The wind protection is more critical than light

 

[Frozentreehugger]

I recently purchased this Primo Arborvitae at the Midwest Bonsai Society show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Living in Northern Illinois I am concerned about over wintering this beautiful bonsai. Especially considering it is planted in a porous rock. Anyone have suggestions?

The winter aside . I would caution you about the summer in your climate . Arborvitae. Are water loving trees . On a porous rock . In hot sun do not allow that tree to get to dry . Compared to other bonsai . They can stay fairly wet . In heat of summer it’s next to impossible to water one to much , they can be moved to sone shade . If need be . ( a lot of refined arborvitae are grown in semi shade to slow them down ) there tough trees . Can withstand harsh conditions in nature . But drying out in summer is easy death in a pot . Misting can help . Bottom line they love moisture.

 

[IllinoisLee]

The winter aside . I would caution you about the summer in your climate . Arborvitae. Are water loving trees . On a porous rock . In hot sun do not allow that tree to get to dry . Compared to other bonsai . They can stay fairly wet . In heat of summer it’s next to impossible to water one to much , they can be moved to sone shade . If need be . ( a lot of refined arborvitae are grown in semi shade to slow them down ) there tough trees . Can withstand harsh conditions in nature . But drying out in summer is easy death in a pot . Misting can help . Bottom line they love moisture.

Thanks for the heads up. Fortunately it gets sun until about 2pm, then shade. I water daily but I didn't want to over water either. I'll water daily during the summer.

 

[IllinoisLee]

I live in a similar climate to you (USDA Zone 6) and my rule is to not let my trees in pots drop below 15 deg F (I got this temperature online somewhere, probably on BonsaiNut). For trees in smaller plots, I raise this threshold to 20 deg F. When temperatures get this low, I move my potted trees into my garage, which hovers around 32 deg F when outside temps get down to 15 deg F. When outside temperatures raise back to >20 deg F, I put the trees back outside. I don't leave trees in my garage for too long so 1) the trees don't wake up too early due to being in a warm garage and 2) evergreen conifers get light during the winter, although I don't know how important it is that conifers get light when temperatures are below freezing. To my understanding they are quite dormant when temperatures are below freezing (I think about how small/young evergreen conifers spend months underneath snow cover).

As for your situation with roots that are quite exposed to outside air temperatures, I wouldn't let this go below 20 deg F, and maybe you want to be more careful and raise that threshold to 25 deg F (20 and 25 deg F are just arbitrary temp. thresholds that I've just made up, BTW). But I wouldn't worry too much about temperatures that are several degrees F below freezing, considering the species it should be fine with some freezing, even on a rock.

Another option is to bury the rock/roots in some mulch outside before the ground freezes. The tops of these thuja will be fine in sub 15 deg F, it's just the roots that might need insolating. One possible drawback to this approach might be that you wouldn't want the rock to get covered in grime. And I'm not sure about animals gnawing on thuja during the winter.

One thing you definitely want to avoid is keeping this too warm in the winter, and not letting it go dormant.

Thanks for the info, very helpful.

 

[MMJNICE]

Have you been successful with hardwood cuttings? most of the ones I find at nurseries have many branches right at the base that are hard to use in a larger design. I wonder if those could take as cuttings.

Yup hard wood cuttings work with decent Success say one and 4 should root, or something like that if you do all the little tricks with cuttings

 

[MMJNICE]

I recently purchased this Primo Arborvitae at the Midwest Bonsai Society show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Living in Northern Illinois I am concerned about over wintering this beautiful bonsai. Especially considering it is planted in a porous rock. Anyone have suggestions?

I don't see any problems with over wintering primos at all,,they are tough little monkeys.. I would be more worried about water freezing in the little cavities in the rock splitting it then if the thuja primo arborvitae getting frozen solid. My cutting stayed out for 2 winters in a row on concrete porch frozen Multiple times and still kicking. Whatever you do for your other trees will be fine for the primos.

 

[MMJNICE]

I recently purchased this Primo Arborvitae at the Midwest Bonsai Society show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Living in Northern Illinois I am concerned about over wintering this beautiful bonsai. Especially considering it is planted in a porous rock. Anyone have suggestions?

And those look like some old cuttings someone took from a larger nursery stock primo.. the length of the tops Seems long compared to the width of the trees is why I would think that. Did they give you any history about the planting? I'm just curious. Btw very nice looking composition.. I was wondering if anyone had a landscape planting because they lend themselves well to that concept.

 

[IllinoisLee]

And those look like some old cuttings someone took from a larger nursery stock primo.. the length of the tops Seems long compared to the width of the trees is why I would think that. Did they give you any history about the planting? I'm just curious. Btw very nice looking composition.. I was wondering if anyone had a landscape planting because they lend themselves well to that concept.

I have no history of the plant other than purchasing it from a reputable seller. It's doing well in our deck and I water it daily.

 

[MMJNICE]

I have no history of the plant other than purchasing it from a reputable seller. It's doing well in our deck and I water it daily.

Good to hear that. Are you going to do some pruning up or update the styling on the tree's or are you completely happy with how they are right now? As noted before if you take more the 2/3 of the Foliage mass they tend to really slow down and sometimes lose branches. At least from my experience.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Do you know if reducing the number of pieces of foliage from the primary branch will produce maturing of the remaining foliage to turn them into secondary branches? I know that works for junipers (rather than letting them run and choose secondaries on their own). Can the same concept apply here?

 

[IllinoisLee]

Good to hear that. Are you going to do some pruning up or update the styling on the tree's or are you completely happy with how they are right now? As noted before if you take more the 2/3 of the Foliage mass they tend to really slow down and sometimes lose branches. At least from my experience.

I think I like the size that it is and will only do some trimming as the top grows to maintain it's current appearance.