Zelkova Broom in the Making

lieuz

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A few years ago I purchased a stick of a Zelkova for training into a shohin broom. I had pruned it down to a bar branch and left it undisturbed to let it thicken. Every now and then I'd pruned it back a few times. The nebari is not good so I used this opportunity to ground layer and further develop the branching simultaneously.

2019
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lieuz

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In 2021, I decided to attempt to girdle it so I can create a flared base and follow up with a ground layer. It looks to have reacted quite well and the bulge was significant.

Summer of 2022. I heavily fertilized this Zelkova and it responded well. Dug around a bit to see the bottom roots and confirmed it was garbage. I had planned to perform a ground layer in spring of 2023.
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Winter of 2022.
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lieuz

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This spring, I whittled away what I could. At the point where the flare starts going downward, I'm going to aim to cap the top of the air layer there.

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This is still not enough, the final will be slightly higher than this point.
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Clonex was applied and a wire tourniquet was also applied to serve as a barrier. My experience have been other than tridents, zelkovas were the next species that love to bridge.
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Finished it off with a duct tape barrier to hold back soil. Topped it off with some sphagnum for moisture retention. Will see where this takes us.
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Shibui

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In 2021, I decided to attempt to girdle it so I can create a flared base and follow up with a ground layer. It looks to have reacted quite well and the bulge was significant.

Summer of 2022. I heavily fertilized this Zelkova and it responded well. Dug around a bit to see the bottom roots and confirmed it was garbage. I had planned to perform a ground layer in spring of 2023.
Is there a reason for not covering the original wire girdle with soil? Normally I would put the wire on and bury that area. As the trunk swells it also puts out roots just above the wire. If you had done that then, you would probably already have the new root system well established.
 

lieuz

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Is there a reason for not covering the original wire girdle with soil? Normally I would put the wire on and bury that area. As the trunk swells it also puts out roots just above the wire. If you had done that then, you would probably already have the new root system well established.
I probably should have, but I don't usually girdle to get the swelling first and wanted to see how it responded.
 

Shibui

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No problem. In my experience the wire girdle does both - swells the trunk and produces roots at the same time. In addition I get further trunk swelling as the new lateral roots develop.
 

lieuz

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No problem. In my experience the wire girdle does both - swells the trunk and produces roots at the same time. In addition I get further trunk swelling as the new lateral roots develop.
That's good to know, thank you! I'll update as this progresses.
 

lieuz

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No problem. In my experience the wire girdle does both - swells the trunk and produces roots at the same time. In addition I get further trunk swelling as the new lateral roots develop.
I have an update. You're definitely right about girdling and burying. I felt I wasted time looking back now; however, the results are interesting. Girdling first then air layering proved the bulge will flatten out on my case. I wonder if it girdled and ground layer, would it have done the same.
3/23
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3/24
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Nybonsai12

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Where did you acquire this one?
 

lieuz

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Where did you acquire this one?
I bought it as a small whip that had a fairly even branch on either side fairly low on the trunkline. I chopped it down to that branch split and just let it grow in that container for a few years (2020).
 

Nybonsai12

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I bought it as a small whip that had a fairly even branch on either side fairly low on the trunkline. I chopped it down to that branch split and just let it grow in that container for a few years (2020).

Only reason i asked is I sold a few dozen of these on FB a few years back and the plastic pot looked similar to what i was using so i was curious if it was one of mine lol
 
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