Chinese Tallow Help

[brownegaz]

Hi everyone
I am a new member to this site, I have bought a Chinese tallow to get started.
Can someone please have a look at the photos and give me an opinion on what to do with it, be as brutal as you like.
I was told that at some stage I have to defoliate it which I understand means to pluck all the leaves off it, is this done at the end of summer ?
I have read some posts here about thickening the trunk on plants by planting them in the ground or in larger pots to encourage faster growth should I consider doing this with my chinese tallow, what style of bonsai is best for these trees, informal upright ?

Garys Bonsai 24112010 001.jpg

Garys Bonsai 24112010 002.jpg

Garys Bonsai 24112010 007.jpg

thanks for any assistance
brownegaz

[bodhidharma]

G'day B.G, Informal upright is the style you should choose. I will watch with interest as C.T is prone to dieback and can kill off whole branches for no reason. I do not mean you shouldnt have a go but i wouldnt mind updates on this one

[kcpoole]

Welcome BG
I woud remove the weeds? or moss from around the trunk as I will hold too much moinsture there and can rot the wood if you let it

Keep the branches and foliage in check by Cutting back each shoots to the second set of leaves on each one. This will stop the branches from getting ling and spindly, and develop ticht branchine and foliage.

Defoliating is done During the growing season to reduce the size of leaves and to for a new set of leaves to be grown to reduce the saize of them, and also to give a "fresh Set" that have not been damaged by the summer sun and winds. A fresh set of leaves will look much nicer when they change colour coming in to winter

Ken

[Pup]

Defoliation is used for a number of reasons, the most common to reduce the size of the leaves, the next is to promote ramification. Another is used to thicken certain parts of the tree and branches. It is also used to slow down growth on certain parts of the tree.

For reducing foliage it is done on Boxing day 26th of December.

This has proven to be the best time, it is also recommended in Deborah Koreshoffs book, quoting from experiments done in Russia.

Cheers Pup

[63pmp]

26th December?

Hard to imagine deciduous trees with leaves in Russia at this time of the year.

But if Deborah says so, maybe they do.

Paul

[Pup]

26th December?

Hard to imagine deciduous trees with leaves in Russia at this time of the year.

But if Deborah says so, maybe they do.

Paul

Paul, Northern Hemisphere summer juxtaposed to ours, is 6 months different so theirs would be the middle of there summer 26 of June.

So I read her statement, in the book and that was what it said.
So when we read books from the Northern Hemisphere, we have to allow for that, do we not. Or maybe not.

Cheers Pup

[63pmp]

Pup,

Silly me, of course its out by 6 months up there,


Personally, I thought the only appropriate response to:

"Hard to imagine deciduous trees with leaves in Russia at this time of the year"

Is

ASSS!!!!


Paul

[Ron]

Hi brownegaz,

I'm an admirer of these trees especially in Autumn and I'm wondering how you're going with it.

Cheers,
Ron

[Bretts]

Yep I love Tallow too the ones around town here look so pretty with there delicate leaves anf palleted contrasting bark. My mate pol has a decent one but he also battles this branch die back and it almost looks worse every year. I am keen to try and solve this problem as my thinking is it can be solved.
The trees in the ground do not get this dieback so there is something missing in our pot care. I reckon if that can be found we can solve this issue.
I have not managed to get a decent trunk to experiment with yet but have started wondering if Pol will sell me his. Hmmmm! time to make a call

[Ron]

...I have not managed to get a decent trunk to experiment with yet ...

They certainly don't like wire on the main trunk, Brett. I had minor wire grooves after just four weeks although they seem to fading after removing the wire two week ago.

[Bretts]

Bugger Pol will not sell me his yet so looks like at least another couple of years before I get a decent trunk growing one myself. Will have to look harder for some decent nursery material to try with.
Pol said it is such a pity as they lend themselves to training in every other way. Wire can bite in quite quick on fast growing trees Ron. Even the best of us get caught out occasionally

[Ron]

Bugger Pol will not sell me his yet so looks like at least another couple of years before I get a decent trunk growing one myself. Will have to look harder for some decent nursery material to try with.
Pol said it is such a pity as they lend themselves to training in every other way. Wire can bite in quite quick on fast growing trees Ron. Even the best of us get caught out occasionally

Hate it when people won't sell trees to you that they love!

Interesting that although the wire was only on the trunk and a branch for 4 weeks, they retained the shape after removing it.

[bodhidharma]

Yep I love Tallow too the ones around town here look so pretty with there delicate leaves anf palleted contrasting bark. My mate pol has a decent one but he also battles this branch die back and it almost looks worse every year. I am keen to try and solve this problem as my thinking is it can be solved.
The trees in the ground do not get this dieback so there is something missing in our pot care. I reckon if that can be found we can solve this issue.
I have not managed to get a decent trunk to experiment with yet but have started wondering if Pol will sell me his. Hmmmm! time to make a call

I have one in the ground and it suffers branch dieback. It throws a new one at the base but i have to say that this year it has never looked better.

[Ron]

.... Will have to look harder for some decent nursery material to try with.

It's nice to have stock on hand for the future :

100_1678 (Small).jpg

And this is the trunk that was dead straight perpendicular. As I said it's holding the curves well despite just 4 weeks of wire:

100_1680 (Small).jpg

[Petra]

Bugger Pol will not sell me his yet so looks like at least another couple of years before I get a decent trunk growing one myself. Will have to look harder for some decent nursery material to try with.
Pol said it is such a pity as they lend themselves to training in every other way. Wire can bite in quite quick on fast growing trees Ron. Even the best of us get caught out occasionally

[/quote

I hate when, who ever they are. Just cut them down in the car parks over night , and never offer anyone if they would like them first. This has happened in the Goodguys and Spotlight car park in Dubbo one night. Its just a shame to see them waisted away like that. The Majority of the trunk sizes was about 18 to 30 cm wide.They'd been there for 8 years or so. I dont know even why it was done, not like they were adding more parking spaces . Also there are some family of callistamen there too, they'll probly be next. They have excellent trunk size and shape for bonsai. No one seems to know who you would contact, incase they decide to remove them also. Its depresing to see this all happening, and there is a lot of this destructureing going on lately. If anyone knows what could be done to save such waste let me know please.