AusBonsai

This is a pic of my Chinese elm "naked as a jay bird" .It is around 15 years old from nursery stock purchased in 1999 then 3-4 years old in a 4 inch pot .It was planted as a landscape tree until a motorcyclist with the Police in hot pursuit decided to use my back yard for an escape route.He struck the tree , then 1.5m high and snapped the trunk off .It was in the ground for a few years so it didn't move , alas the tree was buggered so i chose to Bonsai it .

When dug from the ground it was around 650mm so i trimmed it down to 550mm and the was the start of the progression . Currently it stands at 850mm with a base of about 110mm ,the trunk is about 70mm .The bottom lower branch is half the age of the other branches and is slowly catching up in thickness .I managed to stimulate budding lower down the trunk several years ago to produce a lower branch .This is about 7-8 years "if my memory is correct" in training from a naked trunk .Looking forward to see how the roots have developed over the last season as the Narabri was very poor, i do however have around 30 root layers which will if necessary be grafted on to improve the rootmass .

There was a huge 40mm root growing out the side which was chopped of with an axe on collection and root was poisoned with roundup to no avail .I grubbed the root out a year or 2 later and found a large bulbus section which had grown up against a rock in the terrace .This was used for a broom style which i will upload as another topic .Cheers Alpineart

Nice movement Alpine. Dont you hate it when the branches appear lower down and you can use it but it is always lagging behind. It is starting to get nice ramification in the other branches though. I have this idea i want to use one day and that is to thread graft a sacrificial branch at the base of the weak lower branch and see if that does the job of thickening it.

bodhidharma wrote:Nice movement Alpine. Dont you hate it when the branches appear lower down and you can use it but it is always lagging behind. It is starting to get nice ramification in the other branches though. I have this idea i want to use one day and that is to thread graft a sacrificial branch at the base of the weak lower branch and see if that does the job of thickening it.

Hi Bodhi if i dont trim the lower one i may catch up but the tree looks like shari when it runs riot .I have contemplated inarching a few seedlings onto the underside of the lower branch when it comes out for a root inspection .It wont get a trim just a comb of the roots and into a bigger pot to aid the Narabri .Both methods are worth trying , what have we got to loose.Cheers Alpine

Watch the development near the apex... you are getting a cluster of branches there and not only is it looking cluttered but it will thicken that area and give you a top that is too heavy. But otherwise... nice tree.

Hi Alpine, have you given any thoght to making the 3rd picture the new front?

Cheers,
Mojo

MelaQuin wrote:Watch the development near the apex... you are getting a cluster of branches there and not only is it looking cluttered but it will thicken that area and give you a top that is too heavy. But otherwise... nice tree.

hI MelaQuin , it needs a good clean out for sure , hopefully the clutter has improved the roots as they were rather pathetic .I did plan to layer the top off but didn't find the time .Cheers

Mojo Moyogi wrote:Hi Alpine, have you given any thoght to making the 3rd picture the new front?

Cheers,
Mojo

Hi Mojo, branch placement would be an issue ,i have thought of changing it , might try the tree in a round tray and then it can go anywhere ,Cheers Alpine

Would you consider removing the big vertical Y branch/trunk from the top, so the new top would continue that elegant sweep over to the right? It might be difficult to balance with the branches, and the triple bar branches just under the removal would need to be resolved (back branches grafted maybe?) The trunk line up to that point is very graceful, and could happily continue on.

Just a thought.

Gavin

[quote="GavinG"]Would you consider removing the big vertical Y branch/trunk from the top, so the new top would continue that elegant sweep over to the right? It might be difficult to balance with the branches, and the triple bar branches just under the removal would need to be resolved (back branches grafted maybe?) The trunk line up to that point is very graceful, and could happily continue on.

Just a thought.

Gavin[/quote

Hi Gavin , thanks for the input , i did contemplate layering the top off last season for a similar conclusion .I'm certainly open to suggestions .The pic is not the best but i do see where youre coming from .Its probably a good time to take a good hard look at the tree and make the decision.Cheers Alpine