AusBonsai

here is a liquidamber i just purchased today, was eyeing it off, so yeah. height approx 780mm
wats your thoughts? Would love some virts.

Hi Pat
Throw it into the ground or a grow box, wire it up to give some movement and wait a while. ATM its a bit straight and the trunk is a bit skinny.


Tony

Hi Pat,
2 things you could do.
1. Feed it heaps and let it grow this season. Next season chop to the first branch, wire and shape then let it go again.
2. Chop to the first branch now and shape with wire. It's only a young tree so it will be flexible and you could style in a number of ways. Feed heaps and let it grow.
Either way you need to thicken the trunk and create taper to make a realistic bonsai in the future. Try to envisage what the development will be in 5 years.
All the best
Andrew

sweet as thanks guys, im thinkin of puting it into a grow pot, wiring bring the height down and thickening it up. when i get to my new house next year i will put it in the ground, Wat is the best feed, just power feed one week, seasol the next?,
should i defoliate this summer?

Pat093 wrote:sweet as thanks guys, im thinkin of puting it into a grow pot, wiring bring the height down and thickening it up. when i get to my new house next year i will put it in the ground, Wat is the best feed, just power feed one week, seasol the next?,
should i defoliate this summer?

I wouldn't defoliate as that will reduce the energy the tree will put into growth/ thickening. Defoliation is more for creating ramification, something you'll be after in about 3-5 years.
I feed my trees in this stage dynamic lifter on the soil surface and then nitrosol, powerfeed, whatever is high in nitrogen, this will give you lots of growth. Feed every two weeks. Seasol is a soil conditioner, it can be used at the same time as the nitrosol etc.
Going the ground will thicken it up quickly, the way to go for developing big trunks. Use a pot for the finer development.
Andrew

Pat, if you're going to wire it, keep a very close eye on the wire. At this time of the year, Liquidambar's grow very fast - and before you know it, the wire will have cut into the branches. If you think the wire is marking the branches or trunk, remove it - and if the branch hasn't set in place then re-wire but in the opposite direction. What I mean is if you wired it in a clockwise direction, then reapply it anticlockwise as per sketch below. If you rewire in the same direction, it's quite possible the wire will end up in the same marks and if you get wire marks on Liquidambar, it can take a very long time for the marks to grow out - if ever.

will take these things into account thanks guys, man i love the help on this forum.
how much dynamic lifter? and how often?

Pat093 wrote:will take these things into account thanks guys, man i love the help on this forum.
how much dynamic lifter? and how often?

The dynamic lifter is only a very mild fertiliser so a handful or two will be enough, there are instructions on the bag if your worried about overfeeding. It lasts about three months and is a great back up in case you forget to fertilise one week. I use it for the convenience and I also know that the trees are getting their share.
Andrew

Forgot to mention that I use the pelleted form of the dynamic lifter for my stock trees. It can be bought in a liquid form as well
Andrew

righto, oh and one more question, is their good ways to stop wire marking or just gotta hope?
how bout wrapping it up?

G'day Pat don't put the wire on too tight remember the tree needs to grow into its shape, you can wrap in paper if you want but thats pretty fiddly, Just keep an eye on it and remove the wire when it starts to dig in, On such a young tree a little scarring is not going to hurt, just not really deep marks. If it scars just a little you will know it has set in its shape.
Craigw

ok, well i'll post some pics up of my wiring job
might go get some help.