English Elm from root suckers
- MJL
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English Elm from root suckers
Hi All,
I hope the weekend has started well. I was just chewing on an early morning coffee, wandering around my small garden and thought it might be interesting to show these clump-style trees.
These English Elms were collected as root suckers a few years back. I noticed that through spring and summer, these popped up like weeds and then they were mown away ... only to re-shoot soon after. Tough little things! So... one sunny morning, I grabbed a trowel, my secateurs, a bucket of water and cut a few out to see what would happen.
Well this happened and I like the progress.
Initially, I applied softwood hormone juice to the newly exposed roots and potted them into plastic pots. They settled into a new way of growing. A year later, I root trimmed and removed unwanted suckers. The following year a bit of styling and into a bonsai pot.
For all intents and purposes, still pre-bonsai for the more experienced growers I am sure. For me, I'm really happy with the progress and continue to tend, I will.
I think it shows too that bonsai stock can come from many sources. If we walk around and appreciate the little things (maybe not our little phones ) we perhaps see things we otherwise may not; sparking thoughts and creative juices that may have been left un-tapped. In this instance, an idea for an interesting experiment is turning into something OK.
Cheers,
M
I hope the weekend has started well. I was just chewing on an early morning coffee, wandering around my small garden and thought it might be interesting to show these clump-style trees.
These English Elms were collected as root suckers a few years back. I noticed that through spring and summer, these popped up like weeds and then they were mown away ... only to re-shoot soon after. Tough little things! So... one sunny morning, I grabbed a trowel, my secateurs, a bucket of water and cut a few out to see what would happen.
Well this happened and I like the progress.
Initially, I applied softwood hormone juice to the newly exposed roots and potted them into plastic pots. They settled into a new way of growing. A year later, I root trimmed and removed unwanted suckers. The following year a bit of styling and into a bonsai pot.
For all intents and purposes, still pre-bonsai for the more experienced growers I am sure. For me, I'm really happy with the progress and continue to tend, I will.
I think it shows too that bonsai stock can come from many sources. If we walk around and appreciate the little things (maybe not our little phones ) we perhaps see things we otherwise may not; sparking thoughts and creative juices that may have been left un-tapped. In this instance, an idea for an interesting experiment is turning into something OK.
Cheers,
M
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Last edited by MJL on May 5th, 2018, 7:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
- TimS
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
Good work! Growing from seed, sucker, cutting, airlayering is my favourite because i'm cheap as hell plus i prefer to control the tree from the beginning so i can have good root bases and not have to try to fix it on a 20 year old stock tree.
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
All 3 look great! wish i had random bonsai tree species growing in my back yard. thanks for sharing!
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- MJL
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
Just an update on my English Elms - collected from root suckers. Early spring growth is strong - due for a trim soon. Noting too that I put some subtle curves in the trunks over winter. I guess it’s mainly about ‘cut and grow’ for ramification now.
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- Keep Calm and Ramify
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
I Iike these MJ. They develop so quickly don't they. Just spent yesterday trimming back a few of these myself. Some branch extensions were at least 20cms long. Peaceful fun in the sun, with the scent of Spring through the air on a long weekend - I love this time of year.MJL wrote: Early spring growth is strong - due for a trim soon.
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
Well done I really like the last two. One great future group and the other looks like it will be a natural looking forest.
Cheers
Kirky
Cheers
Kirky
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- MJL
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
Hey KC&R and Kirky, thank you for your compliments - it’s encouraging to me to think that I have a few plants that are heading in the right direction... cheers. And yes, this is a great time of year. [THUMBS UP SIGN]
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Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
- MJL
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
Another Sunday morning with a coffee and Bonsai tools.
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Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
- MJL
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
Tidying up after a morning trim and it seems, by luck - I remove the pot and there is photographic poetry - so.....an homage to Bonsai clip and grow.[SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES] Yeah, I know ‘Mark get a life - it’s a photo of leaves for crying out loud!’
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I better go for a run in the sun. Enjoy your afternoon.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
- MJL
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
Good morning forum folk.
Here’s a timely reminder to check your wiring at this time of year.
Many trees are growing vigorously; wire bite can happen quickly. I have been busy with work a bit over the past couple of weeks so I’ve been ok with watering but less vigilant with some deeper looks at my trees. This morning I noted that some of my wires were starting to dig in. Off they came - I reckon a week or two more and the damage would have been far greater and longer lasting.
I really like all these English Elms but was not far away from some ugly long term damage.
Keep an eye out on your stock folks.
Enjoy Saturday.
Bonsai teaches me patience.
Here’s a timely reminder to check your wiring at this time of year.
Many trees are growing vigorously; wire bite can happen quickly. I have been busy with work a bit over the past couple of weeks so I’ve been ok with watering but less vigilant with some deeper looks at my trees. This morning I noted that some of my wires were starting to dig in. Off they came - I reckon a week or two more and the damage would have been far greater and longer lasting.
I really like all these English Elms but was not far away from some ugly long term damage.
Keep an eye out on your stock folks.
Enjoy Saturday.
Bonsai teaches me patience.
Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
- MJL
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 2840
- Joined: October 26th, 2014, 8:47 pm
- Favorite Species: Maples, Elms, Cedars and Pines
- Bonsai Age: 7
- Bonsai Club: Waverley Bonsai Group & Yarra Valley Bonsai Society
- Location: Melbourne
- Has thanked: 424 times
- Been thanked: 643 times
Re: English Elm from root suckers
A lot of wire on a small tree too! I probably should have cut it off to minimise damage but these elms are not brittle and I was able to unwind it with reasonable ease.
Bonsai teaches me patience.
Bonsai teaches me patience.
Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
- MJL
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
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- Joined: October 26th, 2014, 8:47 pm
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
Cheers, Beano, always pays to keep a keen eye on your wiring.
Also - apologies for the manner in which the photos were posted - I tried something new with Tapatalk and it do not work so well - I have just noticed (typing on my laptop) that the photos - while clear - are quite big and have been 'auto-cropped' in an odd way. I'll go back to proven ways to add photos in future.
Also - apologies for the manner in which the photos were posted - I tried something new with Tapatalk and it do not work so well - I have just noticed (typing on my laptop) that the photos - while clear - are quite big and have been 'auto-cropped' in an odd way. I'll go back to proven ways to add photos in future.
Tending bonsai teaches me patience.
- MJL
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Re: English Elm from root suckers
I feel most of my trees have had a good growing season this year. This batch not so. I am not sure why.
They seem to have stagnated. Bummer! Perhaps they are root bound; I will repot in Autumn, I don’t feel like waiting for Spring - I think that should be ok.
Perhaps the caterpillars have restricted their growth. I thought I had ridded all the caterpillars but today I started wiring new leaders - I am gonna to cut back to new leaders when I repot - so I thought I’d get a head start- shaping the leader before I cut the old ones off. I found two fat caterpillars munching away still!! Gee they hide well!
Here a close up of one of the top I intend to cut off in Autumn. On this tree and the next photo, I am pulling the new leader up with my index finger ... the top is not well structured and linns to thick up that high. This new leader and the others that I am doing will provide a much better structure in the long term, I think. Dunno - some ya win, some ya lose. This season feels like a draw maybe even a loss for this set of English Elms. I have defoliated or partially defoliated my Chinese Elms and Japanese Maples 3 times this year. These a partial haircut just once - and not much vibrant new growth and the old leave seem faded and even a bit hard. Who knows?
I’ll find out when I repot - root bound is my guess. Anyway, as is often the way with Bonsai - more questions than answers for me.
Cheers,
Mark
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They seem to have stagnated. Bummer! Perhaps they are root bound; I will repot in Autumn, I don’t feel like waiting for Spring - I think that should be ok.
Perhaps the caterpillars have restricted their growth. I thought I had ridded all the caterpillars but today I started wiring new leaders - I am gonna to cut back to new leaders when I repot - so I thought I’d get a head start- shaping the leader before I cut the old ones off. I found two fat caterpillars munching away still!! Gee they hide well!
Here a close up of one of the top I intend to cut off in Autumn. On this tree and the next photo, I am pulling the new leader up with my index finger ... the top is not well structured and linns to thick up that high. This new leader and the others that I am doing will provide a much better structure in the long term, I think. Dunno - some ya win, some ya lose. This season feels like a draw maybe even a loss for this set of English Elms. I have defoliated or partially defoliated my Chinese Elms and Japanese Maples 3 times this year. These a partial haircut just once - and not much vibrant new growth and the old leave seem faded and even a bit hard. Who knows?
I’ll find out when I repot - root bound is my guess. Anyway, as is often the way with Bonsai - more questions than answers for me.
Cheers,
Mark
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Tending bonsai teaches me patience.