Shaping after trunk chop Chinese Elm

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Kbonsai
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Shaping after trunk chop Chinese Elm

Post by Kbonsai »

Hi, this may have been covered before to some degree however finding it difficult to research specifics sorry.
I chopped my Chinese Elm as soon as winter came and it has really started pushing out new growth from the chopped area. I understand the risk of reverse taper due to the location of the growth, now do I favour one of the new leaders and remove the rest at this early stage or just allow it to grow out a bit more and tend to it at spring time?
Thanks!ImageImageImage


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Ryceman3
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Re: Shaping after trunk chop Chinese Elm

Post by Ryceman3 »

Hi Kbonsai,
I have done a few of these kinds of trunk chops in the past. You will most likely get more shoots emerging around and under the cut site, I'm kind of surprised it has pushed these new shoots already but then again, you are in Perth!
I'd be leaving the growth to get a little bigger/stronger and then choose a new leader/branch combo to go with, keep the branching that gives you changes in direction and the movement you are looking to develop by performing the chop. I wouldn't be too concerned about inverse taper with such small shoots, you have a bit of time to let them develop before removing.
I did something similar as part of the shohin comp a few years back ... see the link below if you want to check out how I went about it
viewtopic.php?f=158&t=22396&start=0
The tree is still going strong and the trunk chop is healing over nicely, I need to update it's progress - maybe when I repot in a few weeks. You can do a lot to Chinese Elms - tough little nuts!
Good luck with yours.
:beer:
Last edited by Ryceman3 on June 19th, 2019, 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Kbonsai
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Joined: January 22nd, 2019, 2:59 pm
Favorite Species: Elm
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Re: Shaping after trunk chop Chinese Elm

Post by Kbonsai »

Thanks for the info Ryceman I'll take your advice. I was also pretty surprised but our seasons here have been strange... I imagine it'll go nuts in the spring!
For some reason I can't see any images in the thread you linked due to my account permissions being restricted for some reason? :lost: Cheers anyway mate, hopefully I can check it later!
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Ryceman3
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Re: Shaping after trunk chop Chinese Elm

Post by Ryceman3 »

Just check to make sure you are still logged in when you go into the linked thread... there’s a few bugs with the system that are currently in the capable hands of the Admin team, but if for any reason you aren’t logged in the pics won’t be visible. If that’s not the reason, not sure what is... I can still see them!?!

EDIT : Yep, that is it: I just checked.
When you click on the link it opens a new web page and you need to re-login on that page to see the images.
Last edited by Ryceman3 on June 19th, 2019, 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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