AusBonsai

FlyBri wrote:

Dario wrote:I am not trying to be difficult so please go easy on me!
I think that perhaps a distinction between say broadleaf evergreens and evergreens with needles (pines, Junipers, cedar, fir, etc) should be made.
I can think of a few evergreens that can cope with this treatment...Box, Olive, Cork Oak etc, etc...
Don't try this with Pines and the like!
My worth. And I am sure that when Ken and others wrote that info they assumed that you would understand what species they were refering to!...I only pointed it out for absolute beginners who may not be aware of the distinction.
I hope you understand where I am coming from?
Cheers, Dario

Gday folks!

Well said, Dario! I was in the process of writing almost exactly this.

As well as the species Dario mentions, there are numerous Oz native broadleaf evergreens which cope well with trunk chopping below any foliage/branching, including some (many?) Eucalyptus and Ficus species.

Thanks!

Fly.

Correct, I was referring to Pines and Junipers

Ken

Can I suggest that tutorial posts such as this find their way into the Wiki? The Wiki is a perfect tool for capturing this info and will also allow others to modify and improve it.

Good post by the way. Interesting there is no mention of a V cut wich might be useful for broom styles. I have only really done one serious trunk chop on an elm (english I think) and I used a V to try avoid too much swelling when the new branches grew.

Thomo wrote:Can I suggest that tutorial posts such as this find their way into the Wiki? The Wiki is a perfect tool for capturing this info and will also allow others to modify and improve it.

Already is mate I have linked this thread to the Wiki page for trunk chop.
https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index. ... Trunk_chop

Ken

Thanks for that, it was very informative and easy to follow. Am just about to start reducing a fig so this will help.

hey guys
firstly this is a great post!!!

i do have a thought tho they happen every now and then haha
i was wondering if the chop were to be made just above a "bar branch"
then one side be wired up as the new leader and the other wired as a branch
making a L shape
as the 2 thicken will this shorten the time that is taken to heal a scar
as the branch and new leader thicken?

when would be the best time to chop a eucalyptus and plant into a pot?

got my answer it was right in front of me when reading this article!!!

Thank you for posting this

thanks for the great post, these tutorials are absolutely priceless!!

Awesome post. Great info!

Thanks. Very helpful.
Just to clarify, do I actually use a grafting knife to kind of round off the cut ive made just above my new chosen leader branch? And is this done at the time of cutting??

G'day Ben,

You can use a knife, side cutters, carving chisels etc. Basically anything that will do the job and you are comfortable using. You could always cut a branch off a tree in the yard to practice on.
Yes you do it at the time of cutting.

Regards,
Steven

Sorry if this is a basic question.

When the second type of trunk chop is done (without an existing new leader/bud) and you are hoping for buds to show, do they have to of existed previously? I'm talking about in the case of a trunk of significant gurth where the buds are no longer visible.

As in say there is a 10cm gap between existing branches and you cut 2cm under the existing upper branch. Does that mean the highest bud to pop would be a further 8cm below the new chop line if that was the original internode length? Or are new buds able to grow higher purely due to directed energy flow caused by the apical growth habits of most trees?

Hope that makes sense.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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That seems to depend on the species and how old the trunk actually is Pearcy.
Tridents do have dormant buds in the trunk. They are still at the places where the leaves were when the trunk first grew. How far apart depends whether the nodes were close or further apart.
It seems that the older the trunk, the less reliable the dormant buds are so I usually work with what I can see rather than hoping when cutting older trunks.

shibui wrote:That seems to depend on the species and how old the trunk actually is Pearcy.
Tridents do have dormant buds in the trunk. They are still at the places where the leaves were when the trunk first grew. How far apart depends whether the nodes were close or further apart.
It seems that the older the trunk, the less reliable the dormant buds are so I usually work with what I can see rather than hoping when cutting older trunks.

Thanks greatly for the info Shibui!

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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Further to this question, when a trunk shoots from an old dormant bud and extends to a few leaves or perhaps more but is then broken by a bloody magpie, a 3 year old daughter or whatever.

How long until that node can shoot again, or can it not shoot from that spot again?