Chinese Elm natural field style

[Alex_B]

That's a beautiful elm Tim really nice branch structure and trunk not to mention how good the canopies are looking.

Thanks for sharing your progress, you've definitely given me some inspiration for my pre-bonsai elm.

I’m glad to hear that there are folk taking some inspiration from my small works in this tree. Chinese Elm you will likely find that when healthy they are rampant growing and very forgiving too. They grow immense amounts of roots, so if you want it to grow significantly bigger than it is now, certainly increase your pot size and maybe go to a big orchid pot to get the space for the roots without getting a really deep 20cm nursery pot. Regardless though they will bounce right back from having large percentages of their roots removed. When I first repotted this Elm it has been left in the pot for many years, and as a result in late winter I took over 2m of roots and 80%+ of the total root mass off the tree. It didn’t even sulk at all, just bounced straight back into leaf in spring and grew rampantly.

I can’t give you much better advice than what Shibui did in your thread though, so good luck and I’ll be looking forward to following the progress of yours. They are a great species to understand the fundamentals on, but don’t think that just because they are good beginner trees that they aren’t good long term. This Elm is a joy every autumn to watch colour up and drop leaves.

Thanks for the advice TIm.

I didn't realise elms grew such a large amount of roots. I was thinking of repotting it in a larger pot come late winter/early spring so I am expecting to have a lot of growth in spring but its good to know they will be forgiving if I perhaps cut to much off.

Again, thanks for the advice and for sharing such a beautiful tree, I am really looking forward to seeing its continual growth.

[TimS]

I'm updating this thread far more than i expected of intended to really.

I have elected to slip pot the tree into a much more spacious pot as it has become a 3 water a day tree in the much smaller blue pot. As beautiful as the blue Yamafusa pot is, it just isn't suitable when you're at work all day.

Generally i'm not a huge fan of cream pots, but it works well with this tree i think. The size make the tree feel a lot less top heavy compared to the narrower blue one, all in all i'm happy. Come winter i'll re-pot the tree and do a nicer job of potting, for now it just needs the extra water holding capacity.

The blue one accentuated the height of the tree, the cream one accentuates the width of the canopy now. Also the extra space, once moss is done, i hope will give the impression of being in a field.

It's also heading towards my lifting capacity. My theory is 'If it's too heavy for me to lift without blowing my back out, it's too heavy to steal.' Just need to make sure i get it in the right position in the first place so i don't have to try to move it too much.

Which pot do people prefer?

Blue pot for size comparison, the pot is narrower than the canopy. This angle makes it look round, it is an oval.

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Cream pot; the lime tree behind makes it look like the dimensions of the pot. Useful a i always intended the spread of this tree to be significantly wider.

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Tree with a plain background. Yep, tiny in this pot at the moment.

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[MJL]

Well I like it. I reckon white or cream pots are under-rated for deciduous trees. I like the stark colour in winter - helping to focus on dark silhouette of the branch structure. And now, the simple pot is a nice contrast to the green foliage. I also prefer an off centre planting which this pot allows. I’m not sure if the new pot is a tad large or it’s just my perception due to the transition from the smaller pot; probably the latter. Regardless, if you’re more comfortable in the context of tree management - then good decision as you’ll worry less.

[TimS]

No doubt the pot is too large right now, but it's the trade off with needing it to be able to get through the day with one water in the morning and maybe one in the afternoon too.

The goal is to have the canopy spread out a little further through ramification to the with this pot in time. When that will be, who knows!

[TimS]

Little update on how i've been regrowing the branch i removed that was coming out at 90 degrees from the primary branch i showed in an earlier post. The cut point visible in the first photo is where it was removed.

One of the good things about Chinese Elm is this has been possible to achieve relatively quickly. From here i can just focus on getting the ramification built up and wait for the mature bark to blend in with the rest of the tree.

elmbrancha.jpeg

elmbranchb.jpeg

elmbranchc.jpeg

The photos of the full tree i posted in the other thread. I think going forward i will reduce the height of the daughter trunk as it's almost canopy height at the moment

NICE1.jpeg

NICE2.jpeg

[MJL]

I continue to enjoy the progress of this tree Tim. Good stuff - it breaks ‘rules’ and looks good. I do wonder about the near bar-branching in the middle and whether the right hand side could ever be removed or jinned - with the bottom branch fill the space ... but probably not...


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[TimS]

I continue to enjoy the progress of this tree Tim. Good stuff - it breaks ‘rules’ and looks good. I do wonder about the near bar-branching in the middle and whether the right hand side could ever be removed or jinned - with the bottom branch fill the space ... but probably not...


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Thanks very much Mark, it’s certainly not a ‘rules’ tree but better for it I think.

The bar branch you mention will absolutely have to be dealt with in the not too distant future as it will swell the trunk there and look like arse biscuits.

I think it will be the branch to the back in those above photos that has to go or be radically changed. I get random dormant buds from the trunk sporadically so if something in a good area pops up I’ll use it to eventually replace that bar

[KIRKY]

If your looking to remove that bar Tim I would shorten it by at least half, this will push more growth back to the trunk also it will slow down that inevitable bulge. Giving you time to find a replacement. You could also approach graft a replacement exactly where you want it. Chinese Elms are easy to graft. This can start a larger new branch earlier than waiting for shoots to sprout.
Nice natural looking tree by the way, even if it doesn’t meet the rules. Rules are only a guide line for natural looking trees the tree has its own agenda, a good partnership. Looking good
Cheers
Kirky

[TimS]

I couldn't get my head around how it was a bar branch, i hadn't noticed it being so clear before.

On closer inspection, it's in fact not a bar branch so i might get away with it

[Beech92]

I think that branching is fine, just remember once it's gone well.......it's gone

[TimS]

I definitely did not cut either one off! Way too much critical canopy attached to both

[TimS]

Been a while since an update on this tree, just ticking along and filling in the gap i made removing that branch in the apex 2 years ago.

Some nice autumnal progression is enough of an excuse to post an update photo, but it's due a good clean up trim where it's grown out this season.

a.png

b.png

the branch that's grown in, slowly getting there

c.png

[TimS]

I noticed moss had completely covered the surface of the pot and was making a valiant attempt on the trunk, so i decided to pull some of it off.

Totally forgot this tree has significant surface roots around the trunk, gave them a bit of a scrub with the soft nylon brush and a wash. Not really sure if they are attractive enough to display, or if i shall just let the moss cover them back up again given they just crisscross everywhere.

cer1.jpg

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[KIRKY]

Personally as it’s a Natural Field style the roots look good. I would display them as is, they go hand in hand with the over all style. I prefer a more realistic looking root system to the over manicured roots on some trees. only.
Cheers
Kirky

[TimS]

Summer update, this tree is just bomb proof really. I've put some sphagnum moss on the surface to protect the roots as i really should have repotted it last year and it has pushed itself up out of the pot a bit.

Lots of wiring in Autumn/ Winter to continue refining some of the branch placement, and potentially a front change from the first photo to the second photo as suggested by Quentin Valentine at a club night after looking at it. This would hide the current scar that is where the fork occurs from, though the upper canopy is completely designed around the current front. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

current front

sum23 a.jpg

proposed front

sum23 b.jpg