Cleaning Dwarf Hinoki

[SuperBonSaiyan]

I have a dwarf Hinoki (Chamaecyparis Obtusa Nana) that is early in development.

I want to thicken the trunk and branches quite a bit more, but I also want to keep as much of the inner foliage alive as possible.

How do I clean and prune this tree during development to strike a balance between the two desires? (i.e.: keep inner foliage alive + keep the tree developing).

As you'll see in the pictures, some of the inner foliage doesn't look too healthy because it's being shaded by the outer foliage.

[TimS]

These are super slow growing, think extremely long term. No cheats for fatter trunks etc with them I’m aware of. The ones with big trunks I’ve seen have been very old like 1970’s started or imported.

I have 3 similar thickness to this in the ground for future use well down the track 10 years plus for a bigger trunk.

As far as cleaning out the growth Corin of Greenwood Bonsai does a really good demo on one on his YouTube channel over 2 parts with an old one that looks like a slingshot , but basically if it’s looking fluffy soft/ weak or brown then remove it. I’ll try and find the link on the way home

[SuperBonSaiyan]

These are super slow growing, think extremely long term. No cheats for fatter trunks etc with them I’m aware of. The ones with big trunks I’ve seen have been very old like 1970’s started or imported.

I have 3 similar thickness to this in the ground for future use well down the track 10 years plus for a bigger trunk.

As far as cleaning out the growth Corin of Greenwood Bonsai does a really good demo on one on his YouTube channel over 2 parts with an old one that looks like a slingshot , but basically if it’s looking fluffy soft/ weak or brown then remove it. I’ll try and find the link on the way home

Thanks, I've seen that video but wasn't sure it applied to my little twiggy plant (that slingshot one is massive!).

And yes, I know these will take a very very long time to thicken up, which is why I didn't want to hinder it any further by taking off too much growth.

I'm looking forward to styling this tree in 2050

[Daluke]

You got a tree that’s hard to dominate.

Fertilise heavily;
Remove crotch growth;
Anything brown is dead;
Don’t expect bud back on old wood;
Water;
Keep in part shade;

[TimS]

These are super slow growing, think extremely long term. No cheats for fatter trunks etc with them I’m aware of. The ones with big trunks I’ve seen have been very old like 1970’s started or imported.

I have 3 similar thickness to this in the ground for future use well down the track 10 years plus for a bigger trunk.

As far as cleaning out the growth Corin of Greenwood Bonsai does a really good demo on one on his YouTube channel over 2 parts with an old one that looks like a slingshot , but basically if it’s looking fluffy soft/ weak or brown then remove it. I’ll try and find the link on the way home

Thanks, I've seen that video but wasn't sure it applied to my little twiggy plant (that slingshot one is massive!).

And yes, I know these will take a very very long time to thicken up, which is why I didn't want to hinder it any further by taking off too much growth.

I'm looking forward to styling this tree in 2050

Just focus on the bit where he starts clearing out the foliage, it applies to all hinokis but certainly it was essential when as dense as his one. The pro and con of Hinoki is it's so slow growing it's hard to get caught out, but also hard to make headway quickly too.

The day i stumble over a thick trunk Hinoki in a nursery for sale is the day i forever stop buying lottery tickets because that's a win rarer than any jackpot.

[SuperBonSaiyan]

Just focus on the bit where he starts clearing out the foliage, it applies to all hinokis but certainly it was essential when as dense as his one. The pro and con of Hinoki is it's so slow growing it's hard to get caught out, but also hard to make headway quickly too.

The day i stumble over a thick trunk Hinoki in a nursery for sale is the day i forever stop buying lottery tickets because that's a win rarer than any jackpot.

How thick do you consider thick? I found this one in a nursery - 10c coin for scale.



Also depends whether you're after the nana / dwarf varieties or the standard Chamaecyparis Obtusa variety. I'm still searching for the nana variety with a developed trunk.

[TimS]

That’s pretty decent for what I see commercially available, certainly don’t see anything more established that’s for sale.

No one is really growing Hinoki anymore, and those that are are selling them at very small sizes so anything that size you have there is a find.

[Phil Rabl]

I have a lovely C. obtuse nana that I dug from our garden back in about 2003. It is probably 35 years old and has a reasonably large trunk. The pot is 45 cm wide. They certainly are slow growing, but in my experience, the inside foliage does not die back quickly from lack of sun. The photos below show it before and after I trimmed it in October 2022. The foliage had become pretty dense, and had been for over a year, but there was plenty of growth back inside. I removed about a third of the foliage during this trim up.

Before.

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After

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[TimS]

I have a lovely C. obtuse nana that I dug from our garden back in about 2003. It is probably 35 years old and has a reasonably large trunk. The pot is 45 cm wide. They certainly are slow growing, but in my experience, the inside foliage does not die back quickly from lack of sun. The photos below show it before and after I trimmed it in October 2022. The foliage had become pretty dense, and had been for over a year, but there was plenty of growth back inside. I removed about a third of the foliage during this trim up.

Before.

IMG_3159.jpeg

After

IMG_3164.jpeg

Lovely tree indeed would love to have something like this in my collection

[SuperBonSaiyan]

I have a lovely C. obtuse nana that I dug from our garden back in about 2003. It is probably 35 years old and has a reasonably large trunk. The pot is 45 cm wide. They certainly are slow growing, but in my experience, the inside foliage does not die back quickly from lack of sun. The photos below show it before and after I trimmed it in October 2022. The foliage had become pretty dense, and had been for over a year, but there was plenty of growth back inside. I removed about a third of the foliage during this trim up.

Before.

IMG_3159.jpeg

After

IMG_3164.jpeg

I would be proud to have a tree similar to that in 30 years.

So all that time in the garden you didn't prune/clean it? And it still maintained the inner foliage somewhat? If that's the case I'll leave mine alone and just feed it then.

Yours has a similar lean to mine

[Phil Rabl]

I don't remember when we planted it in the garden, but it must have been in the ground for close to 15 years. I dug it up because we wanted to extend a veranda. When I dug it up I cut off all of the upper growth, leaving only 2 small branches about as thick as a normal pencil. I planted it vertically in a plastic pot for 4 or 5 years and pretty much ignored it, mainly because it seemed quite boring to me. But one day I decided to see where the two main branches I removed had died back to. Well, I started removing bark and was delighted to see the deadwood extended all the way to the roots on the front and the back. All of a sudden, I was very interested in the tree. The first photo below is the oldest one I can find. It was taken in 2012. The little branches that were the size of a pencil are now 2.5 to 3 cm in diameter and they both have a nice structure of secondary branches (second photo, taken today).

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