Amateur does trunk chops

[safallon]

Hey All,

I'm a relative amateur to bonsai, but I was so intrigued by reading about trunk chops and how they work that I decided to try it out.

I just found two plants in my garden that had manageable sized trunks, made sure I was allowed to dig them out, and so did, and chopped them to being a stump of only about 20cm in height (maybe not even, I haven't measured them).

So anyway, I sealed off the tops of cuts with egg whites so they didn't dry out, and made sure to keep the soil in the pots they were in really damp; plenty of water.

After a while small green bumps started to breach the surface of the bark on both stumps and soon after they were sprouting and now I have this crazy mess of massive sprouts on one (which I think is a fraxinus) and moderately strong sprouts on the other.

Now I'm just not quite sure what to do with them! Am I supposed to leave all of the shoots on there and then cut off the ones I don't want later on, or am I supposed to choose which branches I want to develop now and cut the rest off? And I'm sure there are plenty of things I haven't even thought of that I could do.

Could someone please help?

Here are some photos of them.

Cheers,
Saf

[Graeme]

On your first tree I'd be choosing which branches I wanted to keep, plus a few spares and then rubbing off all the others. That would force all the growth into developing the structure of the tree and not sharing it with material you will remove later. Nice growth, by the way.

With your second tree I would recut the trunk, very carefully so as to not damage the new roots below, at a point just above the 4th or 5th shoot from the bottom. As this cutting hasn't shot as strongly as the first there will be a large area of the trunk without any branches. These may grow later, but cutting it off now will help build a great taper into ther tree, which wont be as tall as the first one for a while, but will have better taper. Cutting this trunk down will also removed the large knob at the top, which you will never want to be there. You will also need to keep an eye on the surface root that is running around the top of the pot, making sure it doesn't get to big and later, when you repot this tree removbe it completely if your able to.

Good luck with both trees, they make nice Bonsai over time.

[Bretts]

Are you sure Greame?
I would have advised to just let them grow at the moment. The more top growth the more roots will recover and it seems these would have only recently been dug from the ground?

[kcpoole]

I agree with the first one to select the shoots to keep ( pl;us a few) and remove all the rest. Apply wire loosely to shape them if possible.

The other one definitely needs a chop again lower, but would be reticent to do it now i case the newly grown roots break off. I have lost collected trees by getting stuck in too early.
You can control the growth of the top section by removiing the shoots from there until you are ready to chop again

Ken

[Bougy Fan]

Interesting points of view. On anything I have chopped I usually let the shoots grow and then choose one as a new leader and cut back everything else. I have been under the impression that will force all the energy into the new leader and it will grow faster.

I do agree with Ken about not working too much too soon after collection the roots need time to grow in their new home

[Mojo Moyogi]

I'm pretty sure that neither of these is Fraxinus (Ash) and I'm unsure as to whatever they are being suitable for bonsai cultivation. Can anyone ID these and maybe save Saf from perhaps wasting his/her time?

Cheers,
Mojo

[Damian79]

Hi Saf
I have a number of these going at the moment. From What I can tell they are Ash trees. They pop up like weeds and grow very quickly. I'm very new to bonsai myself and have an unlimited supply of these trees Thanks to my inlaws so I'm experementing at the moment also.by chance do you know how old that tree is?

[safallon]

Hey Damian,

Sorry man, I have no idea how old those trees are. I think I got them from the garden roughly at the start of January this year, not sure how long they had been growing in the garden untamed before that. No longer than a year I wouldn't think.

[safallon]

Hi people,

Here's an update of what one of those trunk chops looks like now. It's the ash fraxinus, and so at this point has been a year since the trunk chop.

Any feedback?

Cheers

[Josh]

Hi people,

Here's an update of what one of those trunk chops looks like now. It's the ash fraxinus, and so at this point has been a year since the trunk chop.

Any feedback?

Cheers

I tend to agree with Mojo on this one. I don't think they are ash. It's a little hard to see as the photos aren't that clear or close enough to see the leaves properly but they look very different to my ash fraxinus.

image.jpg

image.jpg

Can you take a photo of the leaves up close a clear.

Josh.

[Damian79]

Hi Safallon
I have about 20 ash going at the moment ad I have found if i leave them to grow untouched they will branch out quite long looking for the sun especially if they are in a shaded area. I have been pruning pruning pruning as they grow very quickly so you can reduce the size of the shoots/branches and get ramification happening very quickly. I have done some huge reductions, carving on live wood, massive chops and they just keep on going. Im still a beginner so these have been the best trees for me to learn on as I just can't kill them.

I would figure out what branches you want to keep and start reducing them back now to get more volume in your foliage. Keep a close eye on your wiring because mine thicken very quickly and can cut in if unchecked.
This is all just from my experience over the last 12 months of course, im sure there are plenty of other members out there that would have other advise.
Hope it helps.

Damo

EDIT: After taking another look at your pics Im in the same boat as Josh and Mojo. Very different to the Ash I have going the leaves here look almost "waxy" and I would expect more growth than that for 12 months.

[safallon]

the leaves do have a somewhat waxy finish. i just found this plant in my garden so i had no concrete way of knowing exactly what it is.

any ideas of what the plant actually is?

[Josh]

the leaves do have a somewhat waxy finish. i just found this plant in my garden so i had no concrete way of knowing exactly what it is.

any ideas of what the plant actually is?

Need clearer photos of the leaves, closer up to get a proper ID.

Josh