Crepe Myrtle

[sreeve]

On Monday I bought this crepe myrtle on EBAY. True to promise it was delivered Thursday of this week courtesy of Australia Post
The tree cost $113 and postage was $11

I couldn’t wait to do some surgery and got the weapons out this morning.

The first photo shows the myriad of roots and that were available. About as bare rooted as they come…….

Naked and placed in a salubrious position.JPG

There were two options, either have a traditional Bonsai with good root spread all around, or have a non traditional style with some aerial roots which means it will never have the perfect root spread….so off with some more roots…

Partial Root pruning.JPG

Cutting some more of the roots off……

Root pruned prior to potting.JPG

As per normal, I hadn’t planned too far in advance. Luckily I had a pot big enough to put the tree into. I know it isn’t the perfect pot, but at least it held soil.

Potted.JPG

I did a bit of carving to clean up the large cut at the back and still have a lot of carving to do so that the cambium layer can grow over the myriad of stubs etc. I also have to wire some of the little branches before they go hard. But basically it is time to let it recover, develop some branches and roots….

I really am not too sure about what to do with the vertical trunks.

I know I have to keep them (or at least part / some of them) for the time being as with a Crepe Myrtle, cutting them off would only mean that the feeding roots died too and I don’t want that to happen

Temptation will probably get in the way of the best plans and BEFORE any Spring growth, I am likely to do some more surgery to the trunks sitting up vertically.
I will need to let remove these slowly so that the wound calluses over (Crepe Myrtle has a 50/50 success rate)

Virtual.JPG

Not to sure whether to remove all the three vertical trunks or just two – and then try to do something to create movement in the remaining one????
Or conversely – just get rid of all three….

Virtual2.JPG

Look forward to your thoughts.

At the very least it was a nice way to spend ½ of Saturday.

Regards
Steve

[miyagiman]

I like the last phoyomontage the best, but I thought maybe stand it up a little more to the right. this would let the nebari be more appealing. great material & willbe a nice tree. congratulations. cheers, dave

[anttal63]

steve congrats on a very nice trunk. i agree with dave to stand it up to the right a little and i would also get rid of those arial roots. imo it weakens the power this tree could have. why substitute the rippa roots it already has. their are other ways to tackle non traditional in the way you style the tree. but hey pal if ya happy im happy too!

[Bretts]

I was roaming the streets the other cday looking for Crepe that I could ask for cuttings off. I came across a trunk very similar to this. I have considerd going back and sking if I can dig it up. I am thinking I have enough on this year anyway
This is a great trunk. I have never been that keen on Crepe but since the misses likes them I have thought I better do one for her and I am starting to enjoy the idea.
I like the shape of the trunk here. It seems to get lost in the later shots?

1.jpg

I would leave the ariel roots for now. They are interesting and can always be removed later.
Edit thats a ripper trunk I had this in the first post but this is about the third attempt at posting

[MelaQuin]

I like the above ground roots... they add a flair and they do go with the movement. I'm in the mob that says plant the trunk a bit more upright. But great stock plant. You'll have joy with this one.

[sreeve]

Thanks Dave, Antonio and MelaQuin I appreciate your comments.
After finally taking some time to review it, I agree that it might look a little better standing up more vertically, it must have been that last Victorian vitamin C can that dragged it to the left

I will leave it for the time being and also leave the aerial roots as I need to let it recover for a while

Well at least that is the plan that I will start with, have been known to repot twice a year before..........

MelaQuin, you mentioned that you like the aerial roots, so do I – at least at this stage. They sorta lead into the trunk shape and allow a transition.

This stock is pretty raw so I hope to be able to get some structure going this year to be able to capitalise on the trunk

Brett, if you want a Crepe, I will air layer one for you……BUT only on the condition that you promise to come and visit and pick it up…….

PM me if you want one and I will start one cooking for you.

I air layered the following one two years ago and love the way that the trunk separates and then merges again – leaving the gap in the middle.
This year gone by I was able to develop some branches as below AND the flowers were beautiful.

Next year, (this coming growing year) will be its second year off the parent tree and I hope to get some really nice branch growth happening.

Air layered.JPG

Brett, the air layered jobby, was one of the trees I mentioned was re-potted last week, but I have not taken a photo of it yet after it was promoted into a “real” bonsai pot.
I actually woosed out a little as there are a couple of fronts – so I put it in a nice pot that I bought off Ray and Clinton

It came up really nice in their pot - better than I had hoped for

Regards
Steve

[FlyBri]

Gday Steve!

That's a great buy for only $113! I had given up on eBay for Bonsai, but your post has me scouring the classifieds again (to no avail, sadly).

Given the angle you have chosen to present, I've taken the liberty of throwing together a rough sketch of a possible direction for this tree. Rather than remove all 3 back trunks, I have kept the left-hand one at the back, as I think it best accentuates the flow of the lower trunk. Don't take the cruddy PhotoShop line work too literally - it's more like a rough game plan.

SReeve_Crepe_Sketch.jpg

Anyway, looks like years of fun!

Thanks for sharing.

Fly.

[Bretts]

I had heard that Crepe where very easily rooted. Yet they had the highest fail rate in the cuttings that I am doing at the moment. I heard they where almost as easy as willow. Maybe if I just stick them in water like I do with willow they will work? We have many constantly pruned ones in the neighborhood and I thought getting permission to cut some of the old gnarly wood would be the hardest part of the project. I ended up getting some pretty boring wood and only two 10mm size cuttings have started to callous when other species are much further ahead.
Danica is keen to have a crepe myrtle but I have blown the lets visit Sydney budget when I went to see Peter. It would be great if you could air layer one for me Steve but I can't say when I will be there next. We are meant to be heading north for a trip at some stage to do yamadori swaps and have a look around So that could work. I think the next definite I have for visiting Sydney will be the Bonsai by the Harbour
I fear it will be overcooked by the time we get there to pick it up
Thanks Kindly Mate, I think your package is at the post office waiting for us to pick it up

[kcpoole]

Nice tree Steve

Brett, Crepe is very easy to Airlayer and at the start of spring they will take less than 6 weeks to root.

I have down several, just wrap the branch in damp moss, Wrap with Glad wrap and come back in 6 weeks to cut it off.

Ken

[Bretts]

Thanks Ken what about Cuttings?

[sreeve]

G'day Ken - thanks for your comment.
I agree - they are really easy to air layer (must be if I can do it).

I have done up to 3"diameter with no problems. I think the only difference to other trees is that you really have to be 100% certain that you have cut well through the cambium layer otherwise it grows back together within the six weeks and all you end up with is a pot of spagnum moss and no roots - not to mention it being a bit embarassing

I havent tried a cutting, and probably wouldnt given that you can get big chunky air layers easily enough.

Regards
Steve

[sreeve]

Hi Fly
My apologies for not responding sooner but with a good day for once up here I rushed out the door and spent it on the water. I didn’t want to respond until I had some time to look at your virtual and the tree.

Thanks very much for spending the time to create the virtual. I am a bit mixed up about whether to remove the vertical trunks or make use of them.
I will keep the virtual, ponder over the next few months and lets see what happens…

One thing for sure is that I need to keep at least one of the vertical trunks for the time being as I will need a lot of sap flow to rebuild the bark / cambium layer after I hack off the other trunks. Crepe Myrtles aren’t the most friendly when it comes to covering up cutbacks. Mostly they seem to prefer to rot rather than heal over.

I don’t check EBAY very often. The last few times have been after a prompt from here and once that happens the price just goes up and up

On this occasion, there was not a mention here, and I suppose Crepe’s aren’t the most sought after tree. I like them though and was glad that I could buy it.

In future I will let you know when there is something worth buying on Ebay (after I buy it )

To be honest though, I reckon there are better buys on AusBonsai.

Reflecting on the last few sales, I have been disappointed……Not in the stock, but that I haven’t been able to buy it…..

There was an azalea I really wanted last week and it went……

Jow had a tree that I would have loved to buy, but it was pick up only and given that he is in Vic I couldn’t pick it up ….(my visa was revoked after my comments about my Mexican cousins the other week - now they are fighting words )

The other advantage on this site is that you can trust the person in that you wouldn’t get a bag of %@!!@$# ready for the green recycling bin

So I suppose I will keep my eyes open on EBAY, but I will keep two eyes open for sales on AusBonsai in future.

Regards
Steve

[kcpoole]

Thanks Ken what about Cuttings?

Sorry mate, only layers have I done
I have taken a few more than one
lots of shoots they did throw
as bonsai I do hope they grow
so finally they may be done

LOL

Who thought of these damn Limericks!! I cannot get them outta my head

[Bretts]

Bugger you KC I was half way through that paragraph before I realised it wasn't a paragraph
Thanks. I am going to have to try and remember who told me they root by cuttings as easy as willow. Maybe they know what works best?

[Damian Bee]

last photo looks good to me, the vertical looks like it is staked.
That is a nice score.