Corky Bark Elm Progression from nursery stock.

[zimzallabim]

I picked this up a few weeks ago from Bonsai World. I did a hard root prune and put it in a foam box.

Today I got sick of looking at the way the trunk was so I decided to do some wiring. I hope it sets and I haven't damaged the bark too much as it was some pretty severe bending!

This is after a hard prune and pot up. I didn't get before pics unfortunately but that first 99deg bend was below the soil in the nursery pot and it was an annoying surprise. Roots were also seriously bad and only coming from one side of the truck. Heavily root bound and had to cut back a heap is big think roots.





After today's wiring. Ta now a slant style and after repositioning the trunk almost all the branches are in perfect positions!
Front?

Back

Top


How do these go with wire scars? As the wire is pretty tight. Also I hope for some very low buds to use as sacrifice branches for base thickening. Fingers crossed!

Any feed back would be great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zimzallabim]

Haven't been here in a while. Just gave this a trim as it shot off hard early spring.

Really hoping for some trunk thickening this growing season!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[judithturner]

I hope that everything will be ok

[melbrackstone]

I believe the best way to get the trunk to thicken is to let the apex grow long.... if you want appreciable changes you could have that tree in the box for years, growing long, trunk chop, growing long, trunk chop, and so on, until the trunk is the thickness you want.

[Ray M]

Haven't been here in a while. Just gave this a trim as it shot off hard early spring.

Really hoping for some trunk thickening this growing season!

Hi zimallabim,
The tree should grow quite well in the mix you have it in. There is a lot of non organic material in the mix so fertilizer is important. Get some Seamungus and Dolomite Lime. Sprinkle a plastic cup, (supplied with the Seamungus), over the soil. Then sprinkle some Dolomite Lime over the soil as well. This must be watered in immediately, don't leave it sitting on the top of the soil. If any of the Dolomite Lime has accidentally got onto the foliage, wash it off as you are watering it into the soil. Chinese Elms love this combination of fertilizer.

How do these go with wire scars? As the wire is pretty tight.

If you fertilize the tree it will grow fairly quickly. Therefore, the tree will scare very easily. I know it's a lot of work, but you will need to keep a close eye on the wire and remove and rewire as soon as you see any sign of biting in.

Regards Ray

[shibui]

Corky elms don't appear to be frightened down here Ray

Therefore, the tree will scare very easily

Most trees will show marks from wire so always watch and remove wire before marks occur. I find that it is not necessary to have wires on for a long time. Most bends are set in just a couple of months, sometimes even quicker with younger wood.
Fertiliser is very important when pots are watered often.

Bonsai are a bit like kids. When they are always around you don't notice how much they are growing. You'll probably need to take some measurements to be able to appreciate how much it is actually thickening. Melbrackstone is absolutely correct that unrestrained growth will give the most rapid thickening however unrestrained growth and rapid thickening can sometimes have detrimental results for bonsai - large scars, loss of taper and more.

There is a limit to how fast trees will grow under any given conditions and bonsai growers must just learn to be patient.

[Ray M]

Corky elms don't appear to be frightened down here Ray

Therefore, the tree will scare very easily

Glad to hear the trees are so strong down there!!!
Sorry for the fopar.

Have a great Christmas folks.

Regards Ray

[zimzallabim]

this tree was growin amazingly, i had acheieved alot of ramification of branches within like 8 months

I decided to do a repot while it was growing strongly and try to correct the terrible root. they were really bad only coming from onw point. So i root pruned and scared around the base to encourage new roots.

unfortunately I was too agressive and the tree did not recover. i will post a photo later to show the branches i grew for some feed back for nbext time