a beginner's elm project

[AndreasM]

I have read a few amazing progressing threads on this forum now. Experienced practitioners showing their craft. it is inspirational and great to see.

this one will be slightly different. I am workign on my very first tree. a small chinese elm which I got last year in December 2023.

In this thread I will post my learning journey. already knowing that I am making some basic mistakes.

the elm looked like this when i got it. The seller suggested it may have been from 2017 and was placed on that pot in January of 2023.

Elm December 2023.jpg

I kept it alive most of the year until it almost died while I was on holiday: i clearly gave poor instructions for its care. luckily it began to recover.

Elm December 2023.jpg

By earlier this month (November 2024) it has well recovered to look like this:

Elm 2 November 2024.jpg

[AndreasM]

So now I am probably committing my next mistake. I decided to put it in a grow pot (a cut off nursery pot) so that it can grow a bit more. Probably a bad move sue to the time of year, and the proximity to its near demise.

I re-potted the Chinese elm into a grow pot with better potting mix. I included a rock to see if the roots will grow over the rock. Not having done this before, I did not tie the roots over the rock with wires or twine, so it may not work; another beginner's mistake I guess.

Before the repotting

Repot before 28112024.jpg

This is what the roots looked like when I had it out of the pot

repot roots 28112024.jpg

I also tried to work with the tree’s shape by leaning it slightly to emphasise the curve. I am currently considering a semi-cascade or windswept design as the tree develops.

and here it is after repotting and in its final position.

After report in position 28112024.jpg

Next steps will include trying to work our which branches to wire to support the likely design choices early, and to consider which ones I should cut off now, so the energy can focus on other branches. But may be after the tree has had a rest.

[kcpoole]

Tis only young.
Let all branches go mad to thicken trunk as you can take them all off later and regrow them after developing trunk

Ken

[TimS]

Welcome to Chinese Elm!

They are very forgiving species and will tolerate uneven watering well unlike many others, so it should be a good learning experience for you with less stress than there might otherwise be.

Chinese elm are able to grow rampantly, bud on old wood and create beautiful twiggy growth so they are a great starting point to understand the different stages of bonsai development.

When I first started out I just enjoyed having plants in pots like yours for a few years before I got seriously into specimen trees and I had more fun with what you have than I ever have with the refined trees.

Enjoy it, watch how it grows and what effects your trimming has on the growth habit for how you would like it to look in 5 years, 10 years and so on.

People will tell you to plant it in the ground to thicken the trunk quickly. I don’t necessarily advocate that, especially with Chinese elm, for 2 reasons. 1 Chinese elm sucker from roots so you will forever have Chinese elms in your garden after that, and secondly unless you know what you are doing to prune and shape the tree in the ground you can end up with ugly growth and shapes very quickly. A good halfway option is to use a larger pot to get a similar result more slowly so you can keep an eye on it.

But nothing happens that fast in bonsai, so my advice is just enjoy it, have fun, see how you like the demands that bonsai brings over your life (being around to do the watering being the biggest) and take it all from there later

[AndreasM]

Tis only young.
Let all branches go mad to thicken trunk as you can take them all off later and regrow them after developing trunk

Ken

Many thanks. I was wondering about something like that. I will try to remain patient and do this.it is a tiny trunk for an allegedly 7-year-old tree.

[AndreasM]

When I first started out I just enjoyed having plants in pots like yours for a few years before I got seriously into specimen trees and I had more fun with what you have than I ever have with the refined trees.

Enjoy it, watch how it grows and what effects your trimming has on the growth habit for how you would like it to look in 5 years, 10 years and so on.

Will do.

People will tell you to plant it in the ground to thicken the trunk quickly. I don’t necessarily advocate that, especially with Chinese elm, for 2 reasons. 1 Chinese elm sucker from roots so you will forever have Chinese elms in your garden after that, and secondly unless you know what you are doing to prune and shape the tree in the ground you can end up with ugly growth and shapes very quickly. A good halfway option is to use a larger pot to get a similar result more slowly so you can keep an eye on it.

Well, growing in the ground is not an option at this point anyway. no space, and i think the family would have, well, opinions about that.

But nothing happens that fast in bonsai, so my advice is just enjoy it, have fun, see how you like the demands that bonsai brings over your life (being around to do the watering being the biggest) and take it all from there later

Yes, I managed to keep it alive in the small pot that I purchased it in for the year (until the holiday instructuctions I left were lacking), so will now see about growing it as a next stage based on your and Ken's advice.

[AndreasM]

So the elm went crazy over summer in its grow pot.

And I can see the trunk thickening.

So I thought today I’ll try to make another mistake so I can learn something else.

Despite the definite progress in trunk thickening I felt I wanted ‘to do something’ and i cut the branches that were going in the ‘wrong’ direction today.

What is left now are all branches that are going in the general direction I want it to go, and thicken the trunk, I think, where I want it to. No idea of course, but trying to learn.

Question I ask myself now is, do I shorten these straggly branches? Or do I just let them grown longer and longer?


After summer growing, before cutting done branches.


The thickening trunk. (At least compared to where it was).



After my pruning attempt.

That bottom one could probably go too, but more wondering whether ti cut the other branches shorter (but keeping them).

Any advice appreciated


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[TimS]

Nice work, the fork looks quite natural and normal to me and certainly like the movement of the trunkline going upwards there with the interesting turns.

There's no need to force a windswept movement to it early on if you want to go that way with it (how it appears now), let the tree speak to you rather than pushing it to be something is my advice especially with windswept/ wind affected styles as they can look contrived easily

Do you have an intention for how large the future tree is you want? It's only young, so you can really do what you like at this stage, but working towards a plan is often easier than planning on the fly

[AndreasM]

Nice work, the fork looks quite natural and normal to me and certainly like the movement of the trunkline going upwards there with the interesting turns.

There's no need to force a windswept movement to it early on if you want to go that way with it (how it appears now), let the tree speak to you rather than pushing it to be something is my advice especially with windswept/ wind affected styles as they can look contrived easily

Thank you. I am really just trying to work with the curve that was already there. If you go back to original Dec 2023 picture the curve and the fork I was there already; I am mostly trying not to interfere with that. And to me it seems to naturally want to grow into that windswept style. Not wiring it at all at this point.

Do you have an intention for how large the future tree is you want? It's only young, so you can really do what you like at this stage, but working towards a plan is often easier than planning on the fly

I honestly don’t know. That is, I am at the stage where I don’t know what I don’t know. So I guess I am going on the fly for the size and see when it feels right. I think that is the lack of experience.


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[TimS]

Don’t worry about planning too much then just have fun with it elm will keep throwing buds so you can make decisions down the track when you feel ready to