AusBonsai

Just realised you can see the box eldar maple in a previous pic when planted

Nice brett
I dug a Maple out of the ground last week that hed been there for a year too.

Love the Buzz you get when you do then see the resuts . I put mine in an orchid pot now to develop branching and in a few shot years hope to have a nice tree

Ken

Hi Brett, your field grown trees are looking great, re-elm query they almost never seem to make really nice root bases like a trident does. I generally cut the roots back very very hard which they don't seem to object to at all and it forces them to throw out more finer roots.
Have often wondered why this species doesn't feature more prominently in Japanese collections and I suspect it may have something to do with their unruly roots.
Craigw

Hey KC, yep the changes can be dramatic when they are in the ground Good luck with the maple.

Thanks Craig, still some to learn. I should say that I would not do raised beds again. I heard once that everything grows better in raised beds but maybe this area is a little too small for the size of the raised beds I would need for trees? Also to this I would bury deeper as you suggested last year as I did have some issues with erosion on a few of the trees.
Thanks for the advice with elm roots. The funny thing is I have elms growing wild in my yard but haven't created bugger all from them yet. Mostly I think because they never have any decent roots. We do see some great Chinese elm bonsai with great nebari so it can be done. I know Don was surprised at my comment that they are not the most compliant with making the roots we like. I did dig up a little root over rock elm yesterday and was very happy with the result.
Elms usually aren't great for root over rock never seeming to clasp the rock convincingly but this one had grown strong and the roots actually flattened out some on the rock and should be a nice little tree in the future.

Yes Brett by burying the trees deeper you get more fine roots around the nebari so its not so stressful to the tree when you cut off the big ones and often you get nice fine roots to replace them
One thing with the raised beds is that its important not to over fill them, if you do that they are difficult to water and mulch everything just runs off. It may also be a climatic thing the part of the garden where mine are is very wet.
Your right there are a great many good chinese elms around but not in Japan, I have 5 albums from Kokufu and from all 5 albums there are only 2 chinese elms both the corked bark form and both superb trees with great nebari but a pretty low representation.
Craigw

Hi Craig, re Chinese Elms, the Taiwanese have grown some beautiful examples of Ulmus parvifolia and Zelkova serrata. Check out the Taiwan Bonsai Creators galleies here: http://sidiao.myweb.hinet.net/ Click on the link for English website and then on gallery.

Cheers,
Mojo

For example this tree:
Cheers,
Mojo

Thanks for the link Mojo.

Gavin