Privet direction

[Isitangus]

Hi forumers, hoping to get some direction on ongoing maintenance of this privet. It suffered a bit of leaf die back during the extreme heat but has recovered well. Question is it has back budded quite a bit, am I best to let this grow for a bit then cut back to help with ramification or will this undergrowth affect the canopy? I want to fill in some areas in the canopy and round it out a bit more. Happy for any critiques, suggestions etc, all will be greatly appreciated, good or bad!
Please excuse the tapatalk hosted pics, it wouldn't let me upload any other way due to "forum restrictions"

Cheers
Angus






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[AnneK]

Hi Isitangus,

You have got yourself unless I am very mistaken, what we call the large leaf privet. Ligustrum Lucidum. There will be many who will tell you that it is not the best material for bonsai. After many years working on this species and the smaller leafed ones; I am slowly beginning to reluctantly agree with them. However you have it in captivity now; so why waste that effort. That was the position I was in 16 years ago. I now have a Clump style tree in a very nice pot. I occasionally show it at club shows. That will be the height of it's exposure.

Your tree is looking really promising in that it has been I suspect, in the past regularly trimmed with shears. From a bonsai view the top is too topiarly shaped to look like a natural tree. If you were to break into that shaping so that you can see formed pads with space between them it would be much more tree like.

Like any privet it will not be happy with watering shortage. Like any privet it will be quite vigorous in the root system and needs repotting twice a year to maintain leaf quality. (May and October).
A bonsai pot that breaks the size of the trunk guide/rule in depth is advisable to partly counter this. Eg use the deepest pot you can without offending the eye.

Defoliate in the coldest last half of the NSW winter. Continuously snip back to two leaves to maintain your shape. If needing to extend save four leaves.

Throw fertiliser at it like it at least as much as any other bonsai tree. Wire early or just use the cut and grow method. Weights or tension wire will work too.

Do not let your tree flower, bad protocol, in the light of all Councils' Noxious list. Lastly don't try to exhibit it at the Easter Show. The organisers do not appreciate bonsai or anyone submitting a very popular bonsai species. Sleep well on the brownie points you will have gained in their eyes by removing one more privet from the national countryside. And do try a small leafed version sometime. Ligustrum Sinense.

Good Luck, AnneK.

[kcpoole]

Going by what AnneK sugested, Separating each of the foliage areas do more definite pads and then working each to develop ramification
You will need to wire the branches to put them into better positions to separate them

Ken

[Bonsaitrees (Craig)]

Interested to know how you came to this "exact" design , even without clear pics LOL.

[kcpoole]

Interested to know how you came to this "exact" design , even without clear pics LOL.

I assume you are referring to my suggestion? A bit more info in the post might help.
If so, there is no such thing as a exact design here.

Same as anyone should do, look at the structure of the branches and either use them as is to build the structure of the tree and place foliage, or remove them and start again.
As I prefer more slender trees then i could use what is there to base the design on rather than the satandard response of "stick it in the ground and thicken up for a few years"

Ken

[Isitangus]

Thanks for all the direction and advice.
Anne can I ask why this species of privet are not favoured? It seems to have a nice small leaf- I do have a small leaf privet also but that is just a starter.

I agree with what you have all said re the foliage, it's amazing when you look at a tree and think it looks ok, then a fresh set of ideas changes your plan for the tree!

It's in an oversize pot as when I came into it e pot was way too small and not retaining water, it has recovered well since then.

If your asking how I came do this design I can't claim it was mine, I picked it up during a club meeting.

Angus

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[kcpoole]

Thanks for all the direction and advice.
Anne can I ask why this species of privet are not favoured? It seems to have a nice small leaf- I do have a small leaf privet also but that is just a starter.

It looks like it is a Large leaf one rather than the small leaf which will reduce even further.
A clearer Pic of the foliage will help

Ken

[AnneK]

[quote="Isitangus"]Thanks for all the direction and advice.
Anne can I ask why this species of privet are not favoured? It seems to have a nice small leaf- I do have a small leaf privet also but that is just a starter.

All privet out there even those removed from the bush, (Yes bonsai people do, —do there bit. Generally better than all the poison the councils chuck around.) are subject to natural seed variation. Then depending on the treatment each owner gives their trees; position/sun/feed/shade/trim/soil they can all respond differently. A friend of mine has a large leaf one in a Sydney suburb about 15km further south, his is stumpy and bushy, mine is lean and sparse by comparison. To make my point: mine is visually a bit like I am trying to bonsai a garden camelia. If you want to try to get things nearer to scale the smaller leaved ones do this with a lot less visual compromise. With a large leaf you have to keep your tree for a period to learn if yours will perform to any vision you may have. By comparison; example: you love a friend's styling of a young small leaf privet, then it would not be impossible for that tree's styling to be copied. With the large leaf in a bonsai pot not all have the vigour to do this, so that each one has to be, to a large extent a balance of what you would like and what the tree is planning. Yet we know, put it back in the ground (Please don't!), it would go wild and spread. My neighbour has several 35 foot high large leaf covered in dark berries each year. Oh! If only were possible to harvest and make wine, because that is what it looks like.

I hope that convoluted answer helps.

Regards, AnneK.

[squizzy]

I may be way off the mark but this tree looks nothing like the large leaf privet I know. I would definitely have said this is the small leaf privet. I know the large one to have a leaf about 80mm long x 50mm wide or there about. Its shape is also different. I cant remember my leaf shapes from tafe but elliptical? with a point ( similar to a camellia japonica). As far as design goes ken has given you good direction and a refreshing change from" stick it in the ground" but stick it in the ground is what we should all be doing .

Good luck with it either way.

Squizz

[MattA]

Have to agree with Squizzy, this is definitely not large leaf privet (Ligustrum lucidam), it is Ligustrum sinense (small leaf privet) the leaf shapes are very different, L.lucidam will reduce its leaves to about the same size as a regular L.sinense leaf, L.sinense in bonsai care will produce the tiniest of leaves....

[AnneK]

Hi Angus,

Yes I have to agree with the others; I jumped in a bit quick there, I usually don't read —this time I didn't look well enough either. I still stand by every opinion that I gave re the Lucidum and Sinense and the Easter Show!

And I wish you even greater luck with your tree.

Regards, AnneK.