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English Elm initial styling

Posted: July 19th, 2013, 10:48 pm
by pommie_mal
G'day folks,
Been a while since I posted here, mainly due to a few health problems, although I do visit the site fairly often.
This is an English Elm I purchased 2 years ago as a bare-rooted, fieldgrown, pre-bonsai. It's spent the last 2 years in 100% DE to re-establish itself & seems to have re-covered quite well. I decided tonight was the night to do a major styling & after several hours of work I've ended up with this. This is my first attempt at a broom style bonsai & the end result is quite rudimentary but I'm hoping it will provide the basic structure for future development. I had originally chosen the second photo as the front but later chose to turn it 180 deg. The scar at the base will hopefully become a feature with a bit of carving (uro?). I'm hoping the second branch on the left will back-bud closer to the trunk & can be cut back & ramified with better taper.
Any & all criticism is very welcome.
Original tree as purchased
corky_elm1.JPG
Earlier tonight
100_0962.jpg
Several hours later
100_0967.jpg

Re: English Elm initial styling

Posted: July 22nd, 2013, 3:50 pm
by Dario
Hi pommie_mal, hope you are over your health issues and good to see you posting again.
I think this tree could have a really bright future! Good on you for having a go at a broom style :tu2:
I see that you are hoping the right trunk back buds to give you something to cut back to.
If it was my tree I would have cut back both trunks to induce back budding (which an EE should to) to then build a future branch structure from.
Please update this tree in the future.
Cheers, Dario.

Re: English Elm initial styling

Posted: July 22nd, 2013, 5:16 pm
by pommie_mal
G'day Dario,
Thanks for the comments. I was thinking about cutting both main branches back but I'm not too sure how vigorous it will back-bud. This is my first English Elm so my knowledge & experience is pretty limited with this species. I would also like to pot it into a richer soil mix before spring & don't want to overstress the tree too much.
Mal.

Re: English Elm initial styling

Posted: July 22nd, 2013, 6:43 pm
by Dario
Hi pommie_mal, it looks like you did a nice job getting it nice and healthy over the last two years. In my experience elms generally bud back pretty vigorously if they are healthy. I agree that there is no need to rush though, so if you prefer to wait and see how it responds and then cut back :yes:
Can you see many nodes or buds on the lower trunk sections?
They are a great species and I am collecting a couple at the end of the month.
Cheers, Dario.

Re: English Elm initial styling

Posted: July 24th, 2013, 6:34 pm
by pommie_mal
Yes there appears to be quite a few very small buds lower down the main branches but I might wait to see if any develop before cutting the branches back. I'll repot it this weekend then wait until Spring to see what happens.