AusBonsai

I thought I'd start a progression series on my big crepe branch cutting. I seems to have survived and now has many shoots and roots. I had my eye on a branch of the tree out front for some time, but couldn't layer it as the neighbours wouldn't be able to keep their mits off it, not knowing why a someone would wrap a bunch of plastic and foil around a tree branch. So I finally got itchy fingers in June and hacked the branch off. I potted it up into 50:50 course sand and regular potting mix.

I'm thinking maybe in November I'll shorten the branches. My virt is the dream tree, but I'm not sure how short I should cut the branches.

Great start... One thing I notice is the branch forking 3 ways. Whenever you plan on shortening you branches, I would get rid on one of those 3. At the last national convention, Ryan Neil critiqued a number of trees. One of them was a beautiful old tree which had many triple forks and the foliage and ramification on them have the tree an amazing silouhette. Unfortunately, Ryan said that this tree will always be faulted and the owner would have to take a lot of major branches from the tree in order to give the tree a good future.

So, you have a good opportunity to start now!

Good luck

Adam

I agree and 2 branches from the 1 spot will tend to thicken it there and risk reverse taper developing.
Get rid of the middle one IMHO

Ken

Thanks guys!

Ken, when you say the middle one, do you mean the middle of the triple fork, or the one that points backwards in the very middle? I like the 2nd virt better, also this way would mean there wouldn't be a scar on the front.

Yes the middle on the left triple fork
I prefer the 1st virt as you get more movement and taper in the branch
the scar should heal and you could always make a Uro of the scar if you wished and make it a feature.

Ken

I shortened the branches back in November, but this time I used my dremel saw attachment instead of a hand saw. This resulted in some uneven dieback as the saw blade tends to burn the wood as it cuts. I didn't get a picture back then, but today I have tidied up the cut ends a little.

This got it's repot yesterday. Dad is convinced I've killed it repotting in winter... Not bad roots for a cutting. I'm going to hack another branch off this tree when I get back to Brisbane and smuggle it in my suitcase back home in pieces.



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Looking good, and with those roots I don't think I'd worry too much about survival. Nice structure to start with, should look pretty good in a few years.

I like this a lot
Tell your dad you know best

Ken

kcpoole wrote:Yes the middle on the left triple fork
I prefer the 1st virt as you get more movement and taper in the branch
the scar should heal and you could always make a Uro of the scar if you wished and make it a feature.

Ken

Hey Ken,what's an Uro, never heard of one, heard of a UFO.
Paul

They're the little o shaped holes you see on trunks with callous around them where branches used to be.

I ended up taking the other branch as in real life it just didn't look right to take the one suggested.


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Argh! This was going great until I wired it, then it's started to die back at the top. I've let some branches develop on the lower trunk to fatten the bottom a bit, do you think they're sucking too much energy? I've taken the wire off. They also got powdery mildew, so I sprayed with white oil, that was over a month ago, but it stopped thriving around then


On a plus note, the cuttings I took on August 5th are sprouted like mad things from day 2! One of them is massive, so I hope they live:

I think it was going to be better to remove the middle branch as Ken suggested...You have no much movement now there...You could have used the other side as front possibly.

Well I can't glue it back on unfortunately.

I am not asking you to glue it...but to learn.