AusBonsai

This is a Zelkova {Japanese Grey Bark Elm} that was removed from the boundary at my place , it suffered constant die back over the 12 years i have been at this house .Iremoved the tree and potted it into a large bowl pot .With only 3 main side branches i decided to multi layer the trunk to produce 4 good trainers . The ring bark method was used , however the lower 2 calloused over so i reset them all last week . Roots were present so care was taken , next time i will use a combination of Ring Bark and Wire loop to prevent the callous from joining the ring bark together . .The reason for the die back was discovered when the tree was dug , it was buried over 12 inches deep in waterlogged red clay by the previous owner possible 15-20 ago . The multi layer was attempted because there was sufficient side growth to feed each layer . Trunks on the trainer will range from 90mm at the base of the tree to 40 mm at the top layer .Cheers Alpineart

These are the layers in their first independant season .They were removed without any roots only the callous as the failed to form .The base is 90mm on the original trunk and 65mm high , strange but true the order they were layered is the order of shooting , bottom to top ?.I cant explain this one ! .I did take 1 cutting and it is still green so we will see it bursts or dies

nice alpine

you should have some good shohin stock to work with next year

Hi Jamie , no shohin stock here , typo in the post its actually 650mm high .The others are 300 mm plus in height without the seasons growth .They will all be used as layer trunks while i style the bases for the future .There's more to bonsai than cutting everything down to Shohin .Cheers Alpine

and the three on the left in the last pic?

Hi Jamie ,2 of the smaller ones have 50mm trunks 100mm high then a 20mm original side branch as the new leader .They will need to grow for a season or 2 to heal the large cut by then they will be ready for layering the tops off for instant pre bonsai .The growth on these is quite rampant .It grew quite slow in the original ground as it was water logged in winter and rock hard in summer , die back was a constant problem.I don't think it will be an issue this season the main trunk has been pinched out 3 time already and is producing constant side shoots .

I want to use these as trainers and layer material for larger styled trainers .At a guess it will be 3-4 years before i get to have enough stock of a decent size to play with .The main trunks apex is almost ready to layer off , this layer will be 350mm however its trunk will only be 25mm thick ,looking at pumping it to 50mm will take several seasons removing layers as the years tick by .The main trunk will be a broom at around 700-800mm high with a trunk around 100mm plus .The 2 main leaders are already set so the apex {old side branch} could be removed or layered now .Layering just gives me another trainer and it will be pre-styled then it will need to grow on to thicken and the cycle continues .I don't expect to have a well styled trainer for another season at best .Cheers Alpine

I like your future vision for these layers Alpine. All planned out and you know what you intend to do with them. I hope it all works for you.

By the way, that procedure you use for layering is excellent. It's a lot easier than using clear plastic sheeting - especially on vertical layers, as you've done on your trunk. I've used it a few times myself since you first explained how you do it and what you use, and I haven't had a failure yet.

Hi Tman ,i alway plan a tree's future even when i collect yamadori . Mind you they can sit idle for quite some time before i get to actually pre-style or train .Some tree's are collected and styled the same day , a big No No according to some but i do it regularly as personal experience shows its more than possible .I've killed more than my far share pushing the outer limits and i'm still learning . Probably keener now than 30 years ago .

Anyone can talk the talk , but how many have walked the walk .I still have Pines here that no-one to date have been able to identify , i'm still testing fertilizers , mediums .About to set 3 dozen layers on the Acer Palmatums here , then i will tackle some layers on a mates big Blue Spruce , no info available as to how or when to do Spruce or if it will work .Try it and see or i will never know , if it doesn't work try it again , different time , different method .There's never a dull moment around here , still trying to find info on the root stock they graft Arizona Blue Spruce onto .I have asked here , no answer so research continues .Cheers Alpine

Good job mate

This is one of the layers on a layer i referred too in another post . I finally got around to removing the top off and now have more stock to play with . The layer on these Zelkova's can get excellent root masses in a short period .This red pot was full and the main medium i used was scoria . The very same mix i pot all my tree's in nowadays . I could have removed this many months ago , but that didn't happen like a lot of tasks around here .The lower trunk has had an infestation of slaters so it looks like it will have a big shari or hollowed section down the front . I will allow them both to settle them trim them back and pre wire ready for next season .

Cheers Alpineart