Suggestions for Chinese elm development

[Lenny]

Okay so I just bought this Chinese Elm on the weekend, and don't really have a clue what I'm doing!
I wired it myself (bit worried that I haven't done it correctly), and I'm unsure of which to make the 'front' view.
Any criticism/comments/advice would be greatly appreciated
Sorry in advance if I've posted this in the wrong place...

[rowan]

A chinese elm is always a great buy for a beginner. Your wiring is very neat but I suggest you take it off this baby as it will start to grow fast and the wire will bite in quickly. I suggest you put it in a bigger pot then let it grow as much as it will for a year. That will thicken it up. Don't worry, they backbud easily so when it is ready you can cut it back, and it will still be flexible enough to wire then.

Because the bonsai bug bites so hard and we can be very impatient, I also suggest that you go to your nursery and buy a bigger plant to experiment on until this cutie gets old enough to style. You just need something to do while you are waiting.

Cheers,
Rowan

[craigw60]

Now that you have put the wire on you might as well put some curves into the trunk unless you want a straight trunked tree. As Rowan said the wire will dig in pretty quickly but some gentle wire marks will not hurt your tree as it has lots of growing to do. When you repot it into a larger container plant it on a slight angle which will give you extra movement in the trunk.
Craigw

[Andrew Legg]

Hi Lenny,

This little tree has the potential to become many things. Do you have a end-result in mind for it? Any idea what you may want it to look like one day? Have a look at images of bonsai on the net and in books and see what style you like. At that point you can get advice on how to get there.

Your tree is a great species for a beginner, so you can only have a positive experience with it. It is very young still though and one of our key objectives in bonsai is to create the impression of age in trees. I would agree with others here in that you should in the interim plant it into a much bigger container and just let it grow. If you know what you wnat the trunk to look like, bend it now, but otherwise the wire serves no purpose and should be removed for now.

Good luck and all the best for 2011!

Cheers,

Andrew

[Lenny]

Thanks for the advice so far guys! I already have a nice cream pot lined up for this one, just wondering if now is okay to re-pot it with all the hot/humid weather? If I do re-pot it, do I root prune, or 'cause it's such a young tree just leave it be? I was just a little unsure which is why I haven't re-potted it yet.
I'm so impatient, I just want it to grow haha. I've attached a photo of what I'd eventually want it to look like (hopefully) or something quite similar anyway...any tips would be appreciated
I do have a Japanese maple that I've had for about 4/5 years now, so I'll just occupy myself with that one for now, until this one gets older!

[craigw60]

Hi Lenny, I admire your ambition you will need to field grow your tree for at least 10 years to achieve that and lift it to prune the roots once every couple of years
The tree you want to copy is fantastic and there is no reason you can't have one similar with time
Craigw

[Lenny]

Thanks for the advice so far! Just wondering about re-potting and so on (see my post a little above, where I attached the photo of what I'd want my bonsai to eventually look like). Just 'cause the tag that came with it (species name, etc) says only to root prune in Winter, so I was unsure as to whether or not I should root prune it? I would like to re-pot it within the next 2 weeks. And I just wanted to make sure that it's definitely okay to re-pot it in the Summer (though it has been raining for about a week straight here, and very very humid!). I do have a few bonsai books and there isn't really a mention as to when to not re-pot your bonsai...

Thanks.

[paddles]

I'm assuming that you are going to pot it into a bigger pot to let it grow out a bit, in which case, you are just slip potting it (not disturbing its roots(which is fine to do now)) however if you are planing to put it into a smaller pot/bonsai dish, then you would be better to leave it till next winter. root pruning at this time of the year for most plants is a no no....

if (and this would be my suggestion) you intend to put it either into the ground, or into a grow box, do it tomorrow! use a good quality potting mix if putting it into a grow box, and if you are putting it into the ground, prepare to have elms popping up left right and centre forever after.

in order to turn it into the tree you wish to produce, you are going to have to put it into the ground/growbox......

Just re-read your post, I would suggest that rather than an ice-cream container, you get a polystyrine box and pot it into that, elms will put out roots and thicken fairly quickly.

I also urge you to join a club (there are several around Melb) one of the joys of clubs is organised dig days where you can get more mature stock for free..