Flame Style Gingko

Geodude

Recent BonsaiCam #3 has reminded me that I have a gingko in development that I'd like to make into the "classic" flame style. All the branches seem to shoot straight up on mine. The question is, how does one achieve the flame style? Should I bend the branches so that they flare out wider on the side? Do I need to think about ramification and such?

If someone can post pictures of their flame style gingko with the branches showing, that would be a real help. And maybe one from the top as well.

Thanks.

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Paul

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When I paint my materpiece"

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TreeBay

I think there's a nice one in the museum already

Here:

http://pictures.bonsaitalk.com/showphoto.php?photo=254

and here:

http://pictures.bonsaitalk.com/showphoto.php?photo=1253

What you should do really depends on what you have, so if you post a picture, we can go from there.

All the Ginkgo in the Museum:

http://pictures.bonsaitalk.com/key/ginkgo

Regards,

Matt

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Geodude

Thanks, Matt. I saw those, but I still can't figure out what happens to the branches. Please see below; A or B or does it matter?

Sorry for the crude sketch :-).

Attached Images

gingko sketch.jpg (12.5 KB, 105 views)

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Paul

"Life will be sweet like a rhapsody
When I paint my materpiece"

TreeBay

Well it is a torch style, so if you follow the theme of a flame, that's basically it.

Closer to A than B anyway.

Here's another crude sketch for you

Attached Images

flame.jpg (13.9 KB, 101 views)

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Jur

It's great! But can somebody explain how to train and force gingko to sprout this way?

TreeBay

Developing a thick, tapering trunk in Ginkgo is difficult, because they grow slowly and do not heal wounds well. This eliminates the possibility of chopping older material, creating large wounds and expecting (hoping it might heal well)

The choices then are to layer older material with promising characteristics (ginkgo layers easily) or to apply cutbacks to younger material, which still has the capacity to heal.

In field growing, you can promote the growth of multiple basal shoots by a process called stooling, commonly used for propagation. After heading back the plant, the trunk is buried under a mound of soil. Multiple adventitious buds develop all over the plant in the next couple of years. Later, the mound is uncovered and the well-placed branches are selected and developed.

This is just one method, and I will say again that what you need to do depends on what you have, and where you want to go, with it. If you can post a picture, I'm sure you'll get more specific help.

Regards,

Matt

Attached Images

flaming_sm.jpg (13.9 KB, 100 views)

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jersanct

Reviving an old topic here:

I have been trying to develop a young Gingko by growing it in the ground. Unfortunately, the trunk has grown into a bit of a "bow" or "c" shape, which of course isn't good. To be honest, I bought this a few years ago as a cutting, and I'm willing to bet it had this unwanted characteristic at the time, when I didn't know to steer clear of it.

In any case, when TreeBay mentions that younger material can pruned more severely, how young would material have to be for this treatment? If my tree (twig) was propagated any more than 3 years ago, I'd be surprised. I'm wondering if I can cut back the trunk severely to work on the shape over time, or if I should: a) give this one up for lost, or b) air-layer it and start over again.

Thanks very much for any advice.

andrew lenden

cut back as hard as you like, young material will be more vigourous and heal quicker but in my experiance you can cut as hard as you like and they,ll come back.

TreeBay

In referring to "older material" above I should have distinguished this better as "developed material in bonsai containers." In the ground trees will grow much more vigorously, and ginkgoes can live to be ancient (there are some that are hundreds of years old around temples in Japan) so returning the oldest gingko you could possibly find (50 years?) you could expect it to behave the same way, with rapid growth if you were to hypothetically put it in the ground.

The danger would be in expecting a ginkgo to heal well in the confines of a bonsai pot, or even a nursery container. I have some that were developed from ground layers and clumps that are 35 years old, and they are showing little sign of healing over. One even has an axe wound in the trunk from where it was separated from the mother tree. It's been in containers all its life and the wounds are all still there.

So free growth = callus tissue and wound healing. It won't happen overnight and it is extremely unlikely that a ginkgo wound larger than a dime or so is going to heal well if the tree is in a bonsai pot and not growing rapidly.

Regards,

Matt

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