Celtis

imafriend40

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to the world of bonsai, but I'm enjoying it immensely. My question of the day is, do any of you have celtis, and if so, do you have any handy hints on the care, pruning etc of this delightful tree?

Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated

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bonsai_girl

Hi, i am australian too! and I have a celtis australis hackberry tree which is ten years old. the thing with celtis especially my type is they like the sun BUT their leaves burn easily! so try to keep it so it gets morning sun but afternoon shade (in the hottest part of the day!) i find that mine thrives this way. also I find it loves lots of water so you can water it every second day or so especially in summer and about twice per week in winter. I also find that the bark on these type of trees tend to scar easily from wiring so if you want to shape your tree then leave the wiring on for only 8 weeks then take it off and re wire again untill you get the shape you want. they cope well with pruning too so if it's looking a bit overgrown then you can trim it a bit! also every second year i defoliate my tree (take all the leaves off!) and they seem to grow back bigger and healthier!

thats about all i can think of for now! goodluck with your tree.

Bonsai_girl

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FredL

Hi Ausies!

As I understand it, Hackberry is a widely used tree for bonsai all over the world. I have seen excellent specimens from both Japanese and European sources. I'm not altogether sure what species is found and used where, but I know that here in the American Ozarks, the Field Guides tell us there are two common species, C occidentalis (generally known as Hackberry) and C. laevigata (generally known as Sugarberry, though sometimes this species is called Hackberry and C. occidentalis is called Sugarberry, according to my Field Guide). We are on the edge of the range of both species and I have found that as a practical matter they are indistinguishable and apparently interbreed freely. My own opinion, after looking at many, many examples in this area is that they are not true species at all. I have come to call what I see here "Sugarberry" because the majority of what I see looks marginally more like the pictures of C. laevigata in my Field Guide.

Fall 2001 I collected a pocketfull of berries from 3 or 4 trees in the woods near here and put them into 3 or 4 pots with bonsai soil to see what might happen. It seemed like the germination rate was about 200%; I've ended up with more 1 year old seedlings that I ever imagined I'd get. Plenty to do all kinds of experiments in developing bonsai material in grow beds and grow pots with every sort of variation in technique imaginable. I also collected a few older trees, so I'm starting to get to know this species.

It is, above all, a very hardy species with great tolerance for potting, working with the roots and surviving repotting out of season and poor care. I have not started wiring any of my trees, but it acts to me like it will be very accepting of wiring and likely to hold it's shape well. All together, a very easy tree to work with.

The big downside in this area is that it seems that every insect that flies or crawls loves to munch on its leaves, build galls in leaves, stems and buds and otherwise disfigure the foliage of this otherwise excellent species. It is unbelievable how much damage this species takes from insects. It is far and away the most actively eaten up species I've seen in this area, either bonsai or natural tree. This year, I will attempt to develop a spray regimen to deal with this problem but from what I've seen so far, it will surprise me if I ever really overcome this serious problem with these trees.

Altogether, I'm very impressed with the virtues of these trees and am looking forward to working with them further and learning more. Not to long ago, American Bonsai mentioned them in a short piece on excellent and under used species and C. laevigata was mentioned. I agreed.

Best regards, Fred

bonsai_girl

thanks for your information on celtis hackberry. I havent seen alot of hackberry bonsai tree pictures or information and i was starting to think it wasn't a common bonsai. mine is from european origins. anyway thanks for your post.

Bonsai_girl

__________________
My favourite Saying: "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"