Recent Acquisition - Please Advise I

23-Dec-2003

veblen

bonsaiTALK Journeyman

Join Date: Dec-2003

Location: Little Rock, AR

Country: USA

USDA Zone: 7b

AHS Heat Zone: ?

Posts: 42

Recent Acquisition - Please Advise I

Hello All,

This is my first time posting. My sense is that this is where I should post. If not I apologize. I trust the image will be attached. I would like to know:

1. The genus and species. Common name.

2. Ideas to creating into a bonsai.

This plant is approximately 2.5 inches tall. I apologize for the image - I've had to crop to this.

I appreciate your time and efforts and look forward to your response.

Attached Images

img_0505 copy.jpg (66.4 KB, 166 views)

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23-Dec-2003	#2
Treebeard Tree herder Join Date: Aug-2002 Location: Maidenhead Country: England USDA Zone: 8b AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 2,200	Given the time of year my advice would be: let it grow! let it grow! let it grow! Seasonal regards, TB __________________ "Do not be hasty, that is my motto" -JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers. ----------------------------------- christopherguise.co.uk

23-Dec-2003	#3
FredL Banned 08JUN2005 Join Date: Dec-2001 Location: Benton County Country: USA USDA Zone: 6 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 1,099	Looks pretty clearly to be Red, sometimes called Sweet Gum. Latin name: Liquidambar styraciflua. Common forest tree of the Eastern US, tending to grow fairly early in the Eastern Hardwood Forest succession and, while not exactly a Pioneer Species is also not generally found in Climax Forests. It can get quite large, but is more commonly seen in mixed stands gowing in abandoned fields. As a bonsai, this tree is generally considered a reasonable, if not an ideal choice. It has a closely related cousin in the Far East, whose Latin name I forget, that is used occasionally which is considered a somewhat better species for bonsai. I'm personally not so sure this is true and I attribute it to the general predjudice in favor of Asian species. It is true that the leaves, even when potted, are a little larger than you'd like them to be and the growth is a little more rank and leggy than ideal. I'd say it's a tree worth developing and, while challenging, is not an unreasonable choice for Bonsai. Good luck, Fred

23-Dec-2003	#4
BonsaiMon bonsaiTALK Master Craftsman Join Date: Sep-2002 Location: Va Beach Country: USA USDA Zone: 8 AHS Heat Zone: 6,7 Posts: 676	I agree with Fred , Sweet Gum would be my ans. as to growing for Bonsai I'd have to agree with TB give it a number of years to gain some girth in the trunk and then begin to create the tree. ..btw if helps in giving advise if we know your growin zone __________________ peace, tom stoute http://bonsaiinsights.spaces.live.com/

23-Dec-2003	#5
veblen bonsaiTALK Journeyman Join Date: Dec-2003 Location: Little Rock, AR Country: USA USDA Zone: 7b AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 42	Growing Zone Hi, First let me say thank you for your responses Fred, TB, and BonsaiMon. My growing zone is 7b. Should I pinch of buds and defoliate in June or July? Should I just let it grow in the pot without any pruning or anything for 2-3 years? I hope to get comments on bonsai development for this plant. Thanks again. V.

23-Dec-2003	#6
Bonsainut Carrier of Bonsai Fever Join Date: Oct-2001 Location: So-Cal, US of A Country: America The Beautiful USDA Zone: Zone 9-10 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 1,833	Ver, Welcome to you, thanks for posting. Good advice above as always. When someone says let er grow, you have some options. Leave it in the pot its in. water feed sun. Move to a larger pot. water feed sun. move to the ground. water feed sun. The more soil for your tree to grow roots in the more bigger it get, obvious. Once established in whatever place you put it you might put some bends in the trunk for future interest. __________________ Keep growing,---'Nut Lethal Use of Farce

23-Dec-2003	#7
FredL Banned 08JUN2005 Join Date: Dec-2001 Location: Benton County Country: USA USDA Zone: 6 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 1,099	Veblen, this tree is very early in the process of creating a bonsai. It may help for you to think in terms of this being the stage in which you are not working on creating a bonsai, but are working to develop pre-bonsai material. Now, the idea in selecting pre-bonsai material is to look for a good nebari (base) and trunk. Therefor, it follows, that at this stage you should be concentrating on creating a good base and trunk, with the limbs coming later. Roots also need attention because they are the key to a good base. The best place for a tree this early in its life is in either a grow box or in a garden bed. I favor grow boxes, though I have trees growing in both places. I think the roots develop much better and the tree grows almost as fast. I have made grow boxes from lumber, but prefer to drill holes in the bottoms of 10 to 16 quart plastic wash basins or other sorts of inexpensive plastic boxes. This makes them about twice or three times as big as a bonsai pot you might put the tree in, which encourages growth. When the tree is potted in the growbox, perhaps next Spring, the roots should be pruned to encourage a flat, wide spreading form. Sweet Gum is pretty resilient, so don't be afraid to cut the tap root pretty short. You will then wire the trunk to give it some movement, unless you are going for a style with a straight trunk. There is little point to wiring the branches at this point; branch development won't really start for a couple more years. At this point, you get out of the way and let the tree grow until it is really threatening to get out of hand. At that point, you start to do some preliminary pruning and shaping. All told, you can expect this process of working with the tree as "pre-bonsai material" for 3 to 10 years. Sweet Gum grows really fast for a bonsai species, so, probably for this tree, 3 to 5 years. John Naka's book "Bonsai Techniques I" has some pretty good information on this process of developing trees that really aren't much past the seedling stage and I recommend it highly. A good soil mix is critical. Naka also deals with this issue. Hope this has been helpful in creating a general framework for you. Fred

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