Zelkova? Ulmus? Need species ID please...

rasWestin

Hello guys..

I've been checking out a local nursery (Bushnell Gardens Nursery) for the last few weeks, and they had a few beautiful bonsai specimen from Lone Pin Gardens in Sebastpool. One caught my eye in particular.. and so I ended up purchasing it.

I was originally told it was a Zelkova Serrata... but the employee didn't seem too sure of himself.. so I did a little research myself.. and sure enough I'm beginning to second guess it's original identification. I still believe it's a Zelkova or Ulmus strain.. but I need help identifiying it so I can research more specific care techniques.

It's got an acuminate leaf tip.. a triple serrate leaf margin (this is what through me off) and it has an obtuse base rather than oblique. The color is a lightish green (not quite as dark as an Ulmus Parvifolia for instance) and some of the newest growth has a redish/orange tint to it. I'll take pictures as soon as I get off work.

In the mean time I've got it in 3/4 sun with a fast draining soil. One full watering and a few light mistings per day and it's been SUPER happy... it's well due for a pruning but I don't want to snip it until I figure out that it's a summer-prunable species.

Hope you all can help me out with this one...

One love

Advertisement

Vance Wood

The red orangish tint seems to indicate it to be Zelkova. By the way Zelkova is a member of the Ulmus family and as such the care and culture are basically the same as far as I know.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

OKbonsai

I find that the Zelkova leaves become too large with my feeding schedule.
And the family is Ulmaceae, just a little anal I guess.

Vance Wood

Zelkova is one species that is traditionally defoliated on a constant basis plus the terminal buds are plucked. If the tree is kept in a small pot the leaves will remain on the small size, of course small pot is a relative term in relation to the size of the tree.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

OKbonsai

It doesn't really matter in my case the size of the pot, I fertilize everyday and the leaves get very big. Of course if I had the time to defoliate maybe I could keep the leaves at a desirable size. But the ones that just sit there get humongous leaves.

Vance Wood

Why do you fertilize every day? That's kind of over kill. I thought I did it a lot with once a week. Not meaning to be argumentative or confrontational but there is a question that needs to be thought about. If the idea in bonsai is to create the image of a mature tree in miniature why do you do the kind of things that insure failure in achieving that goal? I am not saying that you should withhold fertilizer, water or anything else the tree needs but fertilizing once a day is like bailing out a leaky boat by drilling holes in its bottom for the water to escape.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

OKbonsai

I fertilize with an injector system. I have to inject sulfuric acid because of my hard water which in turn also lowers my ph from 7 to 5.6. It was also recommended to add fertilizer. So when I water, which is usually everyday I also fertilize. Of course it has rained 18 straight days now so I haven't had to water for a while. The difference between you and me is, your trees are a hobby and my are a business. I want my trees to get big fast you are maintaining. Although my finished trees are watered the same. I don't expect you to understand why I do what I do. I have excellant results so I guess that is all that matters in my case. And to try to explain would probably just end up getting my blood pressure up. I went one season not fertilizing everyday, as per John of Vonsgardens, and the trees suffered in my opinion. So this is just another example of where what I do may not work for someone else. Is it overkill, could be but I have had 8 years to watch the results and I am not going to change.
And not only do I use a liquid fertilizer every watering I also use organic cakes that I make, on all my pines.

Vance Wood

My apologizes, didn't mean to poke you in the eye with a stick. Just for the sake of clarity and accuracy, you make some assumptions about me and what I do that are incorrect, specifically the text I highlighted in red.

__________________
The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

OKbonsai

Well I am sorry, you know what they say about assuming. I wasn't aware that you had a bonsai business. And you missed my eye.