5-4-3 Korean Hornbeam

mistermoyogi

Cryptic thread title, I know, but this composition began as a young group of five trees that I purchased at a show 14 years ago...after the loss of a couple of trees over the years, this is the look of the trees this fall. I am a believer of the positives of negative space in a grove composition and have therefore elected not to replace the lost trees.

I really enjoy deciduous species silhouettes in the dormant season, knowing that a multitude of faults become evident when the branches are bare of foliage...but I always try to make this a learning experience and attempt to further improve the composition. I have found that K. hornbeam is reluctant when it comes to budding back and increasing ramification. I have never practised leaf pruning...is that a technique which can be applied with success to this species? Thanks in advance for your input.

Regards,
Tom

Attached Images

K.hornbeam Fall 2005.jpg (69.9 KB, 118 views)

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soonami

Defoliation and leaf pruning are acceptable practives for inproving ramification and reducing leaf size. Hornbeam can be a little funny those sometimes branches just die, just only defoliate if the tree is vigorous. I think the best time to do this is after a flush of growth has been grown in late spring and the tree has had some time to recooperate after the initial spring push. If you do it too late into the summer, the tree will not like it and produce not enough buds. I think this can be done in late summer too, but I will defer to someone with more experience and knowledge

rockm

Korean hornbeam is particularly sensitive to defoliation. They can abandon entire branches after this procedure. Avoid it. This species is capable of intense ramificaiton without it, and leaves are already small.

You might have been luck in getting more back budding if you prune into older wood and waiting until new shoots have hardened off. Pinching the new shoot back will not produce any back budding. Pruning the newshoot once it has lignified (become woody tissue) will force alot of backbudding.

Another note, I have an older KH that has slowed down considerably in the past few years. I brought the issue up to a bonsai nursery owner this weekend. He asked how much I was feeding the tree. I said I fed it relatively agressively in the early spring (1 tablespoon Peters a week for a month regular strength), as I had heard that hornbeam is Nitrogen hungry during it's intial growth spurt. He suggested that a teaspoon every week or two, combined with Bio Gold ("natural") fertilizer would be better, as this species can get overwhelmed and slowed by too much N...

mistermoyogi

Thanks, guys....I have tried to prune as you have suggested, Rock...my fertilization usually involves a mix of blood meal, bone meal, and cottonseed meal during active growth - maybe a little too much N?

Last year, the trees leafed out, grew a little, and then stopped growth completely...it was like the tree became frozen in time....it remained that way for the remainder of the season...I have been told by other growers of the species that this occurs from time to time - no one had an explanation....forgot to include this in my initial post. Needless to say, I decided against any pruning this year because of it.

Regards,
Tom