Chinese Elm-Does It Work?

Thomas_J.

One of the first things you learn in bonsai, is there are rules that apply, and some rules that can be somewhat bent. Of course the hardcores would never think of bending at all. So here is my question; When I was still new at bonsai I never knew there were rules. One of my first ch.elms was this little two trunker that set me back a mere ten bucks at the time. Here it is shortly after purchase almost a decade ago. Now everyone knows that a group of trees should only consist of an odd number grouped together. At least that's what the rules say.

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Thomas J.

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Thomas_J.

Here it is two years ago with a full head foliage and a different pot that was way over sized. Too much foliage for those little trunks don't you think?

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Thomas J.

Thomas_J.

As with most of my ch. elms, this winter I did some much needed cleanup work on them. A few even got new pots, like this one.
So the question is, would you let these guys slide and bend the rules, or would you put them on the auction block at the next club auction, because those two trunks just aint making it?

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Thomas J.

agraham

Thomas,
nice tree(s).....i'd like to see the smaller one a little closer to the main one..and shorter so as to make the trunck calipers more proportionate(is that a word?)...it seems the ramification could be redone in a relatively short time,even if you just "trunk chopped" it

andy

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GaryS

I like the tree Thomas.

Double trunks are OK as far as the "rules" go.
It's really not a group.

I'd bare root them with a hose at their next repotting, separate the roots and and rearrange them and put the trunks closer together so it looks more like a twin trunk.

they haven't thickened much in 10 years..... have they?

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bonsaial1

A pair of trees in a pot is perfect. The old mother/daughter trick.

When I did my repot of elms from my big grove, I had all these smaller trees to work with. The trees were all twisted up and would make a fine penjing style group. In one area I had three trunks that were to be fairly close together. Two of them I actualy wired together, and the third had a suficient number of large roots trimmed off to let it snuggle up close.

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bonsaial1

The two trunks that are very close and the third..

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bonsaial1

When figuring the composition, I started with the three trees. When I went to the right side of the pot I had four trees left. This gave me 7 total, but the right side had four trees. So.. I decided to group them in pairs really tight. That way when looking at the group as a whole, you see seven trees but in three groups. Pretty slick ehhh...

When pruning these elms roots, you can get pretty radical with them. I just cut off what I don't need, to let me make them really close. I dress the wounds , put on hormones and let the new roots come out in a few weeks.

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