Chinese elm suggestions

John Dixon

grampz is giving good advice with the 2/3 width for pot ratio. That will work fine, and is definitely the standard to follow. I just think that this bonsai has a "stand alone" feel about it, and that quality can be exploited by using a "too" long pot. It's not easy to pull off, but when it is done correctly, the results are inspiring. If you have reservations about doing that, by all means follow grampz'.... (how do you make that possessive? )....Behr's advice.

Good luck with it,

John

__________________
John Dixon

Si vis pacem parabellum

Stay off the trails of others, that's where the booby-traps are.

Advertisement

Ralph

1 year later, in a pot now. Branch development coming along. John Dixon, thanks so much for your virtuals. The pot is not oversized, difficulty in finding one that big, and cost affected that. But I think this pot matches the tree quite well. Got some branches where John's virtual had penciled them in, and I think it is pretty close to that design. Now just let these branches grow wild and put on some girth to get in scale with the rest of the tree

Attached Images

IMG_0172c.jpg (70.7 KB, 68 views)

__________________
Emerging from winter slumber
Bonsai trees burst buds anew
Spring is upon us!


-Paul S.

IdahoBonsai

Doing a great job of getting realistic curviness to the structure branches. Work on leaf size and ramification will follow, I am sure.

__________________
Steven

South Central Idaho

John Dixon

Looking good Ralph. Keeping filling in those lower branches like you are doing. This silhouette should be very nice in a couple of more years. Good job on the pot transition. That is a good compromise for this point in the bonsai's styling.

Keep us updated.

Best regards,

John

__________________
John Dixon

Si vis pacem parabellum

Stay off the trails of others, that's where the booby-traps are.

weeijk

Hi Ralph,


Just looking at your tree for the first time, read the whole tread and must say that progress is seen here, but.....

I have some problems with your tree, first of all, hows the nebari? As I can see there are 2 roots comming to the surface, how about the rest. With this tree, I think that the nebari is as much important as the canope.

Secondly the canope, I've pointed out 2 areas, at point A, two branches are directly behind each other and at point B, there the branches look to be crossing.
I think those areas need your attention, cause crossing branches are allways caugth by the eye. Now you can still change those parts, after your rammification is complete it would mean starting all over.

Third, the colour of the pot is very well chosen, it gives the tree definately more glance, in the future I would recomment a shalower, maybe more oval pot, same colour, but without an outside rim.

Maybe I'm totaly wrong with my comment, than please correct me. It's just my thoughts as I see it.

Wessel

Attached Images

Ralphs elm.jpg (71.5 KB, 49 views)

__________________
Every tree can be a bonsai, but only some will be.

Ralph

Idaho: thanks, ramification and leaf reduction still are a couple of years away I think. The major focus for this year will be two fold:

a. increase the caliper of the new lower branches, by letting them grow wild. By doing this, of course I can't prune or defoliate these branches.
b. Focus on improving the root structure. This tree until this potting had spent all of it's life growing in nursery cans from what I know. The focus was first on growth and later on the broom style canopy.
For what it is worth, the roots are actually pretty good for a chinese elm. I'm sure we all have seen dozens of pictures on elm roots that grow out of the ground, change direction at weird angles, or fold back on the trunk looking like a human butt cheek.
That said, I think scaring the trunk just below the soil where there are no roots, and applying root hormone may aid in developing more roots evenly over the trunk. The rest will be up to mother nature and bonsai pot culture to help develop healthy radial roots.

John: Yeah, when it is ready for it's next pot, I will have to consider a custom made one. At least I have plenty of time to save my pennies!

Wessel: Thanks so much for your comments and critique! You guys are a big part of my education, so keep it coming! You are right about the nebari, and hopefully what I mention above will work. If anyone has any additional suggestions for improving nebari, let me hear them!
The branch areas you address may be a slight issue with the two dimensional medium. I have included another closer in picture, and from a slightly different angle. In fact, it may be that I may have to change my planting angle slightly next year to compensate.
The main trunk does not have the trunk on the right crossing in front of it, the trunk on the right abruptly splits off in two directions one growing to the right, and the other to the rear.
The bigger issue I think is what you address in letter A, and that is where this branch forks. It forks on a nearly horizontal plane, the branch in the rear grows up and out to the back. It would have been perfect if it grew up from the parent branch some, with the front branch growing on the level plane. This would have given it more depth, but unfortuantely I dont have that, and short of cutting back the whole tree hard, and regrowing a canopy, I will have to live with this slight flaw. Once again, I might be able to compensate with a slightly different planting angle, which this picture should show.

Attached Images

	IMG_0177a.jpg (29.3 KB, 36 views)
	IMG_0178a.jpg (44.9 KB, 34 views)

__________________
Emerging from winter slumber
Bonsai trees burst buds anew
Spring is upon us!


-Paul S.

IdahoBonsai

I have a seiju elm that has one area that is mostly devoid of outward growing roots. Here are a couple of other things I have learned about, but have not tried as of yet, that I may give a shot. You may find them useful as well.

1) the scratch and dust method you have mentioned. This is basically staring from scratch. It takes a long time to grow a decent sized root and have it blend properly with the trunk.

2) approach or nail graft. This is where you cut back into the bark of the tree and also an appropriately sized whip near the root mass to match each other. You then either bind or nail them together at the cleaned areas. They grow together and you have "instant" nebari.

3) thread graft. This is where you drill into or through the tree and thread an appropriatly sized whip into or through the hole. Similar to above, but should be easier to get the correct take-off angle on the smaller trunk.

Hope that helps. Maybe you could combine the methods so that if one does not work another would be working for you.

__________________
Steven

South Central Idaho

Ralph

Have not updated this one in awhile. I know other people enjoy progressions over time as much as I do so here for your comments is one of my elms now in 2008.

Attached Images

IMG_0039.jpg (30.0 KB, 54 views)

__________________
Emerging from winter slumber
Bonsai trees burst buds anew
Spring is upon us!


-Paul S.

trittium

This tree is begining to have a beautiful grace about it. Very natural looking.