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Banned 08JUN2005
Join Date: Dec-2001
Location: Benton County
Country: USA
Posts: 1,099
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Hornbeam Starters
Yesterday, I pulled out an old issue of "Bonsai Today" (Issue 70)and, what a surprise! The article on page 14 was by our own Walter Pall on the subject of Hornbeam care and training. It was specifically focused on Carpinus betulus, native to Europe, but Walter said it was equally applicable to Ostrya virginiana, which we have in great profusion here in the Ozarks.
During my first Fall that I returned to Bonsai, I collected a number of tiny, sickly 6 month old seedlings that had started as volunteers in the yard of my old house on a barren clay bank. I learned a valuable lesson collecting them. The first batch I collected was on a dry, rather warm and breezy day from soil that I wetted down with my garden hose but was left still rather dry. Every single one of the trees in this batch died over winter. The next and the last batches I gathered were both on rainy days from very wet soil. The last batch I didn't even bother to dig up; just pulled out of the soil with whatever roots came up with each seedling. Every tree from both these batches survived the Winter and is still with me today.
Must have been a lesson there. Call it superstition, but I collect only on rainy days since then and practically never lose a tree I collect.
I promised to send in some pictures of what I am up to. Here are three typical Hophornbeams I collected as 6 month old seedlings with two more growing seasons in pots behind them. I gathered some much stronger seedlings that invaded my vegetable garden which are much larger that I'll send a picture of later. These trees have been pruned in a very rough way 2 or 3 times each, but mostly, they've just been encouraged to grow into decent Bonsai starter material. I am very happy with their development. As I've said before, I view development of a tree ready for initial styling as a 10 year project and I'm very satisfied with the progress these trees have made in their first 2 years.
Fred
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15-Apr-2004
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