Broom Style Elm Renovation

K.A. Rutledge

This is a cork bark elm I got late this past winter. It was well developed and darn good material, but overgrown and with a few problems. Just before I went to New England, I restyled and repotted it - into the only near-suitable pot I had - wrong size. :-(

This is the BEFORE shot.

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

Attached Images

broomb4.jpg (39.1 KB, 672 views)

Advertisement

K.A. Rutledge

This is the AFTER shot. Sorry about the poor background.

The tree had too many tangled branches and lots of branch knots - where 3 or 4 or 5 branches issued from a single point. This caused some ugly swelling in a few places. After dealing with branch selection in those areas, I eliminated all of the unnecessary, long shoots and cut the whole thing back to a managable profile to begin the outer structure anew.

Also, the former back quarter is now the front

In a couple of years, it should be a bit improved. Right now it's in a poor pot (nice, just the wrong color and size). I'm looking for just the right pot and hope to have it in show condition in 2 years. We'll see.

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

Attached Images

broomafter.jpg (42.0 KB, 674 views)

FredL

Thanks, Andy. Before and after pictures from people with talent and experience like yourself are very helpful to folks like me.

Fred

Lesley

Thanks from me too! I agree with FredL. These kind of pictures help us new kids greatly!
The 1/4 twist really changed the Nebari! The color changes for the pot and background warmed things up and make this photo very appealing! Better than white or cream.

__________________
Ladybug

Adam

Andy,

Great looking tree you have. Looks alot better pruned back. I have a couple cork bark elms and hope to grow some decent material out of them.

Adam

__________________
[Adam]
"Cass Bonsai Gardens"
"Bonsai Knowledge"
"DaGhostCrew"

Tony

That's a nice bonsai, Andy. Very natural looking. The only thing I would change is to let that first branch on the right grow wild for a while to add some girth relative to the other branches. That would be an improvement IMO.

Tony

K.A. Rutledge

Thanks for all of the kind words, folks. Adam, good luck with your elms. They grow fast - which is a blessing and a curse; you can get a nice tree in short order, but if you neglect them for even a couple of months, you could have major problems.

Tony, thanks for your observations. I've considered your suggestion for a while and it does present a problem. The first R.H. branch is just about level with the first L.H. branch, creating a bit of an eyesore. Right now, their respective size difference mitigates this problem somewhat. I've either got to keep them at sigificantly different sizes or eliminate the first R.H. branch in favor of a new bud a little higher up. Only time will tell which will be the best solution. Thanks for looking!

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas

DavidN

Awesome looking tree. Excellent work.

Tony

"The first R.H. branch is just about level with the first L.H. branch, creating a bit of an eyesore."

You've got a point there, Andy. There is a bit of reverse taper there already. However, reverse taper isn't ALWAYS bad. You'll see it many times in nature. Not caused by the trunk so much but by the branch collar of the heavy low branches. I think it is acceptable with these naturalistic trees. It's a good image either way though.

Tony