Plum tree yamadori

TrevorLarsen

Shohin
Messages
462
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784
Location
Salt Lake City, Utah
USDA Zone
7a
I found this plum tree growing in my yard I have several large trees that it came from. It was growing under a board so it has great movement really low down without wiring. I was wondering if anyone has any tips for this species and/or any style thoughts. It has a little taper as of now and I am hesitant on chopping it since it has such great movement. I dug it up a little late and it had already started to grow, and I was only able to get a tiny bit of roots, but eventually it recovered and is doing great. Thanks for any feedback!
 

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First, plums are excellent for bonsai. They adapt well to pots, can be pruned and back bud well and tolerate hard root pruning. Also real tough. On top of that you can get flowers and fruit. All wins for plum as bonsai.
Tough as nails, which tallies with the self sown seedling origin, they don't care much how you treat them. Water, fertilize, trim when necessary.

Taper is important in many bonsai styles but no one aspect is so important that other aspects should be discounted, meaning you can have a good bonsai that lacks taper provided everything else is great.
Just looking at the photos I think you may be giving the trunk bends a little more weight than they actually have so maybe need to reconsider taper V bends. Knowing that plums develop pretty quick I would not hesitate to chop at least a bit.
Depends what you expect from your bonsai but to me it is still just a stick. Trunk can't be much more than finger thick so it is probably only a couple of years old so far. I'd probably let it grow for a few years to thicken the trunk then cut back and develop branches but if you are happy with a thinner trunk you can move right to branch development so wiring the new shoots and trimming regularly to build up ramification.
With the bent trunk it probably suits informal upright style but could also adapt to windswept, leaning or 'natural' style depending where the branches occur.
 
thank you for the feedback. You make some really good points. Where should I do the trunk chop if I go that route? You are correct it isn’t very thick currently so I was planning on just letting it grow without any cuts for a few years.
 
Very hard to see all the bends and twists and how they relate to the existing branches from the few photos from different directions. At this stage where is probably not so important as things will change radically as it grows and thickens. Pruning above the 2nd upright shoot would probably be one good option but at this early stage there will be lots of possible chop spots.

Leave it to grow is a legitimate option but just be aware that the first chop will be much bigger and will take correspondingly longer to heal than regular smaller chops.
Just 2 different roads to reach the same objective.
 
Here is an update of this tree. I should have taken more photos, but I was very pleased when I exposed more of its trunk. IMG_5692.jpegIMG_5690.jpeg
 
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