Great Lakes Bonsai - content thread

GreatLakesBrad

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Would love to see more videos on the dawn redwood forest. I also have one and not a whole lot of info on them. Enjoying the videos!
Should have a fall update on these - I repotted them all with more space to thicken up for 2 years. They’ll be re-combined spring 2023 into their final planting with about 11-12 trees minimum. Thanks for watching!
 
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Should have a fall update on these - I repotted them all with more space to thicken up for 2 years. They’ll be re-combined spring 2023 into their final planting with about 11-12 trees minimum. Thanks for watching!
Do you have any experience with Eastern Hemlock? I’m gearing up for a repot on my collected one this Spring.
 

GreatLakesBrad

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Do you have any experience with Eastern Hemlock? I’m gearing up for a repot on my collected one this Spring.
I don’t - somewhere on Bnut are some threads mentioning EH - I love them in the wild, just saw some massive hemlock up north. Haven’t pushed to collect these, and have heard they are difficult to work with. I’d love to see what you have! They are beautiful.
 
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I don’t - somewhere on Bnut are some threads mentioning EH - I love them in the wild, just saw some massive hemlock up north. Haven’t pushed to collect these, and have heard they are difficult to work with. I’d love to see what you have! They are beautiful.
Thread 'Tsuga canadensis collected'
Thread 'Depot Eastern Hemlock'

I haven’t found them particularly hard to work with, but there is very little “institutional” knowledge on their care and training. I play it safe for the most part, and 2/2 on survival so far, not counting the air layer attempt.
 

GreatLakesBrad

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Thread 'Tsuga canadensis collected'
Thread 'Depot Eastern Hemlock'

I haven’t found them particularly hard to work with, but there is very little “institutional” knowledge on their care and training. I play it safe for the most part, and 2/2 on survival so far, not counting the air layer attempt.
Much potential in the collected hemlock, wow. Following that thread :)
 

GreatLakesBrad

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How are those collected hornbeams and beech coming along
Beech is really strong, did some light wiring this spring. Probably have a progression on that one next spring/summer with pruning/styling. Hornbeam didn’t make it per the video if you scroll up, will be going back for another next spring. Did get a few small volunteers.
 

dbonsaiw

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plenty mistakes for people to learn from and a couple successes too.
As a newbie, it's really easy to misunderstand what is being conveyed. This leads to mistakes and learning. Much easier to learn off of other people's mistakes. I try to post my mistakes as well in the hopes that others won;t do the same.
 
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Thanks for checking them out, plenty mistakes for people to learn from and a couple successes too.
Great stuff. Love the Dawn Redwood video, & the Founders Brewery flag, and did I hear that correctly that you got the Redwood from The Flower Market? I live less than 15min from The Flower market. :)
 

GreatLakesBrad

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Great stuff. Love the Dawn Redwood video, & the Founders Brewery flag, and did I hear that correctly that you got the Redwood from The Flower Market? I live less than 15min from The Flower market. :)
Got that founders flag after one too many reds rye ipas :)

yes indeed, Flower market is always a vendor at the all state bonsai show at meijer gardens every spring. I got the tree from their table at the show in 2019!
 

GreatLakesBrad

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Collecting video up from this spring - went in thinking I had American Elm, turns out it's a definite no, would love to hear what others guess on the species ID is! @Leo in N E Illinois curious with your many mentions of the species whether you are in agreement! I'm hoping I'm right - love the bark on this one and there are many more on the property!

 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Could be. Elm, each side of leaf blade inserts to petiole unevenly at proximal end. Elms have uneven leaf blade bases. Ostrya, leaf blades are perfectly symmetrical. Obviously flowering structure is the final tip off, bark looks right for Ostrya. You should e noticed wood was harder to cut than typical elm . Ostrya wood is even harder than Carpinus. So collection should have felt different.

That is a cool species for bonsai. I collected seed from southern Illinois. It took 2 years to germinate, cold,warm, then cold stratification. I did it the easy way. Planted a flat with seed, wired down hardware cloth to keep our squirrels, forgot about it, second summer had seedlings sprout. They are now 5 years old, so still don't look like much.

You have some good projects going and I really like your videos.
 

GreatLakesBrad

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Could be. Elm, each side of leaf blade inserts to petiole unevenly at proximal end. Elms have uneven leaf blade bases. Ostrya, leaf blades are perfectly symmetrical. Obviously flowering structure is the final tip off, bark looks right for Ostrya. You should e noticed wood was harder to cut than typical elm . Ostrya wood is even harder than Carpinus. So collection should have felt different.

That is a cool species for bonsai. I collected seed from southern Illinois. It took 2 years to germinate, cold,warm, then cold stratification. I did it the easy way. Planted a flat with seed, wired down hardware cloth to keep our squirrels, forgot about it, second summer had seedlings sprout. They are now 5 years old, so still don't look like much.

You have some good projects going and I really like your videos.
Thanks for the input Leo! Always appreciated.
 

BobbyLane

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You only mentioned taper, but it has a nice elegant shape too. if it never budded back on the trunk and you was able to build a dome with whats up top and tie it in with the basal shoots, it could be a nice tree down the line.
Sometimes when you work with what you have, you can build something thats nice and presentable rather quickly. often people are told to build something that conforms to all the guidlines, where as in nature trees come in all forms, shapes, sizes. You'll give yourself more options this way.
 
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