New Chinese Elm Material

[florida_bonsai]

I purchased, what I believe is, a chinese elm the other day. It has been neglected a little and there is some dead wood on the trunk that will need to be addressed. This leads me to my first question...is creating dead wood a good idea on a chinese elm? I haven't seen much of it in my research but I would imagine it looks pretty cool with the dark green leaves against the bone white of the preserved wood.

I also need help picking a front. The pictures below aren't the best (I took them with my iPhone) but I think they will suffice for now. The last picture is what I believe to be the new front of the tree and the first picture is a close up of the base from that angle. Input here would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly are there any suggestions as to a direction to take with this tree? It looks sparse right now but the buds are starting to swell and this type of tree grows very rapidly in my climate. Would it be better to let it fill in before making any decisions or make cuts now before the tree becomes dense with foliage. I envision it with a rounded top or a dome shape. I know it will fill in in time but I am unsure as to whether or not I should remove any larger branches and replace them with smaller leaders.

As always thanks in advance and I look forward to the ensuing discussion.
florida_bonsai

 

[BunjaeKorea]

I think you may have some wood rot happening at the base you may need to have a look at that. Moss looks great on trees but sometimes its effect is less than desirable. Its a really nice tree with good girth. This is totally my two cents worth opinion but the current back has a really interesting trunk so I would make it the front and develop two foliage pads (in the manner of many park trees) as your tree seems to be naturally inclining itself to grow in that way.

 

[florida_bonsai]

I think you may have some wood rot happening at the base you may need to have a look at that. Moss looks great on trees but sometimes its effect is less than desirable. Its a really nice tree with good girth. This is totally my two cents worth opinion but the current back has a really interesting trunk so I would make it the front and develop two foliage pads (in the manner of many park trees) as your tree seems to be naturally inclining itself to grow in that way.

Thanks so much for the response Bunjae! The wood rot idea had crossed my mind as well when I was looking at it at the nursery but the wood still seems to be pretty hard and it may appear dark in the photo as I had just watered it. But I will keep an eye out for rot as I removed the moss and clean the wood up this weekend.

As for the new front of the tree, I like the idea you propose. Using the "current back" and the existing primary branch structure would make it very easy to develop the foliage into two main pads.

I will make sure I post some pictures after I clean it up this weekend.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

No worries! Pretty jealous especially as it has such an interesting gnarl in the trunk. I prefer slightly wild looking trees hehe. Yeah I mean if the little fellow wants to grow that way, I though might as well let him and use the growing strength to your advantage. Lol my theory is let the tree choose it's destiny...maybe I am just incredibly odd but some folks here will be inclined to agree with me, others not so much. All in all, great tree, watch the wood rot like a hawk plus keep us updated! Looking forward to the progress.

 

[florida_bonsai]

Well I wasn't able to get great photos of the tree (even though I tried) after this past weekend's bonsai class so I took a video...in my bathroom...so I could get some good light on the tree. I mostly focused on the trunk which showed a little rot on some of the stilt roots but I think I should be able to salvage most of them.

You can't see from the video but there is only a thin living vein maybe 1-1.5 inches wide on the back of the tree but it may be slightly visible in one of the pictures posted below. I want to preserve the wood but after discussing the idea of using lime sulfur with my bonsai group we collectively decided that a more natural looking preservative would make the tree look better. One of the members suggested Minwax wood hardener but I feel like that may make it look like plastic. Does anybody have any suggestions to help prevent rot on this trunk without lime sulfur? The grain is beautiful and I would like to try and keep it visible if I can.

EDIT: Sorry for the grainy video, it was shot using my iPhone and apparently the quality didn't transfer from small screen to large screen.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Personally, I would use lime sulfur, and leave it alone and try to get it as strong as possible for a year. After a year lime sulfur isn't going to look all that different from regular aged elm wood (gray). Once the roots are strong, you can cut back hard and you'll get branching all over the place - probably including on the trunk if you want it there.

To be honest I don't like the live vein (in terms of tree health) and the location of some of the branches. I'm surprised you didn't get more die-back. I'd prioritize health and getting the tree really strong above all else.

 

[florida_bonsai]

Personally, I would use lime sulfur, and leave it alone and try to get it as strong as possible for a year. After a year lime sulfur isn't going to look all that different from regular aged elm wood (gray). Once the roots are strong, you can cut back hard and you'll get branching all over the place - probably including on the trunk if you want it there.

To be honest I don't like the live vein (in terms of tree health) and the location of some of the branches. I'm surprised you didn't get more die-back. I'd prioritize health and getting the tree really strong above all else.

Thanks for the input! I have only used lime sulfur with one other project so its good to know that if I use it once it won't stay bleach white forever.

As for the branch location I agree that it really isn't the best. I think that when I repotted it I was a little nervous to cut back the branching. The roots are actually in pretty good shape and the tree is pushing new growth since the repot. Like you said getting the tree really strong again should be a priority and thats the route that I believe I have taken. I am going to let it grow out this year since our growing season will last another 9-10 months down here and then decide what needs to go and what can stay.

In my opinion, and i'm sure others will agree with me, this tree is far from finished. I appreciate the advice and look forward to other suggestions as well. I will do my best to keep updating with more pictures as it gets some more of its strength back.