Vincent Tanner
Mame
Two years ago, I asked suggestions for good cold-hardy species to start with as a beginner. @Leo in N E Illinois suggested I buy some crabapple cuttings from Brent at Evergreen Gardenworks. I ordered several, including this Sugar Tyme.
Spring 2022
One gallon Crabapple ‘Sugar Tyme’
I potted it up into a cheap terracotta flower pot with regular potting soil.
Spring 2023
I got it into a tokoname training pot with real bonsai soil. Did a little pruning to a basic silhouette and added some wire.
This tree flowers profusely!
Spring 2024
In one year, the tree filled the pots with roots. I lost water percolation and roots were growing out the drainage holes. Time to repot!
I raked the roots out, trimmed about half.
Only one year in bonsai soil! What a great root ball full of fine feeder roots! There was a bit of a hollow spot in the bottom where some old potting soil was still hanging out. I removed that and trimmed a couple large roots.
Then I repotted it into the same #9 tokoname training pot with 1-1-1 APL.
There’s a few big structural cuts I want to make this summer. I’ll post more updates then.
I’ll be growing this out in large training pots until the trunk is a bit thicker.
Eventually, I have a really awesome blue oval by Roy Minarai that will be great for this tree. But that may be several years away.
Spring 2022
One gallon Crabapple ‘Sugar Tyme’
I potted it up into a cheap terracotta flower pot with regular potting soil.
Spring 2023
I got it into a tokoname training pot with real bonsai soil. Did a little pruning to a basic silhouette and added some wire.
This tree flowers profusely!
Spring 2024
In one year, the tree filled the pots with roots. I lost water percolation and roots were growing out the drainage holes. Time to repot!
I raked the roots out, trimmed about half.
Only one year in bonsai soil! What a great root ball full of fine feeder roots! There was a bit of a hollow spot in the bottom where some old potting soil was still hanging out. I removed that and trimmed a couple large roots.
Then I repotted it into the same #9 tokoname training pot with 1-1-1 APL.
There’s a few big structural cuts I want to make this summer. I’ll post more updates then.
I’ll be growing this out in large training pots until the trunk is a bit thicker.
Eventually, I have a really awesome blue oval by Roy Minarai that will be great for this tree. But that may be several years away.
