RobertB
Chumono
I have a Japanese Magnolia that I decided I wanted to try and Bonsai as I love the blooms and the bark characteristics of the tree. I trunk chopped it last year, in middle of summer, not knowing how it would respond, probably way to high and it has actually done pretty good. It had some very good growth from right below the chop site within the 4-5 months it had before it dropped its leaves. I actually slowed down the growth quite a lot by pruning the leaders, trying to get it to back bud on the trunk further down.
Based on the info I learned over last years researching and actually trying to learn about bonsai I would have done this differently, but up until about summer of last year I was just messing with Bonsai and that's when I chopped the tree. I also removed some branches around half way up the trunk as it has an obvious inverse taper. There used to be 1 left but it broke when I was practicing wiring on it last year.
Don't really have a plan as of now. Last year, I was trying to get that lowest branch to gain vigor to thicken the trunk underneath it, thinking that I would chop lower than the inverse taper section, once the trunk thickened up quite a bit. My main plan is to get it repotted and let it grow, probably even plant in ground as I want the trunk much thicker as this will need to be a very large bonsai to support the blooms. Also want the lower branch to grow out and become a twin trunk.
Several questions besides any general advice from anyone that has messed with these before or some of you guys that have lots of experience with flowering bonsai.
1) - should I wait till after this blooms to re-pot? Has anyone done much root pruning on these? If I do repot, my current plan involves being fairly conservative (since I don't know much about these, nor can I find much about), sawing off the lower 1/3rd of the root mass then teasing out a quarter of the roots around the perimeter of the remaining root mass. The problem is, it hasn't bloomed yet this year and all the landscape trees have. It looks like its been pushing flowering buds and some vegetative buds but they are extending very, very slowly. I'm thinking that the chop in mid summer forced the tree to put a lot of energy into growing foliage. So maybe its spent and shouldn't be messed with much this year unless I literally plop it in the ground, only barely teasing out the roots.
2) - If I plant in the ground, when is it best time to do so and how much root work should I do? I would love to attack these roots like a trident maple, screw to a board and stick in ground or maybe even colander but I am concerned about bare rooting the tree now or even next spring.
3) - any other advice on what you think I should do with this tree would be appreciated. I do want to try and make it a bonsai, even if it ends up being to large to be actually considered a bonsai. Just a nice potted tree that gets covered in these flowers in early spring.
Here are some pics from winter.
Based on the info I learned over last years researching and actually trying to learn about bonsai I would have done this differently, but up until about summer of last year I was just messing with Bonsai and that's when I chopped the tree. I also removed some branches around half way up the trunk as it has an obvious inverse taper. There used to be 1 left but it broke when I was practicing wiring on it last year.
Don't really have a plan as of now. Last year, I was trying to get that lowest branch to gain vigor to thicken the trunk underneath it, thinking that I would chop lower than the inverse taper section, once the trunk thickened up quite a bit. My main plan is to get it repotted and let it grow, probably even plant in ground as I want the trunk much thicker as this will need to be a very large bonsai to support the blooms. Also want the lower branch to grow out and become a twin trunk.
Several questions besides any general advice from anyone that has messed with these before or some of you guys that have lots of experience with flowering bonsai.
1) - should I wait till after this blooms to re-pot? Has anyone done much root pruning on these? If I do repot, my current plan involves being fairly conservative (since I don't know much about these, nor can I find much about), sawing off the lower 1/3rd of the root mass then teasing out a quarter of the roots around the perimeter of the remaining root mass. The problem is, it hasn't bloomed yet this year and all the landscape trees have. It looks like its been pushing flowering buds and some vegetative buds but they are extending very, very slowly. I'm thinking that the chop in mid summer forced the tree to put a lot of energy into growing foliage. So maybe its spent and shouldn't be messed with much this year unless I literally plop it in the ground, only barely teasing out the roots.
2) - If I plant in the ground, when is it best time to do so and how much root work should I do? I would love to attack these roots like a trident maple, screw to a board and stick in ground or maybe even colander but I am concerned about bare rooting the tree now or even next spring.
3) - any other advice on what you think I should do with this tree would be appreciated. I do want to try and make it a bonsai, even if it ends up being to large to be actually considered a bonsai. Just a nice potted tree that gets covered in these flowers in early spring.
Here are some pics from winter.
