Burning Bush - Euonymous alatus 'Compacta'

[Hyn Patty]

Never tried one of these before but my brother in zone 5 has some big ones in his yard and I always wanted to try one as a bonsai. So yesterday I found some in the $6 or $7 dollar range at Home Depot and bingo! Found one with trunk movement that I liked. I started to post this elsewhere but for ease of my own sanity to keep track and update the post at a later date, I thought I would start over. Here's a photo of the tree exactly as it was when I picked it up, with nothing done to it. The second two photos so some minimal trimming today to try and encourage more bad buds. I want it to thicken up foliage somewhat lower. When it does I'll shorten a few more of the long straight branches but otherwise not do a lot to it too quickly. I will probably go ahead and do a little wiring but nothing fine tuned as yet. The roots look very nice and are pretty evenly spread around the base of the tree now I have cleaned off the debris and had a glance. I don't plant to repot until after we move in May but if people think it's wiser for me to go ahead and repot now before it's getting hot out, let me know. Otherwise I am probably going to put it into the ground at the new house and let it thicken up the main trunk a bit more. Suggestions are very welcome. The branches I trimmed off were made into cuttings to see if I can root up some future mame projects.

 

[Cable]

EACs are great plants, I have one growing in my front yard and I've always thought it looked like a miniature tree

 

[Hyn Patty]

Thanks. At this stage I mostly want easy things that can put up with my screw ups and aren't too touchy. While I have been growing all sorts of things for more than 40 years, and lots of propagation, some hybridizing, I feel like I'm pretty new to returning to trying my hand at bonsai. Lots to learn, but also lots to research. I love researching each and every variety and how to do things.

 

[leatherback]

I'dd probbably repot now. Do some rootwork and put it in a flatter container. Then when you are ready at your new place, you can just lift it, and slide it in place

 

[jeanluc83]

I really like burning bush.

One thing that you need to remember is that you only get one flush of growth. Anything that you remove will not be replaced that season. Since it has already started to push growth I would be careful about removing too much at this point.

I would probably let it be for now. You could probably slip pot it into the ground come May but I don't know if I would mess with the roots.

Next spring I would bare root it and start to get the roots sorted out. At the same time trim back anything that could cause problems in the future. Basically get it set up to grow on.

Burning bushes are slow to develop but are predictable once you get the hang of them. In a way they are almost more like pines in they they only really need attention a couple times a year.

 

[Hyn Patty]

I really like burning bush.

One thing that you need to remember is that you only get one flush of growth. Anything that you remove will not be replaced that season. Since it has already started to push growth I would be careful about removing too much at this point.

I would probably let it be for now. You could probably slip pot it into the ground come May but I don't know if I would mess with the roots.

Next spring I would bare root it and start to get the roots sorted out. At the same time trim back anything that could cause problems in the future. Basically get it set up to grow on.

Burning bushes are slow to develop but are predictable once you get the hang of them. In a way they are almost more like pines in they they only really need attention a couple times a year.

Thanks. That's my idea to 'set it up' and then leave it be. I may wire a few of the really straight branches before they harden but otherwise I'm going to leave it to grow. I really don't have anything to repot into at this time and everything we own is in storage. Sold our house and we are house sitting so my wood shop, my kilns, nothing is accessable until we finish moving in May. So I'd rather put off messing with the roots for now.

 

[leatherback]

One thing that you need to remember is that you only get one flush of growth.

Good point. I however have found I get two flushes. The regular spring flush. And then the one after the caterpillars have defoliated in.. Ehr.. End of may or something?

Did not pay attention and did not notice it had started to flush already. My bad!

 

[jeanluc83]

I however have found I get two flushes. The regular spring flush. And then the one after the caterpillars have defoliated in.. Ehr.. End of may or something?

I have heard that it is not uncommon for trees in the ground to get a second flush but I don't know if I would rely on it in the pot. It might be a timing thing too. Maybe I need to get some of your caterpillars.

 

[John in Toledo]

I really like burning bush.
One thing that you need to remember is that you only get one flush of growth. Anything that you remove will not be replaced that season.
Next spring I would bare root it and start to get the roots sorted out. At the same time trim back anything that could cause problems in the future. Basically get it set up to grow on.
Burning bushes are slow to develop but are predictable once you get the hang of them. In a way they are almost more like pines in they they only really need attention a couple times a year.

This is good stuff. Thanks.
They do appear to be predictable. I'm interested to learn the pattern, and then use it to help with styling. The cheap "buy me to learn" ones are not out here in Toledo, yet. I am assuming that they will be prevalent as the planting season comes to a close and stores are trying to get rid of old stock.
Have you had any luck rooting from cuttings? There are some mammoth ones around town. Perhaps I can ask the owners to allow me to have some samples.

 

[jeanluc83]

There are some mammoth ones around town. Perhaps I can ask the owners to allow me to have some samples.

No experience with cuttings but ask around and you might find one to dig. They are frequently found in the woods where they have escaped cultivation.

 

[Hyn Patty]

I have never, ever seen burning bushes in GA that escaped and gone wild. But I sure do see plenty of Nandina that has! We also had a Sea Holly spring up that some bird had pooped out the seeds in our woods so that was a surprise. Anyway, on with my update! Here are some photos of my now wired tree. The branches are really not easy to bend and I do not want to damage them, so I only bent a little bit here and there to try and soften up some of the harsh straight lines. I have left unsightly straight stems around the apex on both sides of the higher section which I will cut back or cut out at a later time. I will need them to help thicken up the trunk over time even though they are ugly now. The rest of the tree is coming along - though I am not entirely certain what I am going to do with the lower branch section. Those two are a bit awkward (I cut out the third stem) and I may go back in with keiki paste to try and make more of the dormant buds active. Meanwhile I am going to slip this into a larger pot to help keep it from drying out as we'll get some hot weather here in the South by May. I am keeping it partly shaded today because it's nearly 80 degrees and sunny atm.



All right. Here are a few views all the way around the tree, and lastly a top view looking down as it is now. Those apex branches are too thick and ugly but for now they can just grow as sacrefice branches and cut them out later. I will fine tune the wiring a bit more as I go along. I read that the buds are /really/ easy to knock off and that's true - so great care was taken in wiring. I still knocked off one or two but mostly it is intact. Please, comments and suggestions for future training are welcome. Other than moving it into a larger pot to encourage a thicker trunk, this is all I plan to do until we get moved into the new house. Then I can think about building a shallow box and working on root training though it may have to wait until next spring, especially if that is thought to be a wiser time to tackle the roots.

 

[Hyn Patty]

Oh, by the way, that big fat ugly cross wire is there to force those two sections further apart and present a better, less upright angle. I know it's ugly now but I can remove it later in the year. All of the wire is aluminum and care was taken not to mar the fragile bark skin while applying the wire.

 

[leatherback]

These things grow like crazy: Don't worry too much about budding. A goot trim back will get you buds, normally. I am working on a few posts on my tree. I put it here already, as I started in 2014: http://www.growingbonsai.net/spindle-from-a-nursery/

To get movement in the branches: Trim them back, and regrow. Wire during the season wwhile young. I find that small cuts heal well. Bigger cuts (more than 1/4 - 1/2 inch diameter) seem to heal badly.

Now:

 

[Hyn Patty]

Outstanding, thank you! You have certainly made some progress working on yours! At this point I'm going to need to give mine a hard look and decide where I want it to go in the long term. I really like the basic structure it has to work with but I'm sure there is room for improvement.

 

[jeanluc83]

The branches are really not easy to bend and I do not want to damage them,

Once the branches have lignified it is hard to get any major movement into them. The best is to wire in spring after the shoots have extended but before they have hardened. By mid summer the branches will have set and you can remove the wire. Try to avoid scaring where possible.

Larger branches can be bent but only slightly. Once you start to feel them "crunch" you need to stop. Come back in a week or so and try to get a little more movement. The up side is that broken branches need very little vascular tissue to survive. Breaks can be supported with wire and covered with cut paste. You might even try superglue to glue the break back together. It will take several years for the break to heal and may never fully heal. In some cases it is better to grow a new branch to replace the broken one.

 

[TomB]

Bigger cuts (more than 1/4 - 1/2 inch diameter) seem to heal badly.

My experience too. Avoid visible cuts if possible.

 

[Hyn Patty]

I did know about super gluing broken branches - one of the branches on my spirea snapped but didn't seem to have broken completely. So I sealed with glue and will wait and see if the branch lives. Thanks for the input on the Burning Bush. I will try to get a little more bend into the branches before they harden off. I do remember that I have tried to bend too much too fast, all at once, in the past long ago and remember that I actually killed a tree doing that.

So if cuts on this species heal badly, one should not attempt intentional scarring on the trunk for later interest? Duly noted.

 

[jeanluc83]

The wood is dense and carves well but I'm not sure about longevity of any carving. For large collected trees carving is a requirement. Cuts will close but very slowly.

A note about building branch structure. Each years push of growth is long and without taper. To build taper you need to let it grow out then cut back to only one or two nodes then repeat. It takes a long time to build branches in this manner but the end product is much better.

 

[Hyn Patty]

A note about building branch structure. Each years push of growth is long and without taper. To build taper you need to let it grow out then cut back to only one or two nodes then repeat. It takes a long time to build branches in this manner but the end product is much better.

.

Good, good. Then I did all right trimming back to the last active nodes. Even so, some of those branches seem too thick, stiff and straight. I hope I can activate lower buds and trim them back again. I can be patient.

 

[John in Toledo]

That was the same sort of plan I was considering. Would that shorten the length of branch between nodes too? More often than not, I see buds forming in set of three or four. Can they be safely removed early, or should they be pulled after they open?