Chinese Elm #1

[sikadelic]

I checked my trees out yesterday and noticed my elm, which I received late last Spring from a member here, was starting to swell. I decided to go ahead and repot it as I wanted to get a look at the roots and move it to a bigger grow box. This is my first elm so I want to let it grow and put on some more growth before I go with a final design.

The only real root work I did was remove 2 thicker roots and take off a bulge directly below the trunk.


It has a scar on the back where a limb had been removed so im limited on which front to choose. Pics are below and comments are welcomed. Thanks.

 

[sikadelic]

Forgot to attach in the original post.

 

[KennedyMarx]

Nice growth on those runners. Looks like the inner nodes are kind of long though. Did you have it sitting in the shade?

 

[sikadelic]

Im not sure how much sun it got last year. It only had about 6-8 leaves left on it when I received it last November. It is going in full sun now for about half the day. I will most likely cut back to the first node towards the end of the year after it gains some vigor.

I was also thinking of rebuilding the apex and using the last shoot on the top right of the tree. All the movement of the tree is moving to the left and I want to bring it back to the right.

 

[Poink88]

... I will most likely cut back to the first node towards the end of the year after it gains some vigor.

I was also thinking of rebuilding the apex and using the last shoot on the top right of the tree. All the movement of the tree is moving to the left and I want to bring it back to the right.

I will do it now and start building a proper structure w/o wasting a season. I wire minimally and most of the time, I wire only the first 3" of a branch because I remove most part beyond that anyway.

Good luck!

 

[sikadelic]

I will do it now and start building a proper structure w/o wasting a season. I wire minimally and most of the time, I wire only the first 3" of a branch because I remove most part beyond that anyway.

Good luck!

I definitely see your point. Thanks for the good advice.

My only concern is that I have no idea what the health of the tree is. I am absolutely not questioning the member I received it from, but I thought letting it put on some growth and gaining strength before removing branches would be a good idea.

 

[Poink88]

I definitely see your point. Thanks for the good advice.

My only concern is that I have no idea what the health of the tree is. I am absolutely not questioning the member I received it from, but I thought letting it put on some growth and gaining strength before removing branches would be a good idea.

It is spring. Healthy or not cutting now will matter the least to the tree. Might even help IMHO. I believe in channeling all energy to what matters...

IF you want sacrificial branches, that is another story but again, I will make sure to retain only what I need. The rest goes.

 

[sikadelic]

Ok guys...I decided to do some work on this tree today. It really grew like crazy this Spring. I had a lot of new growth and noticed that some of the existing branches had died. I figured what the hell, lets defoliate this tree, give it a good trim, and do a bit of wiring. I don't have much going on the right side of the tree so I plan to use the branch I bent down from the top as well as the small emerging branch near the middle of the tree and work it towards tne right for a more full image.

I will preface this with saying that I know defoliating is mainly for trees with better branching, but I wanted to take advantage of its vigor and give it some style. Feel free to give me your critiques. I am new at styling and wiring so please take that into account if something just looks downright terrible. Thanks.

 

[M. Frary]

I accidently defoliated a Chinese elm and a seiju elm this spring. Put them out and we got a hard frost. It turned the leaves almost white and then they fell off. Freaked but what could I do right? Well they recovered and are going like gangbusters. The total defoliation helped to reduce the leaves. The seiju really didn't need it but now the leaves are about 1/2 their size. Minute little buggers.