Corylus avellana 'Contorta'

[Cadillactaste]

Good for you!

Thanks...yes, you sir will need a bench...so you can later aspire to fill it.

I can't seem to find the link for the wire I put on bringing the field goal branches more tight and compact. But here is one of it in bloom.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/c...ai-is-my-husbands-favorite.14575/#post-193830

 

[petegreg]

If someone says basic bonsai mix I read it the species is not finicky and doesn't need specific pH.
On repotting... I'd let the plant get dryer before work, remove field soil and avoid washing the roots. Corylus lives in association with ecto-mycorrhizae.

 

[BobbyLane]

And for those who don't like the tree, I also purchased these at the same time, for extra inspiration.

View attachment 132358

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. From a single mutated specimen pulled out of a hazel hedge in the UK.

Harry Lauder was a Scottish vaudeville star / comedian who was known for using a contorted cane in his acts:

 

[GGB]

Wow someone actually came up with a few bonsai examples, impressed. I don't see a graft mark in the photo and my walking sticks never threw suckers, I wouldn't be overly worried about it

 

[Cadillactaste]

Wow someone actually came up with a few bonsai examples, impressed. I don't see a graft mark in the photo and my walking sticks never threw suckers, I wouldn't be overly worried about it

Grafts can can be found under the soil level. Until he repots he won't know. UT honestly you just remove them. Several bonsai cultivars have been known to sucker. That isn't a deal breaker in my opinion. But for landscape I didn't want the hassle of it. Yours very well maybe on its own roots.

 

[ConorDash]

Good for you!

Thanks...yes, you sir will need a bench...so you can later aspire to fill it.

I can't seem to find the link for the wire I put on bringing the field goal branches more tight and compact. But here is one of it in bloom.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/c...ai-is-my-husbands-favorite.14575/#post-193830

Looks great, really makes me want to do a wisteria. The one next door is massive but its more climbing and spreading, not massively thick branches for a good air layer. One day, I will.
I think the bench will have to wait till I get a house. Buying my own house is in the life plan, hopefully 2-3 years time, or less. Few more little life plans before then!

I need to have another look at the Contorta and maybe isolate 1 branch with a towel as backing to get a good pic and see if I can visualise that in a pot, by itself for a liberati.

If someone says basic bonsai mix I read it the species is not finicky and doesn't need specific pH.
On repotting... I'd let the plant get dryer before work, remove field soil and avoid washing the roots. Corylus lives in association with ecto-mycorrhizae.

Ok looking up ecto-mycorrhizae, but still not quite understanding. That's a big complicated word, you will have to tell me a bit more lol.
So you reckon I can stick with my 100% inorganic cat litter/DE mix? I may look up and see if it prefers organic or inorganic. Its currently in a very organic soil.
And when you say to avoid washing the roots, is this in conjunction with the ecto-mycorrhizae point you made or for another reason? I don't know why I wouldnt wash them, to make sure I remove all old soil.
Ill certainly for them to get dryer. Im not sure how long its been in the pot but its giving me the impression it may have been a little while, could be a good amount of roots to sort.

 

[ConorDash]

Wow someone actually came up with a few bonsai examples, impressed. I don't see a graft mark in the photo and my walking sticks never threw suckers, I wouldn't be overly worried about it

Grafts can can be found under the soil level. Until he repots he won't know. UT honestly you just remove them. Several bonsai cultivars have been known to sucker. That isn't a deal breaker in my opinion. But for landscape I didn't want the hassle of it. Yours very well maybe on its own roots.

I'm not too worried about the maintenance of suckers, gives me a little something more to do . I've not got a great deal of trees to maintain so its no problem. Im really curious to dig down under the soil and check this thing out.

 

[ConorDash]

You seem to be insinuating that I will be sharing my brandy in some way? I assure you, this is incorrect . Lol.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. From a single mutated specimen pulled out of a hazel hedge in the UK.

Harry Lauder was a Scottish vaudeville star / comedian who was known for using a contorted cane in his acts:

View attachment 132445

The tree is a UK resident, which for some reason makes me more content, working on it and having it. Also means at least I know it is comfortable with our crappy climate.
That's a hell of a walking cane, very cool!

 

[Cadillactaste]

You seem to be insinuating that I will be sharing my brandy in some way? I assure you, this is incorrect . Lol.



The tree is a UK resident, which for some reason makes me more content, working on it and having it. Also means at least I know it is comfortable with our crappy climate.
That's a hell of a walking cane, very cool!

Yes...my friend Paul over across the pond has one in his yard. He calls it another name. But same shrub. It thrives in his UK weather.

 

[petegreg]

I think catLitter should work well for you in your climate. Mycorrhizae is fungus living in symbiosis with some plants. Somebody washes roots, somebody doesn't, maybe not a big difference.
Some inspiration...
http://www.nibonsai.co.uk/bonsai-30-exhibition/tree-3-contorted-hazel/







...a broom (big one) looks good too.

...the pics come from web.

 

[ConorDash]

Yes...my friend Paul over across the pond has one in his yard. He calls it another name. But same shrub. It thrives in his UK weather.

Great, that's very good news. I worry a lot about weather and how silly ours is. Raining too much and it waters my trees too much, not enough sun to let the trees grow enough.. etc etc.
Although if RockM were reading this, he would tell me to stop worry so much because they are part of nature and nature does a better job at growing them than we ever could! He has told me that a few times.
Actually, funny thing, this tree had a sticker saying "Italian Feature Tree" on it, so I dunno if it was from Italy but it is certainly a UK tree. Whilst I was just looking at it, I can see strong branchs sticking up out of the soil, most cut down but coming up again. 1 young guy is sticking up, I may leave him for a bit and see if it grows straight or curved, just out of curiosity! It seems already a little curvy though.

 

[GGB]

@petegreg it's hard to get an idea of size relativity but those leaves seem reduced to me. And @Cadillactaste I avoid cultivars like the plague, I didn't know that's how it was done, but I guess that makes more sense. All I can base it off of are those ridiculous JM cultivars at Lowes, grafted half way up the trunk in some kinda crazy knob

 

[ConorDash]

I think catLitter should work well for you in your climate. Mycorrhizae is fungus living in symbiosis with some plants. Somebody washes roots, somebody doesn't, maybe not a big difference.
Some inspiration...
http://www.nibonsai.co.uk/bonsai-30-exhibition/tree-3-contorted-hazel/

View attachment 132453

View attachment 132454

View attachment 132455

...a broom (big one) looks good too.
View attachment 132456
...the pics come from web.

Ok thank you for that info . This is the 3rd time I've been writing a reply and someone posted within the period so I keep posting multiple times lol, hope it doesn't bother anyone.
They are great trees, and in that link, that contorta looks great. Probably right in its article saying its one of the better or best examples of its species. Its nebari is great too. This picture from that link:

http://www.nibonsai.co.uk/wp-content/2016/09/DSCF7946.jpg

The leaves look perfectly proportionate. Although all look like they are melting, as if its drying out or something, I wonder why that is? Or is that their normal look.

 

[petegreg]

Right, and mind there's written ...collected 20 years ago from school grounds. Time makes difference. The leaves are contorted or wavy too, natural feature.

 

[Cadillactaste]

@petegreg it's hard to get an idea of size relativity but those leaves seem reduced to me. And @Cadillactaste I avoid cultivars like the plague, I didn't know that's how it was done, but I guess that makes more sense. All I can base it off of are those ridiculous JM cultivars at Lowes, grafted half way up the trunk in some kinda crazy knob

A few years back...on pole trunks I seen a few grafted high. Rediculous! Now had they put some movement in the trunk it would have been more fitting. They were making "trees" from shrub material is what the nursery said. But upstanding nursery stock is grafted below the soil level. So it's tricky. Not many want one digging through the dirt of higher end trees.

 

[ConorDash]

Right, and mind there's written ...collected 20 years ago from school grounds. Time makes difference. The leaves are contorted or wavy too, natural feature.

Sure yeah, 20 years of training is rather major! I've got time

Ill be sure to get a few pics of its root ball and trunk under the the soil line, when I dig it up @Cadillactaste

 

[cbroad]

@ConorDash
I'm the last person you want soil info from, I'm still tweaking my mix and I seem to change it up every year. I'm thinking I'm more of a crap-load-of-perlite-with-some-peat-moss guy until I can get pumice. But I might go the 8822 route this year...

Be glad you don't have Japanese Beetles, they can devastate a whole bush in a day. You guys might have June Bugs over there, they look pretty similar but they are usually more brown with a little iridescence, but I don't think they're as big of a problem...

 

[cbroad]

Yes...my friend Paul over across the pond has one in his yard. He calls it another name. But same shrub. It thrives in his UK weather.

I've also heard them called Contorted Filbert, and I think I've heard hazel nuts being called filbert nuts...?

 

[ConorDash]

I've also heard them called Contorted Filbert, and I think I've heard hazel nuts being called filbert nuts...?

Same family of tree but different:
"Corylus maxima 'Purpurea' The filbert nut is edible, and is very similar to the hazelnut (cobnut). Its main use in the United States is as large filler (along with peanuts as small filler) in most containers of mixed nuts. Filberts are sometimes grown in orchards for the nuts, but much less often than the common hazel."

So far I just stick to my cat litter, 100% inorganic. I think of putting little bit of sphag moss in sometimes but dunno if its just me that thinks it'll make any difference..