First Time Chinese Elm Broom

Omar

Yamadori
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Location
Portland, OR
Hi all,
I'm trying to train this elm into a mame/small shohin in a broom style. About 3 weeks after I made the initial chop it budded profusely. My question is this: Do I let the shoots grow until they reach a desired thickness and lignify or should i begin pruning/shaping growth once they reach a certain length in relation to the overall size? (I removed the plastic I had wrapped around the cut for the picture) Any advice would be very much appreciated.
20160619_205701.jpg 20160619_205733.jpg
 
I think better grow until the wood is hardened, if you shorten an soft branch they die back much faster.
 
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I think better grow until the wood is hardened, if you shorten an soft branch they die back much faster.

Thank you both, got my answer :]

Thats a terrible base to start a formal trunk with. Broom is formal, and needs to be as symmetrical as possible.

I completely overlooked that, thanks for the input :oops: While you're 100% correct however, I think it'd be boring to rigidly abide by styling rules. Maybe in a few years it'll look respectable the more I learn.
 
Walter Pall has pictures of Informal brooms.

Nuff said.

Make it work.

Sorce
 
Thank you both, got my answer :]



I completely overlooked that, thanks for the input :oops: While you're 100% correct however, I think it'd be boring to rigidly abide by styling rules. Maybe in a few years it'll look respectable the more I learn.
Thats the spirit! As I look at your avatar picture in cap and gown, I am reminded of how everyone gets a trophy just for participating.....just shooting for respectable is not in my vocabulary....
 
Thank you both, got my answer :]



I completely overlooked that, thanks for the input :oops: While you're 100% correct however, I think it'd be boring to rigidly abide by styling rules. Maybe in a few years it'll look respectable the more I learn.
I have to agree with Smoke on this one. This tree will pretty much never make a decent broom unless you airlayer it, and completely start a new root system.

Don't laugh, it's probably the best thing to do!

Now that we've settled that you WILL air layer a new root system, let's discuss your branching...

You've done the easy part. And you've been rewarded with buds all around. The next issue you'll have is they will all start to bulge, right there at the base. And it will form a knob. And once the knob is formed, it will be ugly. Forever. No, the tree does not grow out of it. It only gets worse.

So, you have to prevent the knob from forming. When? Now! In fact you should have started last week!

Go to the hardware store and get some pipe clamps. The metal bands used to repair garden hoses. Get one that is as wide as you can.

Also buy a wood dowel that just a bit less wide than your tree is at the chop.

Now take a power drill, and drill a hole straight down into the top of the chop, about an inch deep. Maybe us a 1/4 inch drill bit.

Whittle the dowel so that you make a piece that will be able to be inserted into the hole you drilled, then gradually tapers out to the full width of the dowel. Cut off the dowel so that after its inserted into the chop, it sticks up 2 or three inches. Go ahead and insert the dowel.

Wrap the pipe clamp around the top of the chop, with a as much of it as possible above the chop. The idea is that it should come into contact with the base of the new shoots. Right at the chop. Carefully tighten the clamp.

So... WhAt we've done is restricted the buds from swelling to the outside, with the clamp. There should be some space between the buds and the dowel. The WILL swell,let them swell in towards the dowel. The dowel is placed to keep the shoots growing up, and not be pushed over and cross over the top of the trunk.

The space between the shoots an the dowel will fill with swelling. When it does, remove the dowel. Fill the hole with cut paste to keep water (and rot) out. The shoots should continue to cover over the hole and cut paste.

Periodically check to make sure the hose clamp is snug, but is not cutting in. You could loosen it and reposition it a bit from time to time. Eventually, your branches should settle in and cease trying to swell. Once everything gets calloused over. Then you can remove the hose clamp.
 
@sorce,

So you think broom style is cookie cutter?

It's extraordinarily hard to do well.

Show me your dozen!

By definition....

You're telling him make his tree exactly like every other Japanese broom.

Why?

Never said I had any to show!

Relax!

Sorce
 
Thats the spirit! As I look at your avatar picture in cap and gown, I am reminded of how everyone gets a trophy just for participating.....just shooting for respectable is not in my vocabulary....

Very well said. Nine years after this picture was taken they also gave me an MD/PhD for participation.

I have to agree with Smoke on this one. This tree will pretty much never make a decent broom unless you airlayer it, and completely start a new root system.

This is top notch advice thank you, I'll let you know how I fair!
 
Very well said. Nine years after this picture was taken they also gave me an MD/PhD for participation.



This is top notch advice thank you, I'll let you know how I fair!
And you had to work for that PHD, they don't just hand them out to those that were just respectable. Put the same effort into your trees that you did to earn your credentials. Ask Ryan Neal or Boon or Kenji Miyata if they do bonsai for relaxation or if it's a lot of hard work.

If doing bonsai is for relaxation then it will take a lot of years to get to respectable.
 
If @Smoke has made profiles for his alternative personalities....and is liking his posts with them....

I am even more worried than I was!

Someone move the thong aside and jam a thermometer up there!

Sorce
 
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