Help identify please!

[Backwardsvg]

I have no idea what this is. Leaves haven’t popped yet. Slippery elm maybe? Anyone have any experience with it?

it got torn out of my parents yard so I’m trying to nurse it back to health. Yes I know the soil isn’t ideal etc. I’m keeping it in its soil it was in and just added a bit on top to fill the pot a little I’ll let it sit a year or two depending on how it does.

 

[penumbra]

Should know soon.
My slippery elm has been in leaf for several weeks.

 

[Backwardsvg]

Interesting. Hopefully it pops and stays healthy! How is the slippery elm as a bonsai @penumbra ?

 

[penumbra]

Interesting. Hopefully it pops and stays healthy! How is the slippery elm as a bonsai @penumbra ?

Leaves need to pop before you can know what it is.
Slippery Elm is my favorite elm. Stunning leaves in all stages.

 

[penumbra]

Slippery elm in training

 

[Backwardsvg]

Slippery elm in training
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Wow I hope it is. The trunk has good character and stuff. It could be nice in a few years. Those are pretty

 

[Backwardsvg]

@penumbra what kind of soil mix have you noticed your elms like?

 

[19Mateo83]

Slippery elm in training
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Damn those are good looking leaves!

 

[penumbra]

@penumbra what kind of soil mix have you noticed your elms like?

Bonsai mix varies but is basically inorganic with about 10% pine fines.

 

[Backwardsvg]

So when you collect a tree you just do a 100% soil change? Not a mix or keeping it in its original soil?

 

[rockm]

So when you collect a tree you just do a 100% soil change? Not a mix or keeping it in its original soil?

With vigorous deciduous trees like elms, you bareroot, reduce roots 95 percent all at collection time. Plant out in basic bonsai mix. Usually not a problem. Can depend on the species, though, which is why it's important to ID species before digging. You may not have had time with this one, though. Is this a seedling from another bigger tree? Do your parents know what's planted in the backyard? Elm is a good bet from the looks of it, given your location, Siberian elm is a possibility, as it is an invasive species in the midwest where it was introduced 100 years ago to help control erosion.

 

[Backwardsvg]

Thanks for the help @rockm i did not have time this round. It was a get it out or it’s gone deal.
There is no larger tree around it except a service berry I believe. They say they have been trying to kill it for years and it just won’t die (let’s hope I can keep up the good luck of not killing it haha). I will check into that elm. But either way it can take being place right into new soil? I just did this last night do I still have time to change the soil or should I not mess with it anymore?

 

[rockm]

Thanks for the help @rockm i did not have time this round. It was a get it out or it’s gone deal.
There is no larger tree around it except a service berry I believe. They say they have been trying to kill it for years and it just won’t die (let’s hope I can keep up the good luck of not killing it haha). I will check into that elm. But either way it can take being place right into new soil? I just did this last night do I still have time to change the soil or should I not mess with it anymore?

I wouldn't leave any original field soil on the roots. If it's an elm, I'd just pull it out of the pot today (even if it's not, it sounds like a pretty vigorous tree). Blast the root mass with a hose strip all the old soil off then replant in regular bonsai soil, insuring soil gets well into the root mass and the root mass is covered up to the lower trunk--leaving the root crown exposed is a bad thing for recently collected trees, as it leaves them exposed to drying out.

 

[Eric Group]

@penumbra what kind of soil mix have you noticed your elms like?

Trees live in and prefer to grow in dirt- best pot substitute is regular old potting soil. That is what your trees will enjoy the most, grow the fastest in and should be grown in by 99% of bonsai amateurs up until you reach a stage where refinement, leaf reduction and eventually showing a tree becomes the goal. Unless you have virtually all day every day to monitor your trees and provide the water and extra nutrients they need to grow vigorously in inorganic soil… (or a fool proof irrigation system perhaps?) Stick with the best dirt equivalent you can find. I have always found good ole Miracle Grow potting soil to be an easy to find, fantastic medium for the widest variety of plants. (Stick with the regular- the organic is like powdered coconut choir…). If you have a bunch of trees, you may save money buying bales of sphagnum moss, the “tractor supply” sized bags of perlite, and some “soil conditioner” (small pieced pine bark)… mixed 2-1-1 with a little organic fertilizer to make your own potting soil and save a bit of money.

One of the mistakes that has probably killed the most trees among amateurs and beginners is the rush to inorganic soil, coupled with the fear of the dreaded “root rot”- leading to trees that wind up in fast drying soil and people worried they are “watering too much”. A completely dry tree is a dead tree 100% of the time. A tree that gets a bit too wet= 99% of the time will just grow more. Which do you want for developing trees? DEATH? Or rapid growth? Make your soil decisions accordingly. It really is that simple for most.

The notion that a bonsai must be grown and especially DEVELOPED in inorganic soil is 100% false.
Just my $.02

 

[Backwardsvg]

@Eric Group thanks for the feedback. Always good to hear many different views. I have a few trees in more organic potting soil mixes and many in inorganic mixes. I have never messed with elms though. Appreciate it!

 

[Backwardsvg]

Is it a hackberry??

 

[rockm]

Is it a hackberry??

Looks hackberry-ish...Won't really know until the leaves have matured a bit, but from the initial shape and leaf veining, hackberry is possible.

 

[Backwardsvg]

Ya I am thinking it is more towards hackberry, but you are right about waiting till they have matured.

 

[Kahless]

It looks like my hackberries do right now. I vote for hackberry. Even the first pics looked very much like it.

 

[Backwardsvg]

It looks like my hackberries do right now. I vote for hackberry. Even the first pics looked very much like it.

@Kahless do you have any experience with hackberry? This is my first one so would love some ideas/ tips