Japanese Beech

[n8]

This is a Japanese white beech (Fagus crenata) that I picked up from a lady in Sacramento over the summer of 2019. She was reducing inventory and I purchased a JBP, a Torulosa and a Sierra juniper before heading out to visit a friend for the day. Not wanting to leave the trees in a hot car, I planned on going back to her house to pick them up on the way back home. When I returned, this beech caught my eye and, while it was a little out of my combined price range for the day, I went for it. Got a great deal on all four plants and when opportunity knocks...

This tree was imported from Japan in the late '90s and had been passed around a bit in the Sacramento area. There are some big scars that I have been working to close up. I have done a little bit of wiring and some basic pruning to keep the branches in check. And I've been trying to keep it alive. The Central Valley is not an ideal location for a beech as it gets way too hot in the summer. So far so good, although shadeageddon certainly tested me this summer and the tree limped through the final heat of 2021 with seriously sun damaged foliage. I should be OK going forward with a shade structure.

December 2019




February 2020




June 2020



January 2021



May 2021

 

[n8]

Here are pictures from today. Normally bronze leaves would still be hanging on, but as mentioned, late summer was not kind this year. Most of the damaged leaves had already dropped and I plucked the remainder today. As you can see, the big scars have been slowly healing, and while they will never be "perfect," they're on their way to closing. I will fill in some of the big cuts with Kwikwood this spring and the plan is to be more aggressive with shaving the wounds to promote more healing for the next couple of years. Now that I've got a bit of a handle on its growth habits I'm going to work on tightening up the branches as a few are starting to get a little leggy.

Another concern is poor healing on a chop that was done near the top of the tree (third picture below). The top and side of that scar are doing well, but the bottom bulge has rotted and will need carving out. Will work on that in the spring, too.

 

[fredman]

Nice beech...something different.

 

[JudyB]

Hard to find these! Nice work so far.

 

[Shogun610]

Nice Beech , that lower left branch looks weaker than second branch(unless it’s just the angle of the shots) , do you plan on bulking that one up?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Definitely worth having one in the collection, but they are slow and challenging.

I would be tempted to ignore the lower scar as long as possible. It doesn’t stick out too much yet, but once you start carving, there’s no hiding it ever again.

Best of luck.

 

[DanaWhicker]

Beautiful Tree.

 

[n8]

Nice Beech , that lower left branch looks weaker than second branch(unless it’s just the angle of the shots) , do you plan on bulking that one up?

Correct! It is much weaker. What techniques would I use to encourage it?

Definitely worth having one in the collection, but they are slow and challenging.

I would be tempted to ignore the lower scar as long as possible. It doesn’t stick out too much yet, but once you start carving, there’s no hiding it ever again.

I do enjoy the tree quite a bit. Incremental improvements are fine by me and I'm learning a lot by working on it.

I believe as done as much as I can for the lower scar, shaving just the edge of the wound repeatedly over the past two growing seasons. It's nearly there. The others all still have a ways to go.

 

[n8]

Buds are opening, so it's time to fix this ugly chop.



Cut the bulk out with a hand tool and then smoothed with the Dremel. Expose cambium to stimulate scarring/healing. Apply cut paste. (Will smooth that out when it dries.)



Profile looks much better from the front without the cut bulge, but it is also seems more obvious. Maybe that's me because it just happened. What are you going to do... Big ol' 1½" scar that will take a decade to heal.

Did I do everything right? (Besides using the wrong color paste.)

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Good luck. Never was able to get mine to close.

 

[n8]

Good luck. Never was able to get mine to close.

I know it'll be a long road, but reckon I had to cut out that rot. As you can see, there are multiple scars on this tree. I've been exposing the cambium each spring since I've had the tree and they close up a tiny little bit each growing season. This is a big one, obviously. The big one on the front on the bottom is almost there.

Here are some others on the tree that have closed (prior to my ownership):

 

[n8]

With the exception of the week first branch, I've been trying to keep this tree thinned out to reduce the amount of moisture lost to transpiration during our hot and dry summers. Still that first branch has not been gaining much strength. Not sure how I'll get it to thicken up enough to be stronger than the first right-side branch. Got enough scars on the lower trunk, so I don't think I want to remove it and create another.

Leaves are looking terrific this year and it's gratifying to see the scars close up a little bit more each growing season. The front lower scar will be closed by this year's dormancy.

I have yet to repot this tree since I got it four years ago. I reckon next March

 

[yenling83]

Sweet, nice find! These are so difficult to find in the US. Great work with it, what percentage of shade cloth do you have it under?

Two kinda crazy options you could always do would be to lay it down on one side and make a raft. Or, you could airlayer above that bottom branch. Unfortunately, you'd lose alot of the momentum you've already achieved so I understand why you'd want to continue w/ the current plans. Sweet lil tree you got there

 

[n8]

Sweet, nice find! These are so difficult to find in the US. Great work with it, what percentage of shade cloth do you have it under?

Two kinda crazy options you could always do would be to lay it down on one side and make a raft. Or, you could airlayer above that bottom branch. Unfortunately, you'd lose alot of the momentum you've already achieved so I understand why you'd want to continue w/ the current plans. Sweet lil tree you got there

Yes, lucky score. Right time, right place. Opportunist hobby, right?

I have it and most of my deciduous under 70% shade cloth. That went up in early June this year. My backyard gets blasted in the summer. I don't currently have the ability to create better zones for certain species, but that's the long-term plan. I'm sure 70% sounds like to much to folks outside the Central Valley, but I'm pretty happy with the way most of my projects are looking this summer as I typically am seeing leaf scorch by mid-June. Next week and onward will be the real test.

I don't think I want to make any radical changes (raft or layer), but eager for any other advice on how I can strengthen that first branch. Currently thinning all other branches down to two leaves after push and trying to let the first branch grow as much as possible. It's got the length, but not the needed girth. Perhaps I should also cut leaves in half on the strong branches?

P.S. - Really enjoyed taking time to stare at your Sierra at PBE last November, Jeremiah. Wild live veins.

 

[yenling83]

Hey, thanks so much on the compliment on the Sierra
I totally get the 70% shade cloth, it's so hot in Sac Town!

This pic below is from Peter Tea's IG-he's my Teacher and lives super close to you. This is more of a concept as opposed to exactly how you should strengthen the lower branch. Definitely don't defoliate Japanese Beech, but just to show you the concept. With this Trident Maple Peter is strengthening and thickening the lower left hand branch. He's doing this by allowing several of the shoots to run while weakening everything else and maintaining a tight silhouette through the rest of the tree. Because trees have such a dominate apex, the only way to transition auxin-plant growth hormone to the area you need, is to allow it to grow unchecked or almost unchecked while removing the auxin from the more vigorous areas.

Various professionals will weaken or reduce strong areas in different ways. The main options you'd have would be Defoliation(don't do it for a beech), partial outer canopy defoliation in the form of actually removing the entire leaf or cutting them say in half(might not do this unless it's really strong), or just through cutting back the top and side branches while maintaining a narrow silhouette. To speed up the process, I'd put the tree into a larger container or wooden box to allow it more vigor. Once the branch is strong or to your desired thickness you cut it back to the shape of the silhouette. It's very possible there are other ways to do it, but this is the way I know. Good luck!

Note the Japanese Beech raft below was a pic taken during the dormant period-it was not defoliated.

 

[BobbyLane]

Hey, thanks so much on the compliment on the Sierra
I totally get the 70% shade cloth, it's so hot in Sac Town!

This pic below is from Peter Tea's IG-he's my Teacher and lives super close to you. This is more of a concept as opposed to exactly how you should strengthen the lower branch. Definitely don't defoliate Japanese Beech, but just to show you the concept. With this Trident Maple Peter is strengthening and thickening the lower left hand branch. He's doing this by allowing several of the shoots to run while weakening everything else and maintaining a tight silhouette through the rest of the tree. Because trees have such a dominate apex, the only way to transition auxin-plant growth hormone to the area you need, is to allow it to grow unchecked or almost unchecked while removing the auxin from the more vigorous areas.

Various professionals will weaken or reduce strong areas in different ways. The main options you'd have would be Defoliation(don't do it for a beech), partial outer canopy defoliation in the form of actually removing the entire leaf or cutting them say in half(might not do this unless it's really strong), or just through cutting back the top and side branches while maintaining a narrow silhouette. To speed up the process, I'd put the tree into a larger container or wooden box to allow it more vigor. Once the branch is strong or to your desired thickness you cut it back to the shape of the silhouette. It's very possible there are other ways to do it, but this is the way I know. Good luck!

Note the Japanese Beech raft below was a pic taken during the dormant period-it was not defoliated.

View attachment 498320

My suggestion to strenthen the lower left would have been similar, I just doubt the OP would want to cut back the rest of the tree significantly, given the slow growth habit of some beech. I would also wire said branch up towards the light. Remove larger leaves in other areas or cut them in half, if the tree is vigorous. A bigger training pot is a good move.
With that said, the first left branch doesnt look out of place, its just that sometimes we are programmed to have the first branch as the feature branch. it can just be a matter of snipping back the two heavier branches above and wiring everything upwards to allow more light in to penetrate that branch. even if you dont cut back at the red, you can still slightly reduce those two and wire everything upwards including said branch. Thats the less drastic approach. There's more than one way to do things

 

[n8]

Appreciate the input @BobbyLane and @yenling83. Letting the first branch grow unimpeded is the plan. I do this one other trees, but this beech branch is just not cranking out the amount of foliage as the others, so that has been slow going. There are places where I can probably cut back a little bit and I think cutting leaves might be a good move this season. Bigger pot or box next spring is also not a terrible idea. Even just the repot and root trim will be helpful as the tree has slowed down the last two years. Would have repotted this spring, but last summer was brutal and I was concerned about the strength of the tree. I reckon I'm in a marginal heat zone for it's survival.

And you're right, Bobby... It's not out of place. I'm more concerned about keeping it going so I don't have yet another scar on the lower portion of the tree if it dies back.