Jujube tree trunk chop?

[justBonsai]

Hi,

My mom has a developed jujube tree in a large pot that she plans to throw away b/c its taking up too much space. Well I decided that I could take it over and develop it as a bonsai. The bark is aged and well formed and the nebari is great with nice thick lateral surface roots buried in the soil. In my experience its a vigorous tree with not many issues and of recent its been sprouting suckers from under the soil from its roots so I'm sure its relatively healthy. The tree is about 9 feet tall and I plan to do a trunk chop and develop a new leader over time. My concerns are is it okay at this time of year to do a trunk chop? Will it still flush out new growth? Because I live in Southern California, cold winters are nonexistent and there is no concern with new growth succumbing to frost or things of that nature.

Does anyone have experience with this tree as a bonsai? It produces nice small fruit, leaf size is small and possible can be reduced further, and its fairly hearty. I'm unable to find too much information online for this tree as a bonsai and I hope it will readily backbud after the trunk chop. Any tips, comments, or suggestions are all welcomed.

Julian

 

[michaelj]

I have never seen one. My interest was piqued by your question, though. So I Googled jujube bonsai. This thread came up on the first page of the Google results. They are cool trees, though.

 

[justBonsai]

I'll post some pictures later, but I finished the trunk chop, reducing and cleaning the roots, and repotting it. It is a fairly vigorous tree so I hope it lives! The nebari is amazing with really nice developed lateral surface roots. Also its a bit too late to ask now, but was it wrong to reduce the roots and repot? Should I have only done the chop, wait for new leaders to grow and develop, and then reduce the roots?

Hope it lives!!

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Don't know about trunk chop back budding, but they definitely have a lot of suckers that grow up from the roots. I've been tempted to dig up some to try for clump stlye, but Hackberry is the path of least resistance for me. No thorns and known to work well for bonsai. Let us know how the jujube does.

 

[justBonsai]

Don't know about trunk chop back budding, but they definitely have a lot of suckers that grow up from the roots. I've been tempted to dig up some to try for clump stlye, but Hackberry is the path of least resistance for me. No thorns and known to work well for bonsai. Let us know how the jujube does.

Will do. This can turn out to be a pretty nice tree if all works out.

 

[justBonsai]

Some pictures to come later, but a few buds have began to break through the old wood. Typically this tree is very apically dominant shooting out long branches from the side as it extends. Never really seeing backbudding on this species I was concerned I killed it, but so far it lives! Probably will need a year or 2 to fully recover though.

 

[justBonsai]

So far only 4 buds, but I'm just glad it lived. Unfortunately a lot of the bark peeled off in random spots after all the work of removing it from the old pot, reducing roots and sawing the trunk. The wood was surprisingly dense. Fortunately the bark fissures quickly and over the next few growing seasons the bark should be nice and uniform again. I can't find too much on this species as a bonsai, but the leaf size is small and I believe can be reduced. I can't develop a new leader as you would with a trident or an elm as this species tends to shoot out long growth that drap over the side of the tree. That said the plan is to develop several thick branches near the top and wire many overhanging branches as you would see on a willow. Maybe in a year or 2 I will get a dremel and carve out the top too.

Depending on how it grows and how vigorous that top shoot is I can attempt to develop it as a new leader and wire it as to develop taper. There is pretty much no information on training these as bonsai.