Mini Chinese Elms from Root Cuttings

[Chuah]

Smoke wrote about how the Chinese mass produce Chinese elm mallsai using root cuttings. I have been growing shohin and mame size Chinese elm from root cuttings, however, I am intrigued by the interesting natural twists and curves in some of the root cuttings; by making use of these unusual characteristics I grew them into mini exposed roots, literati and cascade bonsai. Those natural unevenly spaced curves are difficult to reproduce through wiring. I was inspired to write a blog about my experience, and here are some of the examples.
https://bonsaipenjing.wordpress.com/

Root cuttings of many species can be successfully used. I like using Chinese elms since their leaves can be easily reduced to match the size of the tree.

 

[fredtruck]

These are great. Thanks for sharing your excellent pictures.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I'd love to hear more about your root cutting process... what time of year, etc...

 

[fredman]

I'd love to hear more about your root cutting process... what time of year, etc...

Yeah me to

 

[Chuah]

I'd love to hear more about your root cutting process... what time of year, etc...

Down here in Houston I repot my Chinese elms in February. I picked out roots that I like and potted them in a 4" plastic pots. Seal the cut end with cut-paste and it does not require rooting hormone for the roots. Last year I potted some 50 root cuttings and gave away most of them to our bonsai club members. I kept a few that I like, and will put them in training pot this spring.
The only thing to be careful is to avoid developing reverse taper; the cut-root is slightly fatter at the cut end than the bottom where there are fine roots. A rosette of buds will pot up at the cut end, one has to remove all of them leaving one to grow as a new leader. Once it takes off, care is the same as elms propagated by any other means. You can wire it, train it in any style. I also train some fatter roots into moyogi shohin, but I like to keep them in literati style to enjoy the natural bend with a large negative space. They look dainty.

 

[0soyoung]

Nice stuff. Fun stuff, @Chuah.

 

[fredman]

Fantastic. Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.... Love your blog

 

[Zach Smith]

Smoke wrote about how the Chinese mass produce Chinese elm mallsai using root cuttings. I have been growing shohin and mame size Chinese elm from root cuttings, however, I am intrigued by the interesting natural twists and curves in some of the root cuttings; by making use of these unusual characteristics I grew them into mini exposed roots, literati and cascade bonsai. Those natural unevenly spaced curves are difficult to reproduce through wiring. I was inspired to write a blog about my experience, and here are some of the examples.
https://bonsaipenjing.wordpress.com/

Root cuttings of many species can be successfully used. I like using Chinese elms since their leaves can be easily reduced to match the size of the tree.

Very nice work.

 

[sorce]

I like em.....

Except the leafless one.....
Bugs the shit out of me! Sorry for that!

But the first one looks like one of those sumac....beautiful...

And that cascade....
Marvelous!

Excellent pictures!

Sorce

 

[Chuah]

I like em.....

Except the leafless one.....
Bugs the shit out of me! Sorry for that!

But the first one looks like one of those sumac....beautiful...

And that cascade....
Marvelous!

Excellent pictures!

Sorce

Thanks for the compliments. You are right about that leaveless tree. Some of the branches bothered me too. I probably will end up removing most of them and restyle the tree completely.

 

[sorce]

The only thing that really knocks me is that right branch....its so good except for how it goes right up to the same plane of the left side branch...
Can't just remove the left one..
If it could be regrown out....it would be like! Aaaahhh!

But in an effort of compacting, and because it looks dead sexy....IMO

Not that you haven't seen it....
But for people struggling with
Cantfinddatreeatism.



Imagination must do the rest!
But that's hot!

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Oh Damn.....

I forgot to add.....
My other compliment!

My jealousy over the sexy ones was only matched by my severe disgust in that one!
Very conflicting!
Hence a late like!

Lol....

I am done subjecting you to me!

Sincere thanks for sharing!

Sorce

 

[LanceMac10]

Nice feminine lines. Graceful.
Great use of material that in a lot of circumstances gets discarded.
Top notch photography as well. Very detailed and clear.
Put it this way, ain't gonna be any Zappruder film or Bigfoot shots comin' from me!!
Unless you enjoy blurry shots of my thumb or wildly oscillating video that not even the latest technology can steady. I can't be tamed!!

I like the delicacy you have achieved. To be serious for a second.....

 

[Chuah]

The only thing that really knocks me is that right branch....its so good except for how it goes right up to the same plane of the left side branch...
Can't just remove the left one..
If it could be regrown out....it would be like! Aaaahhh!

But in an effort of compacting, and because it looks dead sexy....IMO

Not that you haven't seen it....
But for people struggling with
Cantfinddatreeatism.

Imagination must do the rest!
But that's hot!

Sorce

Thank you Sorce, nice attachment. It is sexy but I think I need to to break up that big U turn and make it a little more 3D.

 

[Chuah]

Nice feminine lines. Graceful.
Great use of material that in a lot of circumstances gets discarded.
Top notch photography as well. Very detailed and clear.
Put it this way, ain't gonna be any Zappruder film or Bigfoot shots comin' from me!!
Unless you enjoy blurry shots of my thumb or wildly oscillating video that not even the latest technology can steady. I can't be tamed!!

I like the delicacy you have achieved. To be serious for a second.....

I took these photos using the new photo tent setup my wife got as a Christmas present from our son. It is a simple setup with a translucent tent, two side LED lightings and a camera stand. Quite easy to use, and I was surprised and pleased with the results. At first I used a black background to shoot photos of these elms, found them stood out too much for literati styles, so I changed to a white background. Still learning how to use the photo tent more effectively.



My wife has a lot of kusamono, she is now happily taking photos of her plants. Here are a few of her kusamono try outs using the photo tent.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

The white background is more effective because you can see a shadow. The black background makes the bonsai look like it is floating in outer space Perhaps a happy medium is in order?

 

[sorce]

Well hell nah!

That black background looks real nice!

And those plants are so pretty...
Spring can't come fast enough!

You know how a great song makes you tingle....?
That's how nice those kusamono are.
Lucky you....!

Hey judge, why'd this display win?

Well....the tree was nice....but the accent planting made it!

Lol! Great stuff!

Sorce

 

[sorce]

happy medium

I love how Walter takes the black white and greys.....highly effective!

Sorce

 

[Chuah]

The white background is more effective because you can see a shadow. The black background makes the bonsai look like it is floating in outer space Perhaps a happy medium is in order?

Black makes a very sharp contrast. I think white is less flashy. I like both actually. I want to experiment with grey and two tones.

 

[Chuah]

Well hell nah!

That black background looks real nice!

And those plants are so pretty...
Spring can't come fast enough!

You know how a great song makes you tingle....?
That's how nice those kusamono are.
Lucky you....!

Hey judge, why'd this display win?

Well....the tree was nice....but the accent planting made it!

Lol! Great stuff!

Sorce

My wife provides a lot of kusamono for accents during our club show. She also likes to use all kinds of "junks", broken pots, oyster shell, sake cup etc., to plant those kusamono. I think she has about 100 of them but they occupy only two tables in the garden.