Powerful Japanese Zelkova

[BobbyLane]

something else what i found interesting...
i was at the nursery on sat, conversing with the chap who grew this tree from a mame sized stick over a 30 year period and i showed him the latest progress pics on the tree, he's very old school..

he suggested i cut off the top part where it goes to the right! choose a central shoot that goes straight up...
because.
1, the top will begin to bulge
2, the apex needs to be back over the base....now i dont always pay much mind to the apex being back over the base and in this case, the tip goin to the right imo shows more change of direction from base to tip...
check the diagrams


ive seen Ryan neil talk about this, the option on the right is more valuable because there is more directional change?
where as the left option takes a little of that movement away?
on the right, in my eyes the tree looks balanced, the tree doesnt look like its tipping over?
there is nothing wrong with a tree moving right with the apex wanting to move ahead of the nebari, as long as it appears to be firmly grounded?
an apex goin straight up will take away some value and movement/change of direction? now im rambling

 

[BobbyLane]

Really exceptional tree Bobby, per usual. No doubt an exhibit worthy tree in the future.

Just a thought though, I feel like the branches in the coming seasons could use an opportunity to run, rather than be pruned multiple times, in order to thicken them up for proper scale. Regardless, it’s amazing you got the ramification you did out of a single seasons growth.

to an extent....this is at a point where you can prune harder in the apex, medium in the middle and minimal in the lower end of tree.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Keep it going to the right. Putting the apex back over the nebari is old school, lacks dynamic tension, lacks movement.

 

[BobbyLane]

This one has just had a bit of a hedge job.


its getting denser, but not so much that light doesnt get in after a prune like this.
therefore i dont see any need to carry out any partial defoliation. in a few weeks it will be cut back again and at leaf drop ill remove bits i dont need and wire movement into a couple of straight branches

 

[BobbyLane]

this is what the back looks like now, ive actually just gone in and sheared a bit more off

 

[BobbyLane]

This one looks a bit odd atm..
a couple days ago i cut back growth in the crown fairly hard to one's and two's.
its been fed well all season and i would like to reduce node length in this area and start to build more finer twigging and stimulate back budding...
again, the lower to mid have been left to power on.
over winter we'll see the results of this balancing act

 

[BobbyLane]

This is the first left branch, there is some nice angular movement in there now, a combination of wire and clip n grow


this area here is the top left section of crown, all these branches have been pruned for direction to go up and out veering left, the same has been done on the opposite side,

 

[Alain BERTRAND]

Zelkovas heal well. I think that to better exploit the very nice potential of this tree, you should have aimed to complete removal of the scar by growing a leader, cut it, growing a new leader...
During this time the tree would not be as appealing at it is now, but on the long run, it would be better IMHO.

 

[BobbyLane]

maybe you can show me an example of your own work healing large wounds?

with your method, how long does it take for a wound of this size to heal over?

 

[BobbyLane]

im not really one to obsess over scars on trees, i either put them to the back like in this case or to the side like in other cases. or i just carve the shit out of them and make them into features. or i put them in the ground and let them run.

 

[Adair M]

im not really one to obsess over scars on trees, i either put them to the back like in this case or to the side like in other cases. or i just carve the shit out of them and make them into features. or i put them in the ground and let them run.

Interesting... I have noticed that many of the trees you have posted “feature” elaborated uros. I’m thinking it’s due to the influence of Potter and Baddley.

 

[BobbyLane]

Interesting... I have noticed that many of the trees you have posted “feature” elaborated uros. I’m thinking it’s due to the influence of Potter and Baddley.

and nature to a larger extent.
it depends, i have a maple that was chopped and ive no plans to do a hollow on it, will just leave it to heal over.
i have a few trees in the ground that are naturally healing over chops, so letting nature do its thing on some trees.
i do like a variety, in an ideal world i would have trees that remind me of what i see in nature and i might have a few with flawless trunks in a few years.

 

[BobbyLane]

im influenced by others too, i love Maros's work on hornbeams, he tends not to carve much, preferring to disguise wounds off to the side or the back.

there is many approaches which can be taken, no one size fits all.

the bloke above was obviously more bothered by the wound on the back of this tree more than i am.

 

[Alain BERTRAND]

maybe you can show me an example of your own work healing large wounds?

with your method, how long does it take for a wound of this size to heal over?

Sorry, I don't have Zelkovas in pots now, I have some in the ground but it won't help much. To me they heal as fast as Burgers, that I have in pots but I don't think I have progression pictures that show healing.

 

[BobbyLane]

so youre basically comparing ground growing results to a tree in a bonsai pot. im sure if i stuck this in the ground and let the leader run it would heal considerably fast, will still take a few years though. its not my desire for the wound to heal over, this doesnt bother me in the slightest. in fact ill be doing refinement carving on both hollows as more callus forms around both wounds.

 

[Paulpash]

It's coming along really well, @BobbyLane . Please post in Autumn - I hope it colours up well for you?

 

[Alain BERTRAND]

so youre basically comparing ground growing results to a tree in a bonsai pot

No, because I don't have in pots now, but I used to, and I have Burger, Palmatum, Zelkova (and some more) in the ground. So yes, Zelkovas do heal well, much better than Japanese Elm, for example.

 

[BobbyLane]

The species, this tree in particular is extremely vigorous never known a tree like it.
a few weeks ago i trimmed back the top to allow mid n low branches a good run, the top is literally pruned to shape almost daily, a new shoot escapes the outline.
im ramifying the crown so it is being constantly trimmed to shape, we will see what it looks like at leaf drop and compare it to the previous leafless image.

today

 

[AlainK]

This one is really great !

 

[Clicio]

The species, this tree in particular is extremely vigorous never known a tree like it.

This is a *very impressive* Zelkova, the nebari, the trunk, the styling close to what you have designed at the beginning, and in the end the apex being in the right doesn't make it feel unbalanced at all.
Congrats!