Sheep Elm Clump

[bluone23]

Last year I collected a bunch of elm seedlings from a pasture. They were grazed by sheep since I found some wool in them at collection.

Planted them togheter and let them grow for one year.


Not all survived, but a few did and even fused a bit.
Decided today to repot them in another pot.


Will let them grow for a few years, clip and grow, maybe change the angle at a future repot

 

[Shibui]

The new clump looks good. It has a nice range of sizes and direction to the trunks. I would probably look for opportunity to reduce the height of most of those trunks. Reduced height will make the whole thing look more powerful in my opinion.

As elms are very fond of growing suckers from the roots I would guess that these are probably not really seedlings. More likely what we know as suckers that grow direct from the roots of a larger tree. I have several elm bonsai that were also collected as suckers that had been grazed by livestock.

 

[rockm]

Nice potential with this. I would also recommend shortening the trunks by at least half, or perhaps even two thirds. shortening will give the forest more visual impact because shorter trunks make trunks look thicker and therefor more mature. The elms can handle the reduction you will likely get substantial backbudding below the chops. If you're going to do that, do it now before leaf buds open.

Also, I'd think about eliminating the long crossing trunk and the spindly trunk to the left of it. They only complicate things and really add nothing but confusion to the composition.

 

[bluone23]

Thank you both for your suggestions, will definetly reduce the height a bit.

I also saw from my other elms that they do sucker from the base.
Also the roots root so in the future will add some more, for a bit of depth

Currently I get the feeling its a bit 2D.

 

[Shibui]

Currently I get the feeling its a bit 2D.

We can't see that in 2D photos but it can be an issue. Sometimes easy to fix by simply bending some trunks backward and some forward a bit to round out the canopy.
Adding some extra rooted cuttings, more trunks from the same original source or allowing some suckers to grow in selected locations at the base are also options to remedy 2 D bonsai.
I've grafted new trunks into several clumps here in the past to give better depth to the composition.

Also agree this is a great basis for a future bonsai.

 

[bluone23]

Reduced a bit the height as suggested and in spring will probably rea-arange the grouping a bit more.

 

[Shibui]

Good job. It's amazing how much thicker the trunks look when height is reduced.
One issue now is that your thickest trunk is now the shortest. We naturally expect the thicker trees to also be taller so plan on letting that thick trunk grow to be tall in the next couple of years and, at some stage, reduce the height of the 2 tall, thinner trunks if you can find some buds or shoots to chop them to.

 

[bluone23]

Good job. It's amazing how much thicker the trunks look when height is reduced.
One issue now is that your thickest trunk is now the shortest. We naturally expect the thicker trees to also be taller so plan on letting that thick trunk grow to be tall in the next couple of years and, at some stage, reduce the height of the 2 tall, thinner trunks if you can find some buds or shoots to chop them to.

good plan, thank you for your feedback
will definitely do that