Thuja occidentalis

[Giga]

Getting new weed wacker cable I came across this guy that was sitting in the bargin bin. For 9$ I simply couldn't help myself


Niceish interesting nebari is what grabbed my attention


So I got to work. Sitting on the bench, please excuse the poopy background. But till spring when I can repot it sits waiting.

 

[BeebsBonsai]

Have you worked with Thuja Occidentalis before? I have one in my yard my parents were going to dig up and I asked if I could give it a prune this year, then begin the process of shrinking it down to a somewhat manageable size before digging it up in a few years.

This is a great looking tree already. Large for 9 bucks. Great steal. The one I am hoping to Bonsai was 7 feet tall before the trunk chop I did, and now sits at about 5'5''. The branch structure of these seem excessively difficult to bonsai. Mine was basically a huge cluster of small trunk-branches that went from the base of the tree straight up around the main trunk. The tree itself started as a root sucker so I think that's pry why it grew that way. I would like to bring the tree down to about 3-4 feet before even attempting to remove it from the soil. Does this species back-bud from the trunk readily? It had a bunch of small one or two node branches starting from the trunk, but if I ever hope to get it down to size, it has to back-bud extensively along the trunk. I am hoping the opening of the trunkline to light may stimulate some back-budding but don't know.

 

[Salcomine]

Nice thuja, repotted my two thuja this year, the root balls were hard as rock and took a lot of root hooking to loosen up. Looks like you chopped about as much as I did, just under half. How did you treat the chop? Did you seal it?

 

[Giga]

View attachment 151283 View attachment 151283 Nice thuja, repotted my two thuja this year, the root balls were hard as rock and took a lot of root hooking to loosen up. Looks like you chopped about as much as I did, just under half. How did you treat the chop? Did you seal it?

late replay yes I did seal it

 

[defra]

Nice looking forward to what you will do with it
reminds me of my fugly thuja project lol gotta repot in spring too

 

[Giga]

Nice looking forward to what you will do with it
reminds me of my fugly thuja project lol gotta repot in spring too

Me too I'm interested what happens here

 

[tree3]

I have what is called Arborvitae 'Berkman's Gold'. I'm going to post an image. I like that it's growing as a rather smallish Thuja, although it's a slow grower, it's recovered from hard pruning in the roots and some branches.

 

[herzausstahl]

@Giga any updates?

 

[Marlon]

Hello! @Giga any updates? I was looking for another thuja in development, hopefully get advice and answers. I recently decided to try Thuja, they're abundant here. Sold as hedging and ornamentals. I found this yesterday, very cheap. 3000 Tsh, less than two dollars. Its about a foot and a half, diameter of the trunk is around 20cm. The roots were a mess, but with plenty of good roots in there. I have done a few things to the tree. I am open to suggestions advice and praise, especially praise, if deserved.