Trunk taper development with minimum scars

[Cajunrider]

Please report progress or lack of. Eucalypts are not known for ability to produce roots but fingers crossed this tropical species might just be able to do it.

Rainbow eucalyptus roots readily and profusely. Here is the spindly top of this same tree that I air layered off early this year. I expect to harvest the new one in 4 months.

 

[Shibui]

Rainbow eucalyptus roots readily and profusely. Here is the spindly top of this same tree that I air layered off early this year. I expect to harvest the new one in 4 months.

Now that is good to know. Keep up the good work.

 

[Forsoothe!]

How about an update? I have just received two Rainbow monsters. Actually not monsters, liners about as thick as a pencil. The lead part without the wood. I intend to chop at the lowest set of leaves every April and grow them on in a pot in the ground over summers, then into the the greenhouse and repotting-up every other autumn without cutting roots. Comments?

 

[Cajunrider]

The original RE got spindly again so I airlayered the top for the third time 8 weeks ago. I harvested it today.






The roots developed nicely all around.


Here it is planted in a pot.


What should I do with this original trunk? Initially I thought about lopping off the top right bend and let the main trunk be the left branch. However that under tiny branch turning upward looks promising.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Aren't you doing this back-asswards? Air-layering makes you start over, albeit with a slightly bigger base, still lacking a nice nebari. I'm betting that growing in on and removing the least existing growth each time pruning will get taper even if shorter, understanding that "shorter" will look more in scale anyway.

My original question was intended to inquire whether or not the scares I inflect topping it (angled backwards) at successively higher steps over the years will leave me with unsightly rings at each point as a result or whether the rings will fade within some reasonable time? I will of course choose a point to chop that has a branch I can point upwards to form a new leader. Will this work right?

 

[Cajunrider]

Aren't you doing this back-asswards? Air-layering makes you start over, albeit with a slightly bigger base, still lacking a nice nebari. I'm betting that growing in on and removing the least existing growth each time pruning will get taper even if shorter, understanding that "shorter" will look more in scale anyway.

My original question was intended to inquire whether or not the scares I inflect topping it (angled backwards) at successively higher steps over the years will leave me with unsightly rings at each point as a result or whether the rings will fade within some reasonable time? I will of course choose a point to chop that has a branch I can point upwards to form a new leader. Will this work right?

Well instead of trunk chopping I air-layered then chopped. The top is a new tree that I am giving away to a friend. The bottom is what I keep and it continues to grow bigger and bigger. It is almost 2 inch in diameter now. As fast as I see this thing heals up, I don't have much worry about the scars.

 

[penumbra]

Please keep us posted on this. I got 2 of them this last spring. I wired one but kept one straight and cut it back twice. Not really sure what I want to do with the tall one yet. They grow like weeds. They are wintering in a greenhouse now.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

"Cajunrider,
The original RE got spindly again so I airlayered the top for the third time 8 weeks ago. I harvested it today.
Here it is planted in a pot.
View attachment 267383


Bold type is not intended as shouting, bold only to distinguish my reply from your original comments. Imagine normal pleasant tone of voice.

In spring, if this air layer above were mine, I would prune those long spindly branches to just an inch or so. Let grow out one season, then drastically prune back. Letting it go longer than that gives you the spindly tree. Keep pruning back. Only once a year until you get the diameter of trunk you desire. But you need to prune back to no more than 2 internodes once a year. This way you won't get spindly. Do the pruning in spring, at the beginning of rapid growth. Let get rangy (spindly) for the rest of the summer, then a radical cut back again after the tree wakes up in spring again. This is analogous, to Walter Palls hedge pruning. Timing should be during active growth, so spring, or early middle summer, but not during the autumn or winter doldrums.

What should I do with this original trunk? Initially I thought about lopping off the top right bend and let the main trunk be the left branch. However that under tiny branch turning upward looks promising.
View attachment 267384

Bold to show my reply, not meant as shouting.

That little branch coming up from under the right bend of the old trunk looks awkward, it will never become "nice". Your best bet is the large left branch or my preference would be one of the 2 branches on the right side below that bend. I would repot this trunk, Work the roots to re-establish or refine a flat radial root system. Then pot the trunk at a stronger angle coming out of the soil. The angle should make either the right 2 branches below the right turn the new leader, or lean it the other way to make the left branch the more upright leader.

Trunks coming bolt upright out of the soil tend to make poor bases for informal uprights. Bolt upright, vertical trunks are good for formal uprights, formal brooms, and christmas trees, that is about it. All other styles need at least a 30 to 60 degree angle off vertical to the soil to create a beautiful informality. 45 degrees tends to look contrived, so either a little (near 30 degrees) or a lot (near 60 degrees) tend to be what the eye likes. You don't need to measure, the numbers are arbitrary, your eye will see what a pleasing angle off vertical looks like.

Again, if this were mine, when I did this repot, I would reduce it to the first 2 segments of trunk. Remove all the branches. If done during a period of active growth, this should back bud all over the place, giving you many branches, and they will be in new positions, and at different angles.

Those are my thoughts, in the interest of helping, Bold only to make my comments different from yours typeface. You don't have to follow my thoughts, it is what I would do.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Actually when I am growing seedlings, I will "Hedge Prune" until I get a lot of branches all over, with a large mass of foliage, much larger than the finish target. Then after a few years, I bring it down in a radical pruning session to just the first couple segments of the trunk.

Then let it grow out to become a massive, bushy ball of branches and foliage. Then prune to just the 2 segments of trunk and the first 2 main branches or sub-trunks if going for an informal broom.

Then repeat, let grow wild and rampand. Then bring down to just adding one more segment to the design.

Slow process, but it will work.

Key advantage of removing all the branches leaving just the trunk is that in an exhibition bonsai, the branches are ideally less than 50 % the diameter of the trunk. This gives a tree like appearance. Branches and trunks similar in diameter gives a shrub like appearance. By removing all the branches except the next segment of trunks or sub-trunks, this keeps the branches smaller in diameter than the trunks. Branches on a mature bonsai should be a decade younger than the trunks they come from. Well not necessarily a whole decade, but definitely significantly younger than the trunk.

Rarely do you keep any of the early branches in the finished design. All the branches are added well after the main lines and caliper of the trunk is developed.

 

[Cajunrider]

"Cajunrider,
The original RE got spindly again so I airlayered the top for the third time 8 weeks ago. I harvested it today.
Here it is planted in a pot.
View attachment 267383


Bold type is not intended as shouting, bold only to distinguish my reply from your original comments. Imagine normal pleasant tone of voice.

In spring, if this air layer above were mine, I would prune those long spindly branches to just an inch or so. Let grow out one season, then drastically prune back. Letting it go longer than that gives you the spindly tree. Keep pruning back. Only once a year until you get the diameter of trunk you desire. But you need to prune back to no more than 2 internodes once a year. This way you won't get spindly. Do the pruning in spring, at the beginning of rapid growth. Let get rangy (spindly) for the rest of the summer, then a radical cut back again after the tree wakes up in spring again. This is analogous, to Walter Palls hedge pruning. Timing should be during active growth, so spring, or early middle summer, but not during the autumn or winter doldrums.

What should I do with this original trunk? Initially I thought about lopping off the top right bend and let the main trunk be the left branch. However that under tiny branch turning upward looks promising.
View attachment 267384

Bold to show my reply, not meant as shouting.

That little branch coming up from under the right bend of the old trunk looks awkward, it will never become "nice". Your best bet is the large left branch or my preference would be one of the 2 branches on the right side below that bend. I would repot this trunk, Work the roots to re-establish or refine a flat radial root system. Then pot the trunk at a stronger angle coming out of the soil. The angle should make either the right 2 branches below the right turn the new leader, or lean it the other way to make the left branch the more upright leader.

Trunks coming bolt upright out of the soil tend to make poor bases for informal uprights. Bolt upright, vertical trunks are good for formal uprights, formal brooms, and christmas trees, that is about it. All other styles need at least a 30 to 60 degree angle off vertical to the soil to create a beautiful informality. 45 degrees tends to look contrived, so either a little (near 30 degrees) or a lot (near 60 degrees) tend to be what the eye likes. You don't need to measure, the numbers are arbitrary, your eye will see what a pleasing angle off vertical looks like.

Again, if this were mine, when I did this repot, I would reduce it to the first 2 segments of trunk. Remove all the branches. If done during a period of active growth, this should back bud all over the place, giving you many branches, and they will be in new positions, and at different angles.

Those are my thoughts, in the interest of helping, Bold only to make my comments different from yours typeface. You don't have to follow my thoughts, it is what I would do.

Regarding that little branch, I came to the same conclusion you did so I already cut it off this morning. Here is what it looks like now.


Btw, I can afford to do the cut now because we are in the middle of the second growing season. The withering heat of summer subsides and now everything is growing like crazy. They will stop growing in late November or early December. When the frost comes, I will take it inside where the growth be slow down.

I understand the cutting short to get good taper. However I also want a long enough section of unblemished trunk to show off the rainbow colors. There are no colorful barks on trunk scars.