Trying To Make A Broom
- Thread starter Mellow Mullet
- Start date
Weird shit been going on with pictures here lately.
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
Well the project seems to be progressing nicely, the new shoots are 18 -24 inches and hopefully will just keep on growing.
If you read the thread all the way through, you may see that I was on the fence about clamping the top. I decided to use them, but applied them loosely in hopes to allow a little expansion but not too much. We will see how it turns out, this is my first attempt at this. Extra special thanks to @markyscott for the invaluable info that he has posted in his elm broom thread.
If you read the thread all the way through, you may see that I was on the fence about clamping the top. I decided to use them, but applied them loosely in hopes to allow a little expansion but not too much. We will see how it turns out, this is my first attempt at this. Extra special thanks to @markyscott for the invaluable info that he has posted in his elm broom thread.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Thanks MM and you have a good start. Watch the clamps carefully. On mine it cut in a little.
S
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
You are welcome, Scott, I will probably remove them next Spring.
You may be able to get a drill bit down in there to carve out some of the center of the trunk.
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
I have heard of doing that, but I think I'm gonna skip it. It rains so much here it would stay full of water and cause rot.
dirk hoorelbeke
Omono
Reduce power of the strongest so the small can catch up? Will go fast now. Went 'bad' with mine faster than expected.
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
How did it go "bad"? Bad, in a good kinda way, or, bad, in a bad kinda way? Just looking for things I need to watch for. I thought about cutting the strong ones back, but we are getting into July and things really slow down because of the heat, most of the plants except for the tropical ones, just quit growing and sulk. In fact the heat came early, it already feels like August. I may do it anyway, what the heck.
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
I meant to ask this, but forgot, my previous reply was from my cell at the bank. What benefit does drilling vs. not drilling have? Just curious as this is my first attempt.
Drilling it out, then backfilling with the putty type cut paste to avoid rot, allows the swelling to swell inwards rather than outwards.
One of the issues that occurs with the “chop” method is Zelkova swells as it makes callous. Good brooms have a nice continuous “sweep” up as they transition from single trunk to multiple branches. No bulge.
But when we chop, the healing process creates a bulge. So, one way is to use raffia or pipe clamps to prevent the bulge. The thing is, the tree produces the callous regardless! So, hollowing out the trunk allows that callous to grow inwards not out.
Next, after you get a bunch of branches growing, there’s going to be a gap between them. That gap will eventually close up. But now it will look like every branch started at the exact same height. So, what Ebihara did (there I go parroting again) was to have the core hollowed out so that he could carve down between the new branches. Make a V cut between them. And the depths of the Vs could slightly vary, giving the tree a more natural look.
The pictures go from right to left chronologically.
GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
If it were further up North and drilled a drainage slot would be needed to shed the water - not big but enough to let it drain. If so it would promote more new growth around the hack BUT would take years to cover nicely.
Just my personal experience and all I have tried and did ok but I don't have 20 years to work it all out. They have all gone to "younger" homes
Grimmy
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
Thanks, do you have another example, a Chinese elm, maybe? I have seen these before in Scott's thread and I don't find the Ebihara tree attractive at all. There really isn't a lot of info on the 'net on creating a broom. Do you think that the branches will eventually close the wound on the top as they grow, even without drilling?
Fill the drilled out hole with soft duct seal type putty. Build up a crown on it to shed water.If it were further up North and drilled a drainage slot would be needed to shed the water - not big but enough to let it drain. If so it would promote more new growth around the hack BUT would take years to cover nicely.
Just my personal experience and all I have tried and did ok but I don't have 20 years to work it all out. They have all gone to "younger" homes
Grimmy
The Ebihara tree I pictured is just in the “creation” phase. I’m sorry, I don’t have a picture of the final product. It healed up so that you could not tell what had been done to create it.
But, I can tell you this: Mr Ebihara was offered $1 Million for it!!! This was back in the ‘80s I believe when $1 Million was a HUGE sum of money!
And he refused to sell!
If you don’t drill, it will callous over. But it will create a bulge. On TOP of the chop! So now, you have a trunk with branches all around at the same level, with a bulge of callous covering the top of the trunk.
I had such a tree. The point where all the branches started never looked natural. I eventually airlayered the top off! Made a clump style out if it!
But, I can tell you this: Mr Ebihara was offered $1 Million for it!!! This was back in the ‘80s I believe when $1 Million was a HUGE sum of money!
And he refused to sell!
If you don’t drill, it will callous over. But it will create a bulge. On TOP of the chop! So now, you have a trunk with branches all around at the same level, with a bulge of callous covering the top of the trunk.
I had such a tree. The point where all the branches started never looked natural. I eventually airlayered the top off! Made a clump style out if it!
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
Interesting point, I have some fostner bits, I will see what I can do this winter.
After Mr Ebihara did the V cuts, he then grafted (approach grafts of cuttings taken from the same tree so the leaf quality would match) branches to the INSIDE of the callous tissue where the V cuts had healed over! So instead of having branches only around the perimeter, this put branches coming up the middle!
KiwiPlantGuy
Omono
Hi Adair M,
I have a couple of questions for you with one simple and the other a bit more not so simple. I think I might be safe from the “it depends” lol.
1. With Zelkova serrata, I think that these don’t sprout from the chop, so is this correct? And how might this work from an elegant broom perspective?
2. When building a broom style bonsai, why would I bother putting “wiggles” in the branch design? rather than pruning shifts ( left/right) for movement. It begs the question, movement or not?
Hope this is not to confusing to answer?
Charles
KiwiPlantGuy
Omono
Hi John,
This is a cool thread to start, and let the battle of the broom begin, lol
Charles
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