Ulmus Parvifolia Yatsubusa

[fredtruck]

As I’ve become more familiar with my Yatsubusa, I noticed that the bark seemed to be covered with a layer of soft mushy sediment. I suspected that as the tree grew, it shed small particles of bark, and that’s what this sediment was. I was determined to clean the tree. I tried the toothbrush/scrubbing method, and had some success, but not enough. Then I read about Bill Valavanis’ use of a pressure washer to clean his trees. One of them he cleaned was his Seiju elm, which is very similar to my tree. I did my own searching, but found nothing that I thought would work, so I wrote Bill and asked him. He said he used a pressure washer made just for bonsai that he got from Japan. But since it cost $600, he suggested I try the Arrow Spot Cleaning gun carried by Amazon, for $65. I checked it out, ordered it and sprung for expedited shipping, since my “gotta-have-it-now” button was in play.


I had also read a number of things by B’nut users about using these guns. So when my Arrow arrived, I dialed the pressure way down, and stood back from my tree. I thought the results were amazing!


I was surprised to find that when the Yatsubusa dried thoroughly, the bark was quite hard. I expected the sediment to be gone, but I thought the remaining bark would be on the soft side. Not so. It was very firm, tough even.


Below, I’ve posted 2 pictures. The first picture is “before,” and the second is “after.”

 

[JudyB]

So this should work great on smooth barked trees, do you think?

 

[fredtruck]

I think it probably would, so long as you dial the pressure down and stand back. Though I have to add, I haven't done that, so I can't speak from experience. I think if you tested the gun on an inconspicuous part of a tree...that would be the way to determine the question.

 

[erb.75]

very interesting..thanks for the update on your tree...i will have to check my yatsubusa...I'm worried the cork bark will fall off...it's not on there tightly...we'll see what happens in the future if i notice mushy bark problems

 

[mcpesq817]

Hi Fred, your Yatsubusa is looking great. Nice work on the power washing I spent some time last week cleaning up my cork bark elms as well, removing the million unwanted new buds and cleaning out the mushy bark. I did the latter by hand though, mostly using tweezers and carving tools to scrape out the mush.

My sense is that on Brent's big elms, in areas were two or more sacrifice branches were grown closely together, a thin layer of corky bark would exist between the two branches. It seems like the branches never fuse, as when you cut back the stubs of the sacrifices flush to the trunk, you still see the sacrifice remnants as well as the layer of bark still in between the remnants. That layer tends to store a lot of moisture given that it's "inside" the trunk, and ends up getting punky over time. After being more diligent this year removing the mushy areas, I've noticed that the pill bug and worm inhabitants have gone way down, only resident in areas that I had missed earlier in the year.

 

[fredtruck]

That's probably true. I've also found that in major crotches, a lot of junk collects that I couldn't get out except by using the Arrow. What remained was often interesting, showing sacrifice branch stubs moulded into a kind of fillet. When I get time, maybe a picture would be worthwhile.

 

[fredtruck]

Here's the area of my tree I was referring to. Unfortunately, I only have the "after" picture. Almost all of what you see here was obscured by a compound of tiny bark flakes mixed with moisture and probably plain old dirt. It was smooth, like a fillet streamlining a wing to a fuselage. Where the branch stubs come out of the trunk at various angles is where the fillet was. Lower 1/3 center area of the picture.

 

[milehigh_7]

Lin


King Phillip Came Over Frothing Green Seas.

No No No!

Keep Poor Charlie's Overalls From Getting Soiled

 

[fredtruck]

I have posted this ulmus parvifolia yatsubusa before, but it was in a different pot that was 18 x 14.75 x 4.75. As it was, the root ball rested almost on the floor of the pot, and still the reverse taper section of the elm came up over the rim about 1.5”. Though I didn’t think the reverse taper was bad, many thought I should bury the tree up to the “waist.”


This is more difficult than it sounds.


This tree now has a name: Mountain with Trees. The yatsubusa was named by MACH5. The trunk is the mountain. On the left side, there is a forest. On the right side, there is a clump with some scrub trees. The top is a huge elm. I decided that pots that accented the horizontal were not appropriate for this tree because I wanted to accent the vertical.


I bought two pots, the red one you see here, which is 12.4 x 8 “ and a burnished Mokko-shaped pot that was 13.25 x 11 x 6.2”.


I took the elm out of its old pot, and made a few observations.


1) The root ball was 4.75” deep, up to the top of the nebari. There was about an inch between that point and the top of the “waist line.”

2) The pot is 8” deep, but the interior of the pot is only 7” deep. That wasn’t going to leave much room.


I intended to avoid any kind of root work because of the late fall season.


As it turned out, the tree would not have fit into the second pot I bought. There was no way it could be done. The pot was wide enough, but the mokko shape really restricted what would go in it.


The resulting image is not classical, but it does have its own good proportions. The entire composition, tree & pot, is just a little more than 3 pot heights—that is, 24”+. The container is 12.5” wide, so the height of the composition is just about 2 container widths high.


I feel that because the height of the tree is accented, it gives the viewer a better chance to appreciate the realization of the title: Mountain with Trees.

 

[cmeg1]

I like this a lot.I believe it does look good with the roots all buried.
Mine is totally resting on the bottom of the grow box as there is nothing but knobby big roots underneath.The feeders are all outside of the trunk.
I believe these trees from Brent look better with the roots hidden.The bark draws attention unless there was fantastic ,corking Nebari.
I enjoy the title of your tree.Quite fitting actually.Wonderful image.

 

[drew33998]

I can dig it! Mountain with trees

 

[fredtruck]

Mountain with Trees is getting pretty leafed out now. I took this picture to show how even minimal leafing out improves the proportions of my tree in the pot I've chosen.

 

[JudyB]

I like this image now. The new pot and intent of the composition work well together.

 

[fredtruck]

Thanks, Judy. I appreciate your feelings a lot.

 

[fredtruck]

Mountain with Trees has had a good summer, but the best is still to come.

 

[sorce]

Tiny toothed leaves

Tiny brained morons!

You don't need tickets for the Bonsai show in Chicago!

Sorry Fred!

Elms looking good!

Sorce

 

[fredtruck]

I gave Mountain with Trees its annual power washing today using the Arrow power washer. It worked very well. This washing seemed to be different in quality than the previous one. The bark began to show very subtle coloring, which I liked a lot. Here's a closeup.



In spite of its girth, you can see in this picture that Mountain has a subtle bend.

 

[Giga]

I gave Mountain with Trees its annual power washing today using the Arrow power washer. It worked very well. This washing seemed to be different in quality than the previous one. The bark began to show very subtle coloring, which I liked a lot. Here's a closeup.

View attachment 119082

In spite of its girth, you can see in this picture that Mountain has a subtle bend.

Take picture like this, instead of such heavy saturation and contrast. Hard to see the details otherwise. It's a nice tree!

 

[fredtruck]

Mountain with Trees lacks fall color. It seems to go from green to brown with no transition. In this picture, I caught it mid way.

 

[MACH5]

Nice Fred! Please post when it goes leafless.