Want Chinese Elm Tiny Leaves

[Taxlord]

Hi guys,

I'm new to bonsai. I have a Chinese elm that someone bought for me from Amazon. Unfortunately, the leaves are kinda big and don't look like I want them to. I would like them to be small in tightly packed clusters. I've uploaded a photo of my bonsai and the Chinese elm I admire. Is it possible to get it like that? Or are they just different trees.

 

[Oliver Muscio]

Hi guys,

I'm new to bonsai. I have a Chinese elm that someone bought for me from Amazon. Unfortunately, the leaves are kinda big and don't look like I want them to. I would like them to be small in tightly packed clusters. I've uploaded a photo of my bonsai and the Chinese elm I admire. Is it possible to get it like that? Or are they just different trees.[/QUOTE/]

The tree you admire is probably one of the smaller-leafed chinese elms ('Catlin', perhaps, or something similar). However it is difficult to tell because a lack of indication of scale in the photo--we don't know how large the tree is, and consequently, how small the leaves are. Your tree is certainly much smaller, and so the leaves appear larger when the two trees are projected to the same size.

That said, the leaves on your elm are large for two reasons, both having to do with the amount of sunlight that can be absorbed: 1) it is young and has few branches; when it is more mature and has more branches (ramification) it will have more leaves that can be smaller; 2) more important, it appears that you are keeping this tree indoors. Even next to a window it does not receive enough light. Insufficient light = bigger leaves to capture as much light as possible. This tree should be grown outside in full sun. You should list your location so we know what kind of climate you are dealing with. If low temperatures are above freezing, it can, and should, go out now. If it is freezing out, keep it inside, with as much light as possible, and, when the temperature is milder, put it out in full sun, and leave it there year-round (with some winter protection if you live in a northern climate.)

Welcome to bonsai!
Oliver

 

[barrosinc]

It seems like a proportion problem. The other tree is a lot taller.
Leaves will get smaller eventually with smaller pots and more ramification.

 

[nip]

Hi guys,

I'm new to bonsai. I have a Chinese elm that someone bought for me from Amazon. Unfortunately, the leaves are kinda big and don't look like I want them to. I would like them to be small in tightly packed clusters. I've uploaded a photo of my bonsai and the Chinese elm I admire. Is it possible to get it like that? Or are they just different trees.

The owner of that tree has written articles about maintaining Chinese Elm. Here is the article, which mentioned that specific tree and talks about leaf size... http://blog.dallasbonsai.com/creating-chinese-elm-bonsai-part-1/

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Indoors under very low light conditions you're unlikely to ever get leaves that small. If you don't give it more light, aka artificial lighting, the leaves will stay larger in an attempt to gather light easier.

 

[qwade]

Try Ulmus parvifolia 'Hokkaido'

 

[Zach Smith]

You've been given a starter "bonsai," and you know what you'd like to have based on a photo. And you've asked the right question, to which the answer is "yes." That's where the easy stuff ends. You can certainly get your tree to a state similar to what you've admired in the photo, but to do this you have to map out a learning process that's going to take years. Most likely it won't end up involving the tree you've started with. If you're committed to learning bonsai, my recommendation would be to do two things: 1) get a lot of material to work on, ruin and/or kill and 2) join a club or get some instruction in the design and horticultural techniques of bonsai.

This may sound daunting, but most of us started out just as you have. We saw an awesome bonsai and wanted one like it. Then the hard and often frustrating work began. It takes time, lots of it, but you can get there.

Good luck!

Zach

 

[sorce]

The roots may be different, but the trunk has near perfect branches right now to get it almost exactly the same as that.

I think it is an excellent serious goal to have, studying a tree to make it something, allowing it to grow just the right amount everywhere. Takes a lot of attention, returned in education.

And if you don't like it in the end, it's an Elm! Cut it down. Grow it back out!

Oh, and I wouldn't listen to much about it's care from anywhere that sells em!

A little searching here is a good place to start!

Welcome to mildly ridiculous, or absolute crazy!

Sorce

 

[florida_bonsai]

Indoors under very low light conditions you're unlikely to ever get leaves that small. If you don't give it more light, aka artificial lighting, the leaves will stay larger in an attempt to gather light easier.

Ryan is right. I bought a larger chinese elm the other day and was doing some research on decreasing leaf size and the internode distance (space between the leaves). My number 1 resource, if I can't get to my bonsai group, is brent from evergreen garden works. Not only does he have EXCELLENT stock but he has a ton of information on his website. Here is the link to the article about decreasing leaf size.

https://www.evergreengardenworks.com/leafsize.htm

Hope this helps!
florida_bonsai

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Needs sunlight like others have said. I noticed some small but mature elms have much larger leaves when they don't have anything reaching into the canopy. The taller trees have much daintier leaves in general due to the extra LIGHT. (PS: Chinese Elms are natives here....sadly they get chopped down too much........oh well more for me to dig up eh?) Hope my two cents helps.

 

[daygan]

The leaves on the tree in the photo you're using as a guide look proportionately small not because they are necessarily much smaller than your tree's leaves, but likely because that tree is quite a bit larger than your tree. In order to get your tree to look more like what you see in your "guide image", you're going to need a thicker trunk and a bit more height. You should start with increasing the thickness. I would recommend about three to four inches in diameter. This will require you to allow your tree to grow much taller than the final height that it will have. Allow it to grow unrestrained for a number of years (maybe three to four, maybe less) until it has attained the desired thickness. In order to allow it to grow unrestrained, next time you repot it (remember repotting should usually be done in the spring just before leaf-out), you should either plant it in the ground or, if you do not have ground in which to plant it, you can move it to a larger pot. The difficulty with moving to a larger pot is that eventually the roots will outgrow that pot as well, at which point you will have to move it yet again to another pot or prune the roots, and both of these options have timing constraints as well as other complications.

After the trunk of your tree has attained the thickness it needs, you can then proceed (at the appropriate time of year, of course) to chop it back to an appropriate height and begin working on branch development and taper. I won't go into detail about this, but I'll give you a few helpful links. At this point, if you've followed everything I wrote above, you can see that producing a good looking bonsai takes a good deal of planning, knowledge, care, and time for necessary growth.

I wish we had some stickys in the forum with basic information that is helpful for new bonsai enthusiasts, but since we don't (or I don't know about them, at least), here are a few articles that you can read through to help you understand the processes you need to go through with your tree:

Starting Out in Bonsai
Developing Mallsai
Field Growing Trees for Bonsai
Developing Informal Upright Trunks
Why You Should Not Chop a Trunk Too Early

I just gave you a lot of information and I hope you're not overwhelmed. This should be helpful to get you started, at least. Welcome to the forums! Welcome to bonsai!

 

[Taxlord]

Wow, you guys have been so helpful! This is great place for info. I think I am going to do some more information and see what to do about this plant. And perhaps which plant should I buy.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

As qwade suggested, try a dwarf cultivar - either Ulmus parvifolia 'Hokkaido' or Ulmus parvifolia 'Seiju'. Both will have leaves smaller than a pencil eraser. Hokkaido will be the smaller of the two, but is somewhat hard to maintain given its stunted growth habit and brittle branches. I like Seiju better because it is only slightly larger while being much hardier.