Feb 28 2012

A Tale of Two Shohin

I decided it was time to repot the little Cork Bark Elm I got last year. Problem was, I wanted to plant it into a pot already occupied by another one. I decided to transfer the Original Elm into a different pot and then do a proper repot on the new one. Here’s the photos.

The new Elm in a plastic pot.

Plenty of roots to sort out.

The original Elm in the pot I want.

This is it moved into a different pot.

New Elm into the Walsall Pot. Slightly more trunk line uncovered.

and side by side with a golf ball for scale.

Feb 17 2012

Cork Bark Elm Winter Image

I eventually got around to taking a few snaps of this Cork Bark Elm yesterday.

I’m trying to keep a decent record of it through the years to capture how the ramification improves.

It’s field grown tree and this is now it’s 3rd year in a pot from collection.

Grown from a cutting, it’s taken 11 years to get it to this point.

Dec 7 2011

Quick Removal of Leaves Method

Instead of lifting all my Cork Bark Elms out of the Poly Tunnel for leaf removal, I opted for the fast method. As they have lived a sheltered life, they have kept their leaves to the point were they are brown. Wind would have sorted this long ago outside on the bench. I opted for the garden hose method.

and there you go, it’ll still need to do a clear up to keep the place clean and tidy but it saved me a bit of time.

Dec 6 2011

Shohin Corkbark Elm

This is the little Corkie that I got back in February. It was repotted and then cut back hard to try and improve the ramification in a more organised way. Here are the photos during the year showing it’s progress.

February

Here’s a close up of the offending moss.

March

Leggy branch structure that needed improved.

May

After pruning…

September

Has been trimmed back several times between May and September.

and now…

It’s a slow process but hopefully worth it in the long run.

Nov 28 2011

Winter Image Corkie Elm

You many remember this Cork Bark Elm ORIGINAL POST

This is it now without leaf. A little tidy up required but I’m very happy with the ramification. A nice pot in the Spring will make a big difference.

Oct 4 2011

So much for Thinning Out!!

Even though I’m trying to cut down on the size of my collection, I just couldn’t pass up this little Cork Bark Elm. I have loads of Corkies, big and small after field growing them over the last 10 years. So why add this one to the collection??

The ramification in there is fantastic. This wasn’t the usual jumble of crossing branches, most of which I would have had to remove.
I liked the soft movement in the trunk and there appeared to be a hidden nebari in there too.
Thanks to Willowbog Bonsai, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have got it any cheaper 😉

Sep 18 2011

Root Much!

This is a little Cork bark Elm that I’m holding for Willowbog Bonsai with a view to slipping it into my shohin collection. I’m going to hold it to ransom until Peter offeres me discount 😉

I lifted it up today as I was shuffling a few trees around. This was what I found trying to root into grit underneath. I had lifted the tree about 2 weeks ago and no root was present. A lot of trees putting on late root growth, or maybe this is normal?

Sep 17 2011

Shohin Elm Progress

I’ve posted a few times about this little Elm.

Older posts:

Another Purchase 28th February

Little Corky 31st March

Elm Update 5th May

I thought I would add another shot today. Nothing dramatic, just showing the stages of the tree in my attempt to develope decent branch structure.

This is what I hope to do from scratch with this air layer stump.

Sep 7 2011

Cork Bark Elm Air layer

After removing the air layer from a smallish Cork Bark Elm on the 5th of August, SEE HERE , I was surprised that the parent base has budded so strongly this late in the season.

Aug 16 2011

Sick Note

I have two more trees to pop into my poly tunnel. A mate brought these on Friday night and I offered to look after them for a while.

The Chinese Elm had nearly died during the Spring due to Frost damage. I had revived it and given it back a lush green colour. It went from poly tunnel to his back garden were a few months seems to have turned it red! No new growth is visible and the red is probably down to a change in environment. We decided that a return to the tunnel for the Winter was the best course of action.

The original post about this tree can be viewed here. ELM RECOVERY

He also brought 2 Japanese Maples. One was in a bad way and had lost several main branches. I was unsure of the cause. I guessed at a drying out but was worried about it being a viral thing so I advised him to pop it into a bigger pot of pure grit and take it home.

The other maple was a little deshojo that again appeared to have been dried out or had a total loss of leaves due to wind burn. It was now pushing out a new flush off tiny leaves behind the dried out branches. I offered to pop it into the tunnel for protection from the elements and to keep an eye on how it progressed in the next month or two.