119: Cercidiphyllum (Katsura Tree)

[Orion_metalhead]

Another new one. Havent played with the species yet but loved the root flare and trunk. I removed a couple dead stubs and covered with paste to get some rolling starting. Will fertilize and begin process of getting out of nursery pot next year. Is it safe to prune back now on these?

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[Kievnstavick]

Yes, now is an excellent time for deciduous pruning. If you are on top of the trimming, you can get 3-4 pruning sessions on this during the growing season. In general, (with my current knowledge of the species) it would be best practice to treat them like you would a Acer palmatum.

I am still learning about how to grow this species and build a quality stock, so I can't advise much outside of refinement techniques. I do know that they are pretty aggressive growers. They naturally want to form a broom/flame shape due to their branch structure and bud placement. You will still get trunk thickening when put into a bonsai pot at least according to the claims of a high level practioneer that I trust.

I should have plenty of stock to play with over the next couple of years to see how hard cut backs, resets, and trunk chops will work out for them. They have spectacular fall color and the dried leaves have a sweet smell to them when disturbed.

 

[Kievnstavick]

Here is the Fall color of my tree last year



This was the tree when I did my first repot of it a year prior. Going from the pot I bought it in and placing it into a smaller rounder pot.




This was what it looked like during the summer after I acquired it.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

@Kievnstavick a few questions:

1. Have you tried cuttings?
2. How much was your tree's roots reduced at repot?
3. Have you tried any wiring and how has the tree responded?
4. What soil mix do you have yours in?
5. Sun exposure: do you give partial shade during hottest months?

 

[vp999]

Now is a great time to prune back as they throw out long shoots everywhere, on mine, leaves will burn badly if giving too much sun.

 

[Kievnstavick]

@Kievnstavick a few questions:

1. Have you tried cuttings?
2. How much was your tree's roots reduced at repot?
3. Have you tried any wiring and how has the tree responded?
4. What soil mix do you have yours in?
5. Sun exposure: do you give partial shade during hottest months?

1) I haven't tried with any honest effort. They have been exclusively my trimmings stuck into soil. No success. I can imagine they can take given enough forethought and effort.

2) I pretty much barerooted the tree to replace the last owners substrate mix with my own. I did a total reduction of about 30%-40%. This was mostly a get it in a smaller pot sort of reduction as I didn't see any corrections needing to be made during that time. The roots or more or less done, so just fixing truck and branching at this point.

3) I have not put any wire on this species as of yet. I will be wiring my seedlings come fall, but that is another matter. What I do know is that the branches are quite hard. Somewhat easy to break past pencil thickness. I'd recommend seeing how much movement you can get on sacrificial pieces first. I'd suggest only doing minor positional movements. If you want more erratic or curvy movement, I'd suggest starting on young twigs. Although it might look odd over the years due the straightness of its growth habit.

4) I have mine in approximately 30% lava, 30% pumice, 27% pine bark, and 3% charcoal. It works good, but with my watering habits I'd probably opt for a more water retentive mix. That would probably be when I swap to an akadama mix in the future (or some other moisture retentive non-organic) when the tree is further into the refinement stage.

5) I kept the tree in full sun at my last residence. At my new house, I think I get direct sunlight from 10am to 6pm. Morning and afternoon sun is filtered by trees. In my experience it does well in full sun provided you can keep it watered. I am not sure how you climate compares to mine, so your miles my vary.

Some additional information: This species does backbud on old nodes, but I don't know if it does that opportunisticly or if it needs to be cut back hard to freak the tree out. My tree had a bud extend and start growing on the trunk that I have let grow as a sacrifice to get some more taper in the trunk.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Great insight. Ill definitely refer back to that.

 

[stav121]

Katsuras are amazing, I saw one huge tree in Slovenia in Ljubljana's Park Tivoli when I travelled there and other than the looks, the scent was amazing.

Good luck with this one!