American Hornbeam No. 4

[Shogun610]

American Hornbeam , again this was handed to me by an elder club member who knew I had a thing for American Hornbeam…. Here she is.. pretty nice except it’s got no lower branches .. but I like the left it be new leader and carve right side more and thread graft a branch lower right or maybe grow as a broom style not sure but I definitely like the hollow in the trunk as a feature .. pretty rad. Not too crazy about the pot but that can be changed.

 

[Colorado]

Sweet! I like the uro feature also!

 

[Shogun610]

Work by day bonsai by night , all day.
removed the ugly wire and cut back, branches I kept I cut he leaves in half to encourage back budding and another flush to carry into summer. Cleaned up that nasty wound and did a thread graft. Might not have left long enough,I threaded through two nodes. I have other reserve branches on left side incase it fail. Left branch under leader has got to be brought in more . Will use a small branch on right side that I’m growing out to thread in middle of that leader…. Right branch is staying for now to help close that wound but not sure of future .. all depends on if I get back budding and the thread graft working . going to clean up that hollow later on to make it not look like a polyp and more internal . Still don’t know the entire direction I’d like to take , I like this tree though. It was a very nice gift

 

[Shogun610]

This was cut back in June and I did refinement of the hollow features. Thread graft is resprouting leaves , I had to cut them off to pass it through. Eventually I’m going to air layer or cut off that branch on the right

 

[Shogun610]

The thread graft failed , I’m going to redo next spring and cut that left branch out and carve taper into it .. I don’t want the broom style for this tree. Unless the broom style would work for this tree.. Some other input may be helpful if anyone else has successfully thread grafted American hornbeams, other than more activity I see about b.s on here

 

[Tieball]

There’s a lot of connection I cannot see clearly. However, with my view, I think if these two branches are both connected to the trunk, or connected very close to the trunk, they will produce a large knot to deal with at some point. I really don’t have a cure though. Perhaps I can’t see the connection clear.

 

[Shogun610]

There’s a lot of connection I cannot see clearly. However, with my view, I think if these two branches are both connected to the trunk, or connected very close to the trunk, they will produce a large knot to deal with at some point. I really don’t have a cure though. Perhaps I can’t see the connection clear.
View attachment 452757

They are both connected to the trunk

 

[yashu]

Someone after my own heart… bonsai and fly fishing

 

[Shogun610]

Decided to cut the branch off to the right , so I can rebuild the taper .. then redo thread graft in spring.

 

[Shogun610]

Need to rebuilt the top. But man I love hornbeams and the process

 

[Shogun610]

Repotted into this deep training pot , thick tap roots cut off the base and rebuilding the roots and the tree. The cut paste near bottom is to help heal some smaller holes on the trunk to heal over .
Cut back the top reduced the heigh , thread graft right below the hollow feature. Now rebuilding begins

 

[Zelrod]

I was just thinking...a thread graft could work nice with this tree. I like the direction you are taking it!

 

[TN_Jim]

Nice progression. Think reducing height is good move, probably would have went even harder at. Perhaps just me. Been going hardest than ever at all late winter trees though, we’ll see what branches die..what emerge I guess.

Also, would grow a sacrificial leader 6’+ to maybe match trunk rather than attempt to refine very top and put a sander on the outside corner of that big chop and round it off down some. You aren’t asking for advice and I don’t know enough to give it, thanks

 

[Shogun610]

Nice progression. Think reducing height is good move, probably would have went even harder at. Perhaps just me. Been going hardest than ever at all late winter trees though, we’ll see what branches die..what emerge I guess.

Also, would grow a sacrificial leader 6’+ to maybe match trunk rather than attempt to refine very top and put a sander on the outside corner of that big chop and round it off down some. You aren’t asking for advice and I don’t know enough to give it, thanks

Thanks ! I did sand down the big chop pretty deep this fall I just have a lot of cut paste over it so I don’t risk any dieback. I want to roll callus over. Sacrificial leader is that trip facing up to start elongating . I’m gonna feed the shit outta this tree growing season to push more growth to get back budding. Possible more thread grafts all the way up too.

 

[Shogun610]

Put another thread graft up top.

 

[Jcmmaple]

Looking good, I also did some thread grafts on mine. First time doing grafts so fingers crossed they take.

 

[Shogun610]

Looking good, I also did some thread grafts on mine. First time doing grafts so fingers crossed they take.

Thanks , I think my focus will be to be a Hornbeam king and a Pitch Pine biatch for my bonsai career. Now if I could only find a gnarles barkley hawthorn

 

[Shogun610]

Catkins and Monoecious.. budding out

 

[Shogun610]

 

[Shogun610]

Thread grafts look to be still alive , but buds are forming and this one hasn’t been pushing as much as I’d like it to , so I’ve began to feed.. with organic fert / the chicken turd stuff .. and liquid fertilizer once a month first app today