Broom style bonsai from Witches Broom (American Elm)

[onlyrey]

Last year, I got interested in witches brooms after encountering an Azalea with one. This one is an American Elm I bought around August 2018, it had a Witches Broom at around 1/3 of its height (at two geet); the tree was about 6 feet total height. I asked the Nursery owner for a way to chop it down, and he immediatly understood what I was up to. I chopped it down to a manageable size to put into my car. Then, I proceeded to cut the trunk down as much as I could into the new top. I know this tree might be a little slim for the norm, but I couldn't resist having an instant bonsai. This spring, I went back and cut back all the branches, because they looked like long fingers. I am hoping that they branch out nicely... we'll see. The first picture shows the tree's current state, the second picture shows the cut to the main tree when I purchased it, and the third picture shows how I remember the tree looked like when I purchased it. Should I start wiring the short branches to open it a bit more, or should I go "Au Naturale" ? Thanks

 

[JoeH]

Is it budding out yet? Given your location, it either should be or will be soon. Maybe just wait to see what the tree does.

 

[onlyrey]

Sry about the time lag. The tree vidded out about a month after the previous post. This is what it looks like this spring, before snipping and root prunning.
I cut out the two lower branches too. They seem to come back every year.

 

[onlyrey]

And here are some of the root cuttings that came out of it. The first one is pretty large. About the same girth as the main tree. In the second, a root cutting (middle) is planted backward. Will it root ?

 

[Treesa]

@onlyrey,

Sry about the time lag. The tree vidded out about a month after the previous post. This is what it looks like this spring, before snipping and root prunning.
I cut out the two lower branches too. They seem to come back every year.
View attachment 281935

I'm interested to hear how this is coming along. I bought a handful of landscape zelkova serrata at auction and one has a witch's broom low on the trunk. I purchased after leaf-fall so I have no idea what it will look like once it leafs out, or what caused it.

 

[shohin_branches]

I think you guys are mistaking an area with a lot of branching for the horticultural phenomenon referred to as a witch's broom. Typically a witch's broom will have different physiological characteristics from the rest of the plant. Many dwarf species are propagated from witch's brooms found in nature.

Witches' broom