Forgotten Crabapple trees

[Silentrunning]

5 Years ago I bought 2 flowering crabapple trees with the idea of making bonsai after the trunk developed. I planted them in the ground to encourage the development and promptly forgot about them. They have grown beautifully and now are about 8 feet tall. The trunks will be about 4" in diameter next spring. I would like to cut them back to 18" height next March and start the development of a new apex. Have I missed the window when these could be cut back that short? Would I just kill them? I had thought of cutting them back next year and removing them from the ground the next year. Thoughts?





W

 

[River's Edge]

5 Years ago I bought 2 flowering crabapple trees with the idea of making bonsai after the trunk developed. I planted them in the ground to encourage the development and promptly forgot about them. They have grown beautifully and now are about 8 feet tall. The trunks will be about 4" in diameter next spring. I would like to cut them back to 18" height next March and start the development of a new apex. Have I missed the window when these could be cut back that short? Would I just kill them? I had thought of cutting them back next year and removing them from the ground the next year. Thoughts?





W

Would love to see a couple of pictures before responding! One of the variables that is important is the position of lower branching and overall condition. It may be wise to consider staged reduction in certain situations. The general plan you have in mind may be fine, and yet the plan could be refined for certain circumstances.
Those are my thoughts!

 

[Silentrunning]

Would love to see a couple of pictures before responding! One of the variables that is important is the position of lower branching and overall condition. It may be wise to consider staged reduction in certain situations. The general plan you have in mind may be fine, and yet the plan could be refined for certain circumstances.
Those are my thoughts!

I will post pictures tomorrow. Thanks for your interest.

 

[Shibui]

Crab apples are extremely resilient. Even when cut off at ground level the stump will sprout new shoots. When you dig the tree out the roots left in the ground will sprout new shoots so you won't kill the trees by cutting hard.
The real question is whether you can make a convincing bonsai from the stumps. That's where seeing what low branches there might be comes in. Failing low branches to give trunk taper there are other techniques we might be able to use to recover something from the stumps.
Lets check the photos and work form there.

 

[Silentrunning]

Here are the two crabapple trees. The shovel is for size reference.

 

[Kanorin]

Here are the two crabapple trees. The shovel is for size reference.

can you pull the grass aside and get a close-up of the first ~8 inches of trunk from the soil line? From the zoomed out view, they look like very straight and un-interesting as far as bonsai development candidates go.

If they are uninteresting you could consider:
a) A very low chop within first 3 inches
b) Air layers higher up, utilizing a trunk-branch intersection to give you the movement in a future tree.

 

[Gabler]

can you pull the grass aside and get a close-up of the first ~8 inches of trunk from the soil line? From the zoomed out view, they look like very straight and un-interesting as far as bonsai development candidates go.

If they are uninteresting you could consider:
a) A very low chop within first 3 inches
b) Air layers higher up, utilizing a trunk-branch intersection to give you the movement in a future tree.

Solid advice.

For deciduous trees, I don't expect to get any value out of the upper trunk. I look for a good root spread and chop several inches above it. I expect to be developing the rest of the tree's structure as a broom if it's perfectly vertical or in an informal upright style if the trunk emerges at an angle.

 

[Silentrunning]

Tree2

 

[Silentrunning]

Tree 2

 

[pandacular]

Given the lack of movement and taper in these trunks, I think you’ll restricted to a broom style. Personally, I see little chance that these could make compelling bonsai, particularly because the species is unsuited to that style. They’re probably better off as garden trees, staying in the ground. That doesn’t mean you can’t prune them similar to a bonsai (or niwaki).

Ground growing tends to entail a good deal of expertise and regular work, so it’s not surprising that they’re not good starting points after 5 years in the ground.

 

[iant]

If you cut them low at this size (?4 in. trunk), it's a pretty large cut for a fruiting tree like malus to heal. It's possible, but that's a pretty long journey and I haven't seen any malus that have that dramatic of a cut/taper. It would be a long project (10-15 y). If you don't want them as ornamental trees where they are, you could move them, or you could leave them. Or if you don't mind them where they are, and want to do an experiment, you could go for the chop and see how well they heal and respond.
Ian

 

[Shibui]

Agree with the others. You could start again now and grow another, better crab bonsai quicker than you can convert these trunks to bonsai.
The quickest way to convert large trunks with no taper to bonsai is to chop, grow out some of the new shoots then carve much of the stump to fit in with the new shoots. That way you may be able to get something presentable in 5 years rather than the 10-15 years it will take to heal the large chops and grow new trunk and branches.

 

[Silentrunning]

Thanks all for your insight. I think I will just leave them where they are and just prune them so they look like a large bonsai.

 

[James W.]

Consider an air layer.
You could layer off several branches and have some good starting material with the advantage of usable roots and no graft.

 

[JudyB]

Consider an air layer.
You could layer off several branches and have some good starting material with the advantage of usable roots and no graft.

My exact thoughts!

 

[defra]

as mentioned above you could keep them in the ground as "mother" plants and airlayer interesting pieces off to create more trees out of them so its not a waste of time and in the long run you might end up with more then two nice crab apples maybe keep the best ones and sell the others to invest in the hobby
looking at the pictures one more time the one tree splits up into two trunks creating slightly inversed taper in the lower part of the trunk.
the other you can maybe airlayer and chop for a broom style maybe not the best suitable species for broom style but if its going to be a larger piece maybe its worth the try if it were mine id probably keep one to create smaller trees by airlayering and try the other one as broom style after airlayering the interesting parts off...

 

[amcoffeegirl]

I want to try some cuttings next year from mine.