Help Starting Out With an American Larch

[Frieden]

Hi everyone... I'll start out by saying I'm very new to bonsai and this forum. I live in Atlantic Canada, and just this afternoon I dug up this Larch. It is about 35cm tall and I would like to stop it from getting any taller, and ideally shorten it a little bit. Any tips are very welcome especially on pruning/wiring, I'm just looking for insight, ideas, or even finding out that I've approached this all wrong, if I have. Thanks in advance!

 

[f1pt4]

Hi everyone... I'll start out by saying I'm very new to bonsai and this forum. I live in Atlantic Canada, and just this afternoon I dug up this Larch. It is about 35cm tall and I would like to stop it from getting any taller, and ideally shorten it a little bit. Any tips are very welcome especially on pruning/wiring, I'm just looking for insight, ideas, or even finding out that I've approached this all wrong, if I have. Thanks in advance!View attachment 146054

Welcome.

Cut it above the first branch, and let it grow. You want to start building taper.

In the meantime, read as much as you can from a wealth of sources. There's a ton of info on this forum alone. Just use the search option.

Check out vids online, youtube and the like. check out the Mirai website.

And go dig up some more larch! I'm assuming larches grow easily and plentifully where you're from.

It's a slow process, so lots of time to spend learning. Which is a never ending process in itself.

 

[Frieden]

Welcome.

Cut it above the first branch, and let it grow. You want to start building taper.

In the meantime, read as much as you can from a wealth of sources. There's a ton of info on this forum alone. Just use the search option.

Check out vids online, youtube and the like. check out the Mirai website.

And go dig up some more larch! I'm assuming larches grow easily and plentifully where you're from.

It's a slow process, so lots of time to spend learning. Which is a never ending process in itself.

Thanks so much!I have been doing quite a lot of reading, but there's always more to be found. There are indeed quite a few larches near my house, I'll collect some more for sure. So do you mean to say that I should just cut off the whole trunk above the first branch and then let it grow back out? Is it a good time of year to do that now?

 

[f1pt4]

Thanks so much!I have been doing quite a lot of reading, but there's always more to be found. There are indeed quite a few larches near my house, I'll collect some more for sure. So do you mean to say that I should just cut off the whole trunk above the first branch and then let it grow back out? Is it a good time of year to do that now?

Yes and Yes

If you plant collected specimens in the ground, they'll thicken up quicker.

There's some good discussions about larch on this forum. Pruning, wiring, care etc. Seek and you shall find.

and add your location in your profile. it helps with answers

 

[f1pt4]

oh wait. You just collected this. lol. Depends on how much roots you got. Best just leave it as be and do work to it next season. See if it survives the collection first. Water it, keep it in the shade for a couple weeks. Mist it. Introduce it to the sun after that.

Then next year, chop it hard.

If you have private access to the lot where you collect, why not chop the ones where they are growing, and then go and collect them next year. you'll be amazed by the growth.

 

[sorce]

Nice Lil Larch!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[M. Frary]

You live where they grow wild.
Like me.
I would look for larger trunks with branches down low.

 

[Soldano666]

You'll have better survival rates if you collect about 4 weeks ago. I am in Maine so probably not far from you. I chop them back around early March and the go back and dig once the buds are pushing and golden in color. This is just before you see green on them. Like suggested above go cut some back that are in the ground and watch results, you can learn a lot even if you don't dig them up. Just observe the results from the techniques you apply.

 

[Soldano666]

Oh and I'd let that new growth harden off before cutting any of them. And I'd leave the one you dug alone if you want it to live. Your already gambling by digging it so late

 

[twisted trees]

I've collected hundreds of very similar larch over the years. First, remove all the old soil and then plant it in an enriched area of your garden. Even though it's showing a little green it should do fine. Once the shoots start to extend start plucking them back. Larch tend to be very apically and terminally dominant meaning that if left to grow unhindered the top and the ends of the branches will extend until a terminal bud is formed pretty much to the exclusion of all the other buds. If you pinch continually then the tree will grow all year and ramify nicely.

 

[twisted trees]

Oh yes, cut all of the branches in half.

 

[just.wing.it]

You live where they grow wild.
Like me.
I would look for larger trunks with branches down low.

You got wild larch, Mike?
That you've dug up?

 

[M. Frary]

You got wild larch, Mike?
That you've dug up?

Yeah. They grow like grass.
The forest planting I posted in the tree thread I dug up all at once. 7 trees. One died.