Maiden's Mallsai Chinese Elm

Maiden69 · Jul 7, 2023

I bought this elm last Aug 2021 for the MAllsai cheap as chips contest... but I disliked it so much that at the time I decided to just replant it and let it be to see what it can become.

It was moved into a Root Pouch 1 gal bag January 2022, and since then it's been in a corner of the "garden" semi forgotten. Other than water and some fertilizer I have done nothing to it. Yesterday I was cleaning a little bit and rearranging my trident, which was laid sideways by the strong winds and decided to check on the elm. The bark looks very nice, no close ups right now, maybe tomorrow if I get to give it a haircut. But what really called my attention was that almost the entire tree seems to weep and curve somewhat, and only one branch shoots straight up. Everything else weeps! Is this normal? It weeps more than my weeping winged elm! I think I may be able to make a cascading tree if I remove the upper half, but I will have to air layer it, don't feel like discarding all that growth.

Maiden69 · Jul 7, 2023

A few close ups of the trunk and peeling bark. I am lost at how to proceed... maybe I will do a "hedge" prune like Walter and post better pics to get some better feedback. I think that will also open up the structure to air layer some of the thicker branches.

Then in spring do a proper repot into a much bigger pouch, the roots were really a mess when I moved it here, and one of the reasons I lost interest on it... but I bet it could be greatly improved with a ground layer once the structure is set.

Michael P · Jul 7, 2023

There are semi-pendulous cultivars of Chinese elm, maybe you got lucky.

Maiden69 · Jul 9, 2023

Cleaned up the structure a little bit, really wanted to cut almost everything off, but being oblivious about bonsai the fear of cutting off too much won.

Another thought was to eliminate all the branches and follow the sillouete on the red line, building the tree at the top or from new growth out of the trunk areas.

This is a close-up of the apex, I'm contemplating air-layering wither at the yellow line and build it as a raft. Or pruning at the red line and continue with the S shape tree.