Managing trees with congested foliage

[Maiden69]

How do you guys manage trees with very congested foliage? I have done a few searches here and did came up with some information, but mostly related to trees getting close to refinement. Not for starter or pre-bonsai trees with the following characteristics.

• abundance of adventitious vegetative buds
• diminutive and tightly congested foliage

I recently acquired 2 trees with those attributes. A U.Parvifolia Seiju and a A.Palmatum Kotohime. I added a picture of the elm, don't have one of the Kotohime at this time.

In the case of this elm, I am planning on moving it into a raise bed that I will be using instead of planting on the ground. Do you allow all the new shoots to develop and elongate and prune off the ones in locations you don't need by fall. Or do you remove them as they show up leaving shoots where you want them to redirect energy to those and not waste it on branches you will eventually eliminate? I know at this time this tree is nowhere near bonsai/pre-bonsai material, but I am trying to understand what to do with trees that produce such an exuberance of shoots. Most of the trees that I have don't push in a year more than 1/10th of the buds this two trees have pushed in the last 2 weeks.

This picture was taken last week, a week after the buds started to turn green.

 

[Paradox]

I would remove all the ones near the bottom up to the point where you want new branches as long as there are ones above that

However if you are trying to thicken the trunk more than it is, I would leave some to be sacrifice branches to help that process

Depending on how much there is I might leave some to extend out to help keep the tree vigorous and prune those off later.

 

[Shibui]

Elms do not suffer the swelling trunk quite as quickly as Japanese maples but they will still swell when several shoots grow close together and most will have seen trees posted here o elms with swollen trunks at a point where 3 or more large branches emerge. That does not matter if it is above the area you will eventually use for the trunk. On trees where I have no idea of the future I usually just let everything grow and work out the best way forward when the trunk has thickened. Elms can be chopped hard so most problems can be removed at some stage in the future.
If you do have a plan then by all means rub off unwanted buds as soon as you become aware of them. Rubbing them off with a finger gets rid of some dormant buds at the base. Cutting leaves the dormant buds which will just emerge to annoy you later.
You appear to have chosen a Seiju with a nice bend in the trunk but IMHO that is of no real consequence. To get good taper on the trunk it will need several trunk chops as it grows. It is likely that the only bit of the current trunk that you will retain will be the lowest couple of inches depending on the size of bonsai you develop.

Species and varieties that produce lots of buds need to be managed differently to the faster growing cousins. Where we normally spend lots of time cutting back long shoots to promote ramification on 'normal' trees we spend most of the time thinning out excess shoots to make spaces and let light into the interior of many dwarf varieties.

 

[Maiden69]

@Shibui, this elm is pretty straight, the bend is actually a node where I think Brent did the first chop as he moves them from different size pots. This one was a 4" pot when I bought it in November. I definitely plan on chopping it in the future, but I am uncertain if I am going to use it as a mother plant for a while to get a few seiju's for different size trees.

Here is a picture of the Kotohime.

 

[HorseloverFat]

On things with an abundance of buds/back-budding, I normally engage in “bud selection” so things do not get out of control.

I ain’t proud...

 

[Shibui]

I definitely plan on chopping it in the future, but I am uncertain if I am going to use it as a mother plant for a while to get a few seiju's for different size trees.

No problem with that plan. The 2 are not mutually exclusive at this stage. You can let that elm run and use new growth for cuttings and layers until the trunk gets to a reasonable size ten make the first chop. I do that routinely.
Just don't let it grow to full trunk thickness an make a single large chop then expect great taper immediately. Much better to do several chops through the trunk development phase to allow earlier, larger cuts to heal and new leaders to thicken while it is still growing.

 

[LanceMac10]

...all telephone poles, but elms will throw buds from everywhere....grow it out some unless you like the lithe and breezy trunk look......





...both of these were overgrown and tangled shrubs before thinning....


Good luck and good hort!!

 

[sorce]

Ninja? Johnnie's? Meet ya in Ohio? Lol! For real!

See the knot atop that elm. Study it for preventative understanding.

Sorce

 

[Maiden69]

See the knot atop that elm. Study it for preventative understanding.

Sorce

Been debating about leaving it as the place of my first chop (air-layer) for a future clump. Just waiting to see what this new branches develop into this year.

 

[sorce]

Been debating about leaving it as the place of my first chop (air-layer) for a future clump. Just waiting to see what this new branches develop into this year.

The answer to your question about dealing with congested foliage is present in the study of that knot's prevention.
In that every tree and scenario is different, the only way to Really know how to deal with your tree, is to study it's past.
It's telling you what foliage you need to remove.

Sorce