My Chinese Elm and recommended next steps

[jI-tx]

I am a complete novice, so I would love to tell you my plan but I expect that it is wrong. Please blow it up and tell me what I should actually do. I would like to thicken the trunk, and from my understanding that means I need to let it grow and do less pruning. The new shoots are fairly plentiful but I've noticed yellowing on the old leaves that have been pinched to proper size. My intention is to water it as the soil indicates moisture is leaving (4-6 days right now) and continue to let it grow. Is this a good or bad plan?

Thanks as always for the feedback!

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

My Chinese Elm stays outside and needs water every day. If you want to thicken the trunk, the only way to do that is to let it grow. Elms are easy enough to grow branches on once you get the trunk you want.

 

[MrWunderful]

The “fast” way to fatten trunks and add taper to elms is to plant them in the ground or growing bed and fert heavily for a few years.

Fattening trunks on trees in small bonsai pots tends to take much longer. Chinese elms are fun, enjoy!

 

[JoeH]

4-6 days??

 

[Cypress187]

Growing a tree helps a lot with thickening the trunk (big pots help with growing), get more taper by removing the non-tapering bit of the trunk and grow a new leader (after the growing part is done). Welcome to the forum!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Welcome to the site!

With Chinese elms, you need to trim them back throughout the growing season in order to maintain ramification and small leaves. Right now your tree is looking leggy because none of the new growth has been trimmed.

Of course, trimming new growth is contrary to trunk thickening. Because Chinese elms will bud back even on old bark, you can let a tree grow like a mop for several years, and then prune it back to the trunk in order to grow new, thin branches.

My Chinese elms sit outside on a bench. Due to heat and low humidity, they are watered twice a day - and sometimes more if we are having a heat wave.

 

[jI-tx]

Thanks for all the information, this is good stuff. I'll do very minor pruning but it sounds like if I really want to boost the girth I need to put it in the ground with a tile underneath the roots to keep them shallow. I might try that later, but for now, I think it would be best to keep it simple so I can get a good handle on basics.

Also - I found a lot of aphids on my leaves. I'm guessing that's why they have been yellowing. I went ahead and sprayed them off with water, but I think I might try the soapy solution to do away with them as well:

INGREDIENTS
Water
Dish Detergent
Rubbing Alcohol

DIRECTIONS
Fill a gallon jug with water and add one (1) or two (2) tablespoons of dishwashing detergent and one (1) tablespoon of vegetable oil (or Neem oil). Shake up the gallon jug to mix the ingredients.