My Chinese Elms

[Adamski77]

Wanted to have Chinese elm in my collection so went for hunt today. Not exactly classic material but all have a lot of character and uniqueness… wanted to buy one… walked out with three
If you look how they sell them in China… trees don’t even have pots… just plastic bag… assume dug somewhere recently. Winters here in Shanghai quite warm but trees go dormant… think I just slip pot for now though little bit concerned with adding new soil and soil consistency across the pot… current is just hard mixture of clay and dirt. Not sure what other choices I have… welcome any advise you might have.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

Plop in pumice and poke root ball a bit.
That's my suggestion.

 

[It's Kev]

I also can’t resist buying trees this time of year, I went back to my pot guy and walked out with a little Chinese elm to make a mame with, also got a hainan lemon tree coming in the mail in a few days. I just slip pot all of them carefully to see them through the winter and then do absolute minimal work in spring. Unless if it’s a conifer then I stick to the “one insult per year” deal and leave it for a whole year or more

 

[GGB]

That thrid one is absolutely striking. I love the style over there. I personally would treat them like yamadori and just slip them into the smallest pot they can go in and back fill with pumice. No rush right?

 

[Adamski77]

That thrid one is absolutely striking. I love the style over there. I personally would treat them like yamadori and just slip them into the smallest pot they can go in and back fill with pumice. No rush right?

Absolutely no rush… and agree… kind of yamadori, which I couldn’t discuss on my level of Chinese knowledge… so far developed only bargaining skills
Bought small pots… will put them in for season or two, let them go to start developing some branching. Will poke around the ground and load up with kiryu/lava… don’t have pumice but shouldn’t be a big deal.

 

[BobbyLane]

Those are pretty cool Chinese elms! you dont normally see them like this. those are like the craggy, tractor trampled elms we get here in old hedgerows.

The first is giving this type of vibe

English Elm - Graham Potter | Kaizen Bonsai Blog

www.kaizenbonsai.com

3rd is giving Will baddely elm vibes

 

[Adamski77]

Those are pretty cool Chinese elms! you dont normally see them like this. those are like the craggy, tractor trampled elms we get here in old hedgerows.

Thank you… and honestly I couldn’t stop there… that woman had like 50 of them… all with so much character. The tricky part here in China you need to sink in a local environment to find things like this… she took me to the backyard full of crap, paddles and mud… they don’t keep them in front of the shop… but once in the backyard is like fox in the henhouse

 

[BobbyLane]

Thank you… and honestly I couldn’t stop there… that woman had like 50 of them… all with so much character. The tricky part here in China you need to sink in a local environment to find things like this… she took me to the backyard full of crap, paddles and mud… they don’t keep them in front of the shop… but once in the backyard is like fox in the henhouse

I didnt even think they had material like that in China, good find!

 

[BobbyLane]

Thank you… and honestly I couldn’t stop there… that woman had like 50 of them… all with so much character. The tricky part here in China you need to sink in a local environment to find things like this… she took me to the backyard full of crap, paddles and mud… they don’t keep them in front of the shop… but once in the backyard is like fox in the henhouse

In my climate C elms act like semi evergreen trees, usually retaining their leaves in winter and often pushing growth late when everything else has dropped. how do they act in China?

 

[Adamski77]

In my climate C elms act like semi evergreen trees, usually retaining their leaves in winter and often pushing growth late when everything else has dropped. how do they act in China?

Still to learn… but here is the status as of today… doesn’t seem like they want to drop leaves. For comparison is the hornbeam that decided to drop all it had and go sleep.

 

[It's Kev]

In my climate C elms act like semi evergreen trees, usually retaining their leaves in winter and often pushing growth late when everything else has dropped. how do they act in China?

Dunno about @Adamski77 ’s SH climate, down south for me, leaf drop and bud break all happen in the space of a week, so I get no autumn colours, and the leaves only drop coz the new leaves are pushing the old ones off

 

[Adamski77]

Trees landed in pots… added little bit of akadama but primarily lava rock and kiryu. Obviously as always underestimated size of the pots so had to change the plan to accommodate findings when opened the bags. Lot of wood underground… but for now just fitted them in… angles, positions and rotation just to make sure fine roots are all covered and trees are leveled to what I think was the original position based on how they grow. Time will tell.
Interesting finding… they must have been in these bags very long time… combination of plastic bag and soil block actually acted like pot… roots are growing around it inside. Plus moss and weeds were growing on the soil block under the bag.

 

[BobbyLane]

Certainly a far cry from the typical mallsai and S shapes we see. im not knocking mallsai, I had so many in the beginning lol.
do you have plans for them or just focusing on getting them healthy and vigorous?

this one I had looks a bit like first one

English Elm Yamadori

Hi folks, this is the latest addition to my balcony, its a Chuhin sized English Elm/Ulmus procera..Ive just given it a light prune and propped it up with a little piece of rock, as it was a little wobbly in the pot. I think the rock actually works, but will take a better look under the soil next...

www.bonsainut.com

but with yours I would have a more informal upright canopy rather than broom, like the tree I showed you a few posts up

 

[Adamski77]

Certainly a far cry from the typical mallsai and S shapes we see. im not knocking mallsai, I had so many in the beginning lol.
do you have plans for them or just focusing on getting them healthy and vigorous?

this one I had looks a bit like first one

English Elm Yamadori

Hi folks, this is the latest addition to my balcony, its a Chuhin sized English Elm/Ulmus procera..Ive just given it a light prune and propped it up with a little piece of rock, as it was a little wobbly in the pot. I think the rock actually works, but will take a better look under the soil next...

www.bonsainut.com

but with yours I would have a more informal upright canopy rather than broom, like the tree I showed you a few posts up

For now critical they survive… plans will shape over winter but my idea is to try develop the one with deadwood towards informal upright with longer branches speeding over the deadwood and much shorter left hand side. I’m not a great painter but will attempt some virts for assessment.
Appreciate the link… the more ideas the better! Is it one of yours? Having similar characteristics to what I bought.

 

[Adamski77]

Small spring update… winter was cold here in Shanghai… but apparently they wanted to stay for longer despite November “yamadori”. New leaves coming up… just another proof how tough Chinese elms are. Grow babies, grow!!!

 

[Adamski77]

Was waiting for my elms to fully acclimatize… but seems they like new home a lot… sprang with growth so the time has come. Started today with smallest one… was an extra to the purchase anyway and the structure is not extraordinary… but it was free and I think I have an idea for it.
Pruned the tree… removed some branches that I don’t think will help with final design and put couple of wires. Before and after on the photos… seems like making some progress. (Second photo with small turn but this is where I think the future front is). Not exactly classic bonsai shape/structure… but hell… we have to try.

 

[Paradox]

Was waiting for my elms to fully acclimatize… but seems they like new home a lot… sprang with growth so the time has come. Started today with smallest one… was an extra to the purchase anyway and the structure is not extraordinary… but it was free and I think I have an idea for it.
Pruned the tree… removed some branches that I don’t think will help with final design and put couple of wires. Before and after on the photos… seems like making some progress. (Second photo with small turn but this is where I think the future front is). Not exactly classic bonsai shape/structure… but hell… we have to try.

yea I bought one last winter from Brussels and it came to me still fully in leaf so I kept it in my garage because I thought it would be too cold to put it out in the coldframe since it didnt get to experience fall. It wasnt entirely thrilled being in my garage for a few months but it survived. I put it outside and just figured Id leave it be and let it get used to the new environment.

LOL Yea Id say its happy, it has like extensions on it that are at least 10 inches right now so Im going to have to give it a bit of a hair cut soon.

 

[pandacular]

Wow, I love how gnarly that one is. Excited to sse

 

[milehigh_7]

Wanted to have Chinese elm in my collection so went for hunt today. Not exactly classic material but all have a lot of character and uniqueness… wanted to buy one… walked out with three
If you look how they sell them in China… trees don’t even have pots… just plastic bag… assume dug somewhere recently. Winters here in Shanghai quite warm but trees go dormant… think I just slip pot for now though little bit concerned with adding new soil and soil consistency across the pot… current is just hard mixture of clay and dirt. Not sure what other choices I have… welcome any advise you might have.

Dude, those are super cool! Good luck!

 

[BobbyLane]

Was waiting for my elms to fully acclimatize… but seems they like new home a lot… sprang with growth so the time has come. Started today with smallest one… was an extra to the purchase anyway and the structure is not extraordinary… but it was free and I think I have an idea for it.
Pruned the tree… removed some branches that I don’t think will help with final design and put couple of wires. Before and after on the photos… seems like making some progress. (Second photo with small turn but this is where I think the future front is). Not exactly classic bonsai shape/structure… but hell… we have to try.

Looking good, I would seriously build these in training pots though, give them a little room to spread their legs and really build something special. Your trees though