Nursery stock for potential formal upright conifers

[zeejet]

I am aware that a lot of larger landscape nursery stock have virtually no movement, coarse growth, and overall limited potential as bonsai - however, formal upright styles do not require movement and certain species backbud profusely.

I am looking at obtaining a 15-gallon Coast Redwood for 140USD for developing a tall formal upright bonsai (natural trunk style for the species). Would this be suitable with branch wiring, reduction of top growth (probably splitting and jinning), and a few seasons of branch development?

Here is a photo of similar (but larger) stock in 24" boxes:

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

It totally depends on how the rootbase looks. If these were grown in tiny containers like some alberta spruces, the root base might look like a bent leg at soil level.
Check those bases very thoroughly before you spend money on them.

 

[BrianBay9]

Coast Redwood are a good choice for formal upright. When I lived in San Diego I never considered them because of the heat and lack of humidity where I was. Now I find that redwood are growing great in Fresno - triple digit summers and low humidity be damned.

Aside from the nebari mentioned above, your biggest challenge might be growing a seamless and straight upper trunk after you chop these guys down to size. That transition from chop to new leader is tough to make without a lump and small change of angle. Good luck with the project.

 

[Wood]

Jonas Dupuis wrote about doing something similar with cryptomeria
pt 1: https://bonsaitonight.com/2013/05/14/large-cryptomeria-air-layer-part-1/
pt 2: https://bonsaitonight.com/2013/05/17/large-cryptomeria-air-layer-part-2/

 

[pandacular]

The main challenge would likely be the taper and nebari. Both of these have to be really strong on a chokkan for a good tree, and they may be quite hard to build from nursery stock.

 

[houterig]

I came along this some weeks ago. Sure some of you might have seen it since its old but its a nice one.

https://crataegus.com/2016/12/14/ezo-spruce-formal-upright-styling/

Maybe some inspiration found there.

Personally I only have a collected norway spruce seedling that I took in a handbag from the forest years ago, that is now around 1 meter tall, but planning something similar.

Good luck.

 

[zeejet]

Coast Redwood are a good choice for formal upright. When I lived in San Diego I never considered them because of the heat and lack of humidity where I was. Now I find that redwood are growing great in Fresno - triple digit summers and low humidity be damned.

Aside from the nebari mentioned above, your biggest challenge might be growing a seamless and straight upper trunk after you chop these guys down to size. That transition from chop to new leader is tough to make without a lump and small change of angle. Good luck with the project.

Do you think Coast Redwood would suffer in my climate? I'm 4 miles from the coast and the summers here are mild (mostly 70s/80s with the occasional 90F heat wave - never triple digits, but it does get dry during Santa Anas).

The main challenge would likely be the taper and nebari. Both of these have to be really strong on a chokkan for a good tree, and they may be quite hard to build from nursery stock.

From what I can tell, a naturalistic coast redwood has much less taper than most other bonsai you come across (see the Hagedorn article posted by houterig above on Ezo spruce, which is similarly straight with no taper) which is why I'm considering this route at all. I normally find fast grown landscape stock to be unusable but for naturalistic formal uprights of certain species, I think it's ok. In fact, I don't think growing a proper formal upright is even possible with trunk chops (too much movement).

 

[pandacular]

Even if you’re going for the long and slender look of a coast redwood, you will want good taper to demonstrate scale. If you try to emulate the exact proportions of a 300 foot tall, middle aged sequoia in a pot, it likely won’t have the same gravitas or feel. The taper acts as a sort of foreshortening.

I’ve also seen the tree in question at Michael’s garden, and it has put on quite a lot of taper in the past 8 years. But not without a great of work. To be clear, I am in mo way trying to discourage you—in fact I think it’s quite a good idea with the right selection of material and an understanding of the scope of work involved—but rather highlighting what is likely to be the sticking point in doing it right.

I know little about the practice of this species as bonsai, and in fact I noticed that my original post didn’t add anything that Brian hadn’t already mentioned!