Progression of my Chinese Elm

[dizza]

I Bought this Chinese Elm for 25 euro more than a year ago (late spring 2023). It had a lot of long branches and the leaves where only growing on the tips. The branches had no structure and it was in a bad soil.


After removing it from the pot i noticed it was severly root bound. I removed a lot of roots



I repotted it in a pond basket with pumice, akadama and some normal potting soil and let it grow freely for the rest of the year.



Late winter i started shaping the tree, removed a lot of branches and started wiring them.




This spring i repotted it (after some minor root pruning). The tree is exploding with new growth and buds right now. Will post more in the future

 

[Tieball]

Excellent development of the tree!
You’ve made some great choices in care and style. And…impressive!….the slant of the tree, as well as the opposing color changes on the trunk, match up perfectly with the coloration of the bonsai pot. Well thought out. Mighty fine for sure!

 

[gooeytek]

Nice work! the tree looks great.

 

[Jorgens86]

Any progress on this one?

 

[InTheMeantime]

I Bought this Chinese Elm for 25 euro more than a year ago (late spring 2023). It had a lot of long branches and the leaves where only growing on the tips. The branches had no structure and it was in a bad soil.
View attachment 535192

After removing it from the pot i noticed it was severly root bound. I removed a lot of roots

View attachment 535193

I repotted it in a pond basket with pumice, akadama and some normal potting soil and let it grow freely for the rest of the year.

View attachment 535198

Late winter i started shaping the tree, removed a lot of branches and started wiring them.

View attachment 535195


This spring i repotted it (after some minor root pruning). The tree is exploding with new growth and buds right now. Will post more in the future

View attachment 535199

Awesome! I have to say, my Chinese Elm is much younger than yours, so I'm hoping I have time before I need to think about wiring anything. It's very encouraging to see an example of someone doing it though. Any wiring research I do seems to focus on other species. Thanks for the pics! Beautiful tree!

 

[dizza]

Any progress on this one?

Absolutely! I just took a new picture. Right now, I'm focusing on clipping and letting it grow. I'm also working on some pads and will refine them more when it goes dormant this winter. It's exploding with new growth! I'll provide an update when summer is over.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Looks great!! You will be going for a more full natural looking tree it appears. This will only look better and better as it matures.

 

[dizza]

Spring is just around the corner, and I have some updates. I’m now focusing on the ramification of the tree. Last year, there wasn’t much ramification, but I consistently pruned back to two shoots. Since this is one of my first trees, I’m being really careful with it. The good news is that the structure of the branches seems to be improving. I also took some high-res photos so I can compare the progress next year.





This is probably the new front of the tree


Will update later this spring / summer!