Raynn’s Katsura (Cercidiphyllum) Project

[ForeverRaynning]

Welcome to yet another project thread! This time for my Cercidiphyllum Japonicum, aka the Katsura Tree (not to be confused with the Katsura variety of Japanese maple!)

I bought this on a whim. I stumbled upon the species on eBay, saw the pretty autumnal colours, read the description that it produces a sweet smell in autumn when the leaves fall and decided to pick one up. 5L pot, no picture of the actual tree, no approximate measurement, no idea how big this thing would be.

So I was quite surprised when this arrived yesterday!



That thickest trunk is about 15mm, the smaller 3 are 7.5mm, 7mm and 10mm left to right. Tried removing substrate around the base to see whats underneath but its solid. Also has roots coming out the bottom of the pot so unsure if the pot is more rootball than substrate at this point.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t a clue what to do with it. Found someone on YouTube growing one for about 4 years now from a single nursery whip thats beginning to take shape into an informal broom. I’ve read that the leaves of these can reduce quite a bit. Unsure on internode length though, it is very long.

Probably not the best bonsai subject but I’m willing to give it a go. I’m not after show winning absolutely brilliant specimen trees, just ones that make me happy.

So my question is, what now? Where should I start with a piece of material like this. Anyone have experience with these? I know they are uncommon as bonsai but a few do exist. Usually thicker trunked specimens though.

 

[ForeverRaynning]

Decided to cut it back, it had blown over in the wind and was far too tall to begin with. Since I don’t have any concrete ideas for this one yet I decided to go slowly and just cut it back to roughly the same height as my birch raw material is currently.


Cut back to sites like these, so hopefully the bud sites lower down will pop.



Also took off this branch as I didn’t like how it was growing.



It’ll need a bigger cutback eventually but can do that once I get a better sense of the tree within. It’s proving difficult at the moment. Probably wants repotting sooner rather than later as roots are coming out all the drainage holes. Just no idea what its potted in, nor if I can bareroot it and do a root reduction at this time of year to get it into better substrate and a shallower nursery pot. Nor what I’ll find under the surface trunk-wise!

 

[TrimmyWhimmy]

They must grow fast. They always seem to be tall in nurseries, even if they're in tiny pots.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Is it one tree or four? Trunks look as if could be separated.

 

[ForeverRaynning]

Is it one tree or four? Trunks look as if they could be separated.

That’s what I’m wondering too. Trying to dig down below the soil doesn’t work, I think I’m just hitting roots, there are roots coming out the bottom of the pot too so it's probably got a very compacted root system. I’m just not sure how many pots to get before I try repotting.

That is what got me wondering if a small forest arrangement may work, maybe for the three smaller ones, then save the thicker one for a slightly taller, single-trunk style, probably broom as it seems to be the most common way of styling them (most likely due to their natural growth habits) they apparently also like to bud at existing branch sites so you have to watch for bumps and inverse taper, will be interesting to try and develop. Though the trunks are all so small and I’m unsure how much leaf reduction these have, I’d probably need the trunks to thicken up quite a bit regardless of style.

Another option may be a clump. With something like this as the front.



Not sure what I’d do with the spiralling trunks, whether they’re better being untangled very carefully.