Roadside elm..

[fviljoen963]

It was growing way more upright and had burnt back a few times
The plan is for a semi cascade and a very hollow spooky looking trunk. I havent quite figured out the details yet.. I'm open minded to suggestions unless you're going to suggest I make it into a sumo shohin HAHAHA

Oh and the tree is planted flat on its nebari -- 3 roots forming like a 30 degree drawing triangle, all three about and inch and a half to two inches thick, two on the left and one on the right (tree is leaning left)

 

[just.wing.it]

Nice, that looks like a ton of fun right there!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

A beast !!!, that is one big, heavy trunk. It should make a stunning bonsai. I can see keeping the current planting angle, though I might raise it up 15 or so degrees, but that does not need to be sorted out until much further down the road. Nice

 

[fviljoen963]

Raising to the right? I wired the lateral thats on the end of the stump, near the apex? I put in a downwards curve and some movement (tip upwards of course) a week later its set already and started biting at the base! I'll need to grow some thick branches on this.. Its standing in water outside in the sun, I want this done in 3 years ) aiming high and feeding heavy hahahaha

A beast !!!, that is one big, heavy trunk. It should make a stunning bonsai. I can see keeping the current planting angle, though I might raise it up 15 or so degrees, but that does not need to be sorted out until much further down the road. Nice

 

[aml1014]

This one looks like a Siberian elm, which is most of the elms I have. They are crazy fast growers as you said and are downright bullet proof! Nice find, I can't wait to go do my annual elm collecting myself in the next couple weeks.
Aaron

 

[Giga]

Elms are very very tough tree's and this guys is a beast! looks fantastic

 

[fviljoen963]

Thanks Aml1014, it is, but its I'm not so sure about the Siberian thing... its a little far away from me ha ha
I haven't seen Siberian elm here yet, we have wild seed-sown Chinese elm around some urban areas, although this could be a hybrid? it was just recently moved out from under the heavy shade netting, that's what has the leaves so big. I've got Chinese and English elm, Yatsubusa (they're somewhat weaker trees.. ) and another variety that I havent seen on the web yet. I'll post pictures of that one. And 20+ Elmadori from shohin size all the way up to this guy. .. most growing branches

 

[BobbyLane]

This is great material. you should have a look at Will baddely elms for inspiration, i saw this in yours straight away

http://wildwoodbonsai.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/

This one by G Potter is fantastic

but i most certainly would be aiming to emulate the WB one with your material. a leaning tree, as it is in the box with deadwood. dont reduce the current lines in the deadwood, leave everything including that knob.

 

[fviljoen963]

This is great material. you should have a look at Will baddely elms for inspiration, i saw this in yours straight away

http://wildwoodbonsai.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/

.

This one .. wow.. thank you for that-- I'm trying to crack the pattern of natural styling of deciduous trees, but every artist has their own way of doing things

 

[BobbyLane]

This one .. wow.. thank you for that-- I'm trying to crack the pattern of natural styling of deciduous trees, but every artist has their own way of doing things

ascending branches and a wide spreading canopy, everything should be going up and out. depends on the material too. leaning trees need to look balanced

 

[fviljoen963]

This is one of the varieties, is anyone familiar with it?

 

[BobbyLane]

the leaves in the last pic look more like chinese elm leaves to me.

leaves on my Ulmus minor/field elm
IMG_6223 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

my ulmus procura
IMG_2008 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
IMG_0047 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

could be ulmus procura, usually has the smallest leaf size
IMG_2550 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

although i believe all cultivars come under ulmus minor now

 

[fviljoen963]

Here are pics of the original collection, a bit early in mid August, our Spring starts in September, roundabout the second week

 

[Tieball]

Excellent potential....and a whole lotta fun ahead of you in the years. I keep my eyes open for an American Elm stump...just haven’t found it yet. But I do have several very large American Elm trees right around me.

 

[fviljoen963]

It is Chinese elm, I have English so I know its different, whats throwing everyone off is it was sitting in the greenhouse under shade cloth, now outside I have the bottom inch of the pot standing in water 24/7 so together with the sun and light feeding it is going to skyrocket

Here's some pics from when I collected in Aug 2017, about a month before spring started for real

 

[Tieball]

It is Chinese elm, I have English so I know its different, whats throwing everyone off is it was sitting in the greenhouse under shade cloth, now outside I have the bottom inch of the pot standing in water 24/7 so together with the sun and light feeding it is going to skyrocket

Here's some pics from when I collected in Aug 2017, about a month before spring started for real

Excellent action plan right now. Well thought out and organized. And even better....you thought out that plan and acted on it. Great follow through.

 

[BobbyLane]

It is Chinese elm, I have English so I know its different, whats throwing everyone off is it was sitting in the greenhouse under shade cloth, now outside I have the bottom inch of the pot standing in water 24/7 so together with the sun and light feeding it is going to skyrocket

Here's some pics from when I collected in Aug 2017, about a month before spring started for real

no, what was throwing me off is that youre based in south africa, so whats a chinese elm doing growing at the side of the road in south africa. you or someone else planted it there?

 

[Giga]

Yeah elms with healed over big uro's look ancient and amazing. I would just let big cut rot naturally for a couple years then, work the rot to the hard wood and you'll get a nice layered hollow look.

 

[fviljoen963]

Oh that hahahaha
Chinese maples, American Ash and chinese elm were planted as street trees in the areas where I lived a few years back, chinese elm although not EVERYWHERE is declared a naturalised invasive. So if you look for it you find it. Plus I love elms... so I drive around with collecting stuff in the boot, wherever I drive I stop and sometimes dig

This particular elm I dug because I knew about it, but left it. But this day I had been sitting in traffic for 40mins moving 2....3 blocks and I thought I could just as well be sitting at the side and looking for something to dig
So thats just what I did. I dug the tree with an audience ?

 

[BobbyLane]

ah that explains it! great find though...such a powerful tree and tiny leaves to boot. rarely do you see chinese elm trunks with this much power and girth. looks like it didnt have much root either. elms are resilient like that. look forward to its progress