There seems to be some interest in birch at the moment, so I thought I'd share this work-in-progress shohin Betula pubescens, downy birch.
It was collected (legally) in November 2017. I dug it because of the dense twiggy growth (it was from a moorland area where it had been grazed by animals). The lower trunk and roots were poor though. I immediately ground layered it, using the pot-on-top-of-pot method.
It grew strongly over the next year. I regularly cut back new growth and got lots of budding.
The old root system was severed in late summer, but left in the plastic pot until spring. In March 2019, it was potted up. Nice radial root system. It wasn't reduced much - I'll do that next spring. The trunk is screwed to the plastic pot with a wooden ’washer’ under the trunk base to adjust the angle and allow some substrate underneath.
The tree has continued to grow strongly this year. I've cut back regularly, including removal of some heavy branches (sealing all cuts). It's starting to move towards the shape I had in mind for it. The long-ish extensions you see at the moment are developing new primary branching in important areas. I plan to keep lots of branches on it, in anticipation of it dropping some in future. A couple of the leaves are looking a little chlorotic, although it's been fertilised well - might need to fiddle with its diet a bit.
I'll repot into a smaller pot in spring 2020 - probably this little Erin rectangle - and continue work on the branching.
It's not ready for a 'show pot' yet, but by that point all the major growth will be over and I'll be working on finer twigging. I like to do that stage of development in a smaller pot, so the root system can develop in parallel. I think this will eventually be a 'winter image' tree, as I like the 'wild' looking branching.
It was collected (legally) in November 2017. I dug it because of the dense twiggy growth (it was from a moorland area where it had been grazed by animals). The lower trunk and roots were poor though. I immediately ground layered it, using the pot-on-top-of-pot method.
It grew strongly over the next year. I regularly cut back new growth and got lots of budding.
The old root system was severed in late summer, but left in the plastic pot until spring. In March 2019, it was potted up. Nice radial root system. It wasn't reduced much - I'll do that next spring. The trunk is screwed to the plastic pot with a wooden ’washer’ under the trunk base to adjust the angle and allow some substrate underneath.
The tree has continued to grow strongly this year. I've cut back regularly, including removal of some heavy branches (sealing all cuts). It's starting to move towards the shape I had in mind for it. The long-ish extensions you see at the moment are developing new primary branching in important areas. I plan to keep lots of branches on it, in anticipation of it dropping some in future. A couple of the leaves are looking a little chlorotic, although it's been fertilised well - might need to fiddle with its diet a bit.
I'll repot into a smaller pot in spring 2020 - probably this little Erin rectangle - and continue work on the branching.
It's not ready for a 'show pot' yet, but by that point all the major growth will be over and I'll be working on finer twigging. I like to do that stage of development in a smaller pot, so the root system can develop in parallel. I think this will eventually be a 'winter image' tree, as I like the 'wild' looking branching.
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