Small Eastern Hemlock development
- Thread starter ABCarve
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MrFancyPlants
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ABCarve
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MrFancyPlants
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Looking good; I can't wait to see it bud out. When do you plan on repotting?
I'm reading and rereading your thread trying to rehash my plan for this season. Soon, I want to lift mine out and put some fresh soil on the bottom and then reapply the guy wires, so that I can start the slow reveal on the nebari. Once I see some signs of growth I'll pull the sacrifice down to put my new leader in place. Then I want to chase back the new growth as you suggest "once it hardens off", although I'm not quite sure when. Mine seems to keep on extending through much of the growing season, although it may take a break in the middle of the summer with a much smaller extension in the fall. I'm not sure I can keep the scissors out of my hands until June though.
I'm reading and rereading your thread trying to rehash my plan for this season. Soon, I want to lift mine out and put some fresh soil on the bottom and then reapply the guy wires, so that I can start the slow reveal on the nebari. Once I see some signs of growth I'll pull the sacrifice down to put my new leader in place. Then I want to chase back the new growth as you suggest "once it hardens off", although I'm not quite sure when. Mine seems to keep on extending through much of the growing season, although it may take a break in the middle of the summer with a much smaller extension in the fall. I'm not sure I can keep the scissors out of my hands until June though.
Lazylightningny
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Great progression. I have one I've been working on for a few years myself.
ABCarve
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I probably won't root prune it for another couple of years. I may pick it out and move it to the left and rotate a little next year if I can stand to wait. You may want to start pruning it back now to redirect the growth closer to the trunk unless you're trying to fatten the branches. The growth closer to the trunk will start to weaken and die if you keep letting it extend.
Aeast
Shohin
Love the progression on this tree, looking really good
ABCarve
Masterpiece
Thanks...how's yours doing? You owe me a visit!!!
Aeast
Shohin
It's doing well, I plan on some root reduction this spring but still don't know the direction I'd like to take the tree. I do owe you a visit, I'm hoping this spring I can make it.
ABCarve
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ABCarve
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ABCarve
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These photos were taken today. For me, this is their ugly time of year. The first one shows the apical dominance of the tree. Don't know if you can see it, but the top new growth has extended out 1-2 inches, while the bottom is just starting to emerge. The second photo shows how short the spurs can be with new growth coming in. I will start pinching the top again in another week, although I am trying to let the tree get slightly taller. After pinching begins it will continue constantly, a few a day or so, as the spurs extend, into late September.
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Cosmos
Shohin
Very nice tree, and thanks for documenting your progression thoroughly like this.
Here are a few pictures of an eastern hemlock grove I visited last year. Two things struck me:
1) The mature bark is much closer to that of certain deciduous trees (I'm thinking ash, for ex.), with long vertical ridges instead of plates.
2) The branches and apex of those trees have a graceful quality that you don't find with spruces, for examples, it seems like they do downward in a very natural, feminine way. Their whole silhouette feels airy. The apex is never super straight like that of neighbouring spruces or pines.
Here are a few pictures of an eastern hemlock grove I visited last year. Two things struck me:
1) The mature bark is much closer to that of certain deciduous trees (I'm thinking ash, for ex.), with long vertical ridges instead of plates.
2) The branches and apex of those trees have a graceful quality that you don't find with spruces, for examples, it seems like they do downward in a very natural, feminine way. Their whole silhouette feels airy. The apex is never super straight like that of neighbouring spruces or pines.
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ABCarve
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I think you are correct.
ABCarve
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GGB
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Busted, totally forgot. Unfortunately the trunks are very thin so it's destined to be a small tree. Been chasing the foliage back for a while. Considering a mother daughter thing but Im doubtful the right trunk will put on substantial girth. On the look out for something much larger to play with. This was collected material from Vermont, a lot of upright branching. I haven't put any wire on it but I don't see it ever being more than a "neat little tree"
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ABCarve
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Wilson
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You do some great work with this species! I have 3 I am domesticating, and saw a couple more today that I might pick up. As you mentioned these are great in our colder zones.
GGB
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Really?! If they bulk up at a reasonable rate I'll go but myself a 2 footer tomorrow and let it grow out. For some reason I had it in my head they were as slow to thicken as they were to bark up
ABCarve
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This is a tree that was growing out the side of a stream bank, which is why it's root are oriented 90 degrees from normal. It was collected in spring 2016, so it hasn't completed its third growing season in a pot. When it was collected the trunk was the size of a pencil. It spent the first year establishing a reasonable set of roots. It was slip-potted into this pot last fall. The soil is nothing special. It a mix of whatever is available, including recycled bonsai soil that hasn't broken down. You can also see some left-over hadite which I no longer use. Imagine if it were in better soil!
When it was first put in the nursery pot it was oriented in a full cascade, with the apex falling far below the bottom of the pot. This is another demonstration of their apical dominance. It has grown up to the light without any encouragement from me. I'm just letting it go. It's difficult to find a hemlock around here that isn't a formal upright.
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