Trees similar to sea hibiscus?

[doc spring _work]

Does anyone know a deciduous tree that develops root almost as quickly as sea hibiscus?

I really appreciate the plants ability to develop roots the require several repots in a year however I can't really grow the tropical sea hibiscus here... I'm hoping there's a aggressive rooting deciduous tree I may be able to grow here in zone 5... Especially if I could throw it in a field for a bit to grow larger but if there's a zone 6 tree that may be a possible alternative those can at least handle by the over wintering in a protected structure

 

[RODERLO]

You might be looking for varieties of Elm.
Vigorous buggers and hardy too.

 

[Paradox]

Elm are vigorous and tough for sure but you won't be able to repot several times in one year.

Not sure why you would want to.
Repotting slows growth.
It's not necessary for most trees.
Unless you're thinking it would be a way to develop a tree fast...there are no fast bonsai, unless you want to pay for someone else's time.

Patience is a must developed skill in bonsai, no way around it.

Siberian elm will probably do fine in your area.

 

[SWfloirda]

I have a couple of Sea Hibiscus. Repotted them both in the summer of 2022 one of them I had to do an emergency repot after the hurricane in September of the same year but they are both fine and I have no plans to repot for at least a year or two. I am fairly new to them but I would never consider repotting several times a year.

 

[Empty Mountain]

Does anyone know a deciduous tree that develops root almost as quickly as sea hibiscus?

You are talking about a tropical broadleaf evergreen that has a year round growing season in its native tropical environment. If you want a tree that could be repotted several times a year I think you would need to move to the tropics and and grow those types of plants like a ficus etc.

I don't think there are any deciduous trees that can have the same type of root growth as they're not growing a lot of roots for a good part of the year when they're dormant. I've heard that Eonymus is pretty prolific in root growth and some people will repot them every spring but certainly not several times in a year.

 

[doc spring _work]

I wasn't necessarily wanting to repot regularly... I suppose I phrased my post poorly... Sea hibiscus is known to have extremely fast growing roots often requiring an up pot or regular root maintenance.

I understand that it is the fastest of the fast developing trees, and nothing deciduous would truly compare on anywhere near the same scale. However I love deciduous and tropics don't stand a chance here with my ridiculously low humidity semi extreme Temperatures swinging from extreme heat to low colds (and going from freezing to thawing in winter regularly)

Id love a sea hibiscus because of its roots growth particularly, I want to experiment with roots more but I'm not aware of any plants that recover roots at a rate for me to learn anything to apply to my slower growing trees.

It would be a waste to use a nice tree for stupid experimental things and have it look aweful for it rather then have something like a sea hibiscus which would be able to recover from your absurd ideas semi easily.

I suppose I'm looking for a fast growing tree that can be un-suited for bonsai traditionally to practice techniques and develop strange and unique methods for...

You might be looking for varieties of Elm.
Vigorous buggers and hardy too.

Thank you for the suggestion! Very helpful. They do grow all over around here so in fall I'll dig one of the ones my neighbors regularly try to eliminate (should have something interesting after years of being cut down lol) and see how it does.

Elm are vigorous and tough for sure but you won't be able to repot several times in one year.

Not sure why you would want to.
Repotting slows growth.
It's not necessary for most trees.
Unless you're thinking it would be a way to develop a tree fast...there are no fast bonsai, unless you want to pay for someone else's time.

Patience is a must developed skill in bonsai, no way around it.

Siberian elm will probably do fine in your area.

I do confess patience is a weakness of mine. I work on it daily. However I'm not necessarily trying to develop a beautiful tree as one should seek to do, but rather a tree I can abuse to learn from to avoid damage to better trees I intend to produce in the future...

Perhaps I am a fool for considering such things

 

[Paradox]

I do confess patience is a weakness of mine. I work on it daily. However I'm not necessarily trying to develop a beautiful tree as one should seek to do, but rather a tree I can abuse to learn from to avoid damage to better trees I intend to produce in the future...

Perhaps I am a fool for considering such things

Bonsai will teach you patience whether you like it or not, or you're going to have a bad time trying to do bonsai.
If you want to learn, just work on trees. You dont need to have "one to abuse" to learn.
You learn more from a tree you work on and it lives than one you abuse and it dies, IMO.

However because of the nature of bonsai, there is also no fast way to learn how to bonsai.
There are seasonal aspects and doing to much to a tree can kill it, so it takes time.
It also takes time for a tree to respond to the things you do to it.

I learned a lot of the very basics by doing a ton of reading my first couple of years.
The fastest way is to quit your life for 6 years and go be an apprentice in Japan.
For the rest of us mere mortals that cant do that, it takes longer than that but that is one of the things many of us love about bonsai.
I am still learning and there is always more to learn and more to do. What could be better than that?

 

[gooeytek]

I'm more of the 'use the tried and true methods' of plant/tree care. My abuse might stem from neglect or lack of time, though.

 

[Dabbler]

From all your post you need to do one of these two things:

- Either learn about bonsai and that it's slow life style/hobby and generally it's one major abuse per year( repotting and trunk chops and such) even those I have never repotted a tree more then once in a year, let alone two - Granted unless it was some crazy situation that required it. You need to shift your perspective and slow down.

- Bonsai is not for you if you can't stop loving the tree's to death - I water the tree's a few times a day and enjoy them BUT I don't work on them until it's the specific time to do that insult on specific tree. Hence I have 30 or so tree's so I generally have lots to do through the growing season. Generally I only do a few things to a tree though the year and only a Major insult once - this is an oversimplification as say my JBP I candle cut, needle pull, fertilize maybe wire all in one years time.

 

[AshleyMammal]

Do privet (ligustrum ovalifolium) do ok in your climate? In the UK we can easily and cheaply get hold of old privet stumps, and believe me these guys can take abuse.

They root like olives - check out graham potter's video of a 6 inch diameter cutting taking root, madness!

 

[Melospiza]

I wasn't necessarily wanting to repot regularly... I suppose I phrased my post poorly... Sea hibiscus is known to have extremely fast growing roots often requiring an up pot or regular root maintenance.

I understand that it is the fastest of the fast developing trees, and nothing deciduous would truly compare on anywhere near the same scale. However I love deciduous and tropics don't stand a chance here with my ridiculously low humidity semi extreme Temperatures swinging from extreme heat to low colds (and going from freezing to thawing in winter regularly)

Id love a sea hibiscus because of its roots growth particularly, I want to experiment with roots more but I'm not aware of any plants that recover roots at a rate for me to learn anything to apply to my slower growing trees.

It would be a waste to use a nice tree for stupid experimental things and have it look aweful for it rather then have something like a sea hibiscus which would be able to recover from your absurd ideas semi easily.

I suppose I'm looking for a fast growing tree that can be un-suited for bonsai traditionally to practice techniques and develop strange and unique methods for...

Thank you for the suggestion! Very helpful. They do grow all over around here so in fall I'll dig one of the ones my neighbors regularly try to eliminate (should have something interesting after years of being cut down lol) and see how it does.

I do confess patience is a weakness of mine. I work on it daily. However I'm not necessarily trying to develop a beautiful tree as one should seek to do, but rather a tree I can abuse to learn from to avoid damage to better trees I intend to produce in the future...

Perhaps I am a fool for considering such things

White mulberry grows both shoots and roots vigorously. Not surprising, since it is such a common and vigorous weed. Cold-hardy, leaves reduce well and roots branch prolifically. Here is my small one.

 

[nuttiest]

What happened to all those trees at your workplace?

 

[doc spring _work]

Do privet (ligustrum ovalifolium) do ok in your climate? In the UK we can easily and cheaply get hold of old privet stumps, and believe me these guys can take abuse.

They root like olives - check out graham potter's video of a 6 inch diameter cutting taking root, madness!

I do know privet grows well here and I have considered it before do to its small leaves and dense structure however I've only seen young ones so id be starting from scratch, possibly toss some in a field and let them grow... Deer would probably reduce it enough to create something workable thank you for the suggestion

 

[doc spring _work]

What happened to all those trees at your workplace?

Mnnn, I got sick with bronchitis and when I got back they had tossed em, nothing I could really recover, I do still have several trees to work with and I am getting ready for a move onto proper farmland so here soon i may have better options for growing and leaving be...

I do acknowledge what everyone has been saying so far, I am very impatient and I simply need to learn the lesson of enjoying the trees while I wait, I do often find myself taking hikes and walks to find and observe trees... I tend to over excite myself for the work and get super excited to do it.. my flame ginnala repot was a great example of that I'd been caring for them regularly and grown to love them and constantly thinking about getting one and styling.

I'm currently mostly watching my cuttings and recovering the trees I did take home. Id like to think I've finally learned my lesson and will simply enjoy the periods in-between... But only time will show if im a fool, in the meantime I've been spending a lot of time watching this community and trying to learn...

(Was very surprised to see notifications for this post as id considered it resolved, but nonetheless it was refreshing to hear some more variety suggestions and also very helpful to read over everyones critiques of my flaws so I may improve as a lover of trees... And hopefully I'll grow to be able to call myself an artist some day)