Tricolor Beech development and re-potting

[MMJNICE]

I have one European beech that I got from a nursery last spring that i did a partial defoliation. I also cut back some of the leggy growth at the same time and the tree responded well by back budding in a few places. The issue that I had with that tree was the leaves where very yellow looking so I feed it a hit of iron and the growth never really matured. The new leaves had somewhat of a deformation after the cut back, partial Defoliation and iron dose. Did I do the right thing with the dose of iron? After some reading I lucked up and out of Instincts did the right thing with the partial defoliation and cutback,,,, I read the article on beech ramification "bonsai for me" btw... this spring the tree will need to be re-potted into a training pot and to get it out of the nursery soil. Can I treat this species like I would a maple and get very aggressive with the root pruning? I also just a couple of days ago after lusting after hornbeam but couldn't find any anywhere that had decent size bare rooted hornbeam... but I found an tricolor beech at a local nursery that had an massive trunk with low buds all over the decently tapering trunk that I purchased Immediately and chopped 6 feet of top growth but somewhat over zealously without checking the root flare,,, "it was rapped in burlap" when I got it home after unwrapping discovered massive roots to go with the massive trunk. Can I also take the proverbial chainsaw to the roots and rebuild the nebari over a couple of years? I'm interested in anyone with good working experience developing beech and especially tricolor beech. Is there any reason why the bonsai world hasn't really tackled the Tri color beach? It seems like such a flashy tree with lots of possibilities and the color is one that would entice the most Solemn soul, why hasn't anyone really worked on them? I got a very good deal being off season and nursery guys got bills to pay too I guess..

 

[dbonsaiw]

Love the tri color beech and have my eye on one at a local nursery. Even at 50% off it's almost $200 so I'm not jumping at it. It's also in a burlap sack and the soil is a giant clump of clay. I'm curious to see what the responses are. I did see some smaller tri color bonsais online.

 

[InstilledChaos]

I picked up a couple tricolor beech 4 years ago off the scrap heap that had pretty dense low branching. There were both marked down to $30 from $250 bc they were in pretty sad shape. Needless to say I bought both and planted them figuring I would leave 1 as a landscape tree and attempt to bonsai the other. After letting it gain strength in the ground for 3.5 years I dug one up this spring and it is now living in an Anderson flat. Before a full styling a few weeks ago the only work I did on it while it was in the ground was a rather high trunk chop. It had good lower branching that I wanted to work with as I felt it had a lot of graceful potential. The spring foliage is simply stunning, and I definitely think tricolors need more exploration. I can’t pretend to be an expert, as this is my first beech of any sort, but I can tell you it has taken significant root work twice now (bare-rooted at initial planting) without sulking. I am just getting into how to handle pruning and ramification. I’ll post a few pictures in a bit. I am anxious to see how your more drastic approach pans out as well, and really like the subtle movement you have in the trunk!

 

[InstilledChaos]

Tree as purchased:


Tree in full glory after digging this spring:



After initial cutback and full wiring (Don't mind the drooling gremlin ):

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

If you still have that tree in 10 years, that last photo will be your favorite! They grow up quick!

 

[MMJNICE]

Love the tri color beech and have my eye on one at a local nursery. Even at 50% off it's almost $200 so I'm not jumping at it. It's also in a burlap sack and the soil is a giant clump of clay. I'm curious to see what the responses are. I did see some smaller tri color bonsais online.

200 bucks ouch... like I said got in where I fit in and when he told me a buck 50 or $150 in reg terms I proceeded to ask for his saw and chopped.. I shoved and I mean Squeezed it in barley,,, i even scratched the paint on my car, and ran!! But to be far I probably spend 3k this summer putting in a Japanese style garden,, so I guess he really didn't loose much... and I did play the birthday card Shamelessly, but I felt good about it.. but the roots gees..

 

[MMJNICE]

If you still have that tree in 10 years, that last photo will be your favorite! They grow up quick!

I picked up a couple tricolor beech 4 years ago off the scrap heap that had pretty dense low branching. There were both marked down to $30 from $250 bc they were in pretty sad shape. Needless to say I bought both and planted them figuring I would leave 1 as a landscape tree and attempt to bonsai the other. After letting it gain strength in the ground for 3.5 years I dug one up this spring and it is now living in an Anderson flat. Before a full styling a few weeks ago the only work I did on it while it was in the ground was a rather high trunk chop. It had good lower branching that I wanted to work with as I felt it had a lot of graceful potential. The spring foliage is simply stunning, and I definitely think tricolors need more exploration. I can’t pretend to be an expert, as this is my first beech of any sort, but I can tell you it has taken significant root work twice now (bare-rooted at initial planting) without sulking. I am just getting into how to handle pruning and ramification. I’ll post a few pictures in a bit. I am anxious to see how your more drastic approach pans out as well, and really like the subtle movement you have in the trunk!

You did a really good job on the trunk chop, could barely tell to took it back at all really. All styled up and contained she's a real looker. I do know that beech trees aren't the best for aggressive trunk chops because the heal slowly but the amount of buds close to the trunk made me believe that the wound would heal over in maybe 5 years? I did get a pretty sweet grafting knife ,,,"made in Japan" that's got me thinking I'm some kinda samurai wilding tree surgeon.. so there's that. But yea I would have bought both trees as well if I found such a as yours deal. I did notice that a lot of the tricolor beech's he had after i hurrily made the trunk chop unfortunately, had really low branching that made me second guess my earlier rookie mistake. Oops oh well,, can't glue it back on now. But all the branches where growing almost straight up anyway so whatever.. if I get bored I know where to find them, and I doubt there going anywhere. It's one of those large family nurseries that have stuff in pots that look like Yamadori they've been there so long.. but it's an absolutely a gold mine if you have even somewhat experienced eye's like myself.. mostly everything has been there at least 3 to 4 years and a lot of stuff +5 to 10 years.. been there since the 60s.. but am blabbing now.. but definitely check out "bonsai for me" article on beech ramification and development if you haven't already. So appreciate the response and I guess I got serious root pruning to do this spring. I have heard guy's say they don't like to bare root beech but I can't recall if it' was on hear or some other video/forum/something.. but still would like some more information.

 

[InstilledChaos]

You did a really good job on the trunk chop, could barely tell to took it back at all really. All styled up and contained she's a real looker. I do know that beech trees aren't the best for aggressive trunk chops because the heal slowly but the amount of buds close to the trunk made me believe that the wound would heal over in maybe 5 years? I did get a pretty sweet grafting knife ,,,"made in Japan" that's got me thinking I'm some kinda samurai wilding tree surgeon.. so there's that. But yea I would have bought both trees as well if I found such a as yours deal. I did notice that a lot of the tricolor beech's he had after i hurrily made the trunk chop unfortunately, had really low branching that made me second guess my earlier rookie mistake. Oops oh well,, can't glue it back on now. But all the branches where growing almost straight up anyway so whatever.. if I get bored I know where to find them, and I doubt there going anywhere. It's one of those large family nurseries that have stuff in pots that look like Yamadori they've been there so long.. but it's an absolutely a gold mine if you have even somewhat experienced eye's like myself.. mostly everything has been there at least 3 to 4 years and a lot of stuff +5 to 10 years.. been there since the 60s.. but am blabbing now.. but definitely check out "bonsai for me" article on beech ramification and development if you haven't already. So appreciate the response and I guess I got serious root pruning to do this spring. I have heard guy's say they don't like to bare root beech but I can't recall if it' was on hear or some other video/forum/something.. but still would like some more information.

The Harry Harrington article is definitely very useful. Thanks for pointing it out. I will have to put those techniques into action this spring to try to push interior ramification. Going into the ground I didn’t have any trouble bare rooting both trees. I was much more conservative going into the Anderson flat, as the root system was much more developed at that point, and I had to remove a large portion to fit it into the container.

 

[MMJNICE]

Just keeping a record of all the work I do on my tricolor beech. So my first wooden training box turned out to be a complete disaster.. using scrap wood like really scrap,,,different Dimensions and board types that ended up making wood made something like a grow box... going to have to shore Up the corners definitely but it works.. root work was much easier then I expected and pulled out a decent flared or buttressed trunk.. decided to go ahead and do the root work because I built a home depot greenhouse in three day by myself.. boy I could have used an extra set of hands.. the greenhouse is 6×10 and tied it to the patio concrete slab.. not a bad purchase once your done pulling your freakin hair out trying to understand the build directions.. you will have to take it apart multiple times to get it together correctly.. and i don't understand why everyone on this forum try to discourage people from over wintering their tree's in a greenhouse. I keep the temperature above 40 degrees but not warmer them 55 since I've had it. Hasn't been rocket science.. i just popped a oil filled electric heater in it and a wifi Thermometer and if it gets too hot turn down the heater open door and vent.. too cold turn up the heater.. most times it only runs at night to take the chill out the air. If i had just went with my own thoughts i probably wouldn't have lost my silverberry I got from a famous bonsai nursery in Tennessee smh.. i still definitely find use out the Knowledge available on this forum but i take everything with a grain of salt..next time i take a picture of the tree i will put something in for scale because this trunk is massive!

 

[MMJNICE]

Just a little update on the development of my not so little tricolor beech. I decided to add a Bic lighter for scale so everyone can Gaze at its magnificence hehehehe.. but more for my own documentation..

 

[MMJNICE]

As you can tell I'm an idiot and I posted multiple shots of the same image but don't want to mess with it and have to redo the whole post

 

[MMJNICE]

So the top half of the beach has died off unfortunately.. I cut the top off in a manic Episode heheheh.. it looks horrible but still not too bad. The buds looks nice and healthy with new buds lower on the trunk.. really the whole right side down to the middle of the trunk has died and was probably already dead and didn't notice. The buds down low I'm not sure if I can use them yet but having enough branches to think about styling the tree is Exciting!!

 

[Gabler]

I'm a bit confused about what your plan is for the tree. What are your development goals?